he's talking about hip hop... because that's all that was on the radio 5 years ago...

My band is always about deep meaning in the words. I hate fluff stuff. plus we've pushed off the overuse of synths, electronics, etc. More of an acousticy sound, clean recordings with just a touch of reverb, no autotune BS or anything. weve got music up on www.thecarnivalofshadows.com

This is why I have XM Radio,  always good music to be be had on there.   Especially the Liquid Metal XL channel

So it was him all along http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMtZfW2z9dw !

And there is plenty of good music still being made, you just have to look for it in places other than the radio.  Here are some recently released albums that are pretty good:

Electric Six-KILL

Tv on the Radio-Return to Cookie Mountain, Dear Science

Gorillaz-Plastic Beach

Crystal Castles-Crystal Castles 2

Mayor Hawthorne-A strange arrangement

Erykah Badu- The New AmErykah part 2

Those are just off the top  of my head but there's a lot of music being made out there all the time, you just have to look for it.

what makes something "real music"

good question, i would call real music a song made by someone with true talent (lyrically and/ or vocal) with a true meaning behind it 

wait, there have been bands formed after 1999?

These, specially TV on the Radio.

There is good music, but you wont find it on mainstream radio.

What is "real" music, what is good music? Everyone will come up with different opinions and suggestions, but great music will always be composed and recorded.

11 examples of songs from recent years and different genres I find brilliant:
The XX - Night Time, UK 2009 
The Felice Brothers - Don't Wake The Scarecrow, USA 2008 
Kaskade & Deadmau5 - Move For Me, USA/CAN 2008 
Arcade Fire - Black Wave, Bad Vibrations, CAN 2007 
Empire of the Sun - We Are The People, AUS 2008 
David Byrne & Brian Eno - Strange Overtones, USA/UK 2008 

Erykah Badu, Honey, USA 2007  (not just a great song, but also a great video which perfectly shows a musician's love for music) http://www.mtv.de/videos/17147549
Janelle Monáe - Faster, USA 2010 
Radiohead - Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, UK 2007 
Interpol - Rest My Chemistry, USA 2007 
Sakamoto/Morelenbaum/Nelson/Santaolalla - Bibo No Aozora/Endless Flight (Babel OST), JAP/BRA/ARG 1996/2006 

BTW: Songs never needed to have a deep meaning to be good. Just one famous example - actually two examples in one short live performance - where you can find the simplicity already in the song titles: 

I think the difference between yesterday and today is that the mainstream (aka the songs which chart and get radio airplay) don't seem to appeal to as many people as in earlier decades. I have a feeling only few of the songs which are in the charts nowadays will be called classics in the future.

<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/exwZXQoHkwg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/exwZXQoHkwg?fs=1&amp;hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>