The Swamp

The competitors:


VS.

Let's hear it, opinion havers: Most of you experienced both the 80s and the 90s. If you could only have the nostalgia from one, which would it be? Anything goes here: the TV & movies, the music, the sports, the pop culture kitsch, the tech (or lack thereof), the toys and games, anything. What says the Swamp?

Is nostalgia limited to things that are either no longer relevant or always included under the period subheader? Like would Jay-Z's early stuff wouldn't be 90s nostalgia because he's still prominent but Skee-Lo would be since he's never mentioned outside of 90's one-hit wonders?

Too young to properly appreciate the 80s I was exposed to. Still have a great appreciation and love for 80s stuff but I was a 90s kid.

If it happened during the period, then it counts as nostalgia.

Also, I didn't want to clutter the opening post too much, but I define the two decades this way:

- The 80s began whenever your household got cable TV (September 1983 for me)
- The 80s ended and the 90s began when Nevermind was released in September, 1991
- The 90s ended on September 11, 2001

You can define it however you want, but my definitions are correct.

Says here that the 80s began on March 26, 1979 when the Bird Magic NCAA hoops final was played.

This is tough. For a long time, the 80s would have been an easy answer for me. If we can pretend for a minute that me getting older and the 90s getting farther away aren't the same exact thing, I think I might now miss being in the 90s more.

Right. With all the proper caveats about overgeneralizing, I'd say that the 80s were the last gasps of midcentury/post WWII culture hanging on and can be remembered fondly that way. The 90s were version 1.0 of everything that's happened since.

HaulCitgo wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 3:26 pm Says here that the 80s began on March 26, 1979 when the Bird Magic NCAA hoops final was played.

Couldn't have been said better.

Deserves a much longer post but I'd argue the 80's had better music overall.

The 80s may not have had higher highs, but they definitely had higher lows.

I'd say 1986-1998 is my nostalgia wheelhouse, but I'd go 1990s, especially for music. I think there is something to the HS/college aged brain that connects to music in a way that doesn't occur at any other stage in life. While that was the 90s, for me, most of the music I listened to was classic rock, so I feel the same connection to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s, but the only nostalgia I feel is for 90s, as that was the current music of my formative years.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:24 pm I'd say 1986-1998 is my nostalgia wheelhouse, but I'd go 1990s, especially for music. I think there is something to the HS/college aged brain that connects to music in a way that doesn't occur at any other stage in life. While that was the 90s, for me, most of the music I listened to was classic rock, so I feel the same connection to a lot of music from the 60s and 70s, but the only nostalgia I feel is for 90s, as that was the current music of my formative years.

I think we're the same age, or very close, and I'm going 80's.

The Sybian wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 6:24 pm ...I think there is something to the HS/college aged brain that connects to music in a way that doesn't occur at any other stage in life.

Absolutely.

Which means early 80's for me.

I agree with the age thing. Which means also that the 90s for me just has so much more nostalgia content. I hardly remember the first 3-4 years of the 80s. I loved my matchbox and Star Wars toys but they aren’t gonna compete with Super Nintendo and Kathy Ireland.

A_B wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 8:03 pm I agree with the age thing. Which means also that the 90s for me just has so much more nostalgia content. I hardly remember the first 3-4 years of the 80s. I loved my matchbox and Star Wars toys but they aren’t gonna compete with Super Nintendo and Kathy Ireland.

Starting to rethink my choice. Then I remember that Purple Rain was released in the 80's.

Having been born in 1983, this is entirely my childhood. I'm not even sure how I define where a separation is either. What I'd probably have to do is have a differentiation in January 1991 -- when my family moved to Salinas, CA.

Everything before that was good, but video games and gangsta rap shaped me forever. So it's the 90s minus those 13 months.

mister d wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:31 pm The 80s may not have had higher highs, but they definitely had higher lows.

