A blog written in February 2009, which is still relevant as the retro age rumbles on. A lot of this is a repeat of my ‘Selling Out’ blog (a lot of my writing tends to cover the same theme sometimes) but also covers fashion and movies and other ‘stuff,’ to an extent.
The Retro Age is not exactly a new phenomenon, but the current ‘money’ generation is the one that were children and/or teenagers in the 1980s. And the 1980s was the age of capitalism and commercialism and pretty much everything being merchandise in accordance to synergy, so there is PLENTY of stuff to repackage and remake and resell. Films are still being remade and/or sequels and prequels being made around them. Clothing and music came back, tacky pieces of over-priced crap are still abundant online and in your high street shops. And now the early 90s is creeping back in too. Perfect timing for The Stone Roses to reform and cash in eh?
The Rise and Rise of the Retro age
I first learnt about postmodernism in Sociology at college, and I think that’s a fair description of today’s society, or at least cultural consumerism – post-modern.
Actors relaunching franchises (and subsequently their status) for a quick buck is nothing new, nor is a band getting back together.
But my generation, i.e. the generation of people that were born in the 70s right up to the mid 80s, are the ones who are now the forerunners of society, i.e. the 20 and 30 somethings with the money and power to shape the future. And as a result, we all have our happy childhood memories lodged somewhere in the 80s.
Therefore, Sly Stallone, Harrison Ford and friends have no hesitation in relaunching the likes of Rocky, Rambo and (unfortunately) Indiana Jones, and making at least $30 million from it. They know their fans will pay to watch these things.
The 1980s
But more recently, and what is getting a lot of people excited, is the sheer number of bands getting back together, and bands no-one thought would ever be back together. The Eagles, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Led Zeppelin and The Police have all resurged at some point in the past few years. Faith No More recently announced they were getting back together, and there is talk of the Smiths and pretty much every other band that people thought were consigned to the past, until the big guns started firing again.
Bands many thought might be finished by the end of the 90s are riding the A list wave once more, i.e. Red Hot Chili Peppers and Greenday. Some bands are reforming after breaking up not too long ago, i.e. Blink 182, Limp Bizkit, although these were the bands that took my mates and I through college. Even techno kitsch like 2Unlimited are hoping the retro age works for them. Take That proved boy bands can become successful man bands, and all of a sudden Boyzone, Backstreet Boys and New Kids on the Block re-appear (although I wish they’d stayed broken up).
All of this is making listening to the radio much more interesting again. My taste in music has gone very strange lately. I am enjoying classical music, and at the same time also listening to chivvy drum n bass and stuff on the opposite end of the scale, the ‘chavvy’ songs such as You Wot, Beeper, My Rolex and Heartbroken. I think it is more of a guilty pleasure, an ironic enjoyment of this music as it’s meant to be something my mates and I would hate, but evokes positive memories. But in-between I am loving some old school 70s and 80s stuff, such as Peter Frampton, Lynyrd Skynyrd and a little bit of Bob Dylan.
And this new age is allowing millions of new fans to jump on the bandwagon as well. One such band being The Stooges, although after a tragic death this might be short-lived (no pun intended). One thing that does crack me up is the amount of air-headed society kids with no knowledge of music going around wearing Rolling Stones t-shirts and The Stooges t-shirts, I bet they don’t even know their songs. All 18 year olds going out now were also (and here’s a scary thought) born in the 1990s, completely missing out on the eras of all of these bands, but jumping on the bandwagons anyway terrified of not seeming cool, which I find pathetic. But maybe I’m just getting old.
One example of a rejuvenated band that are in the perfect era for their music is The Pet Shop Boys, despite being old men their style of music is most definitely ‘in’ right now. As a teenager, liking the Pet Shop Boys was something you kept quiet about. In your 20s and 30s it is more allowable, but even now people under the age of 20 like them due to the fact they fit in perfectly with the current era. And I think their new stuff is really good, although I still will never forgive them for keeping The Pogues of the Number 1 spot.
In a side-note, and going back the Stooges, the retro era is also the ultimate sell-out era. Many 80s actors and bands are quite happy to make below-par entertainment to earn a lot of money. Movie examples are Terminator 3 and the new Indiana Jones, but look how much money Arnie and Harrison made. These days, even Iggy Pop sells out. I HATE people who say they liked a band ‘before they made it’ or ‘before they sold out’. These people know nothing about music, and can be described as music snobs. Sadly there were many of these at university. Basically as soon as a band makes a hit record, they become commercial, and have obviously sold out. Firstly, sometimes a band just gets better and better, or strikes it lucky with a song, and of course everyone wants to buy it and/or market it. You can’t blame the band for that. And 90% of bands are started to become big, the band members want to make money, become famous, meet girls, tour the world. Many DO love playing just for the sake of playing, but if you get offered lots of money and adventure, how many would turn it down? And so their first song or album is loved, despite sounding crappy (or in a more positive description, ‘raw’). They improve their equipment, vocals, song writing, gain a bigger fan base and release a second album which may sell a lot, and all of a sudden they become sell-outs and you get a small core of skinny little stoner music ‘lovers’ who go ‘Yeah, they used to be good, but now they’re too commercial’. Bollocks. It’s true that many big bands get to a point where new stuff or a new sound is hard to come by. The hardcore want another anthem, critics want something different and often the band members themselves all want to do something else, often resulting in break-ups when they all reach a point of ego and creative difference. Foo Fighters are one of my favourite bands, but I found their last two albums fairly average. This still does not change the fact they are an awesome band, who love playing music, and being successful does not make you crap or a sell-out. By some of these idiot’s arguments, the moment you pick up a guitar, or a microphone, or some drum sticks you are selling out.
