Millennials get a lot of criticism for the trends of our generation: we still live with our parents well into our 20s. are obsessed with social media and spend our free time binge-watching TV shows on Netflix.
One thing that our parents and other Baby Boomers can’t criticize us for is our revival of trends that were once cool but had almost died out.
One of the main fads coming back to life is the vinyl record, which has become wildly popular.
According to the article, “The Hot New Audio Technology of 2014 Is … Vinyl?” sales of digital music has declined last year “for the first time since the iTunes store launched in 2003.”
Writer Wil Oremus, who wrote the January 2014 article for slate.com, said record sales are up 32 percent since 2012, a continual upward trend since the revival of vinyl records in 2007.
And the trend is only continuing to rise.
Trendy stores such as Urban Outfitters are stocking the latest pressings of new records by artists such as Lorde and Kanye West alongside reproductions of the classics, such as The Beatles and The Ramones.
There are even bands who come through our very own Barefoots Joe and sell their vinyl records, such as Nathan Reich and The Apache Relay.
We are a generation that likes to blend the old with the now to create something all our own.
Vinyl records have been given a new life by adding a digital download code with newer records or re-pressings of older records.
This convergence between the old and the new perfectly illustrates the new life that has been brought to vinyl records.
Eric Olson of Indiana News Center had this to say in his article, “For Vinyl Records, It’s Back to the Future:” “It’s a resurgence that’s extended the life of a format that goes back nearly 150 years. … and that … is quite a record.”
The vinyl record isn’t the only trend being brought back to life by the Millennial generation.
High-waisted “mom jeans” and the peplum have made their way out of the thrift stores and into our closets.
It isn’t just products that we are buying into — it’s a style. We re-purpose and stitch together a style that is a smorgasbord of outdated fads and create something that is totally new.
Ann Powers explores the topic in her article for NPR titled “It Isn’t Just Ironic: In Defense of the Hipster.”
She mentions that trends are resurfacing because people want to gain a much-desired sense of individuality.
Powers quotes the New York Times article, “How To Live Without Irony,” stating that we “negotiate the age-old problem of individuality, not with concepts, but with material things.”
If Millennials are good at anything, it is being able to shed new light on the trends of our parents and keep their era of technology and style alive and well amid all the new technology that is swamping the market today.
The trends that we are bringing back aren’t anything new, but we have modified them so that they are all our own.
Rebecca Morris is a junior public relations major and the managing editor for the Cardinal & Cream.
