There's still plenty of great music (although honestly most of my favorite groups, such as Radiohead and The Strokes, have released some pretty poor albums in the last year or so). The reason that most mainstream music on the radio sucks is that artists can rarely afford to take chances. With music piracy being as prevalent as it is, major label artists have to play it safe in regards to songwriting. At the same time, MTV pushes the idea that image is more important than talent. The rate of decline has accelerated in the last 10 years and especially in the last 5 years. However, we've still had:
Radiohead (particularly with Kid A)
System of a Down
The Strokes
Arcade Fire
Wilco
And various other bands and artists releasing creative and interesting music.
