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When the internet took off in the late 90's, the information bandwidth allowed everyone to access "the long tail" of available culture and interests, and find t

When the internet took off in the late 90's, the information bandwidth allowed everyone to access "the long tail" of available culture and interests, and find their precise niche. This lasted about a minute, in generational terms. Now we're all living in the long tail. Now, the long tail is all there is. THIS is why music companies have suffered; not piracy. And news; not because of ads. Business based on scarcity and promotion are dead or dying. This is why popular culture peaked in the 80's. There will NEVER be a time where the majority of the population is caught up in the same thing, where one fashion trend or one genre of music dominates.

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
Except that more or less nobody in the 1990s thought that "popular culture peaked in the 80s". Most people were glad that that cursed decade was over and we could move on from its absurdities and cultural lows. Are you sure your assessment is not just some sort of cylical 40 retrospective nostalgia?
- karatestomp 7y ago
  Things everyone considered terrible in the 90s, almost universally: disco, and by association much of the 70s; 80s fashion across the board. The music and movies and such of the 80s were still regarded as OK.
  - PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
    Sorry, but this just seems utterly wrong, certainly for music. The 1970's gave us band after band, performer after performer who are still revered today. Who is the 1980's example of, say, Led Zeppelin? Or the Mahavishnu Orchestra? Now, I will concede that in the 90s people did not see the 70s in this way (at least not in general) - not long enough had passed, I think. That's why I suspect that any notion of the 80s being a culturally rich decade comes from the fact that it is now 30-40 years ago, rather than just 10 as it was at the start of the 90s. This sort of view doesn't have much to do with anyone's experience of the decade as it happened, and I think it doesn't have a lot to do with what actually happened, because in any given decade, there will always be a rich and diverse set of amazing cultural creativity. It comes mostly from time passing, and a new assessment blending with nostalgia for the culture that surrounded as we reach certain ages.
    - renaudg 7y ago
      > The 1970's gave us band after band, performer after performer who are still revered today. Who is the 1980's example of, say, Led Zeppelin? Or the Mahavishnu Orchestra? I think the hint is in the examples you're giving : the 1970s were the heyday of progressive and what is now called "classic" rock, and that particular genre seems to be your frame of reference. Whereas for us Euro synth folks, the 70s was the age of early pioneers like Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre (I suppose that's where rock music was in the 50s) And the 80s are THE golden age of synthpop explosion that put us on the map, with legends like : New Order, Yazoo, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Bronski Beats, Eurythmics, Jean-Michel Jarre, a-ha, Tears for Fears. Our 80s are rock music's 60s (think Beatles & Rolling Stones). The 80s are so revered that for the past 5-10 years there's been a whole music genre ("Synthwave") dedicated to reproducing its aesthetics with a contemporary twist. It's even been preempted by mainstream pop recently with The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" single. Our own Led Zeppelins are 90s kids Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim. In the 2000s, we took over for good and mostly killed any remnants of rock music's mindshare in Europe, and the US followed in the 2010s with the "EDM" mainstream pop flavor of our stuff. In other words, it's all a matter of which bubble you're living in !
      - PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
        I was a Euro-synth person. I never liked classic rock (which to my chagrin I am (re)discovering in my 50s and thinking that the best of it is really pretty amazing). It's true that the 80's "gave us" synthpop, and although I'm aware of the new level of reverence for some of it, I don't detect the more critical younger minds regarding it with the same level of awe that is now accorded to what happened to rock in the 1970s. My sense is that people like the sound, find it sort of fun-nostalgic, and are recreating it. Nobody views any of the bands you mentioned (I have the first singles by all of them, by the way, on vinyl) as truly ground breaking. I could be wrong. Personally, I went from Euro-synth stuff into ECM, improvised music, indian classical, progressive house and downtempo :)
    - karatestomp 7y ago
      Of course, the music of the 70s was much stronger than the 80s so far as rock and related genres go. There’s a big ol’ lull in high-quality recordings until the tail end of the decade. Very noticeable. But if you mentioned 70s culture during the 90s people’d reliably go “ugh disco what were they thinking?”
karatestomp 7y ago
The everyone-knows-the-same-stuff thing was every bit as strong in the 90s as the 80s. Remember, the Internet was just mostly-text message boards and low-media websites until the very end of that decade, and most people, even in the US, didn’t use the Web much until the 2000s.

PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago

Except that more or less nobody in the 1990s thought that "popular culture peaked in the 80s". Most people were glad that that cursed decade was over and we could move on from its absurdities and cultural lows. Are you sure your assessment is not just some sort of cylical 40 retrospective nostalgia?

karatestomp 7y ago
Things everyone considered terrible in the 90s, almost universally: disco, and by association much of the 70s; 80s fashion across the board. The music and movies and such of the 80s were still regarded as OK.
- PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
  Sorry, but this just seems utterly wrong, certainly for music. The 1970's gave us band after band, performer after performer who are still revered today. Who is the 1980's example of, say, Led Zeppelin? Or the Mahavishnu Orchestra? Now, I will concede that in the 90s people did not see the 70s in this way (at least not in general) - not long enough had passed, I think. That's why I suspect that any notion of the 80s being a culturally rich decade comes from the fact that it is now 30-40 years ago, rather than just 10 as it was at the start of the 90s. This sort of view doesn't have much to do with anyone's experience of the decade as it happened, and I think it doesn't have a lot to do with what actually happened, because in any given decade, there will always be a rich and diverse set of amazing cultural creativity. It comes mostly from time passing, and a new assessment blending with nostalgia for the culture that surrounded as we reach certain ages.
  - renaudg 7y ago
    > The 1970's gave us band after band, performer after performer who are still revered today. Who is the 1980's example of, say, Led Zeppelin? Or the Mahavishnu Orchestra? I think the hint is in the examples you're giving : the 1970s were the heyday of progressive and what is now called "classic" rock, and that particular genre seems to be your frame of reference. Whereas for us Euro synth folks, the 70s was the age of early pioneers like Kraftwerk, Vangelis, Jean-Michel Jarre (I suppose that's where rock music was in the 50s) And the 80s are THE golden age of synthpop explosion that put us on the map, with legends like : New Order, Yazoo, Depeche Mode, Soft Cell, Bronski Beats, Eurythmics, Jean-Michel Jarre, a-ha, Tears for Fears. Our 80s are rock music's 60s (think Beatles & Rolling Stones). The 80s are so revered that for the past 5-10 years there's been a whole music genre ("Synthwave") dedicated to reproducing its aesthetics with a contemporary twist. It's even been preempted by mainstream pop recently with The Weeknd's "Blinding Lights" single. Our own Led Zeppelins are 90s kids Daft Punk, Chemical Brothers, the Prodigy, Fatboy Slim. In the 2000s, we took over for good and mostly killed any remnants of rock music's mindshare in Europe, and the US followed in the 2010s with the "EDM" mainstream pop flavor of our stuff. In other words, it's all a matter of which bubble you're living in !
    - PaulDavisThe1st 7y ago
      I was a Euro-synth person. I never liked classic rock (which to my chagrin I am (re)discovering in my 50s and thinking that the best of it is really pretty amazing). It's true that the 80's "gave us" synthpop, and although I'm aware of the new level of reverence for some of it, I don't detect the more critical younger minds regarding it with the same level of awe that is now accorded to what happened to rock in the 1970s. My sense is that people like the sound, find it sort of fun-nostalgic, and are recreating it. Nobody views any of the bands you mentioned (I have the first singles by all of them, by the way, on vinyl) as truly ground breaking. I could be wrong. Personally, I went from Euro-synth stuff into ECM, improvised music, indian classical, progressive house and downtempo :)
  - karatestomp 7y ago
    Of course, the music of the 70s was much stronger than the 80s so far as rock and related genres go. There’s a big ol’ lull in high-quality recordings until the tail end of the decade. Very noticeable. But if you mentioned 70s culture during the 90s people’d reliably go “ugh disco what were they thinking?”

karatestomp 7y ago

The everyone-knows-the-same-stuff thing was every bit as strong in the 90s as the 80s. Remember, the Internet was just mostly-text message boards and low-media websites until the very end of that decade, and most people, even in the US, didn’t use the Web much until the 2000s.