A few years ago, I was having a conversation with a member of a very popular rock back that was hugely successful in the early 90’s. They had dipped in the 2000’s, as with most bands, on top for a moment and then off the radar. As fate would have it, they became really popular again in the 2010’s.
Why, I asked him, was this sudden resurgence in their popularity and people wanting to go see them. He looked at me and said, “Nostalgia, baby. All nostalgia.” I looked at him and he said, “Everyone is getting older. The people that loved us are getting older. Life hits them and hits them hard. Divorce, death, unemployment, then success and being happy and on and on. We represent a time in their lives when they were really happy and were ready to take on the world.”
Point noted.
I had forgotten about this conversation until recently. I was covering the Southeastern Conference basketball tournament and of course, there are all kinds and types of sponsors represented. Only one though, made me stop in my tracks and give me that nostalgia moment mentioned earlier.
I saw a banner for Orange Crush. The soda. I had not thought about an Orange Crush in decades. Had not even crossed my mind at all but as I sat there looking at the banner during a time out in the game, all I thought about was that drink and growing up. We had Orange Crush all the time as a kid and into my years in high school.
It reminds me of the NFL teams when they wear their vintage uniforms from the past. Tampa Bay in the creamsicle; New England with Pat Patriot; Falcons with red helmets. You remember them vividly when you were a kid.
Nostalgia, baby, all nostalgia.
There is a reason that when Sammy Hagar or ELO or Elton John come to town, those concerts are sold out almost immediately. The songs evoke a certain memory in us that no drug can give us, I am sure of that. It gives us a sense of belonging. Of hope. Of friends long gone that we lived life with. It means everything.
On my radio show, I bring up nostalgia quite a bit. Great players and teams from the 70’s and 80’s that we deemed larger than life. We remember these guys and it still feels great all these years later thinking about how they made us feel.
It truly is something special. So, well done Orange Crush banner. Me, myself, and I had a great time at a basketball game going down memory lane with you.
