I think at least the more timeless/iconic pop culture (i.e. John Hughes movies, Pac Man & NES games, early goth culture, and music like MJ, Bon Jovi, Madonna, Guns N Roses, Springsteen, Def Leppard) will always probably have new eras of kids discovering it. Even in 2050 or something.

But save for the "cooler" stuff like that, I wonder how it'll be perceived many years down the road like that, when it absolutely has NO youthful ties whatsoever. When even the 80s kids/80s babies are 50+ I mean... all in all I don't think Xers have aged as well as Boomers.

Baby Boomers are like "cool, old young people" now. I've even met 65 or 70 year old ex-hippie pothead rockers around Santa Cruz who are still liberal and stuff. They seem a world apart from the jazz and depression era old folks I remember as a kid. But since Xers tend to swing more conservative, I'm not sure if some of them will be looked on the same way in 30 years. Sure they'll be very youngish for having grown up on videogames and MTV and fun vibrant youth culture, but they seem more "get off my lawn" towards the later generations of youth. Just think of your standard Faux News viewer. ;D

This is a hard question to answer.

Was the 60s the first eternally cool decade?  8)

This is a hard question to answer.

Was the 60s the first eternally cool decade?  8)


I definitely think so. :) Boomers were probably wilder and pushed the envelope in society harder than any generation before or since... not just with loud rebellious rock music, being potheads or bikers like in Easy Rider or just the stereotype of "Peace out mannn!" hippies protesting the Vietnam War and going to Woodstock, but the mid to late 1960s were probably the beginnings of things like feminism, (very slowly) acceptance of gays (i.e. Studio 54 and disco culture a bit later on in the 70s) and just so many other things we associate with "the modern era" and modern society.

Stuffy conservatism was kicked to the curb after the 60s! Well, not all of it, but people learned to loosen up a lot after the 60s, I think the 50s made people feel suffocated.

This is a hard question to answer.

Was the 60s the first eternally cool decade?  8)


I believe it was the 1950's.

I definitely think so. :) Boomers were probably wilder and pushed the envelope in society harder than any generation before or since... not just with loud rebellious rock music, being potheads or bikers like in Easy Rider or just the stereotype of "Peace out mannn!" hippies protesting the Vietnam War and going to Woodstock, but the mid to late 1960s were probably the beginnings of things like feminism, (very slowly) acceptance of gays (i.e. Studio 54 and disco culture a bit later on in the 70s) and just so many other things we associate with "the modern era" and modern society.


You know the 1890s was a decade that was revered for many decades after it was over, in the 1920s it was coined The Gay Nineties, in the 1930s and 40s period movies were made about the 1890s such as Belle of The Nineties. This was a decade described by some historians as an era of "psychic crisis and cultural upheaval", there was labor riots, new woman feminists, populists, reformers, and anarchists. Ragtime was a revolutionary new kind of music in it's time, a mix of African rhythms and European classical music, the flowery, naturalistic Art Nouveau style has many similarities to the psychedelic styles of the late 1960s and 1970s.

The youth generation of that decade were rebelling against The Gilded Aged and stale Victorian mores and this would continue into the 1920s, thinking about it there is so much parallels between the 1890-1910 period(The Progressive Era) and 1965-1980(counter culture revolution). Later these "progressives" and reformers were enacting Prohibition and having culture war arguments over evolution and breakup of the family during the 1920s.   

I agree with much of what you say BayAreaNostalgist1981. Speaking from my own perspective as one involved in the goth scene, I definitely can vouch that in my sub-culture, the 80's are treated with incredible reverence, even by those who weren't even born before the 80's were over. Many younger goths worshipfully try to imitate the classy melancholic fashions popularized by the likes of Siouxsie Sioux and Peter Murphy. 80's nights at goth-oriented clubs attract people who are now in their 50s as well as people who are just old enough to enter a bar.

I agree with what you say about Gen Xers often seeming less eternally youthful in their attitudes than their boomer predecessors, and I find this very odd. When I was a kid and the Gen Xers were still all young adults in their late teens to early 30s, they seemed to have such cool and rebellious tastes with their loud alternative rock and their irreverent attitudes. I also remember marketing toward Generation X in the 1990's treating them as the cool, young, fresh, energetic and new generation rising up to make a better world than the supposedly stuffy and outmoded Boomer and Silent predecessors had made. Now, I see how conservative so many of them are and I wonder, what the hell happened to them? How did the generation that produced Nirvana become so right-wing and disdainful of anyone who questions pure laissez-faire economics? It just doesn't make sense to me. Plus, they grew up in the 80's when popular male musicians were much more effeminate than they are today, so I should have thought this would led to them being overwhelmingly accepting of gay people and gay rights, but it seems to me that they are as a whole only a little more pro-gay than their predecessors.

