Has Music Just Gone Downhill?

 So I feel like I should preface this by saying that I am a connoisseur of many different music types, including Jazz, Latin, Standards, Folk, Country, R&B, and other related genres. I will be completely honest in saying I feel absolutely no connection to 21st-century music, and likely never will. As I have said before, I am envious of my parent's and grandparents' generations, as they grew up in a time when music was more wholesome, and interesting, and had that "American" sound to it. Personally, my favorite musical decade has been the 1960's. 

This was a decade where music underwent such a radical change. The decade started with Doo-Wop, Traditional Pop, Rock n Roll, and other genres carrying over from the 1950's. The middle of the 1960s saw Motown, Folk, Pop Rock, and Soul, and by the decade's end, Classic Rock, Latin American, Bubblegum Pop, and Psychedelic Rock became popular. In the 60's music started to change from being restrained, sophisticated, and tasteful to becoming more youthful, wild, and exciting. This carried on well into the 1970s and 1980s, with genres like Hip Hop beginning to dominate charts as early as the early 1980s. In my opinion, this marked the beginning of music's downfall.

Now don't get me wrong, I have listened to some hip-hop from the 1980s, and it isn't as terrible as what we have today, but it still reflects the beginnings of a tumultuous music trend that has managed to still be popularized amongst my generation. The reason behind this is simple, it glamorizes ideals that most people my age find alluring. Topics like sex, wealth, glamour, and power are largely covered in this genre, and while in itself there is nothing wrong with money, power, sex, etc, I think it has had an overall negative effect on the moral integrity of modern American youth. While I do not want to sound like a crabby old man who hates anything modern and wishes for the old days, I think anyone over the age of 30 could probably agree with me in saying that older music has more value, better morals, and was actually pleasant to listen to.