Neko

2016 - 14 = 1980 or something

“Everything passes, but nothing entirely goes away.”

I've been trying to explain this feeling without overindulging in the word "nostalgia." The only way I feel I can describe it is likening it to a specific feeling I've never felt before, but something my mom knows well. My dad too.

Remember in 2018-ish when all of America peaked in 1980s nostalgia? Of course, there was a catalyst behind this severe 1980s revival: Stranger Things. But there was also IT 1 and 2, Riverdale, Call Me by Your Name, Ready Player-One, Drive (2011), Blade Runner 2049... Adam Sandler. Whatever the hell synthwave and retrowave music was. The Wallows. The high-waisted everythings, the scrunchies, the neon color scheme.... it goes on.
It's important to note that 1980s nostalgia is distinctly different from other types of cyclical, nostalgia-based trends. Usually, these cycles follow a loose 20 year rule. The 70s were obsessed with the 50s, the 80s were obsessed with the 60s, the 90s were obsessed with the 70s, and so on and so forth blah blah blah you get the point. Uniquely, however, 1980s nostalgia has been ongoing since the 1990s. We're only now seeing this ancient locomotive of memories lose steam in 2026, but she still seems to be chugging along.

From a modern perspective, the 80s were straight up pretty ridiculous in an ugly way. Offensively bright. So, why? Why are the 80s so culturally significant still?

Uhh. I don't know. I wasn't alive. But I feel that at least part of it has to do with this longing for a world where technology was scarcer. In a way, that's how I'm starting to feel about the early 2010s.