I think age and/or exposure has the biggest influence on becoming an "elitest." I started moving away from thrash and more toward prog-metal in about 1992. I still like some of my old classics like Accept, Metal Church etc. and I even like The Goos, but even though I try to give a fair shot to nu-metal and death metal, I just don't care for most of it.
Vanden Plas has been my favorite band for about five years I would say and while they are no "better" than any other band as art is completely subjective, they have "the sound" that really hits me and have set a pretty high mark for other bands to try and reach. Most CDs I buy, I really don't care for or I like just a couple of songs from. : / In my heart I "want" to enjoy more stuff, but it just doesn't seem to happen. : (
Bryant