On the other hand, within the goth scene, I find that the Gen Xers who have kept the old traditions alive seem to be much more liberal. The goth scene has often been a haven for gay people and other people shunned by polite society, and I think this exposure to non-hegemonic sexualities and people who never really fit in along with fashions that seem to intentionally mess around with gender norms has made goth Gen Xers much more left-oriented than their non-spooky peers.

You know the 1890s was a decade that was revered for many decades after it was over, in the 1920s it was coined The Gay Nineties, in the 1930s and 40s period movies were made about the 1890s such as Belle of The Nineties. This was a decade described by some historians as an era of "psychic crisis and cultural upheaval", there was labor riots, new woman feminists, populists, reformers, and anarchists. Ragtime was a revolutionary new kind of music in it's time, a mix of African rhythms and European classical music, the flowery, naturalistic Art Nouveau style has many similarities to the psychedelic styles of the late 1960s and 1970s.

The youth generation of that decade were rebelling against The Gilded Aged and stale Victorian mores and this would continue into the 1920s, thinking about it there is so much parallels between the 1890-1910 period(The Progressive Era) and 1965-1980(counter culture revolution). Later these "progressives" and reformers were enacting Prohibition and having culture war arguments over evolution and breakup of the family during the 1920s. 


I hear a lot of good things about the 1890s and 1920s. Sounds like they were considered 'cool' at the time, and in my opinion, the 20s are still very cool to me!  8)

I hear a lot of good things about the 1890s and 1920s. Sounds like they were considered 'cool' at the time, and in my opinion, the 20s are still very cool to me!  8)


Well the 1890s legalized racial segregation in the south and had a deep economic depression, the 1920s has the KKK revival, Prohibition, and The Scopes Trial. 

I wonder why there never seemed to be 1910s nostalgia.

I wonder why there never seemed to be 1910s nostalgia.


Maybe in the 30s, when 10s kids talked about their childhood?

Stuffy conservatism was kicked to the curb after the 60s!


Not really, compared to today, the 1960s were conservative. The Baby Boomers like to think they changed the world, but I'm not so sure... Baby Boomers are overrated.

I also remember marketing toward Generation X in the 1990's treating them as the cool, young, fresh, energetic and new generation rising up to make a better world than the supposedly stuffy and outmoded Boomer and Silent predecessors had made.


Actually the 1980s was the signature decade of Generation X, the '90s was just younger Generation X and Generation X/Y Cuspers. The "leftovers" if you will.

Now, I see how conservative so many of them are and I wonder, what the hell happened to them? How did the generation that produced Nirvana become so right-wing and disdainful of anyone who questions pure laissez-faire economics?

Age. It mellows people out, which is a good thing.

I wonder why there never seemed to be 1910s nostalgia.


World War I and Spanish Flu kind of sucked.

You also don't see much evidence of nostalgia for the 1929-1945 period, presumably due to the Depression and World War II.

I wonder why there never seemed to be 1910s nostalgia.


Maybe it wasn't nostalgic at the time.

You also don't see much evidence of nostalgia for the 1929-1945 period, presumably due to the Depression and World War II.

I think those were bad years for nostalgia.

You also don't see much evidence of nostalgia for the 1929-1945 period, presumably due to the Depression and World War II.


Hmmm, I think that among movie buffs, there is nostalgia for that period as the beginning of talkie films as well as the Golden Age of Hollywood. The 1930's were a great period for American horror films.

I agree with what you say about Gen Xers often seeming less eternally youthful in their attitudes than their boomer predecessors, and I find this very odd. When I was a kid and the Gen Xers were still all young adults in their late teens to early 30s, they seemed to have such cool and rebellious tastes with their loud alternative rock and their irreverent attitudes. I also remember marketing toward Generation X in the 1990's treating them as the cool, young, fresh, energetic and new generation rising up to make a better world than the supposedly stuffy and outmoded Boomer and Silent predecessors had made. Now, I see how conservative so many of them are and I wonder, what the hell happened to them? How did the generation that produced Nirvana become so right-wing and disdainful of anyone who questions pure laissez-faire economics? It just doesn't make sense to me. Plus, they grew up in the 80's when popular male musicians were much more effeminate than they are today, so I should have thought this would led to them being overwhelmingly accepting of gay people and gay rights, but it seems to me that they are as a whole only a little more pro-gay than their predecessors.


This may perhaps be the best ever summary of what I've felt for years. :) Bravo, very well put!

I really, really miss the 90s because of all the Jay and Silent Bob/alternative rocker and slacker types in their 20s sometimes even earlier 30s, being so easygoing and carefree, and seemingly much more environmental and liberal than previous generations (or about tied with the Boomers). It made you think it would last forever.

I should point out this obviously doesn't apply to everyone (in fact, I'm friends with quite a few youngish and liberal early 40s, circa 1970 borns), but there definitely seems to be a common thread with more than a few former Gen Xer MTV kids turning conservative (i.e. disliking modern technology or current kids, complaining about Obama) these days.