Rex wrote: ↑Mon Jan 20, 2020 4:40 pm Right. With all the proper caveats about overgeneralizing, I'd say that the 80s were the last gasps of midcentury/post WWII culture hanging on and can be remembered fondly that way. The 90s were version 1.0 of everything that's happened since.

I like this take.

Pretty much anything I have 80s nostalgia for is because I was just the right age where I could enjoy it without realizing how bad it was. Wrestling, Punky Brewster, Ernest movies, the Pro Bowl...

I'd gladly give that all up in favor of actual good (probably not, though) 90s stuff. Wrestling, The Real World, Dirty Work, Slam Dunk Contests, DAN CORTESE...

I might want to change my vote:

Born in 1970, making this an extremely difficult choice. I think the 80s shaped me in ways the 90s just couldn't... Be it Star Wars movies, early rap and (faux) break dancing, figuring out how awesome girls were (first love, first kiss, first most things on that front.)

90s music was probably overall better for me, as I kind of belatedly discovered the Seattle scene and other alt/indie rock. REALLY transition hard away from most rap, which is kind of a damn shame because I hear a lot of it now and like it.

I'm going with the 80s, primarily because beating those fucking Russians in Lake Placid was easily the coolest sports thing in my lifetime. Having watched and read a lot about the exhibition games leading up to that upset, it was almost unfathomable that we were even in the game. let alone that we could win.

MI winning the championship in 97 was kind of tainted by the split with Neb. And really when you're moving into Grown Ass Man territory, it's not the same feels as when you're a 10 year old and a whole team becomes your world like that.

Oh come on

Song Exploder
“Semisonic – Closing Time”

Song Exploder says there’s more to Semisonic’s “Closing Time” than you think
Semisonic’s 1998 classic “Closing Time” might seem straightforward in its lyrics and production: It’s a college rock standard about closing time at a bar and looking for someone to go home with at the last minute. But it turns out there’s more to the song than that. On Song Exploder, Semisonic writer and lead vocalist Dan Wilson dissects the lyrics line by line with host Hrishikesh Hirway. According to Wilson, the hit song employs a double meaning, using the imagery of closing time at a bar to half-earnestly, half-jokingly mirror the anxiety of a difficult childbirth, shoving a human out into the world whether or not they’re ready. It isn’t just the lyrics that take on new depth with this conversation. As Wilson breaks down the key changes, differences in drums and distortion, and sweeping string section, it’s impossible to listen to “Closing Time” the same way again by the time the episode wraps.

Ryan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:08 pm Oh come on

Song Exploder
“Semisonic – Closing Time”

Song Exploder says there’s more to Semisonic’s “Closing Time” than you think
Semisonic’s 1998 classic “Closing Time” might seem straightforward in its lyrics and production: It’s a college rock standard about closing time at a bar and looking for someone to go home with at the last minute. But it turns out there’s more to the song than that. On Song Exploder, Semisonic writer and lead vocalist Dan Wilson dissects the lyrics line by line with host Hrishikesh Hirway. According to Wilson, the hit song employs a double meaning, using the imagery of closing time at a bar to half-earnestly, half-jokingly mirror the anxiety of a difficult childbirth, shoving a human out into the world whether or not they’re ready. It isn’t just the lyrics that take on new depth with this conversation. As Wilson breaks down the key changes, differences in drums and distortion, and sweeping string section, it’s impossible to listen to “Closing Time” the same way again by the time the episode wraps.

Switched on Pop is so much better than Song Exploder.

If Switched On Pop has an episode where Closing Time is about absolutely nothing other than 3 minutes too long, then I'm with you.

Ryan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:16 pm If Switched On Pop has an episode where Closing Time is about absolutely nothing other than 3 minutes too long, then I'm with you.

Even better, I'm pretty sure they've never talked about the song.

Next week Ed Kowalczyk joins us to discuss how Lightning Crashes doubles as an allegory for Sino-Prussian diplomatic relations in the late 19th century.

