Why is modern pop music today so terrible?

When I was five years old I watched Elvis perform on the Sunday night Ed Sullivan Show. This was 1957 and TV was only black and white (but tube technology!). My parents watched along with me. My mom commented disapprovingly of Elvis's on-screen writhing. My father watched in silence, nonplussed! Are there ANY male singers today of Elvis's stature? I don't think so! Same for guitarists. Where is the next Jimi Hendrix? The new Beatles? We oldsters were blessed to live during a time of great musical change (and performed by young people!). 

Most present day music is just ca-ca! But we have such a great legacy of recorded music in all genre's to sample and enjoy at our leisure. From Bach to the Beatles! And Armstrong to Miles Davis! So acquire a nice collection of LPs and CDs and share with your friends!

dragunski

... If you rely on TV and radio (which nobody listens to anymore) to define current "pop" quality, you're going to be depressed.

Perhaps. But you are mistaken that "nobody listens" to radio. In the US, it remains a huge industry. Data show that overall, radio reaches more than 90 percent of all persons age 12 and older every week. Some info is here, but there's a lot of other data available if you're truly interested.