Friday, December 23, 2011
Pop History: a poor substitute for real history
It is unavoidable to the point of stating the obvious - pop is now obsessed with its past. As Simon Reynolds puts it in his book Retromania the Noughties (and beyond) is the 'Re' era: revivals, reissues, reunions and rereleases. But what is driving this back to the past trend? Why is pop history celebrated but real history all but ignored? Read my review of Retromania here
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2 comments:
Dear Neil,
Surely the problem of revivalism is in part because those of your age and mine are now in control of the levers of power, in politics and media.
When we have John Lydon on the panel of Question Time, then it can hardly be seen as the bastion of the old establishment; the changing of the guard has happened.
Interesting article
James
Thanks James. I think I touch on that point in the review, i.e. 40somethings in the media reliving their youth.
Cheers,
Neil.
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