Decade nostalgia

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Decade nostalgia is nostalgia for certain aspects of a past decade within contemporary popular culture, which arguably began in full after the 1950s due to the dramatic social and economic changes since then. Nostalgia usually occurs as a result of people who were in their teens and twenties during that decade entering midlife and reflecting upon their youth. However, it has wide ramifications for people of all ages as the popular media covers and participates in the phenomenon.

Contents

[edit] Pre-1950s nostalgia

Elements of decade nostalgia existed prior to the creation of 1950s nostalgia:

[edit] 1950s nostalgia

The Fifties remain a popular nostalgia decade, and are often seen in the United States in simplified terms by both proponents and detractors. Nicknames for the decade include the "Fabulous Fifties" and the "Nifty Fifties".

In the United States, different decades have approached Fifties nostalgia differently. Few people cared for Fifties nostalgia during the 1960s. The vast societal changes of the Sixties, particularly during the latter half of that decade, made the Fifties look repressive and square by comparison. Underground cartoonist Robert Crumb satirized Fifties middle-class culture, and Frank Zappa's 1968 album Cruising with Ruben & the Jets spoofed 1950s doo-wop..[1]

The assassination of President John F. Kennedy marked the end of the peace and prosperity of the 1950s era. During the 1970s, some people started viewing the Fifties as a calmer, more innocent time, a time devoid of the scandals, wars, assassinations, riots, and racial strife that had marked American life during the 1960s and early 1970s.[2][3] Thus the success of mostly idyllic Fifties-themed entertainment such as the movies American Graffiti and Grease, and the TV series Happy Days and its spinoff Laverne & Shirley. Fifties nostalgia also appeared in popular music. 1970s songs such as Don McLean's "American Pie", Elton John's "Crocodile Rock", and Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock and Roll" reflected the early years of rock and roll and how popular music had changed since then.

During the 1980s, the Fifties were featured in the Porky's teenage sex comedy trilogy, and in the music and fashion of the rockabilly revivalist band Stray Cats. The science fiction film boom of the 1980s echoed the sci-fi boom of the 1950s, and frequently referenced that period. John Carpenter remade the 1951 film The Thing from Another World as The Thing in 1982. There was a resurgence of monster movies set in small towns, and often these films would place televisions airing 1950s sci-fi movies in the background. Results of this revisionism include the 1982 Cold War/nuclear documentary The Atomic Cafe; David Lynch's 1986 movie Blue Velvet (which, as with Pink Flamingos, uses clothes, music, and decor from the Fifties as an ironic counterpoint to crime and degeneracy); Daniel Clowes's proto-lounge comic book Lloyd Llewellyn;[4] and the character Pee-wee Herman. Donna Deitch's 1986 movie Desert Hearts, a lesbian love story set in the 1950s, examined the sexuality and homophobia of that decade.

The 1990s revived 1950s-style lounge culture, such as manly-man drinking, womanizing, and consumerism. The 1992 book CAD: A Handbook for Heels and the 1996 movie Swingers portray lounge culture. Daniel Clowes satirizes Fifties nostalgia in his 1990s comic book Eightball by contrasting the Eighties version (Stray Cats) with that of the Seventies (Happy Days).

Filmmakers in the 2000s have tended to avoid releasing American Graffiti-style fantasies or Pee-wee Hermanesque campiness, instead examining Fifties racism, sexism, and sexual and political repression in a realistic manner. These films include Todd Haynes's Far from Heaven (2002); George Clooney's Good Night, and Good Luck (2005); and Mary Harron's The Notorious Bettie Page (2005).

[edit] Things and people associated with the 1950s

Diners were common during the 1950's.
Diners were common during the 1950's.

[edit] 1960s nostalgia

What is thought of today as the sixties actually started from about the end of 1963 and lasted until as late as 1974. Much of the early part of the decade was very similar to the 1950s. The 1960s are often called the "Swingin' Sixties" for the great cultural changes during that decade, and also for the popularity of swinging. The 1960s have been an object of nostalgia since the 1980s. The hippie is the stereotypical image of the 1960s for most Americans. In the United Kingdom, other subcultures, such as mods, rockers and skinheads are also a significant part of 1960s nostalgia.

