Deader Than Disco: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:DiscoSucks.jpg|frame|The exact moment this trope was born.]]

 

{{quote|'''Angelica''': ''Aunt Didi, what's disco?''

 

The polar opposite of [[Vindicated by History]], and a variant on [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny]]. This is something—an individual character, an individual song or book or game, an entire genre—that was very, very popular in its day. But at some point, it somehow just got too popular. It was talked about on ''every'' radio station, on ''every'' TV network, on ''every'' chat room (not that they'd been invented then...). It was [[Wolverine Publicity|overexposed until people got bored with it]], and it got so much publicity and [[Follow the Leader|so many bad knockoffs]] that there was plenty of time to notice each and every flaw and dissect them under a microscope. Soon, [[Franchise Original Sin|small problems were regarded as unavoidable flaws]]. The final tell-tale sign is when ridicule, or even hate, comes not just for [[Hatedom|the thing itself]], but for [[Fan Hater|its fans]]. They become the subject of nasty, highly-specific stereotypes, and [[Gushing About Shows You Like (Sugar Wiki)|gushing about how you like it]] online is considered [[troll]]ing.

 

 

Of course, twenty years later, [[Popularity Polynomial|the situation may change again]].

 

Not to be confused with [[Deader Than Dead]], which is a completely different trope, or [[Everythings Funkier With Disco]], which is actually about disco.

{{examples}}

== The Trope Namer ==

The [[Trope Namer]] is the entire musical genre of [[disco]]. For a time in the late '70s, it was the biggest thing ever, spurred on by the blockbuster success of ''[[Saturday Night Fever]]'' and its soundtrack. Then, even before [[The Eighties]] officially started, a backlash emerged from both white and black music listeners. Whites gravitated towards various forms of rock (mostly [[Punk Rock]], assorted types of [[Heavy Metal|metal]], and to a lesser degree [[Progressive Rock|prog rock]]), while the black leaders of [[Funk]] (e.g. [[George Clinton]]) actively led a campaign to "rescue dance music from the blahs." It got to the point where on July 12, 1979, the [[The Windy City|Chicago]] White Sox (whose South Side base meant that its fans were black and white in about equal measure) were hosting a "[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Disco Demolition Night]]" promotion (see picture, see [[The Other Wiki]] for [[wikipedia:Disco Demolition Night|more information]]), the brainchild of a White Sox executive and a spurned album-oriented rock (code for progressive) DJ. Fans could bring in their disco records in exchange for less than a dollar admission; since the game was a doubleheader (against the [[Motor City|Detroit]] Tigers), the plan was the records would get blown up in the middle of the field between the games. Instead, the White Sox were forced to forfeit the second game (the last time a game was forfeited in the [[Baseball|American League]]) after the explosion led to a riot—fueled by another ill-considered moneymaking venture that afternoon: Comiskey Park had a discount on beer that day (whoops). It got so bad that even rock artists who were ''influenced'' by disco, like Rod Stewart, were attacked and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AyvxD1v-NXg parodied.]

Attacked on two sides and with a powerful image against it, disco was fading fast and completely dead in early 1981, and with it the fashions and styles related to or heavily associated with it (such as flared trousers). For the rest of [[The Eighties]], admitting that you liked disco may as well have been admitting to cannibalism. While dance artists like [[Madonna]] and [[Janet Jackson]] continued to take influence from it (not to mention the influence it had on early hip hop), whatever remaining fandom the genre itself still had was restricted to gay clubs, which marginalized it even further. Disco would start to reemerge (or at least, come to the surface for fresh air) during [[The Nineties]]' wave of nostalgia for the '70s and its backlash against all things '80s, mainly in the form of [[Sampling]] for [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiKOif0UKRM rap and] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSV0D_Id8Ho&feature dance songs] (it didn't hurt that most popular dance music, particularly [[House Music]] and its offshoots, can trace its lineage straight back to disco). Still, during this same time, ''[[The Simpsons]]'' had a character named [[Disco Dan|Disco Stu]] who was used almost purely for comic relief, showing that the genre was still a ways away from returning to public acceptance.

 

 

Of course, the above only describes the United States. If you ask a Brit or a European about any anti-disco backlash, you will likely get a series of puzzled looks. Across [[The Pond]], [[Post Something Ism|post-disco]] [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|stayed popular well into the '80s]], heavily influencing [[New Wave]], [[Synth Pop]] and other styles of popular music such as [[Italo Disco]], and in Russia, it lingered well into early 1990s. For much of [[The Eighties]], the global pop charts were dominated by derivatives of disco, post-disco and [[Punk Rock]]. Artists like Amanda Wilson and [[Laura White]] now carry its torch proudly into the present day.

== Architecture ==

 

** [[The Other Wiki]] notes that "... it was inspired by natural forms and structures, not only in flowers and plants but also in curved lines", which would also fit nicely with the perception of Elves as more in tune with nature.

