Bands or individual artists, not so much.
Songs, sure!
“Fuck You” by Cee Lo Green and Bruno Mars is the greatest song ever written (until someone writes “Fuck Me”), although admittedly it has a retro/Motown vibe.
You get a little older, it takes a little more to move the needle.
It’s KXT, by the way, 91.7. I don’t usually listen to the radio, but when I do that’s the only one I can tolerate. Have you noticed what an excellent job they do with the RDS (song/artist name displayed)? About ten seconds before one song ends, the RDS will display what’s coming next, and it’s always updated for every song. When my wife and kids are listening to their stations, I can’t believe what a shabby job every other station does in identifying what it’s playing.
I’m over 40, and I think The Black Keys are groooovy! Gimme 5!
I’m 43 and, while I too listen to a lot of older stuff I’ve also found a lot of today’s music to be quite good, including Nero, Alabama Shakes, fun, Mumford & Sons, The Ting Tings, and some Skrillex.
Pandora has actually helped me find a lot of cool new artists.
I’m 45 and one of my favorite bands is OK Go. Their music videos are amazing! This incredible Rube Goldberg machine was done in one take, and it’s so creative. https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CDoQtwIwAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqybUFnY7Y8w&ei=ZsB5Ub71MKr3iwLP5YH4DQ&usg=AFQjCNFAU6AT7Gl2D5dTy428YCEK3HS7XQ&sig2=oHrMNgM1hJufas7TFjaYFA&bvm=bv.45645796,d.cGE
47 here. I find all sorts of neat new music on YouTube.
LIGHTS is Canadian, and everything you hear on her songs is performed by her.
I can hardly listen to/watch other Korean girl groups since I discovered 2NE1. They’re as manufactured as any of the others, but these four young women have a chemistry unlike any I’ve seen in other acts, and they compliment each other so well. They show almost no skin, but still manage to be sexier than just about anybody else in their genre. Their songs are unique and catchy, and on top of everything else they actually seem to be enjoying themselves.
I’m totally not in the target demographic for boy bands, but I find myself really enjoying 2NE1’s male counterparts/label mates, Big Bang.
From China/Hong Kong, G.E.M. is excellent. Here she is doing a duet with Jason Mraz.
Australia’s Joe Robinson plays some kickass guitar.
From Utah, the awesome Lindsey Stirling!
Yeah, it sorta depends on where you draw the line on retro, rock, etc. Depending on your position on where echo and fuzz lands someone on that spectrum, The Fungi Girls are rock, kinda retro, but young guys doing originals. (Hey Fort Worth!) The aforementioned Alabama Shakes rock pretty well, too. Even though they have a heavy soul vibe, I don’t really consider them retro.
But if your definition of rock is similar to what could get played on the classic rock station, I’m not even sure classic rock stations play much classic rock anymore. I heard Substitue from the Who on the community radio station the other day, and realized it had probably been ten years since I’d heard it on any commercial station.
ETA: Forget that last part, it’s just me lashing out at classic rock stations.
Dangit, you’re right. It’s KXT. They are good about their RDS until they go to a national feed at night, and it’s a useful feature that I wish the community radio station had. Both because I want to know who the hell that was five songs ago, and I can’t wait in the car any longer; and sometimes because I just changed over, I don’t like the song that’s almost over, but that next one’s gonna be pretty good.
O.K., so I can’t stand most music made over the last 25 years. Guess I’m just an old fogey stogie. 
But there is a guy named Derek Miller whom I think is really good.
I thought about this in the past when I tried to make a list of my favorite bands, and in a way it proved the OP right.
Pearl Jam, Smashing Pumpkins, dEUS, (original) Guns N’ Roses are still my favorite bands ever Their songs from 20+ years ago (by now they could be considered classics) still move me.
But there’s also plenty of Killswitch Engage, Alter Bridge, Muse and much more on the list.
Stuff from within the last 5 years.
I also think Bruno Mars is a great singer and Justin Timberlake & Lady Gaga are great performers.
I’ve never liked real dance or house music and such but I doubt the quality is less than it was 10,20,30 years ago.
My knowledge of contemporary music essentially ends in 1999. No, I didn’t have a baby then (or ever); that’s when Clear Channel and Cumulus took over all the playlists. Whenever I hear a Top 40 station, the playlist has about half the songs on it that it did back then!
