Listening vs. hearing

One of the things that I have started doing because of History of Rock and Roll class is changing the way I listen to music.  Before the class I would do what I call now hearing music, I would be doing homework or watching TV with headphones and just hear noise in my head. I never actually made an attempt to understand what a song was trying to tell me.  Now my music listening has changed.  I never really knew how every song was a completely different story, well I knew but I didn't actually KNOW, if that makes sense.  I have learned to enjoy music much more now and an starting to become more interested in the making of it, not just the outcome.