Games
90s-00s. The 90s were full of experimental games, produced Mario Kart, Street Fighter II and Doom. All the best arcade games ever. The 00s with 3D games never done before, FFVII, MGS, Counter-Strike and Mario64 and GTA? Give it up. Those two decades were peak video game. Everything after –massive online gaming full of bullying, mobile gaming and its whales, gambling and complacent long story-based games-, has not been it.
Movies
80s-90s. Just absurd quality when looking back after a decade of streamed movies with no soul. From the artsy, quirky French movies of those years, to the best blockbusters (Indiana Jones and E.T. and Rocky) to the movies we had never seen anything like it before (Terminator, Predator, Aliens, Akira) all the way to the 90s classics (Edward Scissorhands, The Big Lebowsky, Men In Black, Point Break), it’s been downhill from there. Everything in the 00s and beyond is just not as brilliant. It makes me want to re-watch so many things.
Music
70s-90s. Music has been insane during those three decades. Tons of music on the radio in 2023 is still from the 70s because music was everything in that time. Music in the 70s was like skins in games today: the hottest shit youth spends its entire money on. Sure, a lot of people would say that 80s music was not good, I disagree heavily. There was some technical hiccups due to transitioning from full analog to less analog, but I believe people were obsessively trying to make the best sounding music possible. And they did quite often. 80s Funk music is spectacular (Thriller, hello!). 80s metal musicians are playing playing. It’s also the start of hip-hop and house and everything electronic. The 80s were crucial. 90s electronic music is essential. 90s hip-hop is the closest to timelessness, thanks to creativity and sampling. 90s rock? From Nirvana to Korn to Pantera and Pearl Jam, just no contest here. But I think after that, the 00s and up have been rehashing ad nauseam, at a higher pitch and lower bass. Emo rock, trap music and dubstep trigger nostalgia but not much more. Even today, as the first nostalgic wave. Which is usually the strongest.