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Retromania: Pop Culture's Addiction to its Own Past Paperback – 2 Jun. 2011

by Simon Reynolds (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars 214 ratings

We live in a pop age gone loco for retro and crazy for commemoration. Band re-formations and reunion tours, expanded reissues of classic albums and outtake-crammed box sets, remakes and sequels, tribute albums and mash-ups . . . But what happens when we run out of past? Are we heading toward a sort of cultural-ecological catastrophe, where the archival stream of pop history has been exhausted?

Simon Reynolds, one of the finest music writers of his generation, argues that we have indeed reached a tipping point and that although earlier eras had their own obsessions with antiquity - the Renaissance with its admiration for Roman and Greek classicism, the Gothic movement's invocations of medievalism - never has there been a society so obsessed with the cultural artifacts of its own immediate past.

Retromania is the first book to examine the retro industry and ask the question: Is this retromania a death knell for any originality and distinctiveness of our own?

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  1. Print length
    496 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Faber and Faber
  4. Publication date
    2 Jun. 2011
  5. Dimensions
    15.3 x 3.6 x 23.4 cm
  6. ISBN-10
    0571232086
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0571232086
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Product description

Review

Retromania is a terrific book. Reynolds brings profound knowledge and oceanic depth and width to his argument, tracing his theme from trad jazz through the 70s rock and roll boom to the hipsterism of today, via the hyper-connectedness and infinite jukebox of the web. Unlike many of the pop writers who inspired him as a youth, he deploys his high intelligence and vast range of reference lucidly, to argue and illuminate, not dazzle or alienate. --Steve Yates, Word magazine

Reynolds's mapping of today s pop environment is often witty; his account of the way in which so many artists position themselves as curators is spot-on, as is his description of internet users himself included gorging on illegal downloads. His prose, casually neologistic and making deft use of sci-fi tropes, is bracingly sharp. As a work of contemporary historiography, a thick description of the transformations in our relationship to time as well as to place Retromania deserves to be very widely read. --Sukhdev Sandhu, Observer

Looking back at the last 25 years you'd be hard pressed to name a music journalist more adept at tracking and defining a zeitgeist. --Dave Haslam, Guardian

In this immensely engaging new work, (Reynolds) looks at 'retromania' as it applices to music. He hits us with a wealth of statistics about reissue and reformation culture, which should be enough to give anyone an interest in progressive music a panic attack ... This is an essential read for anyone who realises that it is history, not piracy, that poses the greatest threat to the progress of popular music. -- John Doran, The Stool Pigeon

If anyone can make sense of pop music's steady mutation from what George Melly noted as its 'worship of the present', to its current status as a living heritage industry where past, present and what the author calls a nostalgia for a lost future co-exist, then you'd have to trust Reynolds. He's a top-table critic whose keen ear is matched by a sharp eye for cultural context. - **** Mark Paytress, Mojo

A meticulous and fascinating survey of the evolution of pop's infrastructure of mis-remembering, from trad-jazz to rave nostalgia via reggae reissue labels, northern soul and, surprisingly, Patti Smith's Horses. - --Ben Thompson, Independent on Sunday

A restless, omnivorous intellectual, Reynolds roams far and wide to investigate, formulate and test what is, essentially, a kind of vague hunch, bringing in critical theory, politics and history. Reynolds has a snappy turn of phrase, inventing terms such as franticity to describe the neurological pulse of the wired life and labelling the limitless internet archive the anarchive . -- Neil McCormick, Daily Telegraph

'In Retromania, Simon Reynolds, one of our most thoughtful music writers, poses a stark question for anyone who cares about the future of pop: has it become so obsessed with its own past that originality and invention are now beyond its reach?' -- Patrick Sawer, Sunday Telegraph

As 20th-century listening habits give way to those of the 21st, this book offers a timely response to a decisive moment in the development of pop music production and raises concerns that are not easily dismissed. Serious music fans and music-makers alike should read it not just for its striking presentation of pop's history and teleology, but for its informed and passionate challenge to a burgeoning zeitgeist. --Adam Harper, Oxonian Review

Book Description

Could it be that the greatest danger to the future of our music culture is . . . its past?

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Faber and Faber
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ 2 Jun. 2011
  • Edition ‏ : ‎ First Edition
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0571232086
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0571232086
  • Item weight ‏ : ‎ 640 g
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.3 x 3.6 x 23.4 cm
  • Best Sellers Rank: 4,356,445 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Customer reviews:
    4.5 out of 5 stars 214 ratings

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Simon Reynolds

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
214 global ratings

Customers say

Customers find the book to be a compelling read with insightful content, particularly appreciating its coverage of contemporary popular culture studies in music consumption. One customer specifically mentions enjoying the chapter on sampling.

