1982, actually. 
If I take what is on my phone as representative of my music collection, then the overwhelming majority of recent music (recent being since the turn of the century)has either been new stuff by old artists or “world” music. For every darkwave or speed metal band on there, there are ten acts who broke up before Nixon resigned. The most recent artist on the list is Sleeper Agent. The earliest is probably Dave Brubeck.
I’m 60 and there isn’t much of recent music that interests me; my most current musical acts are the White Stripes, Otis Taylor, Deborah Coleman, Cee Cee James and The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band (Saffire – The Uppity Blues Women had, alas, disbanded before I discovered them*). I’ll also admit to liking what littler I’ve heard from Lada Gaga.
I find most modern music sounds the same; there’s a style of vocal that seems required for all singers in the each subgenre to sound the same. I want something I haven’t heard before, and too much of what I hear was done 40 years ago.
*Yes, I love the blues.
I’m over 40 and I play in a couple of bands. So, yes, I know there is some good music being made nowadays because I’m making some of it.
I’m in my mid 40s and while I do have two kids, my 16 year old son mostly listens to 70s classic rock and 80s metal. But I do get exposed to current acts via the music videos constantly playing in my gym and I do like a lot of newer bands. Just off the top of my head, I like a lot of Foo Fighters, Finger Eleven, POD, Seether and the Killers.
I’m 52, and around the time I turned 38, my musical tastes became solidified. It reached a point where I hardly even knew who the current acts were.
I’m still pretty retro in my tastes, but since my son started listening to newer music, I’ve had to start listening to it. And while I haven’t heard anything that ranks with my all time favorite stuff (I didn’t like dance pop when I was younger, so why would I like it now?), I’m no longer so clueless, and yes, I’ve learned to appreciate a fair amount of current pop.
I’m over 40 and am on a neverending quest to discover new music. I’ve found a lot. Right now, I like Kendrick Lamar, Major Lazer, Alt-J, Crystal Castles, The Weeknd, Puscifer, and a whole lot more. I’m really enjoying the new Soundgarden album. I also enjoy 80s music, dubstep, electronica, hip hop, rap, metal, industrial rock, prog rock, indie…
The secret, to me, is to not listen to terrestrial top-40 radio. I can’t be bothered with the same playlists over and over and over and over. Even great music gets stale when you hear it all 100 times a day. I use Pandora, Spotify, Soundcloud, and satellite radio. I skip around and, instead of flipping to something safe and comfortable and familiar, I try to keep an open mind and sit through a whole new song. Huh. Maybe I’ll like it. Maybe I won’t. But I keep listening and I keep looking.
So, I think if a person thinks “all new music sucks these days,” then you probably aren’t digging very hard to find something that suits your tastes.
I meet the age requirement here. The two artists of the last ten years that blew me away were Amy Winehouse and M.I.A. One is gone and the other is now pushing 40. But in recent times (recent from a middle-aged perspective) I’ve enjoyed various singles by artists such as Annie, Lily Allen, Shakira, Tegan & Sara, T.A.T.u., Lykke Li, and the producer Diplo among many others. My itunes history proves it. I guess this stuff all could be characterized as fun, dancey tunes with a certain fresh vibe. I like hearing something unexpected in a new tune - that goes a long way.
I don’t care for the new groups that adopt retro stylings. It comes off corny and awkward to me. I watched the last Grammy Awards on TV and found most of it boring.
Young groups that play rock nowadays are way too bland and old-fashioned for my taste. I often wonder why they bother.
It’s true that the commercial media presents a very restricted look at all the music that’s out there. But it was always thus. Much of the post-punk and dance clubby stuff from three-plus decades ago that I love was never played on the radio back then.
Yes. I love dubstep, particularly Skrillex, Bassnectar, and the Qemists.
I’m in my early fifties, and my heart belongs to classic rock. But… there are plenty of “new” artists that I enjoy: Jason Mraz, Adele, Lady Gaga, Train, Maroon 5, Coldplay, Nickelback…
But I’ll tell you one thing: I didn’t know any “new” music until I signed up for Pandora premium. I can’t stand listening to the radio anymore (too much talking, commercials and just plain BS, and they NEVER tell you the name of the artists!), but Pandora lets you discover new stuff painlessly.
