Chris Schulz: The return of nostalgia acts

The old seems to be the newest trend. 

While people are always interested in the newest thing, nostalgia is flooding the musical scene right now – Metallica, Oasis, Tool, AC/DC, and the Pixies are just a few of the acts selling out stadiums and venues at the moment. 

But what’s behind the boom in nostalgia acts? How much longer can it last?  

Chris Schulz joined Jack Tame to discuss the trend. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:07):
You're listening to the Saturday Morning with Jack Team podcast
from News Talks A'd be Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
Stupid Girl by Garbage. Don't read into the title Chris
Chris Schultz's music review with Us this Morning. So five
years ago, let's talk through this story. Five years ago,
you were on the show. It was the middle of COVID.
You were dialing in from home. Tell us what happened?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Right, come into the studio like this. We were allowed to. Yeah,
we had to dial in. It was lockdown. You couldn't
leave home. So, yeah, we were talking about a Charlie
xy X album that had come out. It was a
lockdown album. It was she'd made it at home in
her bedroom in LA and it was all about lockdown
and we were talking about it. And then you said
to me, what's gonna happen next with music? Where's this

(00:52):
gonna go? How is COVID going to affect the music trends?
And I, off the top of my head just blurted out,
comfort music, nostalgia. We're gonna want music that reminds us
of happier times. And so here we are five years later.
We are in the middle of a nostalgia boom. Unlike

(01:12):
any other Metallicas just played to fifty odd thousand people
at Eden Park. Lenny Kravitz just filled Spark Arena tonight,
Tool play the first of two shows. It's Spark Arena.
They're sold out. The Pixies start tomorrow night. They're in
town for four shows, most of those are sold out.
On top of that, Garbage are playing in December. I

(01:34):
could name the acts like that have dis announce shows
like Pulp are coming back, Deftnes just announced a show.
These nineties acts are reforming that they're they're they're out
onto They're playing bigger venues than they ever have before.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
On mass Oasis ac DC in Australia. Like they're just
the tic tic tech tic tic right.

Speaker 3 (01:54):
It's it's pretty crazy to think about how big and
how fast this happened. It's it's it's kind of unprecedented.
I do feel for younger acts who can't get a
looking at the moment. Yes, is the biggest trend in
music right now. It's nostalgia and promoters are out there.
They're pushing other acts to reform because there's money to
be made.

Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah. See, this is the thing. I wonder if part
of this has also been driven by the streaming music age,
in that we know that artists who are putting their
music up on Spotify getting like thousands of cents the
dollar or whatever it is that they're getting. They're not
making money out of recording and selling the actual music
in the same way that they did pre streaming, right,

(02:36):
And so the way that they make a lot of
money is by touring, and it's by doing big shows.

Speaker 3 (02:40):
And by selling a lot of expensive merd.

Speaker 2 (02:43):
Exactly exactly, and so from the artist's perspective as well,
So from the audience partifically, everyone loves, you know, listening
to the music you listen to when you were twenty
three or whatever. But actually from an artist's perspective as well,
being like, well, if we go and just do the
music we already know. We don't have to write new stuff.
We don't have to go and record new stuff. We
just you know, have a couple of practice sessions, get
the show nice and tight, take it on the road,

(03:03):
and way you go.

Speaker 3 (03:04):
I would counter that with that those big stadium shows
are not easy shows. This is true that you know,
Metallica played a thrash metal set, old school eighties thrash metal.
Most of it, and that is incredibly hard to play,
especially when you're in your sixties. I'd point to Oasis like, yeah,
they played their first two albums. That was probably a
little easier. But yeah, I think.

Speaker 2 (03:25):
It's still a lot. I mean when you're doing for
some of these big groups, doing night after night after
night after night, you know.

Speaker 3 (03:31):
In your sixties. Yeah, but the money is there. I
mean you saw it at the Metallica pop up store downtown.
The queues were around the block. They were selling ninety
dollars posters, one hundred and sixty dollars single, it's five
hundred and fifty dollars, cooler bags. It was wild and
people were how much like a twenty dollar picnic hamper
with chilled lining was five hundred and fifty dollars with

(03:53):
Metallica branded on it. I'm not joking, that's that's real. Well,
people buying it, Yeah, skateboard decks, there was books, there
were board games. There were a simple single canned beer
yeah was I think sixty dollars, Oh my god. And
people were walking out with boxes and stuff. So the
money's there. I think, you know, you're going to see

(04:14):
a little bit more of this. There are acts that
haven't reformed or haven't toured in a while, and the
money will be there. I'm talking about Eminem, I'm talking
about the White Stripes who just got inducted in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, getting Meghan Jack White
back together. For sure, the spy skills haven't been on
the road. Imagine the spy skills to it.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
But it's always just will posh spice do it right?
But I mean the money's on the table.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
There is that. I also think though there's a younger
group of artists, they're sitting there there waiting to take
over from these guys. This has a time limit on it,
right This is a very particular moment in time where
everyone wants this comfort music post COVID. I think there
are acts like Lord and Sabrina Carpenter and Charlie XCX
that are just sitting there. They're building up their own

(04:59):
nostalgia right now. I think they're in that kind of
future nostalgia era, if you like. And that's hopefully they'll
they'll sweep the metallicas and the oasises out of the wind.
They'll be filling stadiums I reckon pretty soon.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Actually, yeah, like sooner than we think. They won't have
to wait twenty years kind of.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
Yeah, hopefully we don't have to go through another pandemic
and I don't have to call in from my bedroom gym.

Speaker 2 (05:21):
Yes, well, look you were one right the first time,
so great call on that front. And look, if EM
and M or a couple of those other groups were
to come and do a tour, I would be very pleased. Indeed,
So yeah, they have you know, willing Sello, willing buyer.
Thank you so much, Chris, Thank you, Chris Chrisholtz a
music reviewer. Of course, you can find them on substack.
His substack is boiler Room.

Speaker 1 (05:44):
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