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During 23 years with the BBC, and a 43 year journalistic career (when he was trained to use clear and simple language, avoiding jargon), for our Editor, Welshman Phil Parry, it was always fascinating to watch as ‘new’ stories came round again and again – now this is underlined by evidence that the 1990s are back in fashion today.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Unfortunately the recent tragic story of a young man climbing into a tiger enclosure, had echoes of past ones.
As soon as I heard this terrible news I said to my wife: “I bet there are mental issues involved here”, because regrettably similar sorts of stories have come round before.
Sure enough, exactly those emerged a few days later.
William Chapman, had a history of mental illness, a diagnosis of schizophrenia and had suffered previous bouts of psychosis.
His family had raised concerns about his contact with Rotherham, Doncaster and South Humber NHS Trust, an inquest was told.
This appalling incident only serves to emphasise how previous events and trends always seem to come around.
In terms of trends it seems that if you wait long enough, past fads will be back in fashion – now it’s everything to do with the 1990s, and there is reason to believe this one might be stronger than previous ones.
Every generation has its revival, as its members grow up and recreate the culture of their youth.
The 1990s itself saw a 1970s resurgence, as middle-aged boomers made nostalgic films such as “The Brady Bunch Movie” as well as “Dazed and Confused”.
Before that there was an outbreak of ’50s nostalgia in the 1970s, with shows like “Happy Days”, “m*a*s*h” and the film “Grease”.
A series of 1950s rock’n’roll revival concerts brought back stars like Chuck Berry as well as Bill Haley & His Comets, who filled venues such as Madison Square Garden.
Yet social and economic changes are combining to quicken and amplify these cultural revivals.
The upshot is that the new 1990s moment may be the most powerful wave of nostalgia yet, reaching more people than ever before.
One reason is a new creative conservatism, caused by old media’s pinched economics.
Cinema-going has fallen sharply since the pandemic, let alone the 1930s and 40s, when going to the ‘flicks’ every week was de rigueur (though recently it has become cool again), and social apps are eating into TV viewing.
Risk-averse Hollywood executives are therefore falling back on reliable intellectual property.
As they run out of superheroes, they are scouring their back catalogues – earlier this year “The Devil Wears Prada 2” out-grossed the 2006 original.
In September Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman returned after 28 years for a sequel to “Practical Magic”.
Next year a “Baywatch” reboot will squeeze new bodies into the red swimsuits that graced TV sets in the 1990s.
So Millennials should watch out – a middle-aged man in skinny jeans may appear!
The memories of Phil’s astonishing, decades long award-winning career in journalism , as he was gripped by the rare neurological disabling condition Hereditary Spastic Paraplegia (HSP), have been released in a major book ‘A Good Story’ (where the items are all NEW!). Order it now.
