Is it just me of am I one of the few "anti nostlagic" people?

When it comes to cartoons, only a very few stand the test of time like "Ren & Stimpy" since I find most preachy, corny, badly written, or toy infomercials, Most of the cartoons I have interest are from the early/mid 20th century.  But realized that they were aimed towards adults and gotten a new appreciation of them since I dismissed them as "kiddie fodder" in my teens.

Same for tv shows. I used to watch old sitcoms from the 1960's & 1970's like "Bewtiched" &
"Brady Bunch", but find them too corny for my taste. Also a few then current shows like "Married with Children" & "In Living Color"...though still funny and understand some of the humor that went over my head as a young child.  Though only watch reruns whenever I feel like it or see them on tv.


I used to watch Looney Tunes and Disney as a kid, but never uncut  many and many like the Lantz cartunes are  "new" to me.

As for music, I was never really into hardcore/gangsta rap (which most of my peers were into) and later '90's pop.

Technically, my tastes haven't much change since I was teen...then again, I'm 23. 

Then again, I wasn't into popular music until 1997...eh, hard to explain...but I've never liked "current" music though hardcore gangsta rap is still popular. Good thing numetal is nolonger popular since the past few years...

I probably liked popular music the most around the late '90s - 2005, of course over time I became a bit more critical of it. Around 01/02 I thought popular music was just great. Nowadays while I'm still ok with the things that I like, I'm more critical of some of the stuff that's popular which I really think just sucks and I listen to plenty of older music and stuff that's not really popular.

It all depends when you were born. I was born in '66 so I'm a big fan of the 70's.
That's when I had the most fun & memories of that time were great.

I also like the 50's so I guess my theory is useless!

I usually feel nostalgic more for the years between 1988-1995, after that, pop culturally speaking, there isn't much I'm nostalgic for. I do feel nostalgic for eras I was never even around, but because the '50s, '60s, '70s were so imbedded in my childhood (like watching old shows and listening to oldies music, etc) that it is something I do feel a 'sense' of nostalgia for.

When I was 23 nostalgia was the last thing on my mind. At 23 technically you should still be in the swing of things. I didn't start getting nostalgic till my very late 20s when you definitely feel a gap between what's going on and what you like. Give it a few more years.  :)

When I was 23 nostalgia was the last thing on my mind. At 23 technically you should still be in the swing of things. I didn't start getting nostalgic till my very late 20s when you definitely feel a gap between what's going on and what you like. Give it a few more years.  :)


Geez dude I felt it at 12 if that makes you feel any better. ;) Then again, it was because alot in my personal life changed (i.e. my parents splitting up temporarily, grandparents dying, moving, changing schools) - that will always speed it up, because it'll make you look back on "how things used to be".


For what it's worth, I think there's two different types of nostalgia people can experience.

1. Eventful - when you miss something or have cool memories of it, but that's about as far as it goes. For instance, in the mid '90s I terribly missed the '80s, but it was just for what I remembered, not because of me personally wanting to relive it at that same age.

2. Personal - when you also miss the age you were. That's how I get now sometimes. When I was 13 I might've missed events or songs that I first experienced when I was 5, but it's not like I would've wanted to actually BE a five year old again, lol. Now I honestly do miss my previous ages and would go back if I could.

That's the difference. And I think this changed over once I got out of high school, because I stopped wanting to get older.

Come to think of it,  my taste is more about interest than nostalgia...  though a bit of both

Memories, yes.  Pop culture history, yes.  Nostalgia, NO!

NO-stalgia.

I have brought this up several times in the past because I get nostalgic sentiments just as much as the next guy.  However, for me the good old days weren't so good. 

My sister brought up these halcyon memories of the '80s when we were both still living in the suburbs with mom and we used to cruise around in her blue Mustang* listening to Depeche Mode...and so and so on...and she said it seems like such a sweet time now. 

Well, no.  She was doing what we all do with nostalgia: Filtering out the hard times and leaving only a warm and fuzzy residue.  When I hear the "Black Celebration" album, the same sense memories come back, but what makes them so dear is they were comfort in the end stage of a hellish childhood full of angst, insecurity, financial ruin, sibling strife, and parental betrayal.  I could choose to ignore the harrowing realities and dwell on the fun stuff, but I couldn't go very far in any direction if I did.  A full spectrum of memories is robust while yearbook hugs are shallow and tiresome. 
::)

*My sister had the Mustang; my mother had a little white Renault.  I had a pair of black Doc Martens and a bus!

Memories, yes.  Pop culture history, yes.  Nostalgia, NO!

NO-stalgia.

I have brought this up several times in the past because I get nostalgic sentiments just as much as the next guy.  However, for me the good old days weren't so good. 

My sister brought up these halcyon memories of the '80s when we were both still living in the suburbs with mom and we used to cruise around in her blue Mustang* listening to Depeche Mode...and so and so on...and she said it seems like such a sweet time now. 

Well, no.  She was doing what we all do with nostalgia: Filtering out the hard times and leaving only a warm and fuzzy residue.  When I hear the "Black Celebration" album, the same sense memories come back, but what makes them so dear is they were comfort in the end stage of a hellish childhood full of angst, insecurity, financial ruin, sibling strife, and parental betrayal.  I could choose to ignore the harrowing realities and dwell on the fun stuff, but I couldn't go very far in any direction if I did.  A full spectrum of memories is robust while yearbook hugs are shallow and tiresome. 
::)

*My sister had the Mustang; my mother had a little white Renault.  I had a pair of black Doc Martens and a bus!


