That doesn’t explain how rock managed to stick around for 45 + years. At its core it was still people actually playing instruments- like guitars , bass drums, keyboards and actually singing. Even though kids never wanted to think what their parents listened to was the coolest thing. Something changed in society and music was never the same. You’re right about the current state of “ trash”. I’d attribute it to the internet. Kids were always willing to pay for music, and that brought out the best talent. Somewhere along the way, the willingness to pay stopped. Creativity was no longer was incentivized, and the downfall began. It became acceptable to slap some electronically produced boring repetitive beats together. Add in some vocal processing so virtually anyone could “ sing” and here we are.