I really hate it when people think the 1980s was the pinnacle of music and that 2010s/2020s music is the nadir of music.
It’s really the opposite. The 80s were probably the worst (modern) decade for music, but the 2010s were probably the best. Because in the mid 2010s, that’s when the mainstream started to fade away and artists which would’ve been stuck underground or with a super niche audience have been popular. In fact, probably because of this, music has definitely gotten smarter and more complex lately. Especially comparing it to the music from my grandparents’ generation, which sounds like it was written by five year olds. Not like that stops them from saying music has gotten dumber.
The only real reason someone can think that is a lack of familiarity. Like, yeah, the industry plants of today are probably worse than the industry plants of the 80s, but nobody on Earth listens to Billie Eilish.