[Ignatz Mouse]

Not all eras are equal in good movies/music/art. But it's not all "good then/bad now" either. It goes in waves. That said, I don'y begrudge anyone liking some particular era or disliking the current one, as long as they can differentiate opinion from fact.

And good eras aren't about the absence of crap, it's about the high points and the amount of good stuff. There's always crap.

[teruterubozu]

You're arguing against generational nostalgia with a Woody Allen movie?

smh

[Ignatz Mouse]

You're arguing against generational nostalgia with a Woody Allen movie? smh

Did you see the movie? That was the point of it.

[teruterubozu]

Did you see the movie? That was the point of it.

So old people are hip then. Thank god.

[Canuck76]

I kind of did wish the internet didn't exist. I have friends that spend all day inside on starcraft thinking it's the frigging life.

I remember playing outside till dark, those were awesome days. How many kids do that today?

SHOUT OUT TO SEMISONIC AND EVERCLEAR

WHY CAN'T WE HAVE MUSIC LIKE THAT TODAY?

[Messofanego]

But it goes beyond fashion, what new music genres have been invented in the last 12 years? Dubstep?

Does that really matter? The quality of music matters to me more. I'm pretty sure most people argue the music quality of this era is worse than before, not that there aren't as many new genres. When a new genre was created like heavy metal, punk, prog, synth or post-punk, it tends to have a short lifetime as every artist takes it to the extreme. At least according to those documentaries. People get sick of the genre, move on to the next that's opposite thematically like from punk to synth, then it gets revived like 20 years later or something.

Plus, now a lot of music blends so many genres together.

[Nerfgun]

What I think is interesting about this phenomenon, is that we seem to focus more on the negative in the short term, but in the long run, we tend to actually remember a lot of things more fondly.

Why Republicans keep trying to "take us back" to a time period that only existed on Leave It To Beaver.

[krae_man]

Goldeneye was just fine as an FPS, framerate aside, thank you very much. Without a single doubt the only game I've ever poured at least 1000+ hours into. That was an after school 4 player staple for like 2 whole years. Licence To Kill in the Complex with Pistols only. So good.

Licence to Kill with Proximity Mines was my go to game. Set proximity mines in every spawn point and and hope to god you didn't die first.

[GuitarAtomik]

All you have to do is look at the top 40 charts to see that music was much better in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

Ehh. You can't compare Top 40 of pretty much any decade with the current or even the last one really. The internet has changed the ball game in that respect since we all don't get our music from the radio or even MTV (lol) anymore. As someone mentioned before, it's decentralized.

[Captain Tuttle]

Dude. If anything, that link shows that NYC was much better back then.

Haha! I guess you could look at it that way. The whole city was crumbling though. Watch Midnight Cowboy for a good representation.

[kswiston]

I don't even think it's nostalgia for me at least in some areas. Like in games I can definitely sit here and tell you with a straight face that both japanese and western games were better in the late 90s-very early 2000s. Western games especially were generally way more complex and challenging and actually required a brain, and yes you can probably credit that to being PC only. Despite what people want to think the audience on PC has always been treated as smarter and older, whether they were or not...that's how they were treated. As for movies I can't even remember the last time something made me go to the theater. Every other movie now seems to be a remake of some old classic because even they seem to admit that shit was better back then and they can't think of anything good now. I'll be going to see the last Nolan batman movie but after that it'll probably be another few years before something can get me out.

Aren't you in your early-mid 20s? I'd say you just have a sense of cynicism that is pretty common for that age. Everything seems better when you are a kid, regardless if it is or not.

I was a little kid in the 80s, and was a teenager through the 90s. Music is just as good now as it was in either of those decades. It's just different, and for most genres you have to look beyond what is playing on the radio now (not that everything that makes the radio is bad).

TV aimed at adults has been much better in the 2000s than it was in the 90s. Granted most of the best shows have been on cable channels. I prefer serial dramas with continuing plotlines over episodic dramas, and am glad we get a lot more of those now.

Videogames depend on your tastes. I think it is hard to argue that there hasn't been decline in at least some genres. Others have improved with time.

Personally, I think movies were better in the 90s than the 2000s, however other than a glut of blockbuster sequels, I don't think the quality dropped off all that much. Both decades had awesome films. I might be more biased towards Jurassic Park than Avatar since I was 11 when the former came out, but I think kids of both eras will have a lot of childhood favourites.

[I H8 Memes]

Kids today are so much more butthurt than they were when i was growing up.

