Post by The Curmudgeon on Apr 1, 2015 13:14:18 GMT 2
You know, I was going to come in today and post some hilarious, mind-blowing April Fool's joke. Oh, we'd laugh together. But fuck it, because something is pissing me off right now. Worthless, needless nostalgia.
Now, I understand nostalgia, reminiscing of days gone past, is a powerful emotion. I have no problem with nostalgia. But there's a difference between remembering and celebrating the greats of the past and what's being passed as "nostalgia" now.
The Megadrive/Genesis collection on the PS3 that was released a few years back? Total nostalgia. You play some of those games that you loved as a kid and the music, the graphics.. it really does stir something inside that you can't put your finger on. That's nostalgia. But also, some (not all) of the games still play really well and still have plenty of gameplay value.
20th Anniversary re-releases of classic albums (The Bends, Nevermind, Melon Collie) can all bring back memories of sitting in friends bedrooms playing those records, or the first time you saw them live. But they're still fantastic albums that hold up today. Neil Diamond playing the hits? Nostalgia, but still great songs. You get the idea and I totally get that.
What I do NOT get, though, is this.
You won't know who those people are, and I don't expect you to. That's S Club 7, a largely terrible pop band who split up due to lack of sales and interest. A few failed solo careers later, a stint on Celebrity Big Brother that saw one of the girls labelled a racist and a public hate figure and several years in the wilderness doing nothing until, YAY, S Club 7 have reformed to play all those hits you haven't even touched in 10 years. Fucking "nostalgia", eh?
I blame the otherwise pretty great reality show "The Big Reunion", that took forgotten pop bands and got them back together for a grim looking concert. Once that took off, all these shit pop acts are squeezing into their jumpsuits to lip sync to their cheesy pop hits, and people who grew up without any interest in anything are creaming themselves over the "nostalgia."
The Manic Street Preachers playing the Holy Bible album in full at a select few concerts is one thing. These dicks fake smiling their way through a dance routine because they have literally nothing else to do is quite something else.
Am I being unreasonable with this? Not enough can have the same memories or sense of what classes as nostalgia, but holy shit this just seems desperate.
Now, I understand nostalgia, reminiscing of days gone past, is a powerful emotion. I have no problem with nostalgia. But there's a difference between remembering and celebrating the greats of the past and what's being passed as "nostalgia" now.
The Megadrive/Genesis collection on the PS3 that was released a few years back? Total nostalgia. You play some of those games that you loved as a kid and the music, the graphics.. it really does stir something inside that you can't put your finger on. That's nostalgia. But also, some (not all) of the games still play really well and still have plenty of gameplay value.
20th Anniversary re-releases of classic albums (The Bends, Nevermind, Melon Collie) can all bring back memories of sitting in friends bedrooms playing those records, or the first time you saw them live. But they're still fantastic albums that hold up today. Neil Diamond playing the hits? Nostalgia, but still great songs. You get the idea and I totally get that.
What I do NOT get, though, is this.
You won't know who those people are, and I don't expect you to. That's S Club 7, a largely terrible pop band who split up due to lack of sales and interest. A few failed solo careers later, a stint on Celebrity Big Brother that saw one of the girls labelled a racist and a public hate figure and several years in the wilderness doing nothing until, YAY, S Club 7 have reformed to play all those hits you haven't even touched in 10 years. Fucking "nostalgia", eh?
I blame the otherwise pretty great reality show "The Big Reunion", that took forgotten pop bands and got them back together for a grim looking concert. Once that took off, all these shit pop acts are squeezing into their jumpsuits to lip sync to their cheesy pop hits, and people who grew up without any interest in anything are creaming themselves over the "nostalgia."
The Manic Street Preachers playing the Holy Bible album in full at a select few concerts is one thing. These dicks fake smiling their way through a dance routine because they have literally nothing else to do is quite something else.
Am I being unreasonable with this? Not enough can have the same memories or sense of what classes as nostalgia, but holy shit this just seems desperate.
