Because sarcasm and personal taste have gone out of style?
Not to mention those things were a thing at the time of Lester Bangs or the NME, 50+ years ago (and even in reviewers of classical music) hardly a Pitchfork era phenomenon or invention....
I think that music defining one's identity and their lifestyle has kind of gone out of style. I just remember the late 00's/early 10's as crazy on judging people on what they listen (or they clothes, like Vice Do and Don't), not saying it didn't exist before. But maybe I'm a bit sensitive because I did go through that phase and it's still fresh...
Also to add to this the more I lean to the content creation side and work with artists, the more genres become blurry and irrelevant. Seeing critics and the creator of that history tree obsess over this and create micro genres to try to fit every music and their listener into this is just silly and far removed from how a good composer or producer with eclectic tastes works. Nowadays a mainstream song can be surprisingly creative, while the N-th production in a "good taste approved sub-sub-genre of techno" will have 0 artistic value.
Not to mention those things were a thing at the time of Lester Bangs or the NME, 50+ years ago (and even in reviewers of classical music) hardly a Pitchfork era phenomenon or invention....