[border]

Except that some time periods are actually much better than others. And by a lot of measures, there were periods that were better than the current one. The OP seems to think that our current era is great because of low crime rate, low discrimination, and the internet. Those don't seem like the sort of things that make life enjoyable.

I had to laugh at "starting a revolution with social media". I don't think there's anything wrong with missing the days when a movement actually involved getting up, going out, protesting, marching, doing a sit-in or whatever. Now most people's social activism is limited to posting a hashtag.

I would gladly have traded these last 10 years to live amidst the Harlem Renaissance or at the height of the Sexual Revolution. I don't give a fuck if there was more crime or I couldn't use Google.

[Unicorn]

THE INTERNET WAS WAY BETTER WHEN I WAS A KID -- Everyone in this thread in 25 years.

It'll probably be true by then too.

[Myriadis]

I hate these comments, too.
I heard many good songs these days and I also like many of the older bands, especially the late 60s / early 70s. Guys who say this crap didn't bother to search more than five minutes for some good music.
And for gaming, I personally loved the games they made in this century. The Gamecube is my favorite Nintendo console and I really love the PS2 and the 360.

All you have to do is look at the top 40 charts to see that music was much better in the 60s, 70s and 80s.

All you have to do is look at the top 40 charts back then too see that it was even worse. Such crap like the latest James Last Orchestra record on #1? This cheap disco crap or the awful "Paloma Blanca" from the George Baker Selection as the #1 hit of 1975? Even back then, there were a lot of people with some real bad taste in music.

[Messofanego]

As for movies I can't even remember the last time something made me go to the theater. Every other movie now seems to be a remake of some old classic because even they seem to admit that shit was better back then and they can't think of anything good now. I'll be going to see the last Nolan batman movie but after that it'll probably be another few years before something can get me out.

Have you seen The Raid? Best action movie in a long while.

Mainstream movies are harmless, you'll always have remakes and sequels. But for quality, it's rarely coming from big studio financed movies. This is why the Internet is great, ask someone on a forum about what's worth watching, and there are all kinds of reviews. Just do a little research, and then you won't be dragged into mediocre movies.

[Tacitus_]

All you have to do is look at the top 40 charts back then too see that it was even worse. Such crap like the latest James Last Orchestra record on #1? This cheap disco crap or the awful "Paloma Blanca" from the George Baker Selection as the #1 hit of 1975? Even back then, there were a lot of people with some real bad taste in music.

True enough, but there are no bands like The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, etc playing now. And I'm not talking about the genres.

[Loofy]

I see this alot on the internet when older movies are remade..

..as if the original was some untouchable classic and not some corny ass flick.
ie. Teen Wolf or Carmen Sandiago

[mattiewheels]

Some things you can really be objective about though, the late 60's through mid 70's had a collective musical talent that we'll probably never see the likes of again....of course it's easy to make that prediction since there's so many factors that kind of keep it from happening twice.

But for about that much time you had the equivalent of the greek gods coming down from the mountain and jamming together, we've been chasing their fumes for decades.

[teruterubozu]

I see this alot on the internet when older movies are remade.. ..as if the original was some untouchable classic and not some corny ass flick. ie. Teen Wolf or Carmen Sandiago

Honestly, I don't think anyone's really upset over Teen Wolf or Carmen Sandiego.

[WanderingWind]

The OP seems to think that our current era is great because of low crime rate, low discrimination, and the internet. Those don't seem like the sort of things that make life enjoyable.

Really? You think discrimination and crime rates don't affect quality of life? Think of all the things discrimination really entails ...there is no objective reasoning that will come to any conclusion other than less discrimination leads to a better quality of life. Well, other than an overly romanticized view on the "struggle."

[Messofanego]

True enough, but there are no bands like The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, etc playing now. And I'm not talking about the genres.

Not for rock maybe, but that's because the genre was the main huge thing back in that time. In these days, music is just decentralised, radio doesn't control everything anymore other than pop.

There are greats of post-rock (thread) though now, like Yndi Halda, God is an Astronaut, Samuel Jackson Five, Explosions in the Sky, Grails, and This Will Destroy You. That's just a few.

[Reuenthal]

Neogaf was better in 2010s than in 2020s, those were the good days.

[Shadow Hog]

Goldeneye was a terrible game

Navgtr, is that you? Next you'll be telling me that Symphony of the Night is disappointingly enjoyable and that if I don't play Donkey Kong Country, then I'm stupid.

[Zebra]

This was one of my big gripes with the pilot for The Newsroom. Sorkin definitely suffers from this.

