[Igottago]

I think its partly due to musical trends and partly to how the industry has changed in a business sense. Not only is most modern "rock" music a caricature of itself and fairly dull compared to something like hip-hop, the other reason you have no more guitar heroes is because the modern music industry just doesn't really support a long term music career. You are lucky to have a couple of albums worth of attention before the next trend comes along and you are old news. You aren't getting big long term stadium bands anymore..no more Pink Floyd's, Led Zeppelin's, or even U2 or Pearl Jam's that are going to have long careers that capture significant public attention.