It is not dead just fast asleep. There are a few good songs written nowadays but the bulk of pop music is just production driven beats and fx with some words thrown in almost as an afterthought. Once upon a time artists looked for a great song then a great arrangement and recording followed. Nowadays they seem to only concentrate on the production and arrangement....stripped down very few new songs stand up as great songs (lyrics and melody) in their own right. As I say most pop songs are nursery rhymes or playground chants set to a beat......where are the fantastic melodies and great lyrics we once had? Cannot fault the production nowadays just wish they had something half decent to produce and a band plus a singer worth listening to. Yes we had some crap back in the bad old days but the bulk of the music was innovative and groundbreaking. Now it is mostly all crap. We have been bombarded with so much of it we have now accepted it as the standard to aspire to. It is hardly any wonder why so many folk want to write songs with the bar set so low....and any good looking tone deaf kid can get to be a huge popstar on reality TV......It is a shame that good music is sacrificed for looks and image.

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/songInfo.cfm?bandID=687727&songID=5238055