You're arguing against generational nostalgia with a Woody Allen movie? smh

The whole theme of the movie was learning how to appreciate the time you're in, no matter when it is, and not to romanticize the past. Opinions on Woody Allen notwithstanding, the film itself is great at driving that point home.

[lunarworks]

I agree that people who never take off their nostalgia glasses are annoying.

When I look back at the past, I don't think "the world was so great back then", rather, I think "I had it a lot easier back then and I wasn't nearly as jaded and cynical."

There was great music, tv, games, etc. back then. There's great music, tv, games, etc. now. It's all in how your brain processes it.

[border]

Really? You think discrimination and crime rates don't affect quality of life? Think of all the things discrimination really entails ...there is no objective reasoning that will come to any conclusion other than less discrimination leads to a better quality of life.

No, I just don't think those are good measures of what is going to make me happy about the era I am living in. Happiness does not come from having a super-low crime rate. It has a whole hell of a lot more to do with the culture that surrounds you. Would you rather live in a lifeless-but-peaceful Kansas suburb, or a more crime-heavy metropolis full of movies, plays, concerts, museums, cafes, and cultural events?

There was plenty of awful discrimination in the 20's and 30's, but that doesn't mean I would have been less happy during the Harlem Renaissance. Do I want the entire country to revert to exactly the state it was in then? Of course not. It's certainly hard not to look at that time and not lament today's vapid popular culture.

[lunarworks]

True enough, but there are no bands like The Beatles, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Van Halen, etc playing now. And I'm not talking about the genres.

Well, if you look back, most of those artists never charted simultaneously. Some of those beloved artists barely charted at all.

And don't tell me someone like Jack White can't stand among those people.

[Imp the Dimp]

Whatever. I wanna go back to the 90s.

[Utako]

Anybody who'd played an FPS on PC knew this. We all looked at N64 owners and scratched our heads in puzzlement.

Bullshit!

Everyone loved Goldeneye. The maps are certainly more memorable than Quake II's (I was a fan of both).

[JJDinomite]

Not for rock maybe, but that's because the genre was the main huge thing back in that time. In these days, music is just decentralised, radio doesn't control everything anymore other than pop. There are greats of post-rock (thread) though now, like Yndi Halda, God is an Astronaut, Samuel Jackson Five, Explosions in the Sky, Grails, and This Will Destroy You. That's just a few.

Excellent post. I feel like a lot of people reminiscing on the "golden days" of rock and roll were likely born shortly after 9/11. Don't get me wrong, I love classic rock just as much as the next guy - but that's not to say today's music is all shit. Yes, a very large majority of it is shit, but odds are that a very large majority of 70's music was shit, too. It's all relative. Like you said, pop music is essentially all that's played on mainstream radio. The likely reason these kids are nostalgia-ing on YouTube is because they've only heard the Beatles and Led Zeppelin from their dad's classic rock radio station.

I don't really know where I'm going with this post, I'm just rambling now. I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's always been good and bad music. You just have to look for it. Thankfully, with the internet, it's easier to find good music these days.

As for nostalgia, I don't see what's too wrong with it every now and then. It's always nice to re-live a videogame or movie from your childhood. Does that mean you should bitch about today's videogames and movies on YouTube? Not necessarily. But nostalgia has it's place for when you're in the mood.

[Count of Monte Sawed-Off]

Goldeneye was just fine as an FPS, framerate aside, thank you very much. Without a single doubt the only game I've ever poured at least 1000+ hours into. That was an after school 4 player staple for like 2 whole years. Licence To Kill in the Complex with Pistols only. So good.

Lost so many hours to Licence to Kill pistols only. And remote mines were fun too.

[lunarworks]

Whatever. I wanna go back to the 90s.

You'd step out of the time machine, and be like "What the fuck? Why does everything suck? How is this possible?"

The only way you could "go back" to the '90s if you somehow also went back to the state of mind you were in back then, and also reclaimed your living conditions and possibly your social life. (Hanging around on the streets by yourself is nothing like being in your nice cozy old house watching TV with friends.)

Oh, also, don't forget: You brain has had two decades to filter out all the crap you didn't like. You'd turn on the radio and say "Ugh! Hanson? I forgot about them!"... and also "Why am I so awkward and depressed?"

[Zebra]

There was plenty of awful discrimination in the 20's and 30's, but that doesn't mean I would have been less happy during the Harlem Renaissance. Do I want the entire country to revert to exactly the state it was in then? Of course not. It's certainly hard not to look at that time and not lament today's vapid popular culture.

