except the nineties sucked

We knew we were fucked the minute Smells Like Teen Spirit hit. It's like "okay, the jocks are going to take Soundgarden from us" but it was worse than that, we got fucking Creed instead.

Look. The 60s were inventive. All new forms of music were created. The 70s were reactive. Government was bullshit, America had lost its first war, time to put on a leisure suit and do some lines. The 80s were nihilist. Fuckin' Reagan was going to kill us all if the ozone layer and acid rain didn't do it first. But the 90s were straight bullshit and I will fight you on this.

70s nostalgia: Eagles, "Hotel California"

80s nostalgia: Bryan Addams, "Boys of Summer"

90s nostalgia: Smashing Fucking Pumpkins, "1969"

Jaron Lanier made the point that musical innovation stopped fucking cold with rap and the '90s brought us the fucking Fugees, the least innovative R&B act to ever win a grammy, which paved the way for NSync and Britney Spears. Music was a mutherfucking wasteland from like '92 to like the first P!nk album and you know it.

Lanier isn't entirely right - I'd argue that Trap and Witch House are innovative enough to warrant their own rankings but look into my eyes:

Taylor Swift IS nineties/zeroes nostalgia

And you wonder why people look longingly at vaporwave.