People's minds were fertile and actively producing and manifesting quality.
I stopped after the word 'quality' because I realized ... it wasn't as an adjective I was thinking ... but a noun.
What you also loved about the 60s and 70s is that the music was the music of your youth, and so it has instilled a heuristic in your mind that makes you less likely to perceive the creativity and hard work that go into contemporary music.
I teach guitar and piano. The majority of my students are between the ages of 8 and 15.
WITHOUT EXCEPTION, these kids ask me to teach them the music of the 60’s and 70’s, what is now called “Classic Rock”.
Sometimes they do an occasional contemporary pop hit, but usually they drop the song after a few weeks and go back to their usual repertoire of Beatles, Stones, Motown, Carole King, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, The Eagles, and Lots and Lots of Blues.
It makes my job extremely pleasant! :-)