@Lumenland: Why do you hate yourself? You shouldn't.
Earlier today I ran into
an article about Limp Bizkit, of all things, which provoked a lot of thought from me about nostalgia...when I first got into pop music back in the summer of 1999, they were one of the first bands that I heard, and I have to admit that I was a fan...their songs probably wouldn't be socially accepted now, but back then singing along to their songs was just...carefree, if not angsty, fun. It didn't last very long though...I'd quickly become more of a Linkin Park fan, which I suppose would make some people cringe even more.
But I got to thinking...it seems to me that everyone who remembers the 90s is nostalgic for those times. You see re-releases or remakes of 90s shows, movies, games, and bands, all targeted to appeal to those who were kids or teens back then...and at the end of the day, I think people around my age feel nostalgic for those times because, to be perfectly blunt, in a lot of ways life fucking sucks in the 21st century so far unless you're super rich. You have an economy that's been at best uncertain for the last 15 years, 9/11 and the resultant indefinite 'war on terror', Western governments that seem bent on becoming more Orwellian by the day, political turmoil that seems to be breaking down the government institutions in many countries (the 'politics of disdain' as one article I read put it), and uncertain prospects overall...some people predict that millennials may be the first generation in American history to be worse off than their parents.
By comparison, more than anything the 90s felt so...carefree in a way. Heavy topics like the ones I listed above existed of course, but they seemed far away...war was something that happened in second and third-world countries, the economy was doing great, and most people believed that things were going the right way. There was an optimism about the world and humanity and the future that has since been replaced with a malaise about the way things are today, and a lot of that optimism was reflected in the music at the time (not nu-metal, but a lot of other music).
This is one of my favourite examples.
There's a lot of words I could use to describe society today, but 'carefree' certainly isn't one of them. We've gained so much in this century, not the least of which is the technological advances and cultural adaptations that make a community like Wintreath possible, but I sometimes wonder if we've lost so much more when it comes to the spirit, and I think that's why people who remember those times gravitate towards nostalgia for them in any form it can be offered...perhaps soon, even in the form of formerly popular but not particularly talented nu-metal band..