I just turned 58. I never want to hear “Disco 2000”, “Wonderwall”, “Parklife”, “Country House” or “Look Back In Anger” ever again. The great irony of the nostalgia commodification you talk about is that some of the music wasn’t that good at the time. There is certainly better new music available. It’s a shame. It’s also a bit of a hellscape for discerning listeners of a certain age who are still curious about what’s new. I do like Iron Maiden though.
Great essay, Patrick! You do a solid job capturing the intersecting explanations—both cultural and capital—for the catalog nostalgia in music (and also describing the bummer outcomes for music and new creativity that this produces *sigh*).
It also made me think about previous work by folks like Simon Reynolds and Mark Fisher (borrowing from Derrida), on hauntology (which is a very specific instantiation of nostalgia in musical production, particularly UK) and capitalist realism—but broadly on the ways that capitalism captures us in a mode of production and social relations where we struggle to escape the past — we're kinda stuck!
Your mention of the MJ biopic also made me think about the specific signs that the goal of this music nostalgia is capital accumulation—the movie very deliberately ends in 1988 without complicating his life, before the scandals, which, if included, may have dampened that catalog streaming reaction from audiences and slowed the money printer that is MJ rights.
While there are plenty of great songs written in this era, maybe there are simply a lot more BADLY written, and most critically, AVAILABLE songs in this era too, relative to 40-50 years ago simply because the "channel" for delivery of music is just much wider now that it was then. The narrower pipeline of prior eras acted as a "curator", such that when you listen to old songs now, they "all" sound good because there was a higher bar to clear to get airplay in the first place. But that said Oasis is a real conundrum, as in my book, they NEVER sounded good! :-)
I see a lot of these biopics as essentially commercials for the catalogues. It can't be an accident that these lucrative catalogues are changing hands and all the sudden biopics about the people who created the catalogues are popping up.
I just turned 58. I never want to hear “Disco 2000”, “Wonderwall”, “Parklife”, “Country House” or “Look Back In Anger” ever again. The great irony of the nostalgia commodification you talk about is that some of the music wasn’t that good at the time. There is certainly better new music available. It’s a shame. It’s also a bit of a hellscape for discerning listeners of a certain age who are still curious about what’s new. I do like Iron Maiden though.
I love Iron Maiden, and Steve Harris needs to keep in Ruddles i guess…
Great essay, Patrick! You do a solid job capturing the intersecting explanations—both cultural and capital—for the catalog nostalgia in music (and also describing the bummer outcomes for music and new creativity that this produces *sigh*).
It also made me think about previous work by folks like Simon Reynolds and Mark Fisher (borrowing from Derrida), on hauntology (which is a very specific instantiation of nostalgia in musical production, particularly UK) and capitalist realism—but broadly on the ways that capitalism captures us in a mode of production and social relations where we struggle to escape the past — we're kinda stuck!
Your mention of the MJ biopic also made me think about the specific signs that the goal of this music nostalgia is capital accumulation—the movie very deliberately ends in 1988 without complicating his life, before the scandals, which, if included, may have dampened that catalog streaming reaction from audiences and slowed the money printer that is MJ rights.
Thanks. Always good to get a line of reference that can trace back to Derrida :)
Why else would Dylan or Springsteen get $300M for their catalog? Or why else would the Stones put out yet another dreadful album…?
Great analysis…thanks.
While there are plenty of great songs written in this era, maybe there are simply a lot more BADLY written, and most critically, AVAILABLE songs in this era too, relative to 40-50 years ago simply because the "channel" for delivery of music is just much wider now that it was then. The narrower pipeline of prior eras acted as a "curator", such that when you listen to old songs now, they "all" sound good because there was a higher bar to clear to get airplay in the first place. But that said Oasis is a real conundrum, as in my book, they NEVER sounded good! :-)
Agreed - Oasis were just Beatles wannabes, and I never liked the Beatles. 🤷♂️
I see a lot of these biopics as essentially commercials for the catalogues. It can't be an accident that these lucrative catalogues are changing hands and all the sudden biopics about the people who created the catalogues are popping up.