Thursday, July 12, 2007

Eighties Denied

The eighties and nineties were the time of my youth. It was all A-Team, Knight Rider, Michael Jackson, Ruud Gullit, Top Gun, Berlin Wall, teen angst, toys and cartoons. Most of what we had back then was crap, but it was what we had, and it is what we nostalgically come back to. How else can you explain the scores of people going to Transformers The Movie, or going to Eighties parties etc.

Some of the things that were cool when you were a kid, are quite embarrassing to admit right now. Some of those actually are best left in the past (certain hairstyles, tube socks). Other things are actually worth quite a lot of money (He-Man action figures, mint condition). Some of those things you might be even proud to say you're still a fan of.

And that's what's been bugging me. Let's say you like Hulk Hogan, or gabber music, but everybody around you found that to be an insipid pastime, and basically ridiculed you for it. Or even worse, they dismissed it as a fad or a phase, and you would grow out of it in time. What would they say if you still like now, what you did back then? (HA!) And have you been fighting for your "right to like", or did you stay quiet until the movie comes out and it suddenly became hip and happening again?

I would say to today's youth that there's enough things in the world people will try to discourage you from. But it's not you who has to stop. The detractors must sell the alternative, or otherwise leave the fad be. You are the only one who can determine what you're supposed to like. Nostalgia will hide the deficiencies of the past anyway, so you might as well work with it, as the years go by.

That's why I don't do jumpstyle, but will let others go right ahead.

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