* Art Deco (Art Moderne during the 1920s), from its symmetrical and futuristic designs, was popular and its were widespread throughout the world during [[The Roaring Twenties]] and the 1930s, from skyscrapers, to furniture, to fashion. After the [[The Great Depression|Depression]] lifted during the late 30s and as [[World War Two]] broke out, it declined, and its style didn't help out much during the war. During the 1960s, it was revived as a resurgence of interest.

* Mid-20th Century Modern (often jokingly referred to as "Brady Bunch Architecture") was derided for many decades. Only in very recent times has it begun to be admired.

* The McMansion so popular in the late 20th and early 21st century became subject to this after the 2007 financial downturn. The average McMansion's soaring ceilings, open plans, and enormous rooms make it expensive to heat and cool, something that's become much more important since the economic downturn. (The fact that McMansions made up a majority of the houses foreclosed upon during the subprime mortgage crash doesn't help either.)

 

== Art ==

* The rise of modern art, cubism, performance art and other genres that rely on [[True Art Is Incomprehensible]] pretty much killed off traditional representational artwork, as far as criticism was concerned.

* [[Science Fiction]] book cover illustrations. Artists such as Chris Foss, Peter Elson, and their imitators illustrated tons of memorable illustrations for SF book covers and magazines during the 70s and 80s. Their art was frequently collected into volumes such as the ''Terran Trade Authority'' and ''Great Space Battles ''. A large majority of these covers featured elaborate spaceships, big dumb objects, space battles, futurisitic scenes and alien landscapes. Today's science fiction book covers minimalize the art in favor of displaying the author's name (especially if he's a big name) in bigger fonts. Art, when present typically feature human subjects, human character content being a selling point to today's more diverse (increasingly female) demographic. This is one of the reasons Elson (who has stated that his human figure drawing skills weren't up to par) became less prolific after spaceship covers went out of fashion. Books that have been turned into recent blockbuster movies often reject illustrated covers entirely in favor of using photoshots of characters from the film (such as in print runs of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' after 2001).

 

* There was once a time where every anime fan had to have at least seen one episode of ''[[Inuyasha]]''. Every con would at least have a dozen people cosplaying as the title character. Hell, it occasionally leaked out of the anime fandom and it wouldn't be uncommon to see people on the street wearing merchandise from the show. Nowadays, the show's largely considered a joke that most newcomers would never dare to touch. This is likely because of the frustration amongst fans of the anime watching it for years only to see it end without any conclusion to any of the plot. By the time a conclusion was reached with ''The Final Act'', the damage had been done, causing lots of fans to simply tell newcomers "not to bother with it" or "read the manga instead".

{{quote|'''Demidevimon''': Aw, come on! Everyone makes mistakes, remember disco?}}

 

== Comic Books ==

 

* This trope sums up pretty much the entire history of comic books. Before [[The Golden Age of Comic Books|the Golden Age]], comic books were just recycled newspaper funny pages, until [[Superman]] put a stop to that. When [[The Golden Age of Comic Books]] ended in [[The Fifties|the '50s]], everyone thought that the [[Superhero]] genre itself was Deader Than Disco, with horror, sci-fi, and whatever else being the new standard. Then came the [[Comics Code]], which killed those, leading to the reemergence of super hero comics in [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|the Silver Age]]. This era soon became associated with [[Camp]] and [[So Bad It's Good|cheesiness]], leading to [[The Bronze Age of Comic Books|the Bronze Age]]. Here, [[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Gwen Stacy died]], [[Captain America (comics)|Bucky died]], and [[Green Arrow|Speedy became a junkie]], and it seemed "relevant political commentary" was going to be the future of comics. But that ended quick with the emergence of the counter-cultural "[[Underground Comics|Underground Comix]]" of [[The Seventies|the '70s]].

* Letters pages in comic books. While not completely dead (the odd comic book still has them from time to time) the rise of message boards, twitter and facebook has pretty much rendered them superfluous - why bother writing to the writer directly when you can just comment on his Twitter account?

* Supplemental articles and essays. Comic books often were like magazines. The writers often included inside the comics (often in the back pages) editorials, articles, short stories, and prose pieces that gave a look inside not only their creative processes, but also the work that goes into creating their comics. For the most part, this was discontinued quite some time ago to cut back on costs and leave more room for advertisements.

** These changes are also related to changes in the law and buying habits of the readers. It used to be that having a page or two of text in a comic (a letters page counted) allowed the publisher to mail subscriptions at a cheaper postal rate. That law is different now, and most comics are no longer purchased through subscriptions anyway, so the letters page became surplus to requirements.

 

* Todd McFarlane has fallen to this level in some circles, with people criticizing him for various reasons, especially his role in ushering in what some people view as the style-over-substance [[The Dark Age of Comic Books|"Image Age of Comics"]]. As a toymaker he's not so bad, though.

