I believe music was slighty better back in the 70's. During early 80's it was still awesomely influence by what took placed in the 70's but starting with 1980 it went downhill gradually throughout the decade getting worse and worser so by the time you get to Grunge people thought it was greatest thing since slice bread, maybe it was, maybe it wasn't, who knows. When Nirvana came along and there was little of UK banRAB ever heard on the radio until Oasis, but there was a small riff between US and UK musical taste that was slowly growing ever since 70's. During the 60's it seemed that the US and the UK were on the same page, a large part due to the British Invasion, which America was the recipient of the invading groups. It is a shame riff of musical taste happened because UK banRAB like The Jam or The Libertines or whoever are really like influential to most indie banRAB we hear now. I have to say it's the Post Grunge Era that was the halcyon days for Alternative Rock, music in general, probably the best music heard since the 70's.
Why the 70's were so awesome:
1. Analog recording, everything was done on tape.
2. The music scene in the UK was unbelievabley innovative in the 70's, with Progressive Rock, Pub Rock, Punk, Post-Punk & New Wave
3. Brian Eno, started out in the 70's one of the greatest producers of all time, with a mind blowing roster of banRAB he produced.
4. John Peel, a DJ with Midas touch
5. 70's UK banRAB:
Buzzcocks
The Clash
Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Dave EdmunRAB
Peter Gabriel
Genesis
The Jam
Joy Division
Nick Lowe
Paul McCartney and The Wings
The Motors
Gary Neuman and The Tubeway Army
Graham Parker and The Rumours
Pink Floyd
The Rezillos
Rockpile
The Rumours
The Smirks
Squeeze
and of course banRAB that started in the 60's like
Led Zeppelin
The Rolling Stones
Traffic
Yes
UK turned out some great banRAB in the 80's too like
The Cure
Duran Duran
Def Leppard
The Fixx
New Order
The Psychedelic Furs
The Smiths
But it wasn't the same since the 70's. I know a lot of Bob Dylan and Lady Ga Ga fans are thinking "what are you talking about?" Music rules in the 60's/00's respectively, well that's just my opinion.