Editorial: Thoughts On Nostalgia For The 80s, 90s And 00s

[Johnny Caps]

As we enter the last weeks of the New 10s, I find myself thinking of how the decade nostalgia cycle was thrown off-course in this decade, and what that will mean for the New 20s. As I’ve often written about, I love the pop culture of the 1980s. The decade’s work got me through the dark times of the 90s and the 00s, and helped lead to my greatest successes as a writer in the New 10s. There was a lot of nostalgia for the 80s in the 00s and the New 10s, but I found myself staying away from it. I’ve never seen an episode of Stranger Things, for example, nor have I seen movies set in the 80s like Rock Of Ages or It: Chapter 1.
My reason for not doing so was because I was leery of nostalgia for the 80s after its’ first bloom in the 00s and early 10s. Programs like I Love The 80s and films like Hot Tub Time Machine were VERY heavy on snarking about the decade’s pop culture, fashions and hairstyles. It made me wonder why they were being considered nostalgia programming when they were so...

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[Peter Paltridge]

I thought the 2000s sucked, and it'll be very hard to accept nostalgia for that era. Pink and Gaga I'll grant you, but we also had Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, Black Eyed Peas, and Timberlake's "Sexyback" which wasn't even a song, just Timberlake talking up his own ego to a background beat. Most popular music was really really bad. So was most TV, dominated by reality shows.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Oh yeah......and WATCH STRANGER THINGS NOW. It does not make fun of the 80s, it glorifies it (some might say too much). The only thing it's truly slammed is New Coke, so if you have an attachment to New Coke, stay away from Season 3....otherwise, you need to watch that thing.

 

[eddmarkstarr]

I have so many fond memories of the conversations you and I had as members of RetroJunk. Thank you for sharing details from the dark days of the 90's. Nostalgia for the closing decades of the 20th century can wrap and hide many of the personal stories that we all keep inside. Reading this article is my reminder that real life is what friends share!