Went through a period in the late 80's early 90's where I ignored contemporary music almost completely, but collected a massive amount of classical during that interval.
SK, I agree with your comments about Grunge, there are a handful of bands that I do like from then, I've caught up thanks to music forums, but most of them I find forgettable.
The labeling by the distribution companies I find laughable though, indie, alternative etc...those are marketing ploys more than anything else and I won't change my opinion.
However there are a large number of Metal bands that I discovered a few years back that jump started my interest in collecting again, mostly Power/Prog/Heavy metal bands with a predominantly European flavor.