I think you're pretty much spot-on, Superman. Except I think you got one line wrong, which is a very telling line: "The bar withstood the raising, which tastemakers allowed." To withstand means to fend off, essentially. So, in my opinion, it has more to do with the band trying to raise the bar, to bring more talent into music, but the community at large, and reviewers (for places like Rolling Stone, or the terrible Pitchfork), who are the tastemakers, have allowed a sort of dumbing down to happen. They hold the bar down where it is, instead of letting talented bands raise it.
I think you're pretty much spot-on, Superman. Except I think you got one line wrong, which is a very telling line: "The bar withstood the raising, which tastemakers allowed." To withstand means to fend off, essentially. So, in my opinion, it has more to do with the band trying to raise the bar, to bring more talent into music, but the community at large, and reviewers (for places like Rolling Stone, or the terrible Pitchfork), who are the tastemakers, have allowed a sort of dumbing down to happen. They hold the bar down where it is, instead of letting talented bands raise it.