Yeah, I think 80s new wave musicians like Philip Oakey from Human League, as well as hair metal bands like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Poison, wearing makeup and with the alternative/new wavers being pretty metrosexual....you'd think that it would've made them far more accepting of homosexuality and gays.

Maybe one reason typical 45 year old Xers haven't aged as cool as typical 65 year old Boomers have, is just because they "grew up more" compared to their youth than the Boomers did. Many started families and careers and bought houses in the suburbs early on too. I noticed too, that many of them have become more religious and Christian, so that could explain their resistance of gays.

Maybe the 1910s wasn't distinct enough, if you know what I mean.

Yeah, I think 80s new wave musicians like Philip Oakey from Human League, as well as hair metal bands like Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Poison, wearing makeup and with the alternative/new wavers being pretty metrosexual....you'd think that it would've made them far more accepting of homosexuality and gays.

Don't forget Boy George and Culture Club.

I've got to admit I'm struggling with the term 'eternally retro cool', Marty. I think I understand what you are saying but either something is retro or it isn't, it's either 'cool' to the mainstream or it isn't.

In the UK the 1980s were mocked for a long time, interestingly enough, more for it's fashion sense than it's Wall Street 'Greed is Good' values during the latter part of the decade. The 1980s have only really become acceptable if not liked in the last 10-15 years perhaps?

Following the great post from Emman about the 1890s, the standards for rebellion and social upheaval of the old Victorian ways started before the 1960s. Suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst, leader of the feminist movement, hit police officers, took on imprisonment and hunger strikes and was chaining herself to railings for her cause as early as the 1900s.

I also remember marketing toward Generation X in the 1990's treating them as the cool, young, fresh, energetic and new generation rising up to make a better world than the supposedly stuffy and outmoded Boomer and Silent predecessors had made. Now, I see how conservative so many of them are and I wonder, what the hell happened to them? How did the generation that produced Nirvana become so right-wing and disdainful of anyone who questions pure laissez-faire economics?


http://www.smbc-comics.com/comics/20111010.gif

We didn't sell out. We bought in. We learned it from you, Boomers! We learned it from you!

I should point out this obviously doesn't apply to everyone (in fact, I'm friends with quite a few youngish and liberal early 40s, circa 1970 borns), but there definitely seems to be a common thread with more than a few former Gen Xer MTV kids turning conservative (i.e. disliking modern technology or current kids, complaining about Obama) these days.

Maybe one reason typical 45 year old Xers haven't aged as cool as typical 65 year old Boomers have, is just because they "grew up more" compared to their youth than the Boomers did. Many started families and careers and bought houses in the suburbs early on too. I noticed too, that many of them have become more religious and Christian, so that could explain their resistance of gays.


Gen Xers generally had a more dysfunctional child hood growing up during the Counter Cultural Revolution, this period saw a very high rise in divorce, child neglect, drug abuse, and youth crime. Many Gen Xers are becoming very protective parents as a result and they want to their own children to avoid the pathologies they experienced or saw in society. Gen X strikes me as a generation that grew up too fast, they showed their first signs of conservatism in the early '80s when many voted for Reagan and tired of Boomer moral crusades and self-righteousness.

Gen Xers were also hit very hard by The Great Recession(in their prime earning years) and I think this is adding to their conservatism as well.

World War I and Spanish Flu kind of sucked.

You also don't see much evidence of nostalgia for the 1929-1945 period, presumably due to the Depression and World War II.


The folk revival of the early '60s was heavily influenced by folk/blues from the 1930s, I don't know if that's nostalgia per se.

Also some '70s fashion brought back styles from the 1930s and 1940s(maxi dresses, art deco, ect) and there was a small swing revival in the late '90s.

The Millennials who are adults now seem pretty conservative too. Especially the ones with kids. But then again I think most humans are just conservative, progressives are naturally outliers.

The Millennials who are adults now seem pretty conservative too. Especially the ones with kids. But then again I think most humans are just conservative, progressives are naturally outliers.

I don't think that's true. For example, the millenials are the first generation with a majority in support of gay marriage. Even our conservatives support progressive measures that liberals of previous generations might barely touch, such as legalization or de-criminalization of marijuana.

I think that the generations are getting gradually less conservative. Even X is generally more liberal than the boomers. Hippies were never more than a minority of boomers, so when people say that the boomers sold out, the truth is closer to the idea that the vast majority of them never really had any radical stick-it-to-the-Man principles to sell out in the first place.

I don't think that's true. For example, the millenials are the first generation with a majority in support of gay marriage. Even our conservatives support progressive measures that liberals of previous generations might barely touch, such as legalization or de-criminalization of marijuana.

