What makes one band better than another? Most answers are something like "this band has this awesome guitarist/drummer". In some cases ones liking of a certain artist might only depend on these over complex guitar riffs in their songs. I'm not saying it is a bad thing to be skilled playing an instrument, it's a good feature in a bands music. But the difficult guitar riffs itself doesn't make a good song. A very simple tone might sound spectacular if the performance is set right. Yet a very difficult and complex one might sound just horrible.
Oh, and ridiculously fast guitar shred or drum blasting doesn't fit in the definition of "skill".
Not to mention instrumental solos in songs. It seems it has became some sort of a standard for every damn song to have a guitar solo. Sometimes a solo might be a good way to identify or promote a certain song, but having a solo in every song on an album is overdoing it. Very often I've come across an album where the solos doesn't have any variety, causing all the songs remind each other and making the whole album repeatitive and boring. Even worse when the solo doesn't fit the actual song at all! Completely ruined.
tldr: fast guitar shred nonsense ≠ good music, and solos must fit in the actual song!
My favorite musician is Jimi Hendrix, and I'm glad he put solos in every song. Seriously though, I agree with what you're saying. People tend to get far too caught up in the Technical aspect of music and judge bands on that, instead creativity and originality.
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