[edit] Things and people associated with the 1960s

[edit] 1970s nostalgia

In the United States, the 1970s, in a nostalgic sense, do not so much mean 1970 to 1979, but moreso the latter half of that decade, because the first half of the 1970s was in a sense an extension of the 60s, typified by the Presidency of Richard Nixon, until his resignation in 1974 and the inauguration of incumbent Gerald R. Ford. The 1970s are sometimes called the Disco era because that type of music was very popular in the latter years of the decade. In the United Kingdom, the nostalgic view of the 1970s covers the decade somewhat more evenly. Punk rock and disco (the latter not as all-encompassing as it was in the US) were most closely associated with the second half of the 1970s. However, it is the image of glam rock (which peaked during the first half of the decade) that is arguably most strongly associated with 1970s nostalgia in Britain.

[edit] Things and people associated with the 1970s

[edit] 1980s nostalgia

The Eighties were ridiculed during most of the Nineties, although began to be seen as nostalgic in the late 1990s, with films such as the Wedding Singer). The period that is nostalgized as "The Eighties" is often considered to have started with the fall of Disco in 1979 and have ended with Ronald Reagan leaving office in 1989. In the United States, the Presidency of Ronald Reagan spanned almost the entire decade. The Eighties are often called the "Decade of Decadence" or the "Greedy Eighties" because of the excessive materialism & obsession with getting rich during the decade. The 1987 film Wall Street is a satirical portrayal of the corporate greed rampant in the decade, epitomized by the motif "Greed is Good." This is also shown in recent movies like American Psycho that focuses on the yuppie lifestyles of the 1980s. In recent years, Eighties nostalgia has been growing among some video game fans, leading to the creation of the magazine Retro Gamer, and high prices for 1980s video games on eBay.

