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Having attended music college, I have a number of friends with aspirations to be artists and songwriters. Something I’ve noticed of late is a return to the sounds of the 80s, Most notably, a friend of mine who has just purchased a Moog synthesiser which dominated the music of the decade – hence the truly hilarious title. I was also speaking to a producer friend who mentioned that his upcoming projects had a distinctly 80s feel. So what is it that’s driving this return to the 80s?
In 2009, the world was in the midst of The Great Recession. Over the previous few years, global GDP had declined 5.1% with peak global unemployment at 10%. In October of 2009, Mumford and Sons, with their hipster hats, banjos and braces released their debut album Sigh No More. You may be asking what the link between these things is, and that’s a fair question because right now it sounds like I’m blaming them.
In the early 2000s, an eye-catching, pithy poster from the run up to the Second World War had begun to make the rounds. By 2009, it was difficult to walk through London without seeing someone touting a t-shirt or tea towel with the phrase ‘Keep Calm and Carry On’ hastily ironed on. If you look closer at the trend, you’ll see that it is symptomatic of the culture that allowed Mumford and Sons’ first album to be such a resounding success. You see, the rise in popularity of the quintessentially British poster shows the prevalence of what is known as austerity nostalgia – the perceived return to times of economic hardship as people cope with the current crisis.
The link to Marcus Mumford and Co. is that their distinctive style was reminiscent of the music of The Great Depression. Their song ‘Dustbowl Dance’ encapsulates this perfectly as Mumford paints a picture of a struggling 1930s family that, in truth, he probably couldn’t even begin to imagine.
When I first saw that the UK is likely headed for a recession in the wake of the pandemic, I predicted that perhaps we’d start to see some classic noughties music coming through and we could relive the glory days of Flo Ridda, Shakira and Rihanna but I think we can all agree that reliving the 80s is the better result. Personally, I’m hoping for a Dua Lipa cover of ‘Africa’.
Harry Fenn