I think most will agree though, that "mainstream" music has declined greatly in quality over the last two decades. There's no real substance or genuine musical talent within most of it, nearly all of it is over-produced using the same formulas and no new genres/styles have been created that dominate the charts or influence other artists. If you sell millions of records these days, it's basically the rubber-stamp to say that you suck for sure.
I don't know.
One band out today I like, I don't know if they're 'mainstream', but the band
Arcade Fire. They won a Grammy for album of the year and most everyone was in shock cause it wasn't a huge seller or a widely known artist that actually put out a decent album with thoughtful lyrics.