Advent of the Cd and mega selling tour have effected song writing for the worse for me.
I preferred it when albums were 10-12 tracks max and tours were done to promote albums, not, as it is now, the other way around.

Artists under too much pressure to fill entire cd's with stuff mean more fillers and not enough gaps between records to develop potential and grow because a product always has to be out there.

Some modern albums though I regard as classics:

Treat - Coup de Grace
Shinedown - Sound of Madness
Debut H.E.A.T cd
Maybe the first W.E.T.