The Good Old Days: an Exposition on Music and Nostalgia
1
“The Good Old Days”
An Exposition on Music and Nostalgia
There has always been a dispute between the past and the present, the ancient and the modern, the old and the new. In medieval times, before the renaissance and the age of philosophical enlightenment, the general consensus was that life was better in the past. The
“golden days”, as they were called, were the days of great minds like Socrates and the prodigious empires of the Greeks and Romans. After the renaissance, and up until today, modern society tends to maintain the idea that the “golden days” are ahead of us, that the world can only be improved. This concept of past vs. present is also very prevalent elsewhere within a relatively shorter time frame: recorded music. More than a few people advocate the music of the past, specifically vinyl records, and claim that the time during the apex of vinyl music’s popularity was the single greatest time in music’s history. Others claim that vinyl records only functioned to fuel the creation of the modern digital music mediums that have taken the world by storm(O’Donnel). From this an important question arises? Is vinyl music actually any better than music today, or are people just looking back nostalgically, on their own “golden days?”
Vinyl music was the main form of consumer music in the 20th century. Beginning with the archaic phonograph, a cylinder containing with music engraved around the outside, which eventually led to the creation of the gramophone record that was eventually perfected to be well known vinyl records. The music industry was booming with record sales skyrocketing. From the
1950’s until the late 1990’s, vinyl records reigned supreme over all other forms of personal music
(History of Vinyl Music).
!
2
But the reign of vinyl music could not last forever. By 1992, vinyl music began to fizzle and cassettes took over, people were excited about the portability, carrying tape walkmen, listening to music wherever
“The Good Old Days”
An Exposition on Music and Nostalgia
There has always been a dispute between the past and the present, the ancient and the modern, the old and the new. In medieval times, before the renaissance and the age of philosophical enlightenment, the general consensus was that life was better in the past. The
“golden days”, as they were called, were the days of great minds like Socrates and the prodigious empires of the Greeks and Romans. After the renaissance, and up until today, modern society tends to maintain the idea that the “golden days” are ahead of us, that the world can only be improved. This concept of past vs. present is also very prevalent elsewhere within a relatively shorter time frame: recorded music. More than a few people advocate the music of the past, specifically vinyl records, and claim that the time during the apex of vinyl music’s popularity was the single greatest time in music’s history. Others claim that vinyl records only functioned to fuel the creation of the modern digital music mediums that have taken the world by storm(O’Donnel). From this an important question arises? Is vinyl music actually any better than music today, or are people just looking back nostalgically, on their own “golden days?”
Vinyl music was the main form of consumer music in the 20th century. Beginning with the archaic phonograph, a cylinder containing with music engraved around the outside, which eventually led to the creation of the gramophone record that was eventually perfected to be well known vinyl records. The music industry was booming with record sales skyrocketing. From the
1950’s until the late 1990’s, vinyl records reigned supreme over all other forms of personal music
(History of Vinyl Music).
!
2
But the reign of vinyl music could not last forever. By 1992, vinyl music began to fizzle and cassettes took over, people were excited about the portability, carrying tape walkmen, listening to music wherever
Cited: Jim Lesurf. Web. 09 Apr. 2011. (News). Ed. Record Collectors Guild. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. Hough, Andrew. "Vinyl Records Sales Rising as 'old Fashioned Albums Enjoy a Renaissance ' Telegraph." Telegraph.co.uk - Telegraph Online, Daily Telegraph and Sunday Telegraph Telegraph. 9 Mar. 2010. Web. 10 Apr. 2011. Situation." Emotion 8.5 (2008): 668-83. Print. Leboe, Jason P., and Tamara L. Ansons. "On Misattributing Good Remembering to a Happy Past: An Investigation into the Cognitive Roots of Nostalgia." Emotion 6.4 (2006): 596-610. O 'Donnell, Laurence. "Music and the Brain." Brain & Mind. Web. 06 Apr. 2011.