New Retrowave

The Jazzercise Generation Strikes Again

Take a moment and watch/listen to these videos: https://www.youtube.com/user/NewRetroWave/playlists

New Retrowave is an amazing cultural phenomena. To listen to these songs and watch videos like Turbo Kid and Kung Fury is to revisit the late 80s. What’s incredible about this style is that it’s a tribute to something that people of this era never experienced. It’s a kind of false-nostalgia and regret for the loss of the culture of the 80s.

When you see style trends, a resurgence of the clothing tropes of the late 80s are coming back. Skintight leggings, neon colors, baggy parachute pants, giant sneakers, and high-waisted pants are coming back. In addition, the synthesized-style of music is also playing out at a faster pace in trap, trance, and indie rock.

Malls are gone, arcades are no more. It seems like the millennial generation longs for these environments, bringing back drive-in movies, roller rinks, and muscle gyms.

The cliche of the connectedness of millennials juxtaposed with the personal disconnect of this generation leads to a longingness for genuine human interaction. It could be that the 80s are a semblance and representation of these sought-after interactions.

When you participate in the pop cultural actions of the 80s, it is a throwback to the innocence of the day. Hollywood and record labels have capitalized on this recently with Take Me Home Tonight, a re-release of TRON, Daft Punk’s newest album, Bruno Mars’ Uptown Funk, and other films and albums. Is it bad that we’re getting taken advantage of? Not necessarily.

What drives this kind of cultural resurgence? What is the reason behind the enjoyment of this New Retrowave? Has this happened before?

I have no idea, only further time and research will tell. All I know is that I love jamming out to this: