A Defense of Nostalgia

I read something ahile ago that made me reevaluate a lot of things in my life. Well, nothing too important, just some television shows, music groups, and movies that I love.

On YouTube, I was watching some old 21 Jump Street promos from the late 80’s/early 90’s — yes, I was watching 21 Jump Street promos; I give you permission to point and laugh and thow things at me, if you must.

I was reading some of the comments on one of the videos, and someone made a comment about how, if anything came from the 80’s and 90’s, it must be great. Someone else responded to this comment, in a nice way, unlike a lot of the assholes that like to pick fights through YouTube comments, and said something like this: “Just because something is from the eightes or nineties doesn’t mean it’s good. I personally think a lot of the stuff that came out of those decades is awful. Most peoples’ problem is they confuse nostalgia with quality.”

That is an excellent point.

And it got me thinking, do I confuse the two? I immediately answered myself; yes, I definitely do.

At first.

But I can recongnize the difference, and I acknowledge that difference.

For example, I love the Spice Girls. However, the only reason I have such affection for them is because they were a fun part of my childhood; I listened to their music a lot growing up, watched their terrible film SpiceWorld far too many times, and, as a ten-/eleven-year-old girl, I looked up to them. You know, that whole “girl power” thing they had going.

(And I must say, I think they were better role models for girls than some female artists are nowadays. They may not have had talent, and they may not have actually believed in the “girl power” thing and maybe that was purely a schtick, but at least they made girls feel good about themselves and gave them confidence.)

I have a lot of positive memories associated with them, which explains why I still like them today. Only now, I do admit they aren’t all that talented. I admit that most people could sing the way they sing, maybe even better than they do. (Except for Mel B. She has got a VOICE, that girl!) Hell, I KNOW for a fact that anybody could kick Victoria’s ass in a sing-off.