Nostalgia and the Art of Music Myth Making

 Why is the past better? Each time we remember something from our past, why is it always better than what is happening now? This is not a new concept, yet it continues to perpetuate itself. The irony is that today’s past was someone’s present and you can bet that someone then was wishing it was another time. Our present will be someone’s past, but will it be remembered as a "simpler time”? Maybe. Let us hope not. 

Music is not immune to this phenomenon. In fact, music is one of the strongest topics when it comes to the past and better times. “Music was better in my day” is the cry of each generation. I myself have been caught shaking my head and wandering down that well worn and tired path. What makes the previous generation’s music better than its successor? Every generation of music has had its great songs and not so great songs. So why the battle cry? And it is a battle cry, a challenge to the next generation to make music like it used to be. The problem with this is that it is already done, so why continue? The Beatles have already changed music, so why do we need to hear the same thing again? Punk has already challenged the status quo? Why continue to challenge it? Because we need to. It has to be done. Music is also one of those topics that while it demands change and growth, it also needs its past to help with that growth. 

This is where nostalgia comes in. Nostalgia makes an appearance each time the present has jeopardized our future. When there is social upheaval, nostalgia acts as a security blanket, covering and protecting us from ourselves. But I ask again, why the past? Is there not something in the present that can achieve the same result? Nostalgia is based on emotional anchors, thoughts and memories that are familiar to us, or at least appear to be familiar. This is where the second act of nostalgia appears, collective memory. Collective memory is shared memory. It is not individual but societal and music is both a victim and a hero in society’s collective memory. So for something to act like that security blanket, we as a society must remember it as such and anything from the present cannot fill that role because it is still with us. We have not had time to synthesize the present, weed out the bad stuff and create the collective memory that will warm our hearts.

Whatever musical genre, style or song is remembered is because of the collective memory of many instead of a singular memory of one. I was speaking with a younger coworker and he was unaware that in the 1980s, you stayed “in your lane” when it came to music. This meant that if you liked punk or metal, or synth-pop, you were not “allowed” to like any other type of music. It meant harsh repercussions, such as ridicule or being ostracized from that particular group. Today, such a thing is virtually unheard off. Anyone can like anything they like, without fear of ridicule. I say this because today many of the genres that were ridiculed by anyone outside that group are now revered thanks to nostalgia and collective memory. A great example of this is 1980s synth-pop. When it first emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s, it was dismissed as lazy and not real music. However, by the end of the decade, mainstream bands such as Van Halen and Bruce Springsteen were adding synths to their catalog. Today, thanks to nostalgia and collective memory, synth-pop has reached mythical status regarding electronic music innovation and forward-thinking. Synth-pop was ridiculed by virtually everyone outside the genre (and a few within as well) when it first appeared but is now looked on with respect and admiration. You can apply this to almost any music genre within the last 70 years.

History is about change over time. Nostalgia and collective memory require time to turn music into myth. The 1969 concert at the Altamont Speedway featuring the Rolling Stones, Jefferson Airplane, Santana, Crosby Stills Nash and Young among others was to be a celebration of counterculture but was marred by violence and death. Today it is remembered not as a tragic event but as the end to 1960s “peace and love” idealism.  This example fits the narrative perfectly in myth making as any myth requires a “before” (1960s peace and love) and an “after” (cynicism and disillusionment). Altamont is now seen as a turning point into a darker introspective cultural view and while most tie the tragic events to the end of an era, there is a more romanticized narrative that most always comes with the story. 

So we circle back to what many would call an “old man argument”, in that music needs to be more like the past. Let me clarify this. I am not arguing that music is horrible today because it does not sound like “music in my day”. Quite the opposite, in fact. There is some new music that is truly exciting. Like any generation, there is also some truly awful, pedestrian music that will not be remembered in five years. I stated earlier that in order for music to grow today, it requires its past. This is vital. There needs to be some sort of connection between the past and the present which will create continuity between generations. Nostalgia and, most importantly, collective memory create that bridge between generations. 

