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1980's Déjà-Vu...

A little bit of history repeating...

Shoulder pads, Arctic rolls and grown-up boybands. We're reliving our youth...

Have you noticed how eerily familiar so many things feel at the moment? Take a walk round the shops and you'll see Dynasty-inspired shoulder pads, stone-washed denim and 1980s neon bright colours.

Just recently Blur headlined at Glastonbury, The Eagles played Dublin and Michael Jackson topped the charts.

Meanwhile, the hottest rumour circulating in the film world is that singer Rihanna is set to reprise Whitney Houston's role in a remake of 1990s classic, The Bodyguard.

The whole world seems to be suffering a collective case of déjà-vu.
The nostalgia wave has even hit food. Milky Way has re- issued their 1989 'the red car and the blue car' ad, Birds Eye's Steakhouse and Arctic rolls are back on the shelves after a 12-year absence and Cadbury is describing the re-launch of the Wispa bar as 'the most successful revival ever'.

According to psychologists, part of our collective fascination with the past and trying to recreate it is rooted in the current recession.

Psychologist Ann Marie McMahon says: "When people sit down and have their Bird's Eye meal they're thinking about everything that went with that. It's not just about having a meal, its about a world that we lived in and a desire to reconnect to it."

As we try to make sense of today's unstable economic climate, the gut reaction is to take solace in the familiar and it's a concept the music business has been quick to catch on to and exploit.

Take That led the way with a reunion in 2006. Their screaming girl fans were all grown up and the music industry had transformed in the decade since their split, so few, including the band themselves, could have expected the rush of adoration that greeted their return to the charts.

Their most recent Circus tour sold over one million tickets and beat Michael Jackson's record for the fastest-selling tour in UK history. Keen to cash in on the Take That effect, we've now seen everyone from The Spice Girls and Boyzone to Crowded House and Limp Bizkit jump on the reunion bandwagon.

"The comeback has always been part of show business," explains former associate editor of NME, Stuart Bailie. "But it very rarely adds anything to the band or musician's musical legacy.

'At base, the music business is a commercial industry and there's a lot of dough in getting a big name back on stage. Today's thirtysomethings dictate the market and they'll happily pay for a babysitter if they can go out for a night and see a band that helps them relive their youth."

According to Bailie, the trend for resuscitating old talent is also a disappointing indication of how few new stars are emerging.

He says: "I think there is a bit of a charisma vacuum at the moment and we're making do with the reheated leftovers of a previous era.

"When Blur and Oasis broke through in the 1990s, people really got excited and ready to wave in new music and acts. But there's been nothing like that in music for a long time. People might buy a Kasabian CD and quite like it but its not going to be life-changing for them.

"It's a terribly uncertain unfocused time for the music industry and I think it's lost its way."

But at least in music, it's the original artists up on stage re-hashing their crowd-pleasing material, albeit a little older and slower than before. In most instances (with the notable exception of The Jimi Hendrix Experience) if a customer pays top dollar to see an old favourite return to the stage, then that's exactly what they'll get.

Cinema by contrast is taking much-loved concepts and giving them a hi-res, CGI-friendly Noughties makeover. Short Circuit, Total Recall, NeverEnding Story and Top Gun are all up rumoured to be up for remake. It's one thing to reintroduce an Arctic roll, but surely messing with 1980s movie classics is a step too far?

Film critic Mark Cousins disagrees. "Remakes can be better than the original. The Wizard of Oz was a remake, Singin' in the Rain was a bit of a remake and plenty of great horror movies are remakes," he says.

"Films like The Karate Kid and Total Recall had bits that were good and bits that now look a bit clunky, there's definitely room for them to be improved."

Moreover, Cousins isn't convinced that the recession is the driving force behind in the wave of nostalgia-inducing 1980s remakes.

"The ideas tray is always pretty empty in Hollywood, so recycling has always been popular in the movie industry," he explains.

"I think the era of the DVD is playing a bigger part in the amount of films being remade than the recession or a craze for nostalgia.

"Many international film companies are buying back catalogues of film rights to release on DVD. Then they realise, since they have the rights, they're free to do big, blustery new versions of the film that will appeal to new audiences.

"This Lazarus effect of film rights explains, I think, why older movies are being redone."

But the fact remains that if there was no public demand for retro entertainment, the supply would soon dry up.

To some degree, we all -- particularly in stressful times -- enjoy retreating into something that makes us feel better. If taking time out to watch Charlie's Angels is just a brief pick-me-up that's fine, but counselling psychologist Lorraine McColgan warns against long-term escapism.

"It's not a great idea to give nostalgia too free a reign," she says.

"Whenever a generation comes of age, we always see some degree of revival. The generation dictating what we have at the moment grew up in the 1980s and saw that as a time of safety and potential.

"Even though it was an era of boom and bust, they didn't have to deal with it."

She adds: "But only taking inspiration from memories is not the best way to cope with the present. It's important right now for people to find inspiration in the present so we can maintain momentum and keep moving forward.

"If we're to get out of the trouble we're in we have to look forward, not back."



Report by Chrissie Russell - Irish Independent.

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