I'm reading this interview, entitled "Is Our Retro Obsession Ruining Everything?", in which author Simon Reynolds complains there’s never “been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past” as ours. He's upset at how today's culture keeps looking back to the past for cultural inspiration instead of trying to come up with new ideas.

While reading this, my iPod shuffled-up a song from Doc Watson, "Crawdad Hole". The song is a traditional American folksong, and this performance was recorded in the mid-60's during the great folk revival going on at the time. Watson played many traditional tunes, but also stuff from old country pioneers like Jimmy Rodgers and the Carter Family. In addition to folk, there was a huge revival of all forms of traditional American music: blues, jazz, jug-band, etc.. And it wasn't just America, of course; I grew up listening to traditional Irish folk songs from bands like the Irish Rovers and the Boys Of The Lough; bands like Pentangle reached back hundreds of years for some of their songs. All the big names of the 60s and 70s rock got into it, to varying degrees: Dylan, the Stones, Clapton, The Beatles, Zeppelin, The Allman Brothers, Jethro Tull, The Grateful Dead, The Doors, etc.. They all kept one foot firmly in traditional folk, blues, country, etc., while pushing forward with the other foot. Even Black Sabbath tried to be a straight blues band for a while.

The 80s?
Come on Eileen, who do you love? Come dancing, let's rock this town. Put on the ritz, or whatever.

And all the 70's-style hair on the hair metal bands?

There was a huge 60's/psychedelic/flower-power revival in the 90s. Dee Lite did their day-glo flowers and polka-dots thing, the Black Crows and Telsa did straight covers of 60s songs. I went to countless rockabilly and surf-guitar shows when I was in college. Then there was the big band / swing dance craze of the 00s, the lounge music revival. Etc..

There's nothing different about today's backwards looking. People have always looked backwards for inspiration, for fun, for comfort, and even for novelty. The past is the main ingredient in everything we do today.