Nostalgia: heroin for old people
I love nothing more than a good wallow in nostalgia, and my Generation X era is one to be envied. Newcastle Brown, Impulse, music mags, souvenirs and photos... book recommendations too...
Spotify has a sneaky way of reawakening tunes I'd almost forgotten—ones I'd probably deny ever jamming to. But now? Any beat, riff, or lyric that whisks me back to the '90s? I'm here for it. Anyone who grooved through the 1990s and 2000s knows: it was a musical goldmine.
I stood amidst a generation that was riding the tide of a monumental musical transformation. We had front-row tickets to the raw evolution of grunge, the suave unfolding of Britpop, and the eclectic mashups of entirely different genres.
Suddenly, pop wasn't just bubblegum—it was art.
Those juicy, gossip-filled music mags? Gospel. And you'd likely find me, mixtapes in tow, next to a can of Impulse Chic and a stash of Polo mints, all crammed into a miniature Puma bag.
We were unstoppable, with our chunky cassette players peeking out from our Joe Bloggs jeans.
Fast forward a tad, and boom: the digital age. The internet was dropping innovations like hot tracks, but it was also pressing mute on some cherished cultural relics.
How were we to know the stakes?
Raising a toast with our Newcastle Brown ales (Newky Brown to those in the know), we watched the digital revolution unfold. Passionate fans started populating the web with DIY music sites, offering reviews, features, and blogs — often without expecting a quid.
Print vs. digital? It was like choosing between two killer tracks on a mixtape. How were we to know the stakes?
It would be just a short time before music magazines began to collapse, unable to compete with the shinier online offering, which promised (mostly) free, up-to-the-second content. We had no idea we were betting on a digital horse, which would mean the death (and glue factory) for the paper version we all loved so much.
On a deeply nostalgic tip in 2022
So many belting 90s nostalgia books were released in 2022 that I've been in my self-indulgent element cracking their spines over the last year or so.
Focused on the birth, life and death of music journalism (as we knew it) in the 90s, the first of these books take a reflective and affectionate glance back at how and what went wrong from the frontline perspective.
Ted Kessler's Paper Cuts in mid-read splendour.
Paper Cuts tells the tale of OG music journo, Ted Kessler. As captain (and survivor) of the last sinking ship of music magazines. He released his book in tribute to his glory days at the helm of several key titles, including NME and Q.
He tells the compelling story of an industry struggling to survive after the birth of digital, with a few hilarious personal vignettes thrown into the mix.
Kessler does an outstanding job documenting the decline. If you were a music fanatic in the 1990s, someone who loved music/the thrill of NME landing at your newsagents, then this one has been written for you specifically.
More reads worth a mention
Next up in the nostalgic book releases is Jude Rogers' gorgeous and heartfelt The Sound of Being Human by Jude Rogers - who you can also find on Substack as
This brick of a read covers the emotional, and cerebral heft music plays in our lives. Jude has tipped her heart onto the page in this tale of twelve songs. It's the literary soundtrack to her life with her father, who hugely influenced her love of music.
Down the rabbit's hole with Jarvis
And there's no show without Jarvis Cocker and his adventure into the attic, Good Pop Bad Pop. We all have a random collection of the things that made us - photos, tickets, clothes, souvenirs, stuffed in a box, packed in a suitcase, crammed into a drawer.
When Jarvis Cocker starts clearing out his loft, he finds a jumble of objects that catalogue his story and asks him some awkward questions...
The Pulp frontman takes us on a random escapade down a rabbit's hole as he explores the detritus/crap he has piled up in his loft while he makes the tough-love decisions to keep or bin.
So raise a glass to your time and remember wayyyyy back when the journey to discover a new tune was as thrilling as the song itself.
For it's in these echoes of the past that we truly appreciate the symphony of the present. As the beat goes on, so does our dance through the ever-evolving narrative of music and its enduring significance in our lives.
In the whirlwind of progress, it’s good to ground ourselves, look back, and cherish the melodies and memories of yesterday (and the day before).
What reminds you of your era? What takes you back? What one song is your time machine to that moment?
A great post, Nat. But choosing just one song? Not possible after 67 years of life! But how about these, which were all part of my teen years.
Elton John's Your Song
Joni Mitchell's Blue
Free's Wishing Well.
Oh, gee, I'm a boomer (although a late boomer bloomer) so groups like The Eagles, singers like Jackson Browne, Judy Collins, Janis Joplin were the ones I tuned to. I wasn't much of a hard rock (Led Zeppelin, Jethro Tull, The Who) kind of girl, and yet I couldn't resist Joplin's raspy vocals. During the late 70s into the 80s, I was hooked on The Boss (Bruce Springsteen), Talking Heads. Now I'm catching up with Lucinda Williams, Leonard Cohen, Linda Ronstadt. But I don't listen to music much anymore. Mostly at the gym these days. I don't any of the musicians you mention here, but I can feel your joy of music in your writing :-)