the word "classic"

what i have observed from my experiences when you devote a great amount of time in a particular interest whether it is music, movies, books or anything, your tastes will definitely slant towards the classic works in that field and more or less you starts making comparison between the classics work and the latest word. and eventually ends up criticizing the new work. unless it not peerless.
like when you devote lots of time in listening music specially rock music i have found that people always criticize the latest work and start making comparison with old classic bands( n that includes me 2) like whenever i have been in a discussion with many people with reference to movies or music or books they always came up with led zepplin or citizen cane or to kill a mocking bird.
i am also leaning towards these sort of works. but sometimes a question arises in my mind
is that all classics are benchmark for the new stuffs????????
or all we are simply following the classic benchmarks blindly?????