I notice in all genres (styles) of music that the early productions from artists are more often then not the best.
If you think about it, it makes sense; they start from the pure love of the kind of music that they make, then other things enter their lives and it becomes more confused and less spiritual and eventually family and social obligations crowd out the origional time and inpiration that made the artist want to make music in the first place. Certainly there is some truth to the idea that money gets in the way, but it is not so simple.
For the most part, artists want recognition for what they make. We want to feel like someone appreciates our craft. When recognition is not realised, people try to change what they do, even if it goes agaist what they liked the best. Often, I think that recognition drives music to be a certain way, not subtle and anonimous, but boisterous and specific. Pop music is a creation over time, it didn't just happen one day.