* [[Frank Miller]], initally the Patron Saint of bringing [[Darker and Edgier]] back to Batman comics, no longer holds the high reputation that he used to. It started when his later works (''The Dark Knight Strikes Again'', ''[[All Star Batman and Robin]]'', and his film debut ''[[The Spirit (film)|The Spirit]]'') faced major scrutiny amongst many comic fans, and now, even his earlier, critically acclaimed works are being hit with the same criticism.

* The Comics Code Authority; Established immediately after Dr. Frederick Wertham's book ''Seduction of the Innocent'' which painted comics with a broad brush as contributing to deviant behavior and juvenile delinquency. The CCA was a committe that forced comic book companies to police themselves. Basically, no profanity, no drug or alchohol use, no nudity or sex, no blood, gore or graphic violence, no depiction of authority, government, or law enforcement in a negative light and a host of other censorship restrictions. For decades, most mainstream comics carried the approval stamp. This neccesitated the need for publishers to establish separate lines such as DC's Vertigo so that more mature themes were allowed. In 2011, [[Archie Comics]], the last publisher to still carry the approval stamp, dropped it from all of their books. The parent organization of the CCA, the Comics and Magazine Association of America, is now defucnt and the intellectual property rights to the CCA approval seal were aquired by of the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

{{quote|"No, we don't buy freakin' POGS!!"}}

 

 

== Fashion ==

* The Empire silhouette would not have existed without the simpler fashions of the 1780s paving the way, but the main influence for the style was classical antiquity, and in particular the paintings, sculptures, and bronzes being dug out of the ground at Pompeii. From the early 1800s until the 1820s women in Western Europe put away their tight corsets and powdered wigs and instead donned long, loose and high-waisted gowns sewn from multiple layers of muslin and linen. Hair was worn unpowdered and unfrizzed, instead being sleekly pulled back into a high bun, sometimes with loose ringlets at the temples. [[Moral Guardians|Older and more traditional persons]] were outraged by the new fashions, ridiculing them for their supposed indecency and flammability. After the defeat of [[Napoleon Bonaparte]] in 1815 and the rise of [[Romanticism]] on the continent the Empire style disappeared, replaced within a season by the nipped waist, low neckline, and wide skirt of the early [[Victorian Britain|Victorian era]]. It wasn't until the 1880s that a style similar to the Empire silhouette returned, this time more as an accompaniment to the Neo-Classical era than as a memory of the past.

 

== Films ==

 

* Thanks to the [[Hollywood Hype Machine]], Hollywood is littered with the dead careers of actors who were hyped up thanks to a memorable role or two, then quickly faded away once the Next Big Thing came along, forcing them to rely on their (rather meager, more often than not) acting talent to make it. By the end of their careers, moviegoers wish they'd just go away already. Rinse, wash, and repeat with the next hot new star. The lines outside casting agencies are so long that actors, especially those who rely more on their looks than their talent, are basically expendable in terms of hype burnout. To list them all would take a separate page—and as a matter of fact, we have [[Hollywood Hype Machine|just that]].

* The entire spoof film genre, thanks to the works of [[Seltzer and Friedberg|Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer]]. Although the genre was already on life support before them,<ref>ironically, thanks to the later works of the very people that had made it such a success in the first place, like [[Mel Brooks]], the [[Wayans Brothers]], and the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team</ref> it's rare that a genre has been [[Genre Killer|killed so spectacularly]].

* [[3D Movie|3D]] seems to be going through this trope for the third time. The anaglyph format became popular in the 50's, but gained a substantial [[Hatedom]] for [[Sensory Abuse|the rather uncomfortable viewing experience]] and it mostly being used in [[Dancing Bear|gimmicky]] [[B-Movie|BMovies]]. This, along side the expensiveness of the process, killed it off until the 60's, with the advent of the single-strip process. While lasting much longer, it was killed by the very same Gimmick films and uncomfortable viewing experience. 3D since then was relegated to IMAX documentaries and theme park attractions(where the experience was more comfortable to view), when the RealD system became popular. A string of box office and critical hits such as [[Avatar]], [[Coraline]] and [[Up (animation)|Up]] helped make 3D even more popular. However, the over-saturation of films such as ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' and ''[[The Last Airbender]]'' (films that were [[They Just Didn't Care|quickly converted into 3D without a care in the world]] just to make a quick buck) and the [[Crack is Cheaper|rather high price of admission compared to 2D films]] have put them into sharp decline, most of them declaring that [[Revenue Enhancing Devices|it's a studio's way of grabbing more cash out of our wallets]]. The rise of theatrical re-releases (something that became less common with the advent of video formats) post-converted into 3D couldn't have helped.

