> But if you asked a random person on the street to name a clarinet player, I suspect most people couldn’t come up with one, let alone one known for their good looks.
The space of potential sources for inspiration has exploded. How many people had a favourite typographer or open source software contributor or racecar driver or whatever else a hundred years ago? Music is different, sure, as others have commented, but there are so many different things or people to consider now that it's getting a little tiring with the nags to know every last thing that people used to know. Don't get the relationship backwards. Knowing your favourite candle maker used to be about the candle maker achieving things that impressed you not you feeling guilty about not knowing any candle makers.