I was walking to the shops earlier and I saw that Ash are doing a 1977 (the album, not the year) 20 year anniversary tour at the minute. I saw them live last summer and really enjoyed it but was total nostalgia buzz apart from one banger off their latest album. I don't honestly think there were too many people <30 in the crowd. Below the Ash poster was a poster for St Germain doing a show and I laughed to myself.
The nostalgia industry that is easy to deride when you are younger now has its sights plainly set on people my age. The buzz around Radiohead playing after a very long live hiatus also seems to be part of that. Although in fairness to Radiohead, they have younger fans who couldn't have seen them live back in the day and are relishing the opportunity now (I think).
I know this is all a bit Retromania-ish and has probably been hashed out here a million times before but in most of the past instances it was of bands I was too young to know about first time around.
Not long before Ronnie Drew died I went to a show where he performed 3 songs, he was in bits. The whole show was lovely and very sad but one of the more poignant elements to me at the time was that I was possibly the youngest person in the audience and most of the auditorium was a sea of pepper hair. I remember my sister saying something along the lines of "sure next it'll be us at Morrissey, clapping our hands along to the songs" and it feels we're not far off that.
The potency of nostalgia though seems kinda muted when most songs from back in the day are now readily accessible to almost anyone with an internet connection, there is no scarcity, no logistic rarity to recorded music as a cultural artefact. Saying that though, I've been into John McCormack records for years, but it is amazing to be able to now go and download every song that was a hit any year in the last century or more. Songs that were making people dance long before any of our parents were born can now be readily accessed.
There must be some adage about popular music though, that the music you heard when you were x age to y age is the music that stays with you.
And of course, the Simpsons did it better than I can in 12 seconds.
The nostalgia industry that is easy to deride when you are younger now has its sights plainly set on people my age. The buzz around Radiohead playing after a very long live hiatus also seems to be part of that. Although in fairness to Radiohead, they have younger fans who couldn't have seen them live back in the day and are relishing the opportunity now (I think).
I know this is all a bit Retromania-ish and has probably been hashed out here a million times before but in most of the past instances it was of bands I was too young to know about first time around.
Not long before Ronnie Drew died I went to a show where he performed 3 songs, he was in bits. The whole show was lovely and very sad but one of the more poignant elements to me at the time was that I was possibly the youngest person in the audience and most of the auditorium was a sea of pepper hair. I remember my sister saying something along the lines of "sure next it'll be us at Morrissey, clapping our hands along to the songs" and it feels we're not far off that.
The potency of nostalgia though seems kinda muted when most songs from back in the day are now readily accessible to almost anyone with an internet connection, there is no scarcity, no logistic rarity to recorded music as a cultural artefact. Saying that though, I've been into John McCormack records for years, but it is amazing to be able to now go and download every song that was a hit any year in the last century or more. Songs that were making people dance long before any of our parents were born can now be readily accessed.
There must be some adage about popular music though, that the music you heard when you were x age to y age is the music that stays with you.
And of course, the Simpsons did it better than I can in 12 seconds.
