Oh, there's quite a lot of good-ish modern music outside folk and contemp/acoust...... and I'd agree that there are probably more better guitar widdlers than there used to be (perhaps 10 Years After and/or Hendrix excepted) - but where are this small band of supermusicians in the commercial firmament?

I like System of Adowne, and the couple of tracks I've heard of Elfpower, and although Girls Aloud were largely rubbish Sounds of the Underground was a damn good bit of pop.   The Chemical Brothers were good at the last Glastonbury, too, but a few swallows do not a summer make.

I have not heard Knight live (except broadcast live on Jools Holland) but to me she fails to deliver. Power, yes, rasp, yes, but not up to the Motown greats (or the Staple Singers). Of course the Jools Holland Rythm'n'Blues Orchestra is not the Muscle Shoals session men either...

I also belong to the "No such thing as too much bass" school of thought, and have done since the 60s (Missa Luba sounds great on modern subwoofers). Shock value and revolution have their place, because that is where we used to and kids today still do break out of the cocoon, but if appearance has replaced ability, there is something wrong.

But I'm sure there is more crap today than there used to be, and there is definitely something odd about the presence on recordings. Listen to a microgroove vinyl '78 and compare it to a CD - ignore the hiss and crackle - and under it all there is more presence delivered more smoothly.