Yeah, I think lots of us are selective about the past because of nostalgia. We tend to look at the good stuff and anything that sucks we kinda skip past because it doesn't seem as bad now. Maybe it's because we know we got through it and it's not going on anymore.

The mid '90s were actually pretty lousy for me too, even if I was basically still a kid in Junior High - but when I look at it now I tend to just focus on what I like. I guess that's like how your sister is.

Yeah, I think lots of us are selective about the past because of nostalgia. We tend to look at the good stuff and anything that sucks we kinda skip past because it doesn't seem as bad now. Maybe it's because we know we got through it and it's not going on anymore.

Good point there, Marty.

Back in the early 90's, 1970's fashion and music suddenly became popular again, which in the late 80s would have been unthinkable. The trendy college girls started wearing bellbottom jeans, and surprisingly they looked good.  But true 70's style never really came back, instead what came into fashion was an updated and heavily sanitized 1990's interpretation of 70's style.

Sure girls started wearing bellbottoms and guys started growing more facial hair again, but this sure as hell never came back in 1994:

http://popwatch.ew.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/26/wkrp_l.jpg

And yes, people REALLY DID wear clothes like this back in the 70's.  :P :P :P

Good point there, Marty.

Back in the early 90's, 1970's fashion and music suddenly became popular again, which in the late 80s would have been unthinkable. The trendy college girls started wearing bellbottom jeans, and surprisingly they looked good.  But true 70's style never really came back, instead what came into fashion was an updated and heavily sanitized 1990's interpretation of 70's style.

Sure girls started wearing bellbottoms and guys started growing more facial hair again, but this sure as hell never came back in 1994:

http://popwatch.ew.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/26/wkrp_l.jpg

And yes, people REALLY DID wear clothes like this back in the 70's.  :P :P :P


Is he that dude from WKRP in Cincinatti?? I used to have a crush on him.  ;D But, you're right, good 'ol '70s will never come back in it's full form, just as the '80s will never come back in it's full form, even though there are some influences in a lot of today's style, music and culture - it was still by far a totally different era.

I am also nostalgic too, and like you, I'm 23.  But my nostalgia is not in pop culture but in real life.  I moved out of my parents house years ago, and now trying to get myself back, mainly due to the economy.  Every day it feels like I am struggling pay check to pay check, I'm just using it to pay rent and much else with it.  In a way, I almost have no life. Well, thankfully I have internet to get a very minimal entertainment value I can get hehe. :)

As far as pop culture, yeah the 00's aren't my favorite.  I can't understand today's rap music and the current music scene in general, as it feels like these fads started after I left high school lol.  I still try to go to cheap concerts whenever I can, such as the Sevendust concert I went a month ago.  I personally see 1991 to 1998 as my favorite years as far as pop culture goes.

I also have 60's nostalgia, but that is due to my dad.  He is encouraging me to check out Jacob(Bob's son) Dylan's cd soon, as both my parents are fans of the Dylan's.

Give it a few more years man, the 90's revivalism might be coming up soon, though likely I imagine it being a watered-down versions of it like all the 80's remakes hollywood made over the 00s  >:(.

Good point there, Marty.

Back in the early 90's, 1970's fashion and music suddenly became popular again, which in the late 80s would have been unthinkable. The trendy college girls started wearing bellbottom jeans, and surprisingly they looked good.  But true 70's style never really came back, instead what came into fashion was an updated and heavily sanitized 1990's interpretation of 70's style.

Sure girls started wearing bellbottoms and guys started growing more facial hair again, but this sure as hell never came back in 1994:

http://popwatch.ew.com/photos/uncategorized/2007/04/26/wkrp_l.jpg

And yes, people REALLY DID wear clothes like this back in the 70's.  :P :P :P

OK, that suit is butt, but at least his butt isn't hanging out of the back of the thing.  Yeah, the seventies gave us hideous bellbottoms and loud suits, but if you took one of the skater kids from the municipal parking lot here in Amherst and sent him back to 1975 in a time machine, the seventies denizens would just think he was retarded!

Hey, I just got an idea for a Back to the Future Remake:  October 2009 back to October 1979!
8)

OK, that suit is butt, but at least his butt isn't hanging out of the back of the thing.  Yeah, the seventies gave us hideous bellbottoms and loud suits, but if you took one of the skater kids from the municipal parking lot here in Amherst and sent him back to 1975 in a time machine, the seventies denizens would just think he was retarded!

Hey, I just got an idea for a Back to the Future Remake:  October 2009 back to October 1979!
8)


I look forward to the day when the whole baggy pants thing is looked back on as being as ridiculous as Herb Tarlek's polyester jackets.  :P

The whole baggy pants thing is pretty much kids being kids.  I have a problem when I see guys who are past the age of 16 in them.  I have seen guys who look to be about 30.  What are they thinking.  The beauty of it is a lot of them are out there in cyberspace, for the rest of eternity.  ;D  boy are they gonna regret it  ;)