It seems the old can always become new again in many respects: remakes of old movies, resurgences of fashion trends, relaunches of brands, the search for vintage and antique items, etc. This is also true in music.
Lately we’ve seen many famous groups reunite for benefit concerts, special performances, reunion tours, and even to make new albums. The comeback is hot, and it’s clear from the likes of Justin Timberlake to Destiny’s Child to Fall Out Boy, Nine Inch Nails, and more.
We’re also seeing a resurgence in older styles of music. Reflect on the 2013 Grammy’s a few weeks ago. Performances from Mumford & Sons and The Lumineers as well as a Levon Helm tribute featuring Elton John, Mavis Staples, Zac Brown, and Brittany Howard (Alabama Shakes) meant a sizable portion of the show was dominated by the recent folk-rock revival. Mumford & Sons even won the biggest award of the night, “Album of the Year,” for Babel. The Black Keys were another big winner with their roots rock sound, taking home four awards (Best Rock Performance, Best Rock Song, Best Rock Album, and Producer of the Year, Non-Classical). We can even take a look at more pop-focused artists like Bruno Mars and Adele, and see that they are basing their styles on a previous era of soulful crooners.
What do you think has caused this re-interest in past generations’ trends? Maybe music is cyclical. What genre or style would you like to see gain popularity next? What band do you want to reunite? Let us know in the comments!
Audiogon Blog 
It’s interesting that the enhanced interest in vintage, and vintagesqe audio gear parallels the interest in vintage music, watchs, cars, etc. Of course, it’s the baby boomers, retireing with a little cash in their pockets that they will put to work to capture the things that they wanted, but couldn’t always afford, in their youth. Everything old is new again………at least to someone.
At 78, I am slightly past the boomer stage and have had an interest in the various vintage categories mentioned above for years and probably long before they became of interest to the retiring boomers of today.
The fact is that I have been around long enough to have used some of these items/categories during their initial appearances and over the years and with some experience, recognize their value for what it is – hence, have either kept them or in many instances repurchased them.
What was once considered old and outmoded nowadays becomes the latest in thing – manual wind and automatic wind watches, fountain pens, vinyl recordings, etc.