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ReadabilityInsightMusic content
8 customers mention ‘Readability’7 positive1 negative

Customers find the book readable and engaging, with one mentioning that it kept them interested throughout, while another particularly enjoyed the chapter on sampling.

"...It's to Reynolds credit that he has. An important book and a compelling read." Read more

"...A very enjoyable read as have his other books been...." Read more

"...in the pub, it is actually a very good read...." Read more

"...It's also very readable, and doesn't disappear where the sun doesn't shine in its attempts to put its points across." Read more

5 customers mention ‘Insight’5 positive0 negative

Customers find the book insightful, with one review highlighting its exciting elements of cultural studies, while another describes it as eye opening.

"...Witty, insightful and also personal analysis about how the digital revolution through internet connecting and sharing has changed the experience of..." Read more

"...see stretched out for consideration, but also the most exciting elements of cultural studies for me, such as Situationism, and Futurism...." Read more

"Fantastic and insightful read and although I dont agree with everything Simon has to say in this book I will certainly be looking up his other..." Read more

"A very good and well written book! Useful and contemplative. It is a pageturner of high quality. I strongly recommend it!" Read more

4 customers mention ‘Music content’3 positive1 negative

Customers appreciate the book's music content, with one review highlighting its comprehensive exploration of various popular music forms.

"Contemporary popular culture studies in music consumption, display and inspiration...." Read more

"...Reynolds does this with considerable aplomb, trawling over a wide range of popular music forms while tipping his hat to a number of theorists...." Read more

"Relentlessly boring and pointless paralysis by analysis of popular music. So what if music is derivative and stuck in the past?..." Read more

"It was like having someone whispering truths in my ear, and has had listening to music, both new and retro, with more attention to what's being..." Read more

Top reviews from United Kingdom

  • A.Adam
    5.0 out of 5 stars A wake-up call.
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 August 2011
    Format: PaperbackVerified purchase
    Dismissed in some quarters as a groan stemming from a mid-life crisis, Reynolds does in fact point out what others lack the courage to point out - that pop/rock has for some time failed to move forward and has become little more than a cannibaliser of its own history. Reynolds does this with considerable aplomb, trawling over a wide range of popular music forms while tipping his hat to a number of theorists. Having taken the view that pop/rock stopped progressing once punk came on the scene, Reynolds shows this not to have been the case. On this score alone, the book was of some benefit to me and I look forward to reading his earlier book on post-punk. One absence I noticed was any sustained examination of music professionals - music writers, radio DJ's and so on - and their silence about Reynolds' core issue. It strikes me that vested interests prevent them from owning up to the obvious: that if someone's 'record of the week' sounds like it was recorded 40 years ago, we have a problem. Paul Jones continues to play blues records that show absolutely no development/extension of the form; Mojo and Uncut (mentioned briefly by Reynolds) function as curators rather than - as with the old NME - cutting edge promulgators of the new; and most reviews of 'new' music are unable to resist comparisons with other bands. Yet, no-one says bugger all about it, or not publicly. It's to Reynolds credit that he has. An important book and a compelling read.
    10 people found this helpful
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  • T. Satchwell
    5.0 out of 5 stars Take Your Protein Pills and Put your helmet on
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 19 February 2012
    Verified purchase
    I have a couple of years on Simon Reynolds....but seems like our minds are tuned in.
    I remember the moon landing of '69...and have been I guess ever since a "Space Child"..not Cadet I may add.
    My life has been full of music..i played it, listened to it and perfomed it...and loved it. I was fortunate enough to be around and old enough to "get" punk...Simon Reynolds BIG thing was Post Punk.
    I didn't "Get"rave or acid house....I guess I was always more guitar orientated rockist.
    So anyway ..I was also an avid reader of William Gibson and Alvin Toffler....so I was expecting so much more from the "Future" than we have got. Worrying that Gibosn no longer writes books based in the future...but the present.

    I think his conclusions are valid and true.....the last two decades have provided for me as a music lover ..with nothing really very exciting...i have avoided the use of "Original"...because we all know....blah blah blah..
    At first,I just thought it was my age...that I had seen the "what comes around turns around ".
    But it is deeper than that and Simon Reynolds has put it done in black and white

    So retro is not cool...nobody likes to admit they are retro....but there isn't any where else to go for input and influences but back....rehashes of rehashes but rather than say...going back ti the fifties.....musicians are only stepping back ten or twenty years.

    A very enjoyable read as have his other books been. Kept me interested all the way through...although the last section does seems to drift off a little.(Cue the stylophone break as Space Oddity fades out....)