43, and yes. In fact, for about the past decade or so, I’ve made a “Best Of” disc every month of new music to share with friends. This month’s disc includes the following artists:
The Flaming Lips
Charles Bradley
Permanent Makeup
OMD
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Phoenix
Milk Music
Phosphorescent
Joey Bada$$ & DJ Premier
James Blake
Bombino
Iron & Wine
Bleached
Major Lazer
Thee Oh Sees
Toy
Daft Punk
No Joy
Ghostface Killah
The Orange Peels
The Knife
And that’s just stuff that was released (mostly) within the last month. There’s tons of good music out there if you’re willing to put in some effort to find it.
David Bowie just released a new album, does that count? 
Some newer acts that I’ve loved and listen to…no idea what the cool kids in the cafeteria are listening to. I’m 43, stuck in the '80s, and think modern music died when David Lee Roth left Van Halen, but I still try to explore what’s out there, however something rarely appeals to me beyond getting a second listen to.
Lykke Li
The Black Keys
Bon Iver
Tegan and Sara
Camera Obscura
Melanie Martinez
Katie Herzig
Jack White’s band of the month
I’ve been listening to what was then called ‘electronic’ music since the early 70’s and it has just kept getting better and better as the years go by. There are now more categories of electronic music than I can even keep track of, much less enjoy. My kids and I exchange recommendations.
I don’t get anything out of a lot of the popular artists these days, just like I didn’t back in the good ol’ days. Doesn’t mean I don’t like new stuff.
I gotta disagree with you on that one. Ice Cream by Battles is something else. They rock live, too. Sure, they’re collaborating with such young folks as Gary Numan, and it’s pretty close to prog rock, but I swear my point still stands.
Also, it’s nice to see some old acts still putting out new music – and sometimes some of their new output isn’t half bad. I’m thinking of acts that range from the very old (Leonard Cohen…) to the not quite so old (Gillian Welch…).
ETA: Scabpicker, thanks! I’ll check 'em out. I shouldn’t have generalized so much about new rock acts, but I just got tired of Rolling Stone writing things like, “Oh, this new song by the Shins is great!”, and then it turns out to be crap.
While most post-80s music bores me, I occasionally hear something that grabs my attention, like Pink’s Blow Me (One Last Kiss). She’s got a good voice, along the lines of Annie Lennox, and Linda Perry of 4 Non Bondes. I don’t tune into stations that play today’s music very often, as most of the stuff I hear is whiny crap.
Okay, I checked out the Battles’ “Ice Cream,” and you’re right, I like it! I like it in the way I like this recent release by The Herbaliser – even though now we’re getting even further away from what most folks would call “rock” (which is sort of my original point. Maybe I should have written “what ‘classic rock’ enthusiasts think of as ‘rock music’ is pretty much played out, except maybe for self-consciously ‘retro’ acts like Foxygen’”).
I stumbled across a few bands I really enjoy. Metric, Paramore and Muse to name just a few.
I understand they are all on a soundtrack of something called Twilight, whatever that is. 
The best thing about DishTV is the music channels.
I have age requirement met here but also, the thing is my 10 year old son is in a band and he plays lead guitar so this is kinda primary thing we do together. He’s into guitar-based rock just like me 
These guys rock and saw them live twice even though by pop standards they are relatively unknown.
Other similar guitar-based rock bands - The Black Keys, The Arctic Monkeys and White Stripes (or whatever band name is), The Strokes, The Muse.
Girl singers - Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Kills, Metric, Fiona Apple.
On top of that, Radiohead still makes music.
Modern stuff - Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Broken Social Scene.
It is true that it’s harder to find but at the same time due to Internet it is much easier. The best thing is you get email with concert pre-sale opportunity so you actually get to see them.
My best radio source is local CIUT University of Toronto radio station with 1 hour shows of new music in any music genre imaginable.
47 and in my opinion mainstream music has never been worse. Pink, Macklemore, Rihanna, Maroon 5 etc is just garbage.
There’s always good music to be found if one looks hard enough. Fidlar is blowing me away at the moment. Cheatahs also are very much recommended.
With all the recommendation engines on most music sites, it’s become way easier to find new stuff that may appeal. AllMusic has a ‘similar bands’ tab, Amazon has the people who bought this also bought x thing and other sites do similar things.
I’m 39 and am still discovering great new music. That said, I’ve found it harder to stay relevant. I’m usually about 2 years behind really getting into the newest thing. For instance, I just discovered Tokyo Police Club, who are awesome.