Popular culture has always been vapid. There are instances when great art reaches popular status but that has always been true and continues to be true for every generation.

[RobotNinjaHornets]

The present is always the best time for films, music, games etc.

Why? BECAUSE YOU HAVE ALL THE ONES FROM THE PAST.

Also I'm glad there aren't any bands like Led Zeppelin or whatever today. They were shit.

[Ratchet]

Oh, also, don't forget: You brain has had two decades to filter out all the crap you didn't like. You'd turn on the radio and say "Ugh! Hanson? I forgot about them!"

Easy solution: don't turn on the radio.

[that1dude24]

Some things you can really be objective about though, the late 60's through mid 70's had a collective musical talent that we'll probably never see the likes of again....of course it's easy to make that prediction since there's so many factors that kind of keep it from happening twice. But for about that much time you had the equivalent of the greek gods coming down from the mountain and jamming together, we've been chasing their fumes for decades.

bullshit. complete, utter, bullshit.

i'd argue that the "collective musical talent" (whatever that means) of our time is much higher than that of previous generations with just how easy it is to get your shit out there. that, and the proliferation of digital instruments and audio suites. you only need a computer to mix, record, and shape music. there are so many artists out there from any genre. it's a better time for music in general!

[computers putin']

I"m not much of a viticm to nostalgia I suppose; even as a kid I thought most music sucked, and I think hip hop now is a better state than it has been in over a decade.Y'know what, not even just for hip hop, most music genres are in a good state, there is just so much variety out there that you're bound to find something you like.

[Zebra]

The present is always the best time for films, music, games etc. Why? BECAUSE YOU HAVE ALL THE ONES FROM THE PAST.

This is a good attitude to have.

We still have all the great media from the past as well as easy ways to search through it all, AND we are still continuing to get new stuff.

[FloppyDelux]

Goldeneye was a terrible game...and Star Wars was a terrible movie.

It was all about the Multiplayer .

[Gooster]

As a Transformers fan, I love the looks/responses I get when I say the G1 series sucks, because it does, although I still enjoy TF:TM, so make of it what you will.

[Izick]

I'm younger, so it can't be nostalgia talking when I say I absolutely loathe a lot of the 2000's music. I can't even think of a genre that got "better" from the years going on really now that I think about it for a few minutes.

Hip-hop/rap became complete and utter shit for the most part, especially as the years went on. I mean, look at the jokes that are considered "rappers" today like Drake, Lil Wayne, etc. Instead of truly great MC's like Biggie, we get some shitty person like Wayne that is basically the rap equivalent of a Family Guy episode. It's a shame because the 90's were basically the pinnacle of the genre, and that's all it really got. Past decades never had anything that special compared to other genres, there were hits and great songs, but nothing compared to the 90's, and then it went to shit in the 00's.

Heavy metal seems to have completely fallen off in this decade as well, because if you want to hear anything good from the genre, you have to at least go back to the 90's, if not much earlier. With that said, I think I'm a little more focused on what I like from the genre; I can't listen to like scream-o or anything like that.

Rock is another genre that really is at its best in the past years. I guess you could argue for almost any decade besides the 00's really.

As for pop, I can listen to pop still, but I'm more of an 80's pop kind of guy. Not sure why, but I just really like how everything sounded back then in terms of pop music. It has a real fun, upbeat type of style that most music today doesn't really have.

[SonicMegaDrive]

As a Transformers fan, I love the looks/responses I get when I say the G1 series sucks, because it does, although I still enjoy TF:TM, so make of it what you will.

You probably get those weird looks because pretty much everything Transformers related is pretty hokey/bad to begin with. And I'm saying this as a longtime fan.

[captmorgan]

No, I just don't think those are good measures of what is going to make me happy about the era I am living in. Happiness does not come from having a super-low crime rate. It has a whole hell of a lot more to do with the culture that surrounds you. Would you rather live in a lifeless-but-peaceful Kansas suburb, or a more crime-heavy metropolis full of movies, plays, concerts, museums, cafes, and cultural events? .