* [[B-Movie|BMovies]]: also known as Low Budget Flicks or just Schlock flicks. Originally, a B movie was the bottom half of a double feature, with the main feature as the "A movie". After double features went out of style, the term remained to refer to films that were made with low production values and may have been exploitation. For many, the "B" means "Bad", but not all B-movies neccesarily are low quality, careless productions. A large number of these movies were produced very cheaply during the Drive-In Movie era which lasted from the mid 1950s to the late 1980s in some areas. Presumably, these films were produced with the foreknowledge that drive in movie patrons would likely not be paying full attention to the screen. The dissapearance of the drive-ins and discount movie theaters along with the rise of major Cineplexes caused low budget B-movies to be produced a lot less frequently. Today, low budget movies are usually arthouse films that despite their budget, are considered serious attempts at filmmaking. Some of the most prolific B-movie schlockmeisters include Roger Corman, Ed Wood, Menahem Golan, Godfrey Ho, and Fred Olen Ray. Notable B-Movie genres include [[Sword and Sandal]],[[Hong Kong Dub]] Kung-fu movies, [[Spaghetti Western|SpaghettiWesterns]], Slasher [[Horror Films]], [[Kaiju]], [[Star Wars]] ripoffs, and [[Blaxploitation]] films. Many of these genres still survive in modern form, however, but they are either contrived Tounge-In-Cheek homages ([[Quentin Tarantino]]) or genuine attempts to produce expensive high quality films with serious production values ([[Peter Jackson]], [[Michael Bay]], [[Joss Whedon]]).

* Upon its release in 1999, ''[[American Beauty]]'' was widely acclaimed as one of the finest achievements in American cinema, quickly shooting to the top of the [[IMDb]] list and sweeping the Oscars. Ten years later, while it's still ranked high on IMDB's top movie list, it appears to have been largely forgotten. This is mainly due to a mix of [[Hype Backlash]], a long list of films that [[Follow the Leader|ripped off]] its suburban angst plot, and the fact that many of the once-taboo subjects that it touched upon (such as repressed homosexuality) have become passé.

* One of the most famous examples of the aforementioned "[[Award Snub]] backlash": ''[[How Green Was My Valley]]''. While hardly one of [[John Ford]]'s best movies, it still maintains a good reputation among film geeks, and it was good enough to win [[Academy Award|Best Picture]] in 1942. The problem? Also up for Best Picture in 1942 were ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' and ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]'', both widely regarded as among the greatest films ever made. As a result, ''Valley'' is best known today as "[[Award Snub|that movie that won Best Picture over]] ''[[Citizen Kane]]'' and ''[[The Maltese Falcon]]''". Talk about your [[Hype Backlash]]!

* Thanks to extreme [[Hype Backlash]], ''[[The English Patient]]'', a movie that won nine [[Academy Award]]s, is predominantly remembered today as the movie that Elaine bitched about on ''[[Seinfeld]]''.

** The ''Titanic'' backlash is starting to get its own backlash and it is becoming trendy to like it again. Lord knows what the success of ''[[Avatar (film)|Avatar]]'' is going to do Titanic's future status in pop culture. It is also helped that the hundredth anniversary of the real ''Titanic'' sinking is coming up. At the very least we can probably expect a theatrical re-release to mark the occasion, maybe even in 3-D.

*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aaj1M5wDigg Eeyup.]

* The popularity of ''[[Shrek]]'' in the early '00s was due to it being a fresh alternative to the animated films that were being released at the time, with its smartassed toilet humor, pop culture jokes and [[Hey, It's That Voice!|celebrity voice casting]] being incredibly fresh compared to the "animated musical" format of [[The Renaissance Age of Animation|Renaissance-era]] [[Disney]]. However, [[Dreamworks Animation]] went on to recycle the ''Shrek'' formula for several years, and every animation studio that wasn't [[Pixar]] [[Follow the Leader|started copying it]]; by the time ''Shrek the Third'' came out in 2007 the gimmick had long worn out its welcome. In 2008 they released ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', which ushered in a new era of [[DreamWorks]] [[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|animated]] [[Megamind|films]], featuring less reliance on pop culture jokes and more emphasis on story and characters (with tones and themes inspired by the very studio that Shrek was making fun of in the first place). While [[Popularity Polynomial|the popularity of the Renaissance-era Disney films has grown]] since the early part of the decade (thanks in part to films like 2009's ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'' and 2010's ''[[Tangled]]'' taking their style directly from the era), and some people still admit to liking ''Shrek'' (or, at least, the first two films in the series), the "Shrek genre" of films is all but dead.

* To go back even further, [[Harold Lloyd]] was one of the biggest stars of the [[Silent Age of Hollywood]]. During [[The Roaring Twenties|the '20s]], he controlled most of his own productions and thrilled audiences with both his comedy and his elaborate stunts, which he did all by himself. He made more money than even [[Charlie Chaplin]] at his peak, and used it to build the Greenacres estate that helped set a standard for celebrity mansions in the Hollywood Hills. However, his career lost steam in the talkie era, forcing him into retirement by the end of the '30s. Furthermore, his refusal to reissue his films commercially,<ref>The only screenings he allowed were to entertain sick children at [[Los Angeles]]-area hospitals.</ref> in theatres or on TV, prevented later audiences from being able to watch them and become fans, while Chaplin's works entered the [[Public Domain]] and his contemporary [[Buster Keaton]] made a comeback on television in the late '40s. Today, the only memory of him is "[[Moviebob|a nice DVD set that you can buy, at least, finally]]", while Chaplin and Keaton remain far better known today.