In an earlier article, The History of Music Genres: Part One, I stated that society as a whole functions under the concept of culture. This concept is based on shared experiences, memories,  and ideas that are passed down and taught through stories and tradition. This is where collective memory is born. It is important to remember that collective memory is not history but what is believed to have happened. The version remembered is often simplified and filled with emotion. The emotion factor is key here. To become nostalgic, a memory has to invoke particular feelings that make us feel good in times that are uncertain. Once the feelings are shared by others, then the journey begins.  There is a particular path a memory takes on its way to becoming myth. A memory is recalled by a group which then becomes nostalgia. This memory is smooth over, filtering out the bad parts elevating the memory. Stories circulate, change the narrative and are solidified into myth. Punk became revolutionary even though it was hated by pretty much anyone outside the punk scene. Disco is seen as groundbreaking for LGBTQ community but was reviled by the general public at the time. Genre revivals often bring back previously marginalized music genres as a way to return to the past with longing and growing affection. 

I stated earlier that in the process of myth making, the version of history remembered is often simplified and filled with emotion. I do not mean to trivialize history in this. History is complex and the events remembered can overwhelm anyone. The simplification, particularly within music, is necessary because music history is complex and chaotic. The memory needs to be clean in order to turn it to nostalgia, which given enough time will turn to myth. There are, however, other factors aside from stories that revive nostalgic feelings. Technology is also a driving factor in the myth making process of music.

Streaming services provide, with a nominal monthly fee, access to thousands of genres and millions of songs at any given point. For the first time in recorded history, anyone with a device and an internet connection can listen to virtually any song they want to with a touch of a button. However, with this comes an interesting shift in generational attitude toward music. For much of the 20th century, a new generation would go to great lengths to distance themselves from whatever the previous generation liked or believed in, and this included music. For any new generation, music meant identity and it was a key way to differentiate themselves from their parents. The idea of being different or “rebellious” really took root in the 1950s with rock and roll and the teenager. With each passing generation, the rebellious teen would grow into the responsible adult and the rebellious torch would be passed on to the next generation. From the 1950s until the early 2000s, teens and their parents listened to their own music on their own devices which was only shared within groups of their generation. However, with the introduction of streaming services, music barriers began to break down and for the first time, younger generations were listening to their parents’ music. There are a number of reasons for this. With previous generations, music was strictly physical, which meant teens had to buy their music. They needed to be selective on what they spent their limited, hard earned money on, so it was limited to what was popular within their group. Streaming music opened the flood gates and the physical aspect was eliminated. Second, newer generations tended to move outside their initial music circles and streaming made that easier. With older music being featured in popular shows, new generations were introduced to music that was before their time. It also helped that tribal mentality had slowly been replaced by inclusiveness and openness to other genres of music. Music fans were no longer required to “stay in their lane”. 

Perhaps the most significant change came with music revival. New generations are connecting to older music through their parents and they are going through their own nostalgic period because it is the music they grew up with. As streaming can give a person access to almost any song written, it is also too much music. Some are limiting their streaming to what they are familiar with or pulling the charge cord completely and going back to physical mediums, something else they grew up with.  With the revival of vinyl records, music has become a ritual to a younger generation who grew up in a digital driven world. The idea of owning physical mediums such as vinyl records (and to a lesser extent CDs) is a direct pushback to digital. 

With newer generations becoming the champions of older music, there is continuation of nostalgia that is bringing this music into mythical territory. Baby boomers have already raised the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, and AC/DC into that territory, but now Gen Z is moving music from the 1980s onward into myth. To them, music from the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s are new to them. Social media such as TikTok are constantly reviving older songs and it appears that newer generations simply like older music. There is a growing backlash to the constant barrage of streaming and social media, so nostalgia and everything old is new again.  Social media is spearheading this turn toward myth because of time. As stated earlier, history is the study of change over time. Music that is revived on new platforms does not have the burden of being trapped in context so the songs are interpreted in different ways and therefore become timeless. 

So, is the past better? From an historical point of view, it is absolutely not. Each era has its good points and bad. When waxing nostalgic, people tend to overlook the bad stuff because they want to feel better or relive their youth and generally forget their worries. Is this a bad thing? It can be if people tend to live in the past and forget about the present and the future. However, nostalgia has also allowed older music to be revisited by new generations and artists like the Beatles and David Bowie will always be remembered and that is always a good thing.