It’s a strange thought that kids of 6 now will likely look back on this time, 60 years hence, with nostalgia for something that likely means nothing to us and I look forward to pointing that out when I'm 124
I was thinking this earlier today because we’ve created these sort of pop art designs, inspired by the mid-60s Batman series and these inspired by The Who in the mid-60s. I assume Batman was intended to be really camp but of course as a kid, I didn’t see or even understand anything like that. I collected all the bubblegum cards (wish I still had them) and wanted a Batman mask for Xmas but never got one. This is the 7” single of the theme
There were loads of things like that which were totally preoccupying to kids but nothing of significance to adults.
It can even just be a logo. Like this was on all VHS video tapes and to me it just screams early 80s and it was in all our lives back when video seemed so sophisticated
It can be a programme like The Old Grey Whistle Test, the Man From Uncle, the Likely Lads, Porridge or, if you’re American, Midnight Special. They played such an important cultural role in our lives but were just another TV show to our parents. Hard to believe kids will feel like that about anything on TV today, not least because shows are no longer a scarce once-a-week special thing which you rarely got the chance to see twice and they probably don’t even watch television.
Sounds was certainly my weekly bible of rock that life was based around, constantly adding records to my ever-growing wants list
In that way, life in 2025 is much less structured than it was. Remember looking forward to a programme all week? I certainly built my young life around Whistle Test and the music papers, those two things geared each week of life. Getting your fingers inky black from the papers was a ritual for my teenage years. It felt like forever but it was probably only four years.
Will kids look back nostalgically to phones, or computer games? Probably. But I’d wager it’ll be nothing as culturally memorable as life in the 70s, just as my parents' nostalgia for the 1930s were not as culturally warm or imaginative as ours.
Do you realise Dawn has created over 100 new designs since the end of the summer? Maybe you haven't seen them all? https://www.djtees.com/collections/latest-releases