I think that the generations are getting gradually less conservative. Even X is generally more liberal than the boomers. Hippies were never more than a minority of boomers, so when people say that the boomers sold out, the truth is closer to the idea that the vast majority of them never really had any radical stick-it-to-the-Man principles to sell out in the first place.


I see legal weed and gay marriage as more libertarian issues than liberal issues. You can be as capitalist and right wing as possible and still feel like the "gubbint" doesn't have a place in those issues.

I see legal weed and gay marriage as more libertarian issues than liberal issues. You can be as capitalist and right wing as possible and still feel like the "gubbint" doesn't have a place in those issues.


When I hear "conservative," I think it usually means "socially conservative" unless there is another qualifier (such as "fiscally"), When I hear that a person is conservative, the first thing I think is that the person is probably more than a bit religious and gives authority to tradition in some way, not that the person in question is necessary a staunch supporter of supply-side economics and low taxes (even if this is probably also true). However, if you are talking about conservatism in primarily economic terms, I think that the same applies. I think that far more American Y-ers would be willing at least to consider adopting some aspects of European social democracies into our government than people of older generations would.

I see the issues we mentioned as both libertarian and liberal, since true liberals (AKA progressives) and libertarians seem to overlap on pretty much everything except economic issues.

I think most Americans tend to be more socially moderate and economically conservative. That's how it's always been IMO, with brief exceptions.

The '80s will have to compete with other decades. I'd say it will have a longer shelf life than say the '70s, which some said that it was a decade that people would like to pretend that never happened. The '50s, with a few exceptions, have been seen as too politically incorrect on many fronts, though it does have its moments. The '90s will be a major competitor to the '80s though. But with the peak of mall culture, MTV, new wave/synthpop/hair metal music, merchandise driven cartoons, boomboxes, 8-bit video games and arcade cabinets, neon decor, early personal computers with floppy disks and dot matrix printers, VCRs, and IMO the dealbreaker being the last decade before the Internet and cellphones made the world seem more connected. Sure, you have to move forward and eventually the '80s will simply become just another decade in history where you have to research to experience, but there are still a few good decades ahead that will bring good presentations of that time.

Gen Xers generally had a more dysfunctional child hood growing up during the Counter Cultural Revolution, this period saw a very high rise in divorce, child neglect, drug abuse, and youth crime. Many Gen Xers are becoming very protective parents as a result and they want to their own children to avoid the pathologies they experienced or saw in society. Gen X strikes me as a generation that grew up too fast, they showed their first signs of conservatism in the early '80s when many voted for Reagan and tired of Boomer moral crusades and self-righteousness.

Gen Xers were also hit very hard by The Great Recession(in their prime earning years) and I think this is adding to their conservatism as well.


I think you may be right on that actually...like the "latchkey kids" of the 70s. I actually think violent crime and psychos and serial killers abducting and killing kids was actually worse in the 70s and 80s than it is now, even if we didn't have a full blown mass media and weren't always aware of it, except for the most serious stuff.

That could explain why your typical 40, 45 year old former 80s teens are like paranoid helicopter parents and soccer moms now, lol.

When I hear "conservative," I think it usually means "socially conservative" unless there is another qualifier (such as "fiscally"), When I hear that a person is conservative, the first thing I think is that the person is probably more than a bit religious and gives authority to tradition in some way, not that the person in question is necessary a staunch supporter of supply-side economics and low taxes (even if this is probably also true). However, if you are talking about conservatism in primarily economic terms, I think that the same applies. I think that far more American Y-ers would be willing at least to consider adopting some aspects of European social democracies into our government than people of older generations would.

I see the issues we mentioned as both libertarian and liberal, since true liberals (AKA progressives) and libertarians seem to overlap on pretty much everything except economic issues.


Yeah, socially is the clincher for me as well. I can stand fiscal conservatism (though I disagree with it too), but I get really annoyed with social conservatives! The very people who say they want small government and for gov't to butt out of people's personal lives, don't mind denying gays the right to marry (or even to be gay, period!) because "it's against my religion", or the ones who whine the loudest about Obamacare.

I was thinking, since "gay culture" started coming up in the 80s (even late 70s with Studio 54 and disco clubs), I wonder if more liberal minded people actually did support it but privately. I'm sure (outside of super progressive liberal places like San Francisco) almost any politician who came out in support of gay marriage would've blown their chances immediately.

I was thinking, since "gay culture" started coming up in the 80s (even late 70s with Studio 54 and disco clubs), I wonder if more liberal minded people actually did support it but privately. I'm sure (outside of super progressive liberal places like San Francisco) almost any politician who came out in support of gay marriage would've blown their chances immediately.

And this is the era where they started discussing AIDS.

The 80's will always be cool to me.It's the decade of my childhood.I will always love the 80's.

The 80's will always be cool to me.It's the decade of my childhood.I will always love the 80's.



Same here, I loved the 80's.  :)