    If you have any interest in music/sociology/literature...or arts in general this is an excellent read.
    5 people found this helpful
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  • Bluearmy
    4.0 out of 5 stars Will Pop Eat Itself?
    Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 29 May 2012
    Format: Kindle EditionVerified purchase
    If you can put aside this book as being a thesis and think of it more as a one-sided argument with some bloke (albeit a well informed, verbose and well educated bloke) in the pub, it is actually a very good read.

    OK, so it drags in places and could have probably lost 20% without damaging the argument but Simon Reynolds does make a very good point and that is, essentially, can you name a single track from the past 12 years that would have seemed out of place, beyond comprehension, in the '90's? I could perhaps argue a case for people like Skrillex, but then Reynolds would counter whether it's truly new music or is it a logical follow on to the real game changer which was early 90's rave? And has Skrillex and his dubstep contempories started a teenage movement that's infultrated fashion and language? That's why it's an argument and no so much a thesis - yes Retromania can be flawed and you don't have to agree with everything Reynolds says, but he does make a very, very good point.

    Without a shadow the noughties will go down in history as the first decade of popular music, dating all the way back to the jazz age, where the technology (ipod, Youtube) were the real stars, the revolutionaries that changed everything - not the Beatles, Bowie or Zeppelin, the Sex Pistols, Kraftwerk or Grandmaster Flash. As Reynolds points out, the musical difference between the years, say 1978 to '79 or 1991 to '92 were immense but did 2004 feel any different to 1998, or 2010? Not really.

    Has music stopped progressing because we favour its past? If we do, is it because there is now such a wealth of historic creativity to draw from, to inspire us, and that ocean of reference is available to everyone on itunes, Youtube or illegal download at the instant click of a button, so why do we need to keep looking forward? And even if we want to, how do we escape this omnipresent past? Do we want to live dangerously anymore? It's not in Reynold's book but perhaps a quick look at the UK's top 10 selling singles of the 2000's can go a long way to answer some of his questions: Number one - Evergreen by Will Young, two - Unchained Melody by Gareth Gates, three - Is This The Way To Amarillo? by Tony Christie. Two more of the top 10 are cover versions, and a further two TV talent show winners. Music as pure showbiz rather than heartfelt rebellion. Is this how pop will die?
    18 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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  • Greg Doran
    5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Music Fans
    Reviewed in Canada on 2 August 2017
    Verified purchase
    A must read for any music fan, or for anyone wondering where the future went. It is a wide ranging book, but it is full of excellent ideas and references. You will want to have an internet connection close by as you read. Following on from Rip it Up and Start Again, Reynolds continues to be one of the best music writers out there. If you are looking for your jet pack or want a better understanding of hauntology, this book is an essential read.
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  • Marco T
    5.0 out of 5 stars Ottimo
    Reviewed in Italy on 22 November 2024
    Verified purchase
    Ho già tre libri con questo, sempre attuale e interessante.
    Da leggere e rileggere.
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  • Tracey lake
    5.0 out of 5 stars Tip toppity
    Reviewed in Germany on 12 April 2021
    Verified purchase
    Fab
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  • jt52
    5.0 out of 5 stars Thought-provoking look at retro by English pop music critic
    Reviewed in the United States on 15 September 2011
    Verified purchase
    "Retromania" is a long, extensive thought-piece on the rise to dominance of "retro" culture by the expat British pop critic Simon Reynolds (b. 1963). While Reynolds looks at the influence of retro in many areas of culture, from fashion to cinema to television, the real focus is on pop music. As we are living through a (permanent?) high tide of retro, it is impossible to fully understand as it seems to swamp every aspect of our cultural lives, so it's hardly surprising that Reynolds seems at times puzzled by the phenomenon. But he approaches the topic with intelligence, honesty, an almost bizarrely extensive knowledge of pop music history, and also a flair for writing. I found the book to be fascinating and I am sure I will be reflecting on the ideas Reynolds presents in the future. Finally, I found Reynolds to be a pleasant critic with whom to explore this topic - he isn't grating in the way so many critics can be, which is no mean feat.