I alone love this

I just heard the singer do an interview, explaining the meaning of the lyrics, can't remember where. I think on Lithium. Totally changes the meaning of the song, but gives it more depth. I like the new context.

Ryan wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 4:08 pm Oh come on

Song Exploder
“Semisonic – Closing Time”

Song Exploder says there’s more to Semisonic’s “Closing Time” than you think
Semisonic’s 1998 classic “Closing Time” might seem straightforward in its lyrics and production: It’s a college rock standard about closing time at a bar and looking for someone to go home with at the last minute. But it turns out there’s more to the song than that. On Song Exploder, Semisonic writer and lead vocalist Dan Wilson dissects the lyrics line by line with host Hrishikesh Hirway. According to Wilson, the hit song employs a double meaning, using the imagery of closing time at a bar to half-earnestly, half-jokingly mirror the anxiety of a difficult childbirth, shoving a human out into the world whether or not they’re ready. It isn’t just the lyrics that take on new depth with this conversation. As Wilson breaks down the key changes, differences in drums and distortion, and sweeping string section, it’s impossible to listen to “Closing Time” the same way again by the time the episode wraps.

rass wrote: ↑Mon Jan 27, 2020 5:11 pm Next week Ed Kowalczyk joins us to discuss how Lightning Crashes doubles as an allegory for Sino-Prussian diplomatic relations in the late 19th century.

Dan Carlin's 8-hour podcast on the historic Placenta Treaty is outstanding.

This brings me back to a much, much simpler time:

@eve6 doing whatever it is that they’re doing on Twitter has been fun

Looks like I had previously faved that tweet even though I don’t remember it. I wonder how that movie has held up...

Two 90s based recommendations*.

The HBO Woodstock 99 doc (which I guess is part of a larger music doc series) was well done. Helps that I forgot how bad things got by the end of the last day. One of the organizers, not the hippy from the original Woodstock but the other guy, came across so poorly in his talking head segments that I was pretty shocked by it.

The director spoke briefly at the beginning and said they wanted to do more with the piece than just make fun of the music or how dated some of the musicians or crowd appeared. Though they could have made an entertaining doc doing just that, and if that’s what you want…

Second recommendation is the Ringer’s 60 Songs that Explain the 90s podcast. The recent Limp Bizkit/Nookie was the subject of a recent episode and it gets its shots in, though like the doc takes a step back and questions whether the band and Durst can really be blamed for what happened around them. The show in general is well done, the music drops and guests are great, and the host is delightfully deadpan while delivering some great fucking lines (like “Jacksonville is the Florida of Florida”).


*don’t hold the Bill Simmons connection against either of them please

The BS connection is what's keeping me from both of those series.

Give it a shot and skip the Pumpkins episode

rass wrote: ↑Sat Jul 31, 2021 5:09 pm Two 90s based recommendations*.

The HBO Woodstock 99 doc (which I guess is part of a larger music doc series) was well done. Helps that I forgot how bad things got by the end of the last day. One of the organizers, not the hippy from the original Woodstock but the other guy, came across so poorly in his talking head segments that I was pretty shocked by it.

The director spoke briefly at the beginning and said they wanted to do more with the piece than just make fun of the music or how dated some of the musicians or crowd appeared. Though they could have made an entertaining doc doing just that, and if that’s what you want…

I'm about half way through and really do not like it -- so much over-generalization, blaming the events of the time period for the misogyny (like, are there statistics that say the late 90's were worse than the 80s or even now?). Ugh, now they're going on and on about how dangerous the mosh pits were. Um, duh..they were dangerous in the early 90s too (with those saints (according to the doc, Pearl Jam and Nirvana).

Wow.."I thought the rave hanger was very cynical. Very soulless..Let's shove in some DJs and some drugs and some kids and we'll keep this thing going all night.." What the hell does this woman think raves are? This is awful.

Also, Moby annoys me

But his name wasn’t on the sign!


You mad because they showed Dave saying “titties”?