There are no less than three high schools within four miles of where I live. As a result, the neighborhoods I travel are always crawling with teenagers. In the last several months I've noticed a very curious fashion trend among this set, in that they're often sporting hoodies, sweatshirts and t-shirts featuring 90's bands. Hardly a day goes by in fact when I don't see a pimply-faced sophomore in Nirvana gear. I've also seen Metallica quite a bit, Snoop Dogg, Death Row Records, Foo Fighters and Slipknot. Now I need to stress that this is more than anecdotal (I'm not a big fan of any of these acts so I have no subconscious tendency to notice anyone repping them.) This is something that's both very real and being perpetuated with intention. Apparel makers are cranking out 90's-related clothing and retailers are aggressively promoting it in the teen market.
Just the other day I saw a large poster in Tilly's window featuring a kid wearing a Nirvana shirt. It made me wonder -- why are merchandisers reaching back to pop culture from thirty years ago to appeal to today's teens? Are they just giving these kids what they've newly discovered and are now embracing?
Beginning points for cultural trends are often difficult to pinpoint but at the same time, retro style is nothing new. Fashions, music and pop culture figures are often resurrected as they experience periods of nostalgia, usually about twenty years after they first emerged. The 1970's looked back at the 50's with Sha Na Na, American Graffiti, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley and Grease. The 80's saw comebacks for big hair, stirrup pants, miniskirts, paisley ties and penny loafers -- all popular in the 1960's. The 90's saw revisits to the 70's in The Brady Bunch films, That 70's Show, and the re-release of the original Star Wars trilogy. But currently, for unknown reasons, it seems the first decade of the 2000's is being overlooked in favor of what was popular in the 1990's.
I ventured into the aforementioned Tilly's to see if I could discover more and realized that my observations were one hundred percent accurate. The store was loaded with apparel celebrating 90's pop culture, including Mike Tyson, the Chicago Bulls (who won six NBA titles in that decade) and Ice Cube. During a subsequent perusal of Tilly's website I found even more 90's apparel -- Friends, The Simpson, Aaliyah, Tupac, and tons and tons of... you guessed it... Nirvana. What is it about that particular band that elevates them so much among today's youth?... Is it their music?... Almost certainly not. This 90's craze that's taking place wasn't triggered by teens going through their parents CD collection and discovering grunge classics like "All Apologies" and "Smells Like Teen Spirit". Could it be the imagery and typography?... After all, the "Nirvana" lettering is pretty cool and the album covers for Nevermind and In Utero, as well as the "zonked out smiley face" logo are all pretty iconic. Yes, the aesthetics of graphic designs for the band are certainly a factor -- but the main reason Nirvana apparel is so ubiquitous today is largely due to the 90's nostalgia I've described and the fact that, while grunge didn't age well or sustain its popularity in subsequent decades, Nirvana is almost unquestionably the seminal band of that era. The same way the Sex Pistols and The Clash still carry the mantle and are revered in punk rock (the most significant rock sub-genre of the 70's) that's the esteem that Nirvana is held in when it comes to grunge (the most significant rock sub-genre of the 90's.)
And so it was that I came to realize that the reason I'm seeing so many Nirvana shirts is less about the band and their music and more about the position they hold in connection with 90's. When you think about it, it could just as easily have been Pearl Jam except Curt Kobain's premature death by suicide has led to a certain romanticization of the artist's life, thereby creating greater recognition and appreciation for his work.
In any case, if there's one thing I can't abide it's posers. If they truly like Nirvana's music that's one thing, but these teenagers running around in the band's tees just because all the other kids at the mall are are just plain annoying. And hey, as long as we're paying tribute to 90's alt-rock, I say we get retailers cranking out apparel featuring Smashing Pumpkins, Sonic Youth, Blind Melon, 4 Non Blondes, the Pixies, Liz Phair and of course Alanis Morissette.
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