I would choose the suburbs everytime

[Foxtastical]

I'm younger, so it can't be nostalgia talking when I say I absolutely loathe a lot of the 2000's music. I can't even think of a genre that got "better" from the years going on really now that I think about it for a few minutes. Hip-hop/rap became complete and utter shit for the most part, especially as the years went on. I mean, look at the jokes that are considered "rappers" today like Drake, Lil Wayne, etc. Instead of truly great MC's like Biggie, we get some shitty person like Wayne that is basically the rap equivalent of a Family Guy episode. It's a shame because the 90's were basically the pinnacle of the genre, and that's all it really got. Past decades never had anything that special compared to other genres, there were hits and great songs, but nothing compared to the 90's, and then it went to shit in the 00's. Heavy metal seems to have completely fallen off in this decade as well, because if you want to hear anything good from the genre, you have to at least go back to the 90's, if not much earlier. With that said, I think I'm a little more focused on what I like from the genre; I can't listen to like scream-o or anything like that. Rock is another genre that really is at its best in the past years. I guess you could argue for almost any decade besides the 00's really. As for pop, I can listen to pop still, but I'm more of an 80's pop kind of guy. Not sure why, but I just really like how everything sounded back then in terms of pop music. It has a real fun, upbeat type of style that most music today doesn't really have.

Borrowed nostalgia.

Anyways, Midnight in Paris was great. I love the theme of the movie.

[bjork]

Back in my day, OT threads were a lot more varied and interesting than today's repetitive fluff.

[sc0la]

The kids today don't even know how to nostalgia right. back in my day our nostalgia was way more authentic. My nostalgia for ninja turles and transformers is far more sentimental and rose tinted than yours of yugiohs and pokemons

[ViperVisor]

Arguing the straw man of no bad music in the past is lame.

The Hip-Hop diagnosis seems true to me as an outside observer. Back in the 90s or early 2000 it seemed that stuff that was popular was so because it tended to also be good. Today it seems like shit it just popular because it is popular. Rap turned into Country.

What I do know is R&B. Specifically the male group type. It is dead. It existed and thrived for 4 decades but no more.

[Flying_Phoenix]

I'll just leave this here:

I just think some decades are basically cultural vacuums. This is one of them. Like after the 1920s, you had the great depression, and apparently out of fear of having a personality and having fun, people reverted from fairly modern day fashions and pursuits and went to drab, boring old clothes. Out went flappers, bobs and miniskirts, in came dull dresses and even duller hair. Men's fashion also became much more conservative, dull suits. But it goes beyond fashion, what new music genres have been invented in the last 12 years? Dubstep? Compare that to the 70s, which gave us all sorts of rock, disco, funk, and so on. The 80s had new wave, more types of rock, rap & hip hop, and all sorts of dance music picking up where disco left off. The 90s saw the fall of hair metal and the rise of alternative, industrial and grunge. Hip hop becomes mainstream. Dance music really blossomed as well, with even more genres being born. What did the 2000s give us? Dubstep? Emo? Autotuned pop? Or look at moral panics. Usually there is something that scares older people. In the 1920s you had jazz. Flappers. Alcohol. In the 50s you had the guys in the leather jackets, white t-shirts and jeans. And Rock & roll. In the 60s you had hippies and long hair. In the 70s and 80s, you had panics over Satanism, Dungeons & Dragons, Heavy Metal music. Yes, in retrospect it was pretty silly, but parents really were scared of their kids of listening to that stuff or playing D&D. And while Member's Only jackets probably didn't scare anyone, people with mohawks and blue hair and shaved heads did. In the 90s, Raves were the big worry. Because people dancing and having fun might lead to something subversive. The government even tried to ban electronic dance music. While there certainly has been a number of moral panics lately, most have been over very silly things like "bath salts" (OMG, they turn people into zombies. Just like every other banned substance before it, in reality, not so much). Nothing really like in the past. And frankly, as I hit middle age, rather than being frightened of teenager, I've been amused by them. The most rebellious thing they can think of today apparently is the fauxhawk, which IMHO, wouldn't look too out of place on Leave it to Beaver. I mean, go ahead and look at Dee Snider, lead singer of Twister Sister in the early 80s. Then look at his son (who I think is the host of some PSN show) who looks normal. I'm sure he (and people his age) look at his father's old style of dress as being silly and ridiculous, that the modern type of subdued fashion is so much cooler. But that's what kids in the 50s in their sweaters and ankle length skirts thought about their parents in the 1920s.

This is most likely due to the fact that American culture has stepped out of the teen "try everything out"phase and is now much closer to finding its grove. Also there are no more music genres because pretty much everything has already been done.

[Karsticles]

Some periods simply were better than others. There are cases like you describe, but consider a statement like this: "Square RPGs really were better back in the SNES days." I think most RPG fans would agree that Square put out better products back then, and I don't think it's nostalgia talking. I'm playing Xenoblade right now, and I can summarize it as "What FFXII should have been". Some things get worse over time. Things do change. A large portion of gamers think the best age of gaming was in the SNES era, and there's a really good argument for that.