[edit] Things and people associated with the 1980s

[edit] 1990s nostalgia

The period of the 1990s began with George H.W. Bush's inauguration in 1989, and the simultaneous 1990-91 recession and Gulf War, and ended with the expiration of Bill Clinton's second term, the burst of the dot.com bubble and the September 11, 2001 attacks. The fall of the Berlin Wall would set the stage for a period of unprecedented prosperity and peace in the world in the latter half of the decade for the first time since WWII, bolstered by the Internet revolution. In the United States Grunge music began to emerge from Seattle in 1989 and became a full blown global phenomenon by 1992 with the releases of Nevermind, Ten, and Badmotorfinger by Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden respectively. Nirvana are credited frequently as the act that brought the genre into the mainstream with the success of the Smells Like Teen Spirit song which recieved heavy rotation on radio and MTV soon after its release in the fall of 1991. The Seattle scene was well documented in the 1992 Cameron Crowe directed film Singles. Warner Brothers executives seeking to repeat the success of the film approached Crowe about turning the film into a TV series which Crowe flatly rejected. From this idea ultimately stemmed the show Friends which debuted in 1994, and went on to become one of the most popular sitcom series of the 90s. Grunge began to influence even fashion by 1993 as many various fashion shows in New York and Europe featured fashion inspired by the grunge aesthetic. MTV played a big role in marketing the genre as the music of Generation X and from this success created the show Beavis and Butthead in spring 1993 as a cartoon show portraying the Generation X "slacker" moniker. The genre began to decline after Kurt Cobain's suicide in 1994, as the music industry began to embrace increasingly slick, commercial acts such as Bush and Candlebox to continue sales. Alternative music ultimately supplanted grunge. The 1997 breakup of the band Soundgarden was widely percieved by fans well as the media as the "death of grunge." Following the success of N.W.A's 1989 album Straight Outta Compton hip hop signaled a shift away from the East Coast, where the genre originated, to the West Coast Bay Area, as artists such as Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg broke out with The Chronic album in late 1992. This set the stage for West Coast G-funk to become a huge trend in Rap, as such artists as E-40, Warren G, Too $hort, and Tha Dogg Pound copied the formula and achieved big sales. The release of Tupac Shakur's All Eyez on Me album in 1996 marked the peak of the West Coast phenomenon, selling some 9 million units. In response to rivalry with the West Coast artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Wu Tang Clan, and Nas all released critically acclaimed debuts in 1994 showcasing a grittier sound inspired by the hardcore gangsta rap movement. This sparked an East Coast/West Coast war, following the November 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur, which he blamed Biggie and Puff Daddy for. Artists from Death Row Records and Puff Daddy's label Bad Boy Records began hurling vicious insults at each other on albums and in diss tracks, highlighted by Tupac's 1996 track Hit 'Em Up frequently cited as the greatest diss song of all time. The rivalry ultimately ended with the deaths of Tupac and Biggie in 1996 and 1997. The death of Tupac Shakur from a shooting in September 1996, coupled with Dr. Dre's departure from Death Row Records, Suge Knight's incarceration for violation of parole and Snoop Dogg's leave from the label marked the end of the West Coast rap movement. In 1997 American pop music marked a transition after the rise of teen oriented groups such as The Spice Girls, N'SYNC, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears. In addition as a response to Tupac and Biggie's shootings, rap began to move away from lyrics about violence and urban squalor, towards partying and celebrating money and success. For the remainder of the decade the teen pop genre wholly dominated American top 40, with groups garnering massive record sales, posting up to 1 million within the first week of an album being released. In Alternative rock a new subgenre of music called nu-metal exploded in popularity in 1998 due to the release of Korn's third album Follow the Leader. Nu-Metal involved mixing rapping in a hip hop style with metal music. The genre actually has origins traced to the early 90s, following the success of bands such as Faith No More and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, both of which experimented a rapping lyrical style with heavy funk laden guitar and rhythm. Bands such as Limp Bizkit and Linkin Park capitalized on the genre, both racking up sales of 10 million by 2000. In the United Kingdom, phenomena associated with the 1990s include Britpop and Trip hop music, the Rave scene, and Loaded-style lad culture. During the 1990s, Japanese media (anime, Tokusatsu, Nintendo, etc.) was widely adapted for multinational distribution (this really began in the 1980s, but never as extensively as in the 1990s). Although house music was the single most dominant form of dance music in the UK from the late 1980s to the early 2000s, it has not yet become associated with the 1990s in general. In sports the 90s proved to be a golden age for Basketball due to the rise of the Chicago Bulls dynasty with Michael Jordan at the helm. In 1989 Phil Jackson took over as head coach, advocating a new method of triangle defense which would de-emphasize Jordan's role in favor of greater team collaboration. Jordan originally rejected the new measure, but eventually came to terms with its merit. From 1991 to 1998 the Bulls had two NBA championship 3-peats (1991-93, and 1996-98) winning a total of 6 Championships, and giving the NBA some all time high ratings. Nostalgia for the 1990s is currently in its infancy as the decade is still fairly recent, although signs are emerging that nostalgia for the decade is well underway.

[edit] Things and people associated with the 1990s

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ In the 1994 documentary Crumb (film), he calls the Fifties "suffocating and so dreary and depressing" due to the adults who had lived through the Depression and World War II and now wanted an "unthreatening and flat" life, an "Ozzie and Harriet shell" that ended up having "a kind of creepy, nightmarish, grotesque quality to it".
  2. ^ James L. Baughman (2006). The Republic of Mass Culture: journalism, filmmaking, and broadcasting in America since 1941. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0801883164. 
  3. ^ Johnathan Rodgers, "Back to the '50s," Newsweek, October 16, 1972, p. 78. Also see Douglas T. Miller and Marion Nowak, The Fifties: The Way We Really Were (Garden City: Doubleday, 1977), pp. 5–6.
  4. ^ In a 1992 interview, Clowes says he created this comic book series as a way of "rebelling" against his avant-garde upbringing. Similar to the way lounge devotees would embrace a long-gone, anti-PC culture, he became "really obsessed with all these old men's magazines and this whole weird vision of the world in the '50s that never came to fruition", a world of "weird space age machismo". Gary Groth, "Daniel Clowes Revealed!", The Comics Journal, November 1992, pp. 61–2.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links