Going Back to the Past!

“Oops, I got ninety-nine problems singing bye, bye, bye

Hold up, if you wanna go and take a ride with me

Better hit me, baby, one more time!”

This catchy verse from Anne-Marie’s “2002” sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it? That’s because it’s a mish-mash of lyrical reference from some of the greatest hits released in the late 90s and early 2000s; from N*SYNCS “Bye, Bye, Bye” right up to Britney Spears’ “…Baby One More Time.” In the song, Anne-Marie admits to singing about reminiscing her past and the songs she loved to listen to when she was growing up, back in the 90s and early 2000s
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This seems to be a reoccurring theme in present day. We see teenagers sporting looks from the 90s and thrift shopping for vintage outfits their mothers used to wear, we hear music by artists like Meghan Trainor that sound eerily similar to 50s Doowop, and Instagram is full of pictures people take when they find vintage memorabilia at an old-timey restaurant or their grandparents’ attic. There’s something eternally chic about trying to imitate or bring back the styles and themes of yesteryear. It’s safe to say that popular culture doesn’t always move forward like what most of us assume.

The phrase “Retromania” is synonymous with this throwback-culture. Relating to our obsession with all things vintage and retro that were popular in its time, but at one point or another had slowly started to fade out of existence. The word retro was first used in the 60s but began to expand in the 80s following the rise of pop culture in the mainstream, the word itself means backwards or recent past.

Even today, we can see remnants of the past in various media and lifestyle choices. Producers base popular shows and movie storylines in timelines that occur in the 80s or 90s, such as Stranger Things, Captain Marvel, and Bohemian Rhapsody. Alternative and indie bands have a penchant for incorporating old elements into their songs and their music videos; such as Sia’s Cheap Thrills and FUR’s “If you Know That I’m Lonely” to name a few. Even vintage vehicles still in their prime after so many years become a collector’s dream, even at unreasonably high prices.

I myself am one of those people who prefers to listen to the 60s-80s hits of Led Zeppelin, David Bowie and the Beatles instead of the popular dubstep and EDM of the now. I have a certain fondness for inventions of the past that are no longer relevant now; such as type writers, old telephones, jukeboxes and record players. Most of my life is as heavily influenced by trends of the past as it is by the trends of the now. And to be frank, I sometimes become less aware of present-day trends and fads than of those that were prominent in the past.

So why do we do this? Why do we keep looking back to the past in our journey to move forward?

The past is now an ever-present aspect of pop culture and a recurring theme across every generation; most prominently in the newer generations. They tend to romanticize decades of the past as a way of longing for something they never had nor experienced. Teens born in the 2000s like to watch television shows from the 90s and wear clothes that were in style in that decade, the same way kids of the 90s used to dress up in leg-warmers and bell-bottom jeans when they go to 80s-themed dance parties.

But it wasn’t always this way. There was a time when people used to long for and romanticize the future; nowadays they tend to view it as destructive and apocalyptical, so they turn to the past as a safe haven for their musings and inspiration. That’s why they keep remaking old movies and old shows, in order to keep up with the trend of living in the past.

Overall, I believe that pop culture will forever be shaped and molded by the boundless imagination and creativity of mankind but they themselves refuse to keep moving forward so they keep stepping back to the past to relive nostalgia and keep the past alive within every generation.

- Trisha Dantiani (1806174616)