60s In Their 50s

60s pop music is well into its 50s, and now the 50-year anniversary albums are being released. For some younger Millennials (and even Gen-Z), it may be the first time hearing some of this music.

60s music is at a point where it can be completely new and reinterpreted, not just remixed. It has characteristics that are still relevant, unlike popular music from earlier in the 20th century. I never wanted to interpret the 1920s (except for classical music from that time) when I was first learning music, although Glam had touched on it.

Even though we may think the contemporary redux of 20th-century pop is the only nostalgia, the 60s are really a congeries of many historical eras: Zoroastrians, Ancient Greeks, Jesus Christ, Buddha, the Merrymount Colony, Pre-Rafealites and Art Nouveau, and so on, and probably will continue into the future on similar themes.

The length of a human life is approximately 80 years (a saeculum or the more commonly used term "siecle"). It is interesting to think about how the lengthening of life (or even immortality) will change the length of generations. At some point the number will rise from 80.

If 80-year periods repeat, the 2040s may be a 60s revival, for some of the same reasons the 60s appropriated history.

If Hippies were immortal we'd run out of nostalgia and never have a fin-de-siecle.