Has art jumped the shark after WWI?

[thesummerqueen]

But aren't there some absolute standards that allow us to say that say, a Bach fugue is a more intricate and complex creation than a more or less harmonically primitive I-IV-V-I pop song? It's not like all music is created equal.

A Bach fugue does not infuse the sheer joy of life in me the way listening to AC/DC's "Shook Me All Night Long" does. So no, it's not created equal, because they weren't created to do the same thing.