Most everyone is nostalgic for their youth, but saying that pop culture sucks now compared to the past can't necessarily be written off as the words of an "old nostalgic fool" who blindly hates anything new, because of economics, technology, the progression of time, etc.
For instance, when I was a kid, you heard almost nothing about new movies coming out.
You just watched TV, and instead of the same old "Don't Squeeze The Charmin" or "Ancient Chinese SEEcret, huh?" commercial.....you'd suddenly see a bunch of lasers, and spaceships, and a voice would say, "It's the story of a boy......it's the story, of a girl, it's the story, of a UNIVERSE....STAR WARS!!!", and you'd be blown away and say, "MUST....SEE....THAT".
Now with the internet, I know what color panties Jessica Alba will be wearing in the helicopter scene in Fantastic Four 2 which won't even be out till next summer.
Plus, there is a valid thrill to "The First".
Now that even poor kids have video games that look like movies come to life, they just can't imagine (not through any short-coming of their own) the thrill, in a world of Monopoly and Chutes and Ladders....of being able to
conTROL the images on your TeeVEE, you can BOUNCE a little BALL back and FORTH on your TV!
The first time you saw a music video, it was a weird, underground thing, fascinating and novel, and exciting.
Now, music videos are part of the corporate establishment. That's just the nature of things, novel things often evolve for the worse once they become "established".
And the farther time progresses, due to the constraints of physical reality and the limitations of the human body/mind, you're going to be whittling down opportunities for firsts, and firsts are a huge deal.
(example, when they first went to the Moon, it was Earth-Shattering, now people aren't even aware of Space Shuttle launches, they hold all of the excitement of a family vacation to Aspen, Colorado)
