Why do video game soundtracks from my childhood bring me such nostalgia and happiness?
My music taste is definitely related to what I grew up listening to in the late 90's, early 2000's and 2010's. Like literally tied directly to it. Listening to video game soundtracks led me to love those songs, and therefore look up more songs from those artists and then continue further with songs/artists of the same genre. For example. Razor Scooter for the PS1, an obscure, random video game. But it made me love underground punk rock of the era, such as "Outta Control" by Sloppy Meateaters, "Story About Us" by Never Too Late, "I'm Not Giving Up On This One" by, presumably the same band "Never Too Late"? "Escape" by Sloppy Meateaters. For Tony Hawk's Underground 2, I remember my biggest song was "Liberate" by Disturbed. I can go on and on for all the years i've played video games, it would take too long. But these are just some of the many examples of songs that influenced me growing up, specifically in the rock/metal genre from a kid who grew up mostly on hip-hop and RNB.
What's the neuropsychology related to this? I still find myself mostly enjoying this era of songs. I can't enjoy anything past a certain time, mostly 2010+. Is it nostalgia? Is it the quality of music that's changed? The latter being my inclination, music just isn't anything close to what it was in the past 30-40 years and I really think it's because of the internet and the ease of making music for the average joe. I don't know.