There are many reasons for this.
First of all, pop music is not recorded with audio enthusiasts in mind. It is recorded to sound good on car stereo, smart phones with cheap ear buds, sound bars, home pods, etc. Even before all these new ways to listen, pop recordings were still engineered and mixed for the least common denominator in playback. Things have only got worse in the ensuing years.
All one has to do is look at Michael Jackson's "Black or White" to see what has gone wrong.
The first graph is from the 1991 recording, the second is from the 1994 reissue version, and the last is from the 2007 reissue. Notice the decreasing dynamic range in each ensuing version. This is to make the recording sound louder on the radio, and therefore, more 'exciting' to average listeners, thus more likely to be purchased.
View attachment 56933
Other problems with pop recordings of all types are: the massive amount of studio effect done in the recording process, auto-tune, massive amounts of noise gating, too much overdubbing, etc, etc.
One of the worst modern recording techniques is quantization. This is where they perfectly synch up all the musicians to be perfectly on the beats, or fractions of beats. This drains any of the humanity and life left in the music (after all the preceding destructive recording techniques have done their job).
All one has to do, is listen to great drummers of the past, who would purposely play slightly behind or ahead of the beat. This gives the music breath and life. Phil Collins was a master of this, even on some of his most complex drumming. I doubt this could be done these days. The engineer and record company would step in and make the recording sound 'perfect'.
Basically, the vast majority of modern pop has been 'Pro Tool-ed to death'.
Listen to a modern pop, or even rock, recording, and see if you can tell, there were ever real musicians playing their instruments, in a real space.