    I have a couple of comments and criticisms but let me start by summarizing the various parts of this sprawling and idea-filled book:

    Reynolds lays out the initial approach to "retro" in his introduction, wittily titled "The `Re' Decade." What is retro? Reynolds later on presents a parsing of the word when covering 1960s fashion. Writers on fashion differentiate between "historicism", which is inspired by styles from a fairly remote time period (say, the Edwardian period), and "retro", the self-conscious remaking of art initially made within living memory (e.g. writing a song that sounds just like Alice in Chains' 90s output). Reynolds rightly comments that the two categories flow into each other and points out how the 2000s (which he calls the "noughties") involved the recycling of every style. He senses that this re-cycling has overwhelmed the forward- or inward-looking creative impulse and wonders why this urge to recycle has become so strong and whether it portends a poverty of artistic creativity: "Is nostalgia stopping our culture's ability to surge forward or are we nostalgic precisely because our culture has stopped moving forward?" Then he quotes the eclectic songwriter Sufjan Stevens: "Rock and roll is a museum piece." Reynolds returns to a general reflection of the issue in his concluding chapter "The Shock of the Old", where he meditates on why he is so uncomfortable with the retro phenomenon. But note that this book is an examination and not polemical commentary.

    In between, he covers many topics: the resurgence of reunion tours and retrospective recording issuances in the 2000s, the influence of digital copying on the creation of a shallow grazing culture among listeners and viewers (I could write an entire review about this interesting chapter), record collecting in the age of cheap digital copies, the rise of "curators" specializing in all byways of pop music and other art forms, and the fact that this retro consciousness actually manifested itself in Japan in the 1980s, before its full rise to prominence in Europe and the Americas. There's a very interesting chapter on fashion in the 1960s, on the 1950s revival (which never ends), use of music samples and the reaction to retro-mania, involving a desire for greater orientation towards the future.

    In examining the subject, Reynolds deploys not only his extensive knowledge of pop music (and I mean extensive - this book gave me a full picture of all this music I will never hear - which is actually one of the themes in the section on technology and record collecting) but also insights by well-known writers such as Jean Baudrillard, Walter Benjamin, of course, and also applies Harold Bloom's "anxiety of influence" idea.

    Reynolds is a snappy, stylish writer. For example: "Metastasis, the word for the spread of disease through the body, inadvertently pinpoints the malaise of postmodern pop: there is a profound connection between meta-ness (referentiality, copies of copies) and stasis (the sensation that pop history has come to a halt)." Nice phrase turning there.

    I'm just scratching the surface of a rich book, one that has been written out of passionate interest. I have a couple of comments that I will briefly add before recommending that you order this book and read it. First, I wish Reynolds had paid more attention to demographics. We live in a weird culture where adolescent musical tastes are retained seemingly in perpetuity into old age. The fact that the developed world is in the midst of a major transition as the swollen post-war generation ages and assumes a majority status is logically going to have a big effect on cultural trends, given this retention of tastes. Reynolds is seemingly oblivious to this, based on his extensive references to punk and post-punk music. Punk to me is a minor footnote to music history (I give the bands credit for humor and not taking themselves seriously), but the point is that Reynolds grew up with this music and refers back to it constantly, seemingly out of all proportion to its interest. This constant thinking about punk is natural, given the retention of tastes and Reynolds' demographic. But a twenty-something referencing punk today is going to mean something quite a bit different from when Reynolds does. So one of the interesting things about current retro culture is how influential it is on young people, who re-create the 60s or 70s without having lived through them. I wish Reynolds had been more focussed on this distinction. Also, note how Japan - the harbinger of our demographic shift - indulged in retromania in the 1980s (oh oh). Secondly, I wish Reynolds had spent some time thinking and listening to an echo of the retro phenomenon in the classical musical world, the emergence of neoclassicism (a word which only briefly appears in the book) in the early 20th century (e.g. Igor Stravinsky work in the 1920-30s). I think a look farther back in history would have provided a bit of context. Third, Reynolds puzzlingly doesn't devote enough time to rap and hip-hop, which exhibit many retro traits and are an important part of our current ahistoricity and retromania. But these quibbles didn't interfere with my appreciating Reynolds' thoughtfulness and ability to integrate materials and thoughts.

    "Retromania" is a fascinating book which I think you will like.
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  • Greg09
    3.0 out of 5 stars Un bon livre, un peu trop descriptif.
    Reviewed in France on 31 August 2014
    Verified purchase
    Simon Reynolds commence par une énumération des symptômes de la rétromania très réussie : musées sur le rock, organisations de festivals aux line-ups ultra rétro, reprise de styles anciens par des groupes actuels, etc... Qu'il étend à l'histoire de la musique : il montre alors que la rétromania a également existé dans le passé (l'histoire du rock est semée de répétitions par exemple). Puis il s'attache à donner quelques évolutions possibles de cette rétromania dans le futur.
    C'est convaincant, mais un peu décevant car Reynolds a du mal à dépasser le descriptif. Les raisons profondes de la rétromania ne sont abordées qu'au fil des énumérations de symptômes... Quant à l'analyse en elle-même, elle me paraît un peu pessimiste.
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