In fact there’s a name for it- it’s called Vapor Wave, and it’s basically a self-aware ‘80s fauxstalgia. The people creating art in this style now know it isn’t “real” in that sense, but it’s kind of a remix of a fever dream of what their parents say the ‘80s were like. It involves a lot of VHS artifacts, Memphis design elements, 8-bit chip tunes faked on modern hardware, etc. For an example of this done really well, check out This Is Dan Bell on YouTube.
This show was terrific for so many reasons, not least of which was really nailing the real aesthetic of the ‘80s. Run down furniture and architecture left over from the 1970s, etc. I like Vapor Wave, but I’d like to see more stuff like F&G that goes for pure authenticity.
WOW, thanks for sharing, I never knew there was a name for this! In some sense, this is similar to the dying gasps of the Boomer generation’s seat of power as the biggest market with wealth. The infomercials from the 80s & 90s were saturated in content generated for Boomers by Gen-X’ers, and so things have come full circle where Gen-Y & Millennial generations are generating content for Gen-X’ers. Wait till Gen-X falls out of ascendancy and we’ll see what Gen Alpha comes up with…
Much like the 1990s revival of 1940s “Swing” culture or the 1950s obsession with the Old West. It’s easier to romanticize the idea of a past era when you didn’t have to live through the bad parts along with the good.
Yah there’s a definite sense of whimsy when a 20yo is making something Vaporwave, because they see it with fresh eyes. It was never cool or futuristic to them so they can just enjoy the silliness of ‘80s aesthetics for what they were.
I smile when, looking back on the 80s, when I used to think we were so much more sophisticated than those rubes in the 70s. Though, I feel that the whole “gender bending” thing with Boy George and New Romantics, might have had some positive fallout down the line.
To paraphrase the adage, “They can send a man to the moon; why can’t they…” Musk can send people to space, why can’t he hire and listen to a good designer? I wouldn’t be surprised if he did this himself. Narcissists think they know everything.
I started my career in the late 90s. My first two jobs out of college was as a UI programmer…on hardware devices (I worked on the UI for the MOT PageWriter 2000 for instance). I was decent with Photoshop of that era to do mocks, and haven’t really used PS since CS 2 was out…and even using CS 2 and my almost two decades out of touch skills could do better than this hot, flaming pile of dog shit.
