Pro:

Trends come and leave very quickly now-a-days, and currently being old fashioned is in – which I’m totally all for. Record players and vinyl are underrated items from the past. Ed Sheeran, Arctic Monkeys and Coldplay are all available on vinyl now; not just that random band your parents always bring up describing how that was the time of good music. Listening to records isn’t much more expensive than listening to something off your phone or iPod, if you buy the record player. Records are also much better quality than iTunes. For music fanatics, vinyl is the way to go.

Polaroid cameras have also been around forever – or at least it seems like it to those from this generation. Polaroid pictures are available immediately and don’t involve the utter struggle of going to CVS to get prints. And a plus is whatever ugly pictures that you don’t want to ever be seen again can just be thrown away so you don’t have to find it on your feed put up by some pseudo friend.

     These blasts from the past have sparked my interest and I am definitely guilty of spending too much time debating what old fashion trend I should pick up. Chuck Taylor’s have always been popular, but the high tops are coming back; my collection has grown to three functional pairs and one pair that probably won’t be able to contain my feet, but I keep them in my closet just ‘cause. Mom jeans are also trending. If you don’t know what I mean by mom jeans, I’m talking about the high-waisted light-wash (usually Levi) jeans Kelly Kapowski and Jessie Spano rocked all the time.  All of this is really hyped right now and if you aren’t raiding your parents closet or checking out Salvation Army or Goodwill you’re kind of the odd-one-out.

Older bands and their “made-to-look-worn” shirts are working their way into the fashion world with appearances in stores like Forever21, Urban Outfitters, and Anthropologie. Nirvana and Rolling Stones tee shirts are plastered throughout stores and also throughout the school from time to time.

Fashion has always repeated itself and right now this eruption of vintage is what it’s all about. Either you’re all about vintage or not; but, either way, it will give you and your older relatives something to talk about –maybe hitting them up for clothes to contribute to your hip vintage look.

Con:

Fast-forward 50 years and the streets are lined with angsty teens clutching onto iPod shuffles and dreaming of “simpler” times. Dirty UGG boots are showcased in the windows of all thrift shops and a Beyoncé song plays lightly in the background of an alternative coffee shop. This scenario parallels the hordes of teenagers who flock to purchase the latest mass-produced record-player from Urban Outfitters and who don high-waisted denim pants today. There is absolutely nothing wrong with embracing the cultures of generations-past, but if one is going to yearn for “simpler” times and scorn today’s popular culture, one needs to understand the history surrounding said products and pretension should dissipate.

Record-players were the first vehicle for widely distributed, pre-recorded music. They allowed more music to be more accessible to the public and as such, record players, or phonographs, helped create the first rock stars. It is almost ironic that the people who purchase record players today do so primarily to listen to “indie” music and other obscure or undiscovered artists. People listened to records because they were the only option when it came to listening to the music of one’s choice. Now, there are a multitude of other outlets to listen to all kinds of music. The Internet allows people to listen to Ray Charles, the Smiths and Katy Perry in succession and typically without cost. Listening to records is probably the most inconvenient way to listen to music. I completely understand if people listen to records to unearth a sense of nostalgia; but when my generation was born, even CDs were beginning to die out. The only sense of nostalgia we can garner from records and record players is what we imagine the past may have been like.

In reality, the eras when records were popular were pocked with wars, economic collapses, discrimination and other injustices that have been slowly remedied since. Merely listening to records to maintain a certain image is both simplistic and trivializes the generations that employed records first. No part of history should be considered an aesthetic choice or exploited for its marketability. This past winter, I walked into an Urban Outfitters only to be met with an onslaught of record players and pretentious teens. The idea that listening to records is better than listening to music on a phone or a computer is extremely confusing to me. The Beatles are still The Beatles when played on an iPhone. Having an eclectic and well-rounded music taste is made possible by the Internet, where free music is available with the click of a button. By solely listening to music on records, the expanse of music available is limited as not every artist is available on vinyl and each record sells for about twenty dollars. It’s not entirely economical to appear retro.

Scorning popular culture is an irrational way to sound sophisticated and an easy way to sound pretentious. Pop culture is constantly evolving and is often a target of abuse by people who feel superior to the “commonality” that it possesses. However, once a trend or fad or moment is over, it is over. Pop culture is what unifies the masses and gives the USA its own identity. By embracing aspects of the past’s pop culture, people may miss out on “the now.” Instead of romanticizing and embracing culture after it has passed, people should embrace the culture and lifestyle of today.

Watch an episode of whatever reality-tv garbage is on Netflix, listen to Beyoncé’s music on a smashed smartphone, read a dystopian novel on a Kindle. This is the generation and the culture that we belong to, be a part of it now.