Popular music has dumbed down ever since the age of the internet, Ipods, and music downloads. It's a helluva lot easier for artists to get on the air now what with Myspace and music production software. I think it's also being marketed at younger audiences, especially teenage girls - because they're the main cosumers of Itunes and online music purchases.
As a result, popular music became way more cheesy and commercialized starting in the 90s. Sure there are still good artists out there, but you have to wade through mounds of cheesy commercial shyt just to find one of them. And since it's easier for an artist to make money by cranking out the same old commercial shyt than daring to be original, there's way less incentive for creativity.
The 80s is where it's at.