Has it crossed your mind that some people simply don't care about the generic mass consumption pop culture you follow, and instead have other interests thay have nothing in common with yours? After all, your complain boils down to criticising others for not liking the bands you like or having other experiences that you enjoy.
I believe it did cross their mind based on what they wrote above.
If people aren't sharing these things with you on first date doesn't mean they are blank and have no life experience.
Every passing moment gives you experience. Some experiences might be more interesting to you while others might not be.
They didn't open up to you because they sensed something.
Awkward could be new normal. Can you share what you did to make them less awkward and more comfortable?
They eventually open up a lot and start talking freely, it ends up being a fun night, but if you want to hear a good story its just harder to get out of a recent student. I think they were just too busy to go out and do wacky things they could talk about later.
Usually, they would be either about to graduate, or else they had graduated a couple of years earlier and had just worked steadily since then.
They would have zero hobbies. They would listen to top 40s music but couldn't name a band, sometimes watch a movie (but didn't care much what movie), didn't have opinions on things, had almost no stories to tell. They didn't have ideas about what to do on a date. They were awkward. Our date would almost always be the first they had been on in a long time.
It was like they postponed becoming real people in order to become excellent students and professionals. I get that - their programs are HARD. What a high cost though.