You have two thoughts going on here.
1) Would you be better served with a good stereo setup. If you don't watch movies, then the answer is probably yes. If surround sound doesn't appeal to you in movies then I see no reason to bother with it unless you intend to make the jump to SACD or DVD-A.
2) You seem to be attaching this personal preference of yours to the idea of a gimmick which it's absurd to associate to HT. As far as I know, HT receivers outsell stereo setups (so long as you ignore cars) by such a tremendous margin that it's impossible to argue they're anything other than the mainstream default. Furthermore, music is moving in the direction of surround sound even the music world isn't safe.
