It may have been covered in this thread already (sorry, I didn’t read the whole thing), but even in the days when the major labels had A&R staff, some good in-house producers and the wherewithal to procure and "develop" talent, much was crap. You had to be selective. Without getting into how the record business aided in its own destruction, the labels have less control than ever. And the folks that run a lot of the businesses that deliver "content" to you are more akin to Big Data than major labels.
The music is supposed to reflect the culture. I don’t mind some neo-soul or even some rap, but most of it is dreck- over using auto-tune for that phasey vocal effect might have been cool on one or two tracks, but it became as common as drum machines in the ’80s, or gated reverb.
There’s still cool stuff out there by new bands, but given how fragmented everything is--you have to dig. Yes, there are singers like Adele (whose only recording I bought sounded terrible) and others who are superstars that have some talent (Lady Gaga is talented, I’m not that "into" her).
A workman here the other day asked about what I listened to when he saw all the records. He told me he liked punk. I haven’t listened to any new punk bands lately, but recommended the great Bad Brains album "I Against I."
I think our taste often reflects what we grew up with.
