A decade is a long time

[innerSpaceman]

Having lived through 5 decades now, I'd have to say the one with the most change ... or seeming change that never quite fulfilled its promise ... was the Sixties. I think, though it didn't go far or fully enough, culture and society changed in that decade more than any ten before or since.

And I didn't even have any other decades to compare it to at the time, but I felt in my soul a gladness over so many people waking up about religion, our political system, war and peace, racial justice, and so much more.


Though the giant leaps forward in those areas achieved during that small 10-year span have only inched forward since, I think that decade's progress has had the most impact on our lives today ... and really marks a dividing point in Before and After in American life and consciousness.


And though I think the Millennio's is a prime candidate for Best Technological Improvements ... I don't think the 60's was any slouch in the tech department. Certainly science and exploration has seen nothing like the Moon Missions in the intervening 40 years. Yes, computers, cellphones, the internet, and the cool devices that combine it all make our individual lives so incredibly enriched as we approach 2010 ... but is mankind more technically advanced for those inventions than it was for reaching its planet's moon as we approached 1970?



I'm really glad time seems to flow slower when you're young. The 60's lasted a good, long time for me. As my favorite decade, that seems a nice reward.

[Strangler Lewis]

I think the theme party for this decade would involve feverishly checking various devices to see if some other decade was trying to hook up with you.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

MousePlanet was around long before, but MousePad started the same time DCA did, I believe - February 2001. I joined in August of that year.

Regarding the distinctive decades discussion, we've already beaten this debate to death in another thread not too long ago (which I'm too lazy to look up) but for me, a 1990's party would be very easy to throw.

Grunge, MC Hammer and LL Cool J and C&C Music Factory, Pop Tarts and Bagel Bites, a "coffeehouse and bagel shop" with open mic poetry...throw in a little Bush Sr/Clinton White House and you're set.

I can spout some things off the top of my head that made this last decade distinctive...Emo, Backstreet Boys/Britney Spears, Reality TV, Dubya, Harry Potter....but it's still too soon.

[Deebs]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Grunge, MC Hammer and LL Cool J and C&C Music Factory, Pop Tarts and Bagel Bites, a "coffeehouse and bagel shop" with open mic poetry...throw in a little Bush Sr/Clinton White House and you're set.

Thanks for these 90's reminders, CP. I was coming up blank, thinking about how that decade would be themed. Grunge, duh. And C&C Music Factory, how could I forget that? But wait, Pop Tarts? I ate those when I was little. And that sure wasn't in the 90's.

[innerSpaceman]

Hey, CP ... I forgot to mention how much progress was made with Women in America in the 1960's. If you were your age now in a time before that, you'd be de facto chattel.



But without the clue of Clinton on the tube at the party, I wouldn't know I was at a '90s party if I walked into that scene. Pop Tarts? Really?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Hey, CP ... I forgot to mention how much progress was made with Women in America in the 1960's. If you were your age now in a time before that, you'd be de facto chattel.

To think that everything changed overnight because of one decade is ridiculous. Yes, there were strides made in the 60's. They laid some groundwork for the bold women of the 70's, the career women of the 80's...

There have been a lot of jokes about the Boomers not being able to get over the 60's. Everyone dramatizes the era when they discovered themselves. I grok the 90's, because I was THERE, I was paying attention. To call your own precious time periods somehow more interesting or more important than mine, or those of today's kids, is shortsighted and lame.

Seems your latest gig is insulting anyone who isn't you. Let me put this in your old-timey terms - You're being a downer.

However much I love my own coming of age, at least once a week I say something along the lines of "I am so glad to be alive in today's age." I may not have the time of a high-schooler to study the exact nuances of what's up today, but I can appreciate the march of time, the urge to see what's around the bend, and oh yeah, living NOW.


Anyway - anyone else have anything they want to say about the last decade, the changes, the time gone by?

[Ghoulish Delight]

Just because you're too old to have participated in the decade's cultured doesn't mean it didn't exist.

[innerSpaceman]

Grunge? Saying Grunge is 90's is like saying legwarmers is 2000's. Just because something is rehashed in a decade does not make it the culture of that decade.

And I think I picked the most defining element of what most consider 90's culture. But so-called "grunge" music is pretty indistinguishable from generic rock, and plaid shirts are hardly a defining fashion statement.



But, in deference to CP and GD, I will grant that the Rave Scene is pretty much an identifiable cultural touchstone of the '90s, and if I went to a party that was a Rave, I would think I was in a '90s' theme party!


If I went into a coffee house where people were wearing plaid and speaking poetry into an open mic, I would think about 4 decades earlier.


* * * *

More in line with what I think the OP had in mind, I'm reminded of the phrase, "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same." With a number of decades under my belt, I don't think there's too much difference between now and 10 years ago ... though of course the particulars are completely different.

Life, however, is pretty much the same. I think post-child-raising years tend to become same-like. CP is precisely on the opposite end of that equation ... and, I daresay, about to find out what a difference 10 years can REALLY make. OMG, KIDS!!!! They grow so fast, you can practically watch it happen!

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by innerSpaceman

Grunge? Saying Grunge is 90's is like saying legwarmers is 2000's. Just because something is rehashed in a decade does not make it the culture of that decade.

And I think I picked the most defining element of what most consider 90's culture. But so-called "grunge" music is pretty indistinguishable from generic rock, and plaid shirts are hardly a defining fashion statement.

Wow. I think this speaks for itself.

I can see how this works. It's like how I look at the 80's inspired sounds of today's music and think "it's just the 80's again". Mostly because I was there, in the 80's. But for someone born in 1991 (now of voting age) this music is it's own thing.

More in line with what I think the OP had in mind, I'm reminded of the phrase, "The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same."

Agreed, but this observation gives me the ability to understand why kids today will value these years as much as I valued mine and you valued yours. Because I'm old enough to understand that grunge was highly inspired by 70's rock (Kurt Cobain always called his music punk), I'm MORE accepting of the new generation holding bands like the Killers up as representative of 80's inspired, yet distinctively 00's music.....not LESS.

If I went into a coffee house where people were wearing plaid and speaking poetry into an open mic, I would think about 4 decades earlier.

Yup, you're right, you're way too old to appreciate it. When you don't get your invite to my 90's party (probably another 10 years from now, when it's sufficiently old enough to be awesome), you'll understand, right?

I think post-child-raising years tend to become same-like. CP is precisely on the opposite end of that equation ... and, I daresay, about to find out what a difference 10 years can REALLY make. OMG, KIDS!!!! They grow so fast, you can practically watch it happen!

I dig this as well, and can't wait to see the world through my kid's eyes.

[Alex]

I think what iSm is trying to say is "whippersnapers get off my lawn!"