In the '50s through the '80s, it was much more common and expected, especially for teens, to be into what was current at the time. There were exceptions here and there, but basically you'd be considered a dork or at best, unusual, if you weren't into your own generation's pop culture. Oh, not that this isn't true now as well, but it equally seems far more acceptable and even cool to be into old-school/before your time fashions, bands and styles. Perhaps, this is in part due to having less original variety around now, the percentage of choices in older stuff increasing with time, or just that it's easier to discover older things than it was for previous generations to (i.e with the 'Net).

In the broad scope of things, I think I can pinpoint when the '70s culture revial began around 1993 as being when this mindset began to change. Probably because the 1970s was the first "new" decade, so once that became in style again, it was no longer just old f*rt/crusty parentlike decades that were retro.

Yeah, it seems that while the earlier decades had specific styles that were "in", these days it is more stylish to not follow the trends and just show some individuality.  In other words, I think this is the "Anything goes" decade.

Of course, I'm speaking of adults, can't really say for teens...

Yeah, it seems that while the earlier decades had specific styles that were "in", these days it is more stylish to not follow the trends and just show some individuality.  In other words, I think this is the "Anything goes" decade.


Yeah definitely. Even if a stronger pop culture aesthetic picks up in a future decade, I think it'll always be at least okay to like older stuff too. There's now over 50 years of teen culture to pick from, so it's more natural to gravitate towards something that's already been "done", if that makes sense. Heck, even any kind of mainstream rap is tied to 1991 in a way.

It depends upon how far you take the retro habit.  You can get away with it clubbing on saturday night, I suppose
but Monday in an office setting it probably would not look good if you were dressed like Madonna in any of her older videos.  Unless you happen to be selling something slightly illegal or normally taboo.         
Music wise people are who they are and you can't help liking what you grew up with and that's forgivable, but like the peasant blouses and knit ponchos and embroidered jeans are so retro 70's they are back again in stores as "updated classics".  Of course if you have vintage, all the better for your wallet!

Depends.

You don't see a whole lot of mullets these days.  ;D ;D ;D

It depends upon how far you take the retro habit.  You can get away with it clubbing on saturday night, I suppose
but Monday in an office setting it probably would not look good if you were dressed like Madonna in any of her older videos.   Unless you happen to be selling something slightly illegal or normally taboo.          
Music wise people are who they are and you can't help liking what you grew up with and that's forgivable, but like the peasant blouses and knit ponchos and embroidered jeans are so retro 70's they are back again in stores as "updated classics".  Of course if you have vintage, all the better for your wallet!


Sorry, maybe I worded it wrong. ;)

I wasn't referring to people who actually were around for the said eras continuing to enjoy them.

I more meant, is it cooler to openly like and embrace things from before your time now during the '00s? I think it is. A current teen who listens to old-school '70s and '80s rock bands that, let's say their older cousins or their parents like (or maybe that they just got into on their own) is far, far more common now than it was for a teen in the 1980s to call the current music "crap" and to instead listen to Elvis.

During the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s (and I guess the '90s too, in a lesser extent), it was more typical for people in the youth culture to always like what was current.

Yes, it's definitely more accepted and widespread nowadays to be "retro". I remember when I was younger, and in high school....it was "more cool" to dress with the current fads/styles....but now it seems like the whole vintage look is in again...and it seems like more people nowadays have adopted their own styles...whether they be current or retro.

During the 1950s, '60s, '70s, and '80s (and I guess the '90s too, in a lesser extent), it was more typical for people in the youth culture to always like what was current.


How do you know that?

Maybe it was just the crowd I hung out with but in the 80s I regularly went to 60s nights and they were packed out.  I also had a bunch of friends into mid-70s punk.

How do you know that?

Maybe it was just the crowd I hung out with but in the 80s I regularly went to 60s nights and they were packed out.  I also had a bunch of friends into mid-70s punk.


Oh, I believe that. Nostalgia started around 1973 (with the Fifties), so I know it's been around awhile. Ever since then, there's always been a few things that have come back. But, it's just that the older stuff was cool in addition to what was current and popular.

It has to be said that retro scenesters do tend to pick and choose alot - as AL-B said, mullets and a whole lot of other less durable relics of pop culture have fallen by the wayside. With regards with old bands from the 60s, 70s and 80s - it tends to be a few which have always been popular - the Floyd, Led Zep, the Velvet Underground. To me it's not so much a wholesale appreciation of the period as selectively choosing whatever fits in with that 'retro cool' image. With regards to 80s groups, it tends to be the less 'dateable' 80s groups like Joy Division or the Smiths, rather than A-ha or Depeche Mode which almost come to represent that period as a cultural-fashion 'retro-fad' movement. Personally, I'm not so much into the retro image as old music.

id say so  when i was in my teens  (iam 24 now )  i  had a lot of people asking why you listen  to that  stuff when  youre  own  age listen to a diffrent kind of music  id just say i find it boring  nowa days its allright  shessh  anycase    the music iam listing to now is what most people are in to  ( i was new romantic  then meatel all 80s  ) now look everyone in to retro

  Does enjoying music from a bygone era make one "retro"..?

  I guess the difference between retro and, uh, not retro, comes to music, are the reasons one enjoys it.  Does one enjoy it because one enjoys it, or does one listen to it in order to make a statement.  Fashion is a statement, I reckon, as is a fad groove ;) on...

I think it's great--I only wish there were more rock and roll era music stations around.I collect 50s clothes and jewelry,and i look good in 50s stuff.