People UNDER 40, or under 20 for that matter, don’t seem to be all that interested in “new” music either. Kids these days really do listen to their parents’ music, or even their grandparents’ if you’re talking about artists like Jimi Hendrix, who recently had a #1 single 42 years after his death.
I have a “Classic Dave Barry” calendar, and today’s entry is “Good Names For A Rock Band”.
They are:
Earl Piedmont and the Diphthongs
Slippery Spleens
Sheep Eyeballs
The Flaming Croutons
Balky Charcoal
I’m over 40 and have been listening to metal lately. I’m particularly fond of High on Fire, a band that formed in '98 and are still around. They don’t sound new, though. Most of the newer bands I like these days owe a lot to Black Sabbath and Motorhead.
Heh – “dubstep”. This reminds me – I was going through the genres on pandora and felt very old: Not only did I not recognize the artists, I didn’t even recognize the genre!
I was a huge rock/alternative fan in the 80’s and 90’s – here are the current bands I think are pretty dang good:
The Strokes
The Killers
Silversun Pickups
Rise Against
Breaking Benjamin
The Black Keys
Bands that are new to me that I have discovered recently by Googling potential band names:
Matt Fisher and the Telephone Junkies (well I just googled Telephone Junkies)
Milks and Rectangles
Dear Ambellina
The Cocktail Revisionists
The TV Sound.
I’m 57. If you tune into RadioKo, you’ll find yourself listening to an FM station from 1971. That said, I love:
Shayna Zaid and the Catch
Patty Griffin
Espers
Ryan Adams
Elizabeth Cook
Susan Enan
The Civil Wars
Melody Gardot
and Rumor
Damn kids!
I like new artists, but i don’t usually gravitate to top-40 or popular radio. Who am I kidding… I actually avoid it as much as I can. I don’t want to miss anything; I like to keep up with the trends and such for when I get my break on Jeopardy, or i’m tying to have conversations at the next dinner party. But I don’t have to worry about that so much since (Jeopardy’s not calling and) much of the “top” artist’s material is force-fed to us on TV, in the mall, restaurants, etc. Anyway… I like the local and independent radio stations, and that’s where i hear most of my music. I prefer alternative, and Americana, and have even begun to step into the alternative hip-hop world.
Here are just a few of the new artists that this almost 50yo really dug over the past year or two:
The Beast, a Hip-hop and Jazz cocktail from Durham, NC.
The tUnE-yArDs, not sure what to call it, she’s from the NE USA.
Lucero, americana/rock from Memphis.
Gold Motel, pop from Chicago
Foo Fighters, heavy pop
Little Barrie, soul/rock from merrie ol’ England
To go one step farther… though i still think the 70’s produced some of the greatest music, I try to avoid it these days. I’ll pull out some Zeppelin or some Charlie Daniels every now and then, but I gots-to-have a fresh beat in my ear most of the time.
I am old enough to remember loving all of the “new” songs from Janis Joplin, Led Zepplin, Beatles, The Doors, etc.
However, I listen to a radio station on the way to and from work with new music and like quite a lot of it. That’s is also where I first heard the worst song of the past few decades, “Tick Tock” (aka Tik Tok) by Kesha. That song sucks on so many levels.
My biggest problem today is the same problem I had in my youth - I never pay attention to the name of the singer/band and so, while I will like a song - I never remember/know the name of the song or who sings it.
So can I name any of the new acts I like? Nope.
But there is quite a bit I do like.
I’m 52. I’m a teacher in Korea and most of the new music I’m exposed to is K-Pop. I kind of like Bruno Mars, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift. While I actively avoided listening to the stuff that was on the radio when I was in high school, I have a soft spot for the Ramones and the Allman Brothers Band (Gregg Allman has a recent album from about two years ago that holds up really well). AFM, the local military station, has a local monopoly on American music and puts the Lumineers and fun into really high rotation; both set my teeth on edge.
I’ll join you in shunning Ke$ha. First time I saw her was on a fairly recent Dick Clark’s Rockin’ New Year’s Ever. Ryan Sechrist asked her what her New Year’s resolution was. Her answer? To not be a douchebag. Now, that’s class. :dubious: