What's up thirty-year-olds,
If you are like me you were a sponge for all things cultural in the 90s. I look back to that time of music, art, animation, and comedy and yearn for the past. I guess I'm no different than any previous generation. I think there is a distinction between the now generation, and us, the ones coming into our prime. The now of Adam Levine, Katy Perry, and Taylor Swift just seem hollow.
We had an abundance of good pop music, and I include Seal in that category. There was a distinct sound, aesthetic, and ethos to the art. We had more than five producers making the same sounds over and over again. The comedy is also dull. All the late night hosts blather on about the same nonsense. It's all milquetoast. People get angry at Kanye West for being outspoken, but I love it. On one level, I love his courage. On another level, I love his sincerity. On yet another level, I agree with his message. I like the idea of people speaking for themselves.
We are not encouraged to have our own ideas, and that may have always been. I feel like anybody who says anything against the mainstream narrative is bloodied in the town square, so to speak. That's not fun for the bloodied, but it's so incredibly healthy for a free society. Not just that, it's also far more interesting. Nothing Kanye said hurt anyone. In fact, it only highlighted the fact that you can't tell what someone thinks based solely on their appearance. I'm all about that. I guess you'd call that a classical liberal ethos, but now it's more of a conservative point of view.
I long for the days of artists making work that was unapologetic. I'm bored with the apology culture. It's more of an apology cult. We still have a few strong artists, like Chapelle or John Currin continuing to push back.
I think it's possible to bring back the raw element of the 90s, but we need to support these artists. DIY is back, and it's how the real artists are doing it. YouTube, Instagram, small venues, and Twitter are how the diamonds are hiding in the rough. Go dig them out, and share them with us. Let's bring the 90s back. 2019 is a little stale.