Matt Walsh.. but is he right about this one?

[Walkyrie]

Yes it’s Matt Walsh but I thought this was an interesting post. What do you think? I somewhat agree with him although I can think of a handful of things that will probably live and die in the 2020s (socks over leggings, hopefully).

DD (14) & I were having a similar conversation yesterday, I was talking about going to a 90s weekend at butlins and what would her ‘throwback’ music be. We couldn’t really come up with anything!

But she wasn't really aware of it in the 90s that's like me saying I loved 70s fashion. It's selective stuff from the 90s only the good bits there was a lot of rubbish on that DD17 doesn't know about.

I haven't been to a kids party for ages but went to a four year olds last week. During party games the boomer couple who own the play area played Superman by Black lace and we're trying to get the kids to do the actions they sort of danced along. All the adults new it. It was big at my school disco in 1983 but I've never been a fan. I was a goth.
But at the kids party when Golden came on all the little nursery buddies exploded with joy and it was such a privilege for me to see two of my grandsons have that moment which is their thing not something they hear because older people play it and they hear it passively.

But you could argue that there is so much more to rebel about yet people are more compliant and aren't rebelling the same.

Recently I saw a girl of around 14 I would guess wearing an Elon Musk t-shirt. Her friend was wearing a Gorillaz t-shirt
I was left wondering wtf why are you wearing that Elon t-shirt. I'm still wondering about it but others would accept that as fine. Maybe it came fee with her parents Tesla!

I think the changing of the class system has brought a lot of change to society. Things are more accessible with money. Consumerism is king. Parents take kids to gigs because of the costetc.

I play the Chronophoto 'guess the date' game and the last 10-12 years are tricky, to the extent that my default 'guess' is becoming 2020, which is usually obviously wrong but is a usable mid point.

The key clues that an image might be in that decade are lots of visible phones and elaborate tattoos.The later in the decade, the more likely people are dressed in what would have been classed as leisure wear 20 years ago. Very smart leisure wear.

Culturally, the obsession with true crime.

Give it time and distance. People said the same in the 90s. At the moment American folk music is enjoying a revival with big American pop stars producing an album or solo and new names emerging like Ella Langley.

Historians and social commentators predicted that we would start saying pre COVID and post COVID as a way of defining life on Earth which is similar to @DeanElderberry comment but I think time would have to tell

I remember Taylor Swift when she came out with her country album, and I remember when she became mainstream, and a time when Katie Perry and Moley Cyrus were more popular than Taylor Swift. It’s taken her a while to become a ‘superstar’ but if you look back at the 90s, who were the superstars then? Madonna? Michael Jackson? Elton John? All had been around for decades before. And yes you had those new superstars like Britney Spears and Justin timberlake but there are people now who are big stars that are new on the scene, they maybe just don’t have the same level of fame as the likes of Britney but I’m not sure anyone really has that kind of fame these days

Yeah people have always looked back with rose tinted glasses. I remember in the mid noughties I became obsessed with the 1920s old Hollywood glamour, it was when Christina aguilera bought out her back to basics album which was inspired by the time period and then Britney bought out her circus album a few years later so it was obviously a thing at that time. I bought a retro style phone and used to go to past times a lot lol

I think it’s when we started to globally homogenise.

If someone told me they were having a 2010s party I have no idea what I would wear or what food they would provide. There’s no theme.

Oasis, Blur, Pulp, Suede, Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers, Massive Attack, The Spice Girls, Take That, Jamiroquai, Beautiful South.

And that’s just British 90s bands off the top of my head.

I think that’s true of any decade. The 90s didn’t have one theme either, it was grunge, Britpop, rap, rave culture, boy bands and metal all at once. We just remember a handful of stereotypes afterwards and forget how many different trends existed at the same time.

The only thing that springs to mind re current trends are mullets and moustaches 😂
I went to the pub on Friday and there were many mustachioed men folk. Although I’ve seen it all first time round I couldn’t help but think they’ll look back on 30 years and wonder what they were thinking. Which is exactly what you should be doing. let’s hope it’s not curtains next!

Skinny jeans / jeggings. I hated them.

yeah but again, there are people now who are big who weren’t around 10 years ago. Olivia Rodrigo, Billie eilish, dua lipa, doja cat, Tate McRae, Chappell roan, Sabrina carpenter (ok she’s been around a while but not in a big way) and Blur had been around since the 70s by the time they became big in the 90s

Risking looking like an obsessive poster but I am going out soon. You could soon get some ideas and themes like 2012 Olympics, Miley Cyrus. I remember saving a George Ezra cd for our holiday and playing it all round the lake District with GS who is now 16. He still sings Helvellyn instead of Shotgun and you could have a picky bits party food etc. we are always innovating.

