Looking over the top albums of the last few years, it's all quite soft music.
2009 - Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, The XX.
2008 - Fleet Foxes, Portishead, Tv on the Radio
etc
Of those I think only Tv on the Radio has something resembling rock guitars. Contrast this to some of the most acclaimed bands of all time, such as Nirvana, Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, The Who.
So what's going on, and which are the good hard rock bands now?
Post-Grunge, pop-punk & Nu Metal killed mainstream rock. There are only a handful of bands over the past 5 years that have carried the "hard rock" torch; Foo Fighters, Queens of the Stone Age, maybe recent Pearl Jam & Alice In Chains cd's to a certain degree. These bands are really good, but nothing transcending that is going to shape musical paths back in that direction.