The further you look back, the more biased your sample is. because as time passes we forget more and more of the crappy bands, we only remember the remarkable and time becomes more compressed. This is a big reason why it seems like music was so much better in the past.
Jazz is the exception, it took a nose dive in the 70's and never recovered. But that's just my taste.
but just for fun let me list off some post 76 stuff of my head that was great and hasn't been mentioned yet:
Patti Smith: Easter /
No one knew who Ian Mackaye was in 1976 /
Neutral Milk Hotel: Airplane Over the Sea (Holy E36 M3 ) /
Built to Spill
Pavement
Modest Mouse: Lonsome Crowded West
Sleater Kinney: One Beat, All Hands on the Bad One
TV on the Radio
Broken Social Scene: You Forgot it in People
The afformentioned early grunge and Radio Head
I can't even count how many bands I've heard that are heavily influenced by some combo of Built to Spill and Modest Mouse and that's even before most knew who Modes Mouse was. I think there is alot of music that has come out in just the last 20 years that will stand the test of time. And there is so much more music that is accessible to us now with the internet, it's easier for bands to get heard.
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