I think the whole concept of it really is more of a punk thing, an anarchy thing. Yet the pioneers of this viewpoint, such as John Lydon (Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols) and Iggy Pop (lead singer of The Stooges) are selling butter and car insurance respectively, if they are doing it then how the hell can you describe everything else?
One thing I have constantly learnt in education and very evident in real life is that nothing is original anymore. Everything is just rehashed pieces of something else. Which explains the music of the moment, and for this you need to go back to where it all began, i.e. the bands now grew up in the 80s and early 90s, and that music shaped what they are doing now, and what is being played on Radio 1, and what is winning awards from NME and co. Just look at the festivals – the support bands are usually bands that grew up listening and imitating the likes of Metallica, Rage Against the Machine and Bruce Springsteen, and the headliners ARE Metallica, Rage and The Boss.
I think you can (probably inaccurately) put the music of the 80s and early 90s into 3 eras (completely ignoring pop, as my main argument here is concerning bands and therefore rock/indie/dance influence, although pop is very evident in today’s music and charting acts as well). In America you had the shift away from the late 70s ‘dad rock’ and the early 80s ‘hair rock’ (again big influences) into a more alternative style. You had stuff like Faith No More, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails and Nirvana. I can’t say I know as much of these bands as my older friends do although I do appreciate it now. A lot of this wasn’t as commercially successful as say other big artists at the time like Guns N Roses, but a lot of it was influenced by previous styles and has subsequently influenced modern styles, creating the more original (if there is such a thing) of the sounds on the radio today.) This later gave way to punk/pop rock like the bands my mates and I loved in college (the new rock/new punk/nu metal age, which as much as many people hate, did reignite a lot of old rock band tastes due to the fact they were these guys idols.)
In the UK you had a similar alternative movement, here starting off with the likes of Joy Division and the Happy Mondays and moving on bands typically appearing on The Word (or something to do with John Peel, Mariella Frostrup, Jools Holland etc) like Terrorvision and Suede, eventually being overtaken by the ‘Britpop’/Indie of Oasis, Blur and to a lesser extent Pulp (and many others).
The third era emerging was the development and emergence of dance/techno, pioneered by the likes of Kraftwerk but now finding angles in New Order and The Prodigy and lots of independent DJs here and in America, linked to but not the same as the (now seen as cheesy) ‘Eurodance’ which was prolific in the early 90s and is still getting sampled and re-sampled today. A lot of genres of music have clashed. People take the piss out of Vanilla Ice in the early 90s, but he was one of the pioneers of using a sample of a pop/rock record in a hip hop record, and just look how much that is being doing now (a recent example being ‘You Spin me Right round’). Even MC Hammer was mocked for his extravagant dancing and costumes yet look how many hip hop artists wear baggy pants, flashy shirts now and dance like muppets. You had the early clash of rock and rap by Aerosmith and Run DMC and pop and rap already becoming popular. Pop and dance then fused, often with a female vocalist and a male rapper, especially in the ‘Eurodance’. The likes of Prodigy fused rock and dance, and now you have many acts such as Pendulum putting a Drum N Bass twist on this. Many acts now, such as The Klaxons and more recently Crystal Castles and White Lies etc. are fusing all of this 80s and 90s mish mash – a mix of rock, indie, dance and pop and creating stuff that is partially new (but not original) and at the same time reminding us all of the sounds of the 80s and 90s, sometimes obviously through a non-hidden sample.
1990s cartoons
The fashion is also reflective of all of this. Just a few years ago I remember reading an article mocking 80s fashion and saying it was unlikely neon colours and 80s ‘crimes’ would ever make a comeback, and yet it has. Everything comes round eventually, often in cycles of around 20 years (i.e. giving someone enough time to grow up, make money by buy stuff that reminds them of their childhood and teenage years). The 80s fashion isn’t a new thing though, when I was at college I remember Ringspun t-shirts coming out with pictures of 80s idols on them. It seemed to go away, but I don’t think it did, I think it just became ‘consistent’ in the background, re-emerging mixed up with (of all things) 1950s fashion, and now more recently hand in hand with 90s indie clothing. Neon 80s with dull 90s indie, it’s quite amusing. You are getting checked shirts, glow sticks, neon t-shirts and skinny jeans, trench coat, large dark glasses and long shaggy hair. Some people pull it off, many look like idiots, but it’s all good fun. And again, the irony is most of the people wearing it are 16-20 and not born until the turn of the decade if not afterwards.
But one thing is for sure, this year’s entertainment is looking amazing already, and it’s only 2 months into the year. Films are banking on people’s favourite franchise of the 80s such as Terminator, and comic books and graphic novels everyone read are still being made/re-made, Watchmen being the highlight of my film year.
And the music is going to be awesome, providing you don’t feel too old to enjoy it when you see some arrogant little 18 year old dancing away to one of your favourite bands from a decade ago.
