A few points:

For the most, an appreciation of CM is based on two things, exposure
when very young and CM as part of one's culture. If a child is exposed
to and grows up with CM, he/she is likely to be a CM lover for life.

Also if CM is part of one's culture, there is a context for appreciation.

I have always had a theory of pop music compared to CM in terms of
development. In CM, a musical idea is developed within a composition,
what I refer to as vertical development (that will make sense in a
minute), pop music, on the hand, develops "horizontally", i.e. an idea
or a style ranges over a number of individual pieces over time.  I hope
I have expressed this in a way that can be understood.

Another issue is the inability of the forms of pop music to be extended,
very difficult to do, inherent in the forms is no method for development.
One fellow who did an admirable job was Cat Stevens in the Foreigner
Suite.

Roger Bogda