If four generations make up a family, then how many podcast references to the early 2010s make up a revival?
A sense of nostalgia for the year 2011 (let’s be specific) has cropped up a few times on No Tags so far: on the Jeff Weiss episode, the Cindy Lee episode, and most explicitly with Meaghan Garvey, who told us very definitely that 2011 is back.
So are we onto something? We confront the spectre of 2011 from a few different angles in this episode, but particularly via dance music, where it feels like the anthems of the early 2010s, not to mention the top tier of DJs, are yet to be replaced. Is that down to nostalgia for the music itself? A lack of inventiveness plaguing the decade since? Or have we entered a period in history where we’re living through multiple revivals at once?
We also talk about something genuinely brand new: Hit Em, the internet’s genre-of-the-moment. This absurdist microgenre was invented on Twitter last Monday, discussed in our recording on Wednesday, and has since been covered in The Fader, NPR and The Guardian. Maybe it’ll all be over by next week. Twitter being used for good? Now that does feel like a throwback to 2011.
We also chat about Jane Schoenbrun’s new film I Saw The TV Glow, and particularly its staggering musical moments. We doubt anyone’s 2024 bingo card had Alex G, Yeule, Phoebe Bridgers and Fred Durst in the same room, let alone coalescing into some of the year’s most must-see cinema.
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24: The spirit of 2011 is haunting dance music