Recent

Jack and Diane: A Little Ditty about Generation X

John Cougar Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane" provided the soundtrack to GenXers growing up in nowhere towns that were expected to adapt to a world that pretty much dismissed them.

Music

The One About the One About 'Friends'

Kelsey Miller's I'll Be There for You, on the production and cultural legacy of Friends, is a must-read for fans and anyone interested in understanding TV culture over the past 20 years.

Books

Vaporwave, Cartooned

Adult Swim's short film "Too Many Cooks" and Cartoon Network's Rick and Morty are distinctive examples of the Vaporwave Sensibility expressed in narrative-visual form.

Television

'Star Wars': The Forgetful Menace

In the Star Wars universe, those who do not remember history are doomed to sequel it; those who do, apparently, make prequels.

Film

Is the Revival of 'Roseanne' Merely Televisual Grave-Robbing?

The return of Roseanne brings with it some complicated political baggage -- and it brings Dan Connor back from the dead.

Television

Combating the Trap of Nostalgia in a Look at the Super Nintendo

Dominic Arsenault's Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware cuts through the nostalgia so sharply that it comes off as dismissive, hostile even, at least to someone used to reading the flowery prose of fan literature.

Books

From Hot Rods to Heartbreak: Bruce Springsteen and 'Baby It’s You'

Baby It’s You pushes past high school’s safe spaces to confront the audience with an imperfect world.

Caroline Madden

Film

S U R V I V E: RR7349

The perils of nostalgia notwithstanding, many listeners will find the foggy atmospheres and neon-lit cityscapes of RR7349 irresistible.

Music

Stories We Tell

You know the story. You’ve lived the story, and you're destined to relive it again and again.

Games

Kano: Made in the Manor

Kano’s fifth LP sees the rapper revisiting his childhood haunts in an attempt to come to terms with his past.

Music

Bill O'Reilly's Rock & Roll Machine

Nostalgia has its uses, its benefits. But is it useful and beneficial when it obscures the reality of the past and present, usually in the service of power, prestige, and making a buck?

Television

Genius. Doesn't. Fade: A Conversation With Steven Wilson

Revered English musical visionary Steven Wilson discusses the inspirations, methods, and reflections that helped create his newest solo opus, Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Interviews

In Defense of Not Buying into '90s Nostalgia

What's the good in looking back if you refuse to look forward?

Music

Pop Ten

The 60 Best Albums of 2009

The 100 Greatest Alternative Singles of the '80s: Part 1: 100 - 81

The 25 Best Classic Progressive Rock Albums

Jackie Chan's 10 Best Films

The 10 Best Debut Albums of 2009

Collapse Expand Pop Ten

Mixed Media

Collapse Expand Mixed Media

PM Picks

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John Cougar Mellencamp’s "Jack and Diane" provided the soundtrack to GenXers growing up in nowhere towns that were expected to adapt to a world that pretty much dismissed them.

Kelsey Miller's I'll Be There for You, on the production and cultural legacy of Friends, is a must-read for fans and anyone interested in understanding TV culture over the past 20 years.

Adult Swim's short film "Too Many Cooks" and Cartoon Network's Rick and Morty are distinctive examples of the Vaporwave Sensibility expressed in narrative-visual form.

In the Star Wars universe, those who do not remember history are doomed to sequel it; those who do, apparently, make prequels.

The return of Roseanne brings with it some complicated political baggage -- and it brings Dan Connor back from the dead.

Dominic Arsenault's Super Power, Spoony Bards, and Silverware cuts through the nostalgia so sharply that it comes off as dismissive, hostile even, at least to someone used to reading the flowery prose of fan literature.

Baby It’s You pushes past high school’s safe spaces to confront the audience with an imperfect world.

The perils of nostalgia notwithstanding, many listeners will find the foggy atmospheres and neon-lit cityscapes of RR7349 irresistible.

My wife witnessed a Pokeromance in the making, while I discussed the philosophical underpinnings of Pokehunting with a 14-year-old.

You know the story. You’ve lived the story, and you're destined to relive it again and again.

Kano’s fifth LP sees the rapper revisiting his childhood haunts in an attempt to come to terms with his past.

Nostalgia has its uses, its benefits. But is it useful and beneficial when it obscures the reality of the past and present, usually in the service of power, prestige, and making a buck?

Revered English musical visionary Steven Wilson discusses the inspirations, methods, and reflections that helped create his newest solo opus, Hand. Cannot. Erase.

Aching for the past dam(n)s The Stream.

The new nostalgia signals the ultimate rejection of millennial anxiety, postmodernism, irony and the future. It longs for a post-industrial, green world. Of course, that suggests a vague and painful longing for something that never was.

What's the good in looking back if you refuse to look forward?