There's been a long downturn in appreciation for good music IMO. My parents generation (boomers) are more musical than my generation and I think it's getting worse. More of them play instruments. More of them (can) sing. The music they like isn't necessarily highbrow, but it has more musical complexity than most of the stuff on the radio these days. Even simple stuff, like harmony, or a unique rhythm.
A lot of popular music today is atonal trash written for the meme generation. Autotune, weak synthesized sounds, highly compressed for punch to the detriment of everything else, same old rhythms, no harmony, barely a melody, etc. I have nothing against dance music, or hip-hop, in fact I have a deep love for music in both of those genres, but there's a thick layer of terrible that rises to the top of the pop charts and you have to dig through it to find music of any worth.
I'm no musical elitist, but I do take the time to listen outside my comfort zone and it has broadened my horizons enough that I'm not satisfied listening to whatever tripe some top20 station decides they'll make popular this week. I'd rather listen to Muddy Waters for the 1000th time. :)