Is the absence of "new" classic rock directly attributable to the rise of the music video?  Was there a point where the music became secondary to the flashiness of the video form?  And wasn't that point in time the mid-80's as suggested by slide further down in the thread?

be that it changed our viewing tastes toward just what you said, and away from substantive, challenging musical content. In short, looks replaced talent.....all the while, the way we consumed and were exposed to music shifted greatly toward the visual media, so we more or less stopped just listening to music and let ourselves be satisfied with passively watching it, critical thinking sedated as the empty-calorie superficial visual appeal covered up the lack of anything to really chew on in the songwriting or musicianship. But, it's what we have said that we want for decades now, by consuming it repeatedly and not bothering to find and support art and artists that we'd likely enjoy much more.

The only saving grace to the visual emphasis may be that watching performances of live music is still appreciated, so at least there is a venue for some of the criminally underexposed talent to get their stuff out there.  But it's a lot of hard work.....while at the same time the flashy filler keeps getting rushed in front of our eyeballs in every possible way.  Sigh.