Word: 80s
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Back in the day, sometime before adopting a stylish sense of ironic detachment, today's collegiate sophisticates paid reverence to teen idols. In that angstful era when first kisses were still wishes, when cuffed jeans, jelly bracelets and crimped hair were still in, the children of the 80s absorbed Duran Duran, Madonna and Tiffany...
Since the halcyon days of junior high, though, teen idols have deteriorated from wholesome sitcom characters and 80s excess into the over hyped likes of the Spice Girls, Mariah Carey, Hanson, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Backstreet Boys. Strangely enough, the Spice Girl's teeny-bopper fans notice no implicit contradiction between one of their role models proclaiming the mantra "Girl Powah" and then posing nude for Playboy...
...80s stars have lost their shine. Gabrielle V. Novacek '99 has followed U2 around the world, attending concerts all over Europe. "I still worship Bono. When I was younger, he seemed larger than life and I thought he was gorgeous when I was a kid. When the Greatest Hits came out a couple weeks ago, I lined up in front of Tower Records in the Square at midnight." In addition to Bono's looks, U2's continued popularity is largely due to their ability to change with the times--and to make a political statement. And although most political figures...
Supermodels really usurped the glamour business in the late '80s, when Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts decided to get grunged out in sweats and baseball caps for public events. What else was PEOPLE magazine to do? Then, at the 1995 Oscars, Uma Thurman showed up in some Prada dress that everyone seemed to like a whole lot, and sex symbolism returned to Hollywood. Now designers fight to establish relationships with actresses like Cameron Diaz, Tea Leoni and Claire Danes. And models get to dress badly. Last week Schiffer showed up at a New York City movie premiere wearing jeans...
...greatest signifier of youthful identity, pop music, was dominated throughout the '80s by the middle of the road. An undeclared countercultural youth trend first reared its spiky head at the start of the '90s with the mass popularity of "alternative" music. We see it in the ascent of neohippie raves and the creative anarchy that still holds its own on the Internet. Indeed, if thousands were identifying with small underground papers in the '60s, millions access eccentric, irreverent webzines in the '90s. And then there are those polls that show teenagers switching from cocaine or abstention to marijuana, the perennial...