Yes. I agree. I think it takes time to discern a style that is associated with a particular era.

It just doesn’t give me the same ‘hit’ as hearing the opening chords of a Stone Roses or Blink 182 or 80s pop song and I’m not sure why!

I think this is a big part of it.

One of the most emotional, moving prices of media I have ever experienced was a level in a video game.

It was a reflection on maladaptive day dreaming and depression and told the story through having you play through an increasingly more fun and colourful video game using the left half of the controller, while you work a manual job at a factory using the right half. You experience yourself doing the job on auto pilot while falling into the story and get to truly understand how easy it is to fall into entertaining distractions to keep yourself from changing anything about the life you are so unhappy about.

It's one of the best prices of art I have ever witnessed and anyone who isn't into video games will never come across it. The game is called "What Remains of Edith Finch" for anyone who wants to give it a try - it's short and can be finished in under 3 hours.

Yes I think you've hit the nail on the head here, my 6 year old took her birthday money to the shop and bought a squishy dumpling and the anticipation of seeing if it was a sparkly one was just the same as when I would take my pocket money to the shop and buy the photos of the Spice Girls and hoped I would get the Baby Spice bubblegum one.

And it varied geographically. I remember my German exchange and his friends being obsessed with Guns n’ Roses. No one I went to school with was into them.

School social groups were split along mieux taste lines, so the girly girls were all into the Spice Girls and Take That, while my friendship group was mixed and into alternative rock.

Then I remember there was a brief Kate Bush revival around the same time as Alanis Morissette became popular and also there were popular CDs with the music tracks for films like Pulp Fiction and the Di Caprio Romeo and Juliet.

Early 00s - low rise, fake tan, Paris Hilton, Britney, Playboy, hip hop, emo/skater revival, maximalism, pink, retro 70s, reality TV.

Late 2000s/2010s - nu rave, indie bands, vintage style, hipsters, fur coats, pencil skirts, high rise skinny jeans, ballet flats, Pete Doherty/Kate Moss/Amy Winehouse, gigs, foam parties, silent discos, drum n bass, size zero.

Late 10s - Damien Hirst skulls and butterflies, leather leggings and studs, Kardashians, grind culture/side hustles, palm trees, vintage maximalism (gold leaf, leopard wallpaper, gold pineapples)

2020s - influencer culture, dating apps, aesthetic changes to minimalist nude/natural palette, monstera plants everywhere, 'clean girl' aesthetic, comfy co ords and trainers, athleisure with long socks, self care, size zero trend is replaced by BBLs and lip injections, low/mid rise wide leg jeans, 00s revival bellybutton rings and crop tops

Because that's when you were young, apparently you never feel things as deeply as when you were a child/teen. That's why nostalgia hits us all at some point, we're yearning for that feeling. It will happen just as much to the kids of the 10s/20s as it does to us.

This is exactly what I see too. I walked around Basingstoke over 40 years after having gone to college there, it was as if I’d stepped back in time! All the students wearing the same clique clothing as was worn in the late 80s.

so sad that there’s no individuality, no creativity. Just white socks and shoes, thin ties and goths.

our generation were boundary breakers, our parents too.

it’s tragic that the only new trend is this disfigurement of young faces due to ridiculous lip fillers and identikit eyebrows.

mind you, only see that in the uk, Europe hasn’t got this mania.

Yeah, a 2010s themed party you’d have people in skinny jeans and peplum tops, people dressed as hipsters, people in athleisure, people dressed as the kardashians, dressed as influencers with a ring light or selfie stick etc, people dressed as Pokémon go players, people dressed as a one direction member or a character from game of thrones, the inbetweeners, Usain Bolt, Gemma Collins, the hunger games, Mary berry, Simon cowell, Music you’d have ed Sheeran, Adele, one direction, Taylor Swift, Katie Perry, miley Cyrus, Rita ora, drake, avicci, Bruno mars, lady gaga, the weeknd, Calvin Harris, little mix, indie bands. Food wise you’d do avocado toast, halloumi fries, craft beers, gin and tonic. Theres loads you could do! In fact I reckon you could easily pinpoint a 2011 wedding compared with a 2017 wedding compared with a 2025 wedding.