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Cockroaches and the Eighties: Things that wont die.
I found this image gallery of a project about taking pictures of old boom-boxes and it reminded me, yet again, of something I’ve noticed that’s started to happen.
Maybe it’s just me, but has anyone else seen this recent trend of a resurgent love for the eighties?
Its (lack of) style:
The movies are all making a comeback:
There’s the obvious trends of “vintage” tshirts relating to things like Nintendo, Smurfs and other cartoons. A mountain of upcoming 80s themed movies, most of them starring Sylvester Stallone (Rambo, Rocky) and other recent/soon to be released ones: tr2n, Indiana Jones, Terminator, He-man, Thundercats, Akira. (I’m still waiting for: Karate Kid: Daniel-son becomes Karate Man.)
But what I find most interesting is the underground devotion to an archaic technology: the cassette. In 20 years, are people going to have CD’s everywhere as fashionable vintage items? (Instead of like now, where they are hanging from the rear-view mirror to piss me off by blinding me)
What is it about cassettes that we hold on to so much, that we find so interesting that it needs replication?
Some examples:
Customized title images:
D.I.Y. or made to order USB drives:
Collections of old tapes:
Fashion Accessories:
Playlist widget generator:
Cassette Skeleton:
Cassette Buttons:
And, I’m sure there are even more that I didn’t find yet.
The eighties seem abundant, and I am curious as to why. Things like American Apparel clothes (see the second image above), the Justice video styled completely like old 80s titles, and most of the things douchebag Kanye West does (after someone else did it, better).
There’s also the scary trend of absolutely terrible reality shows staring washed up 80s celebs: Scott Baio, Bret Michaels, Flava Flav, Corey Feldman/Haim, Paula Abdul, Gene Simmons and who knows who next.
Plus TV show revivals, music styles, clothing, color palettes, and typography. Everything seems to have been re-infused with an eighties aesthetic.
Hell, even the president is just an eighties knock-off.
Posted by md in motion, movie, music, opinion, rant, television, vintage on 8 August 2008.
This happens with every generation and every decade, it seems. It’ll pass…just like Care Bears and Cabbage Patch Kids did.
1. aw. 8 August 2008.
I’ll say it before Robles. You forgot to mention devo.
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4583430a12.html
2. tanner. 8 August 2008.
I specifically didn’t mentioned eighties music because A. I didn’t want to have to think about it. It makes me vomit and B. I knew Robles would basically write another post in the comments :)
3. md. 8 August 2008.
I think this “trend” has been around for longer than you think. I think it’s just been highlighted a lot more recently due to more mainstream artists such as Kanye. Who pretty much took his look from the Nu Rave scene that started in France with dudes like Busy P and Daft Punk. And all that stuff has been around for quite some time now.
I personally have nothing against revivals. However I do share your frustration with the over saturation of this decade. I actually, believe it or not, said I hate the 80’s to myself, after seeing the new JC Penny commercial where they literally rip off a very popular scene from the Breakfast Club, it pissed me off.
But after thinking about, I actually just hate people and how stupid they are, because I am pretty sure that only a small percentage of people remember that movie. So I really don’t hate the 80s, I love the 80s because I was born in the 80s, and because there are plenty of things I truly enjoy that came out from that time.
Devo however, actually started in the 70s but did not make it into the mainstream world in the 80s thanks to MTV. Which is now ruined too thanks to greedy and money hungry people that suck.
4. adria. 8 August 2008.
Funny to see all of that cassette stuff. There was something really friendly about cassettes and how any 5 yr old or 65 yr old could record something. Plus it makes the younger crowd remember their early childhood days probably.
5. craig. 11 August 2008.
Like, don’t be a total hater!
6. Briana. 11 August 2008.
“after seeing the new JC Penny commercial where they literally rip off a very popular scene from the Breakfast Club, it pissed me off.”
I hate that commercial too! The kids in that commercial most likely don’t know the movie and the kids who it’s marketed toward wouldn’t get the reference, either. It’s like the Target commercial where the Jonas Brothers (groan) sing a Beatles song. Do the kids listening to that now even know it’s a Beatles song? Do they even know who the Beatles are?
Agh. Ok. Enough of that, it just frustrates me when people don’t credit the original idea and act as if the new “fad” is just that - new.
7. aw. 13 August 2008.
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