Note: This was initially meant to go out in July 2019. Life, eh?
When Stranger Things first dropped, I ran to watch. From D&D to synth music, I loved every bit of it. Hell, if you loved the Goonies, you should love Stranger Things. It’s Cthulhu Edition Goonies. How can you not love that?
Another aspect I love of the show is the 80s love, something we as a society have been vibing on since 2002. Flash forward to now we have Retrowave, New She-Ra, even Thundercat’s came back for a bit. And guess what? Kevin Smith is bringing back He-Man. Again.
But getting back to Hawkins, the show’s first season kicked off in 1983, and D&D is all the rage for Nerdy Kids. Does anyone remember D&D Club? Not me. I read about it in 1989, but in 1983, I was five years old. It wasn’t until I was almost 7 in 1984 (Second Season) that I had clear memories of all things the ’80s. Break dancing and Silver Spoons were my favorites. Later it becomes Mario Bros.
No, it was the end of the ’80s that are the fondest for me. 87 onwards. In 1988 I discovered D&D, but everyone had moved on and so had a much of America by then. As the 80s wound down, Yuppies became the norm, and people began to hate the gluttony that the decade represented. This angst would come to a head in 1993 when Bill Clinton would become the President.
For me, the show represents everything it means to be from the Oregon Trail Generation. I miss those days. Everything was bright, poppy, big hair, and energetic.
The music is what I miss the most. For me, technically, I’m a 90s Teenager as opposed to an 80’s Teenager. But that memory is distorted. In the ’90s, music began to change— Nirvana, Dr. Dre, Spin Doctors, Michael Jackson, Culture Club, and Duran Duran. Oddly though, I would fall in love with Duran Duran’s 90s comeback (Check out Come Undone).
It wasn’t until around 2013 that I got back into 80’s music—partly driven by nostalgia, partly driven by that seed of synth love that was planted in my friend Nichole’s bedroom when we would sit around all day playing Nintendo.
That’s something else that has a comeback. The original NES and SNES. Along with the Genesis and TurboGrafx-16. Which I always wanted to play Slaughterhouse on. Since I didn’t get a chance, I hope to with this retro release. Talk about nostalgia.
Hmm, that’s what this post is about—nostalgia and how it seems that we are now eating ourselves instead of trying new things. Everything is coming back or on the way. One Day At A Time has come back, got famous, and been canceled. Now there is talk of the Princess Bride. See? Eating ourselves until nothing is left.