 

== Literature ==

 

* For much of [[The Eighties]], the [[Cyberpunk]] literary genre and movement was the new wave in both [[Science Fiction]] and science fact, acting as a fertile seed on a ground tormented by efforts to adapt to a changing world where the computer was king and [[Japan Takes Over the World|Japan was the new force on the block]]. However, books like ''[[Neuromancer]]'' failed to anticipate how a) the internet, cell phones, personal computers and handheld IT devices would become a mundane reality in the life of the average white-collar Joe Sixpack, and b) that the Japanese economic powerhouse [[Japan Takes Over the World/Analysis|would trip over itself in the early '90s]]. Once "the future" became the present, cyberpunk went from being high-tech to being filled with [[Zeerust]], painting a portrait of the future that had [[Technology Marches On|stopped being relevant after about 1993]]—the main reason why [[Post Cyber Punk]] came to replace it. Not to mention that the virtual reality craze of the late '80s and early '90s simply shelved itself (for now) after failing to provide a holodeck-like experience.

* Modernist literature such as that by [[James Joyce]] and [[Virginia Woolf]] has been replaced by the postmodernist genre.

* During the 1850s, there existed an entire genre of [[wikipedia:Anti-Tom literature|"anti-Tom" literature]] (or plantation literature), written mainly by authors from the Southern US in reaction to the anti-slavery work ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]''. Such books were [[Author Tract]]s that portrayed [[Happiness in Slavery|slavery as beneficial to Africans]], and [[Strawman Political|abolitionists as villains]] who were lying about the conditions "enjoyed" by slaves and trying to destroy the Southern way of life. For [[Values Dissonance|obvious reasons]], this genre died out very quickly after [[The American Civil War|the Civil War]], while ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' has gone on to be regarded as one of the great American novels.

* The [[wikipedia:Industrial novel|industrial novel]] was a mid-19th century genre of English fiction that's been almost forgotten today. Often set [[Oop North]], the industrial novel concerned itself with the lives of the new urban industrial working class. The best-known industrial novel today is probably [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Hard Times]]'', but Elizabeth Gaskell's ''North and South'' was much more popular at the time.

 

== Live Action TV ==

 

* Can an entire ''network'' be deader than Disco? If so, then if [[MTV]] isn't there right now, then it is perilously close. Even when the [[Network Decay|channel's decay]] became evident in the late '90s and early '00s, MTV was still a relevant force in American pop culture, turning many bands and artists into superstars and airing shows like ''[[The Real World]]'', ''[[Beavis and Butthead]]'', ''[[Daria]]'', and ''[[Jackass]]'' that hauled in viewers by the boatload and had people talking. And that's not even mentioning the power MTV wielded back in [[The Eighties]]. Now, while it's still kept relevant by a handful of hit reality shows and the Video Music Awards, most young people and former fans know it primarily for being the poster child of [[Network Decay]].

* In the United States, daytime [[Soap Opera|soap operas]] have fallen victim to this trope. Back in [[The Seventies]] and [[The Eighties]], ratings for daytime soaps hit peaks of 30 million viewers for events like the Spencer wedding on ''[[General Hospital]]'', and ad revenues from them helped to fund the [[Networks]]' elaborate, expensive, all-but-nonprofit [[News Broadcast|news divisions]], as well as tide the whole network over in years when the [[Prime Time]] lineup was struggling. Now, soaps are lucky to pull in ''three'' million, and some people are recommending that the networks drop them altogether and replace them with [[Talk Show|talk shows]] and other daytime fare—which some networks are already doing. The phrase "soap opera" has come to be synonymous with pure dreck in the minds of many TV fans, associated with bad writing, [[Idiot Plot|outrageous plots]], and [[Large Ham|shoddy]] [[Dull Surprise|acting]], something that can be seen whenever [[Fan Dumb|disgruntled fans]] of a [[Prime Time]] series talk about how bad writers or actors "should never have been let out of daytime." A list of theories explaining this fall can be seen on the [[Soap Opera]] page.

** The fact that the [[Cancellation]] of ''[[Guiding Light]]'', [[Long Runner|the longest-running narrative in the history of mankind]], was barely a footnote in ''[[TV Guide]]'' and ''Entertainment Weekly'' just goes to illustrate how far soap operas have fallen in the public eye.

* [[Reality TV]] did in the [[Point and Laugh Show|trashy tabloid talk shows]] of the '90s, which quickly lost their monopoly on the display of social rejects, miscreants, and degenerates hungry for their 15 minutes of fame. Unlike talk shows, reality shows didn't have the middle man of a host who was ostensibly trying to "help" them, and had more variety than the basic talk show format. Today, the only "Trash TV" hosts still standing are [[Jerry Springer]] and [[Maury|Maury Povich]], their competitors (Geraldo Rivera, Phil Donahue, Jenny Jones, Ricki Lake, Sally Jessy Raphael) having all been canceled. [[Oprah Winfrey]], now retired herself, who popularized the "Trash TV" format, distinguished herself by going "[[Bleached Underpants|upmarket]]" in [[The Nineties|the mid-nineties]], during the height of the trend.

* It is probably not a coincidence that the [[Variety Show]] died out around the same time that specialized cable channels began taking off, since they allowed viewers to enjoy ''just'' [[MTV|musical groups]], [[Comedy Central|stand-up comedy]], etc. without having to wait out performers and segments they weren't interested in. Once in a while, a performer will try to revive the format, but this never works. Later, [[NBC]] tried to pull it off with ''The Jay Leno Show''. They were hoping that cheap, [[Product Placement|product-placement]]-backed programming would allow them to stem their losses. It didn't work so well, suffering from such abysmal ratings that NBC attempted to move it to late night after half a season. And [[It Got Worse]]—this led to [[Conan O'Brien]]'s departure from ''[[The Tonight Show]]'' when he objected to the schedule change.

** In a similar fashion; the Sports Anthology genre (invented and led by ''[[Wide World of Sports]]''<ref>The original American version, not the still-airing Australian version</ref>) died out with the rise of sports networks like [[ESPN]], which offered the kind of variety of sports ''Wide World'' offered 24/7.

* Network newscasts. In the past, families gathered around the TV every evening to watch Walter Cronkite or Dan Rather for 30 minutes. With the growth of 24-hour news networks and online news, many people stopped watching the traditional newscasts, which are on when most people aren't even home.

* [[Kid Com]] shows that don't involve some kind of celebrity focus are starting to die out. There are very few [[Dom Com]] low-concept shows that focus on the characters living a relatively normal life. The reason is the success of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' and executives trying to capture that market to get the next big [[Idol Singer]].

** [[Nickelodeon]]'s [[Live Action TV]] line in the last few years has been dominated by these type of shows. ''[[iCarly]]'' focuses on internet celebrity, ''[[Victorious]]'' and ''Big Time Rush'' on musical celebrity, and ''[[True Jackson, VP]]'' on fashion. Its next big show is ''[[How to Rock]]'', with Cymphonique Miller as the lead singer in a band. ''Bucket And Skinner'' was their last attempt at a non-celebrity show, and it crashed and burned so badly it was yanked off the network.

* "Late Night Creature Feature"-style shows: A former staple of Friday and Saturday night television, particularly on stations that weren't network affiliates, were locally-produced shows dedicated to airing B-grade horror or science fiction movies, with such umbrella titles as ''Chiller Theater'' or ''Shock Theater''. Notable, invariably tongue-in-cheek hosts of such shows included Vampira, Doctor Madblood, and Svengoolie; Elvira, Mistress of the Dark kept the format going well into [[The Eighties]]. (All this was parodied by ''SCTV'' with Count Floyd.) The timeslot wasn't neccesarily late at night—it may have been as early as 9 p.m., or alternatively scheduled for weekend afternoons. But as [[The Eighties]] progressed, the films aged along with the viewers that appreciated them, the "Big Three" networks began adding more and more national fare to the late and overnight schedules, pay and basic cable networks bought up the rights to many movies en masse ([[USA Network]], in its first two decades, had the weekend block ''Night Flight'' and its successor ''Up All Night'', which were effectively their versions of this concept), and independent stations dried up as new networks like Fox took them over. ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' is widely considered the [[Last of His Kind|Last Of Its Kind]], but there have been a few stabs at reviving the format with public domain films for the syndication market, such as ''Elvira's Movie Macabre'' and the San Francisco-based ''Creepy KOFY Movie Time''.

* Low budget, high concept TV shows that use the [[Canada Does Not Exist]] trope. During the late 80s and early 90s, these were a staple for shows in multiple genres such as action-adventure ([[Highlander (TV series)|Highlander]]), youth drama ([[Catwalk]] or [[Degrassi]]), sci-fi/horror ([[Friday the 13th: The Series]]), and police drama (''[[21 Jump Street]]''). The low low budget connected with small-name actors (many of them Canadian) allowed for a proliferation of inexpensive entertainment aimed at various niche audiences. The ''nowhereland'' setting for these shows allowed for them to appeal to viewers in both the U.S. and Canada. Today, the new low-budget market is Reality Television which can be produced in Hollywood and appeal to a mainstream American audience. Although in terms of dollar amount, Episodes of Reality shows today probably cost more than an average episode of ''Highlander'', they are easier and faster to produce and have a quicker return in revenue. Other genres are still around but mostly manifest themselves as expensive tentpole franchises with high production values, big name stars, and an unambiguous major American city setting.

 

* The [[Ur Example]] for television may be TV personality [[Arthur Godfrey]], who was extraordinarily popular in [[The Fifties|the early '50s]]. Viewers turned against him after his folksy, friendly, gee-shucks demeanor was [[Nice Character, Mean Actor|shown to have been an act]]; he was actually a [[Small Name, Big Ego|cruel, egotistical taskmaster]] who fired a popular singer on one of his shows ''on the air'' for ''going to his grandmother's funeral'' instead of taking a dancing class he didn't actually need.

* A variant: ''[[Ally McBeal]]'' never went from all-popular to all-hated, having both admirers and haters at its peak. Instead, it went from The Extremely Important Show That Expressed The State of The American Woman Today[[Tradesnark™|™]] to a half-forgotten joke that's best remembered for featuring the first online [[Memetic Mutation]] to [[Ascended Meme|become mainstream]], the Dancing Baby, and for being that "single female lawyer" show that ''[[Futurama]]'' made fun of. Everybody, love it or hate it, used to think it was a cultural milestone. ''Time'' did a cover story on it, calling it a low point in the history of American feminism, and ''New York Times'' columnist Maureen Dowd went through a period where she mentioned it in literally ''every single column'' that she wrote. A decade later, it's a footnote of the [[The Nineties|late '90s]]. It's telling that [[Hayden Panettiere]]'s time on the show is barely mentioned, not even as an [[Old Shame]].

* During its network run, ''[[Murphy Brown]]'' was one of the most talked about, critically acclaimed shows on the air. Today, it's nowhere to be found in syndication, and first season DVD sales were so poor that the second season was never even released. The show's reliance on topical humor is almost certainly a factor; jokes about Dan Quayle aren't nearly as funny 20 years later. It definitely doesn't help that its [[Moment of Awesome (Sugar Wiki)|defining moment]], Murphy's pregnancy and the subsequent feud with [[Dan Quayle]], not only happened relatively early (the show ran for another six seasons after that), but has aged poorly—it seems [[Values Dissonance|quaint by today's standards]] for Quayle to have [[Moral Guardians|made such a big deal]] about a single mother on television.

** From ''[[The Onion]]'': "[http://www.theonion.com/articles/nations-weirdest-teenager-buys-season-one-dvd-of-m,21004/ Nation's Weirdest Teenager Buys Season One DVD Of 'Murphy Brown']"

* The only reason why ''[[The Beverly Hillbillies]]'' got to number one in the ratings is because old people loved it. [[CBS]] eventually figured out that, although it was getting great ratings, those ratings were coming from an audience that advertisers didn't care about, which led to its cancellation. The same thing happened for several other shows, like ''Mayberry RFD'' and even ''[[Gunsmoke]]''. There's even a whole page at [[The Other Wiki]], [[wikipedia:Rural purge|"rural purge"]], about these cancellations of rural-themed and senior-targeted programs. Several of the other shows listed on that page (''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'', ''[[Family Affair]]''), which were also popular in their day, are similarly no longer appreciated as anything but kitsch, mainly due to the fact that most of the people who liked them in their heyday were over 50 when they were canceled, and are now dead. While they still have their viewers (judging by the ratings for TV Land reruns and the existence of DVD box sets for many of them), few will cite them as truly great television.

** In [[The Nineties]], older viewers might explain why ''[[Touched By an Angel]]'' [[wikipedia:Touched By An Angel#Ratings|was a Top 10 show]] at the height of its run. It often outdrew ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in its Sunday night time slot (despite never being a critical favorite and regarded as [[Glurge]] at its worst), it launched a [[Spin-Off]] in ''Promised Land'' (which lasted three seasons), and reruns of the show were central to the young [[ION|PAX]] network's lineup. When its time slot was switched to Saturday nights for its final two seasons, ratings plunged, and while it's still in reruns on the Hallmark Channel, it's mostly seen as a joke now.

** This happens a lot, though... lots of classic series, even ones that are considered ''good'', are often given a backseat because they don't attract the audiences the powers that be want. Or they just don't attract that much attention in general, with the audience becoming younger, not many people remember it as much as others did. Of course, the lack of readily-available reruns these days doesn't help.

* As noted above, shows that fall victim to [[The Chris Carter Effect]] have a tendency to slip into this once their lack of long-term [[Myth Arc]] planning [[Kudzu Plot|becomes apparent]].

** ''[[Twin Peaks]]'', like ''The X-Files'', was once a cultural phenomenon. Now, if the show is ever brought up, it's either by worried network execs afraid that their hit genre show will become the next ''Twin Peaks'', or by fans who think that their show has [[Jumped the Shark]]. Like ''The X-Files'', it is today remembered as a prime example of how to run a great show into the ground by not thinking ahead.

** ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]''. Back in the first season, everybody was praising this show as the next ''[[Lost]]'', and it managed to be a credible rival to that show, even breaking out of the [[Sci Fi Ghetto]] and getting an Emmy nod for Best Drama Series. Then, [[Bryan Fuller]] left to make ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'', and the [[TV Strikes|2007-08 WGA Strike]] killed an entire half-season's worth of plots and a planned [[Spin-Off]]. The show spent the next two seasons flying off the rails and hemorrhaging viewers as the writing staff struggled, and failed, to figure out how to salvage it. Not even [[Growing the Beard|Fuller's return in the fourth season]] could save ''Heroes'', as [[NBC]], reeling from the flop of ''The Jay Leno Show'' and fed up with the show's big budget and lack of ratings to show for it, pulled the plug at the end of that season, just as it was becoming good again. Once viewed as the show that would save NBC after many of its hit '90s sitcoms came to an end, it instead came to be seen as a symbol of all the problems that NBC had over the course of the '00s.

== Music ==

 

* [[Hair Metal]], the genre with the honor of being to the [[The Nineties]] what the [[Trope Namer]] was to [[The Eighties]]—i.e. the subject of mockery for an entire generation. After big success in the '80s, hair metal went into rapid decline at the start of the '90s, when [[Nirvana]]'s 1991 album ''Nevermind'' set the world on fire and turned grunge into the next big thing by providing a heavier alternative. '80s nostalgia has caused its popularity to increase, at least in the mainstream, it has never climbed back to its former heights, and is still treated as a subject of mockery by metalheads (as seen in ''[[Brutal Legend]]'').

** Grunge itself took a rather sharp decline in popularity during the mid-90s once [[Alternative Rock]] came around (though [[Kurt Cobain]]'s sudden suicide didn't help either) and nowadays, pretty much nobody records Grunge anymore except for [[Pearl Jam]], and their sound has changed significantly since their heyday.

* Most digital synthesisers and drum machines of the 1980s and early 1990s were extremely hard to program, and so producers simply used the preset sounds over and over again. As a consequence, several machines from the era wore out their welcome and have completely fallen from fashion. Examples include the warm electric piano and slap bass sounds of the Yamaha [[DX 7]]; the Phil Collins-esque sound of the Simmonds SDS and Linn drum machines; the chimes of the Roland D-50; and the house piano and bassy organ of the Korg M1. Several of the aforementioned produced a sound that crossed the [[Uncanny Valley]], a broken imitation of reality that was good enough for the time but has dated badly. Ironically, the more obviously electronic sound of previous analogue synthesisers and drum machines (themselves Deader Than Disco after digital synths became widespread) - such as the Roland Juno, and the TR-808 - came back into fashion during the 1990s and has never really gone away.

* The [[Boy Band]] craze. From approximately 1998 to 2001, boy bands such as the [[Backstreet Boys]] and *NSYNC ''dominated'' the pop music scene, with multi-platinum albums and incessant airplay and TV spots. At one point, the Backstreet Boys even had ''Burger King kids' meal toys''!! Inevitably, over-saturation and changing tastes lead to a huge backlash, and by 2003, it was like they never existed. The boy band stigma has largely prevented most former boy band members from having much of a solo career afterwards (except [[Justin Timberlake]], and he beat the stigma by downplaying his association with *NSYNC).

* [[Easy Listening]] music and the radio stations that play them. Also known as [[Muzak]], ''Elevator Music'' or the less derogatory term ''Lounge Music''. There are few classic muzak songs that are more recent than the 1980s. As that was the last decade to produce in significant amounts music that appealed to more than the youth demographic all of whom find muzak boring. There are now companies that specialized in supplying piped music so it can occasionally still be heard in traditional locations such as some department stores and dentist offices although they seem to be slowly being replaced by remixes of more current tunes. On the radio, the current incarnation of easy listening prefers the label ''smooth jazz''.

 

* [[MC Hammer]] is a notable example of a single musician succumbing to this trope. In the early '90s, he was one of the biggest rap stars in the world, with the album ''Please Hammer, Don't Hurt 'Em'' going diamond (ten million sold—the first rap album to accomplish that feat) and "U Can't Touch This" becoming a sensation. He made flaunting flashy clothes and lifestyle fashionable (rather than the strictly "hood" styles of most rappers of the time), and was on the leading edge of rappers acting as commercial pitchmen. Then, however, came three factors that derailed his success and caused him to fall harder and faster than even [[Michael Jackson]], turning him into an almost overnight punchline:

** Switching his sound to [[Gangsta Rap]] in order to stay relevant. To be fair, his 1994 album ''The Funky Headhunter'' was a platinum-selling success upon its release, even spawning the [[Memetic Mutation]] "it's all good". However, not only did it get him labeled a sellout by other rappers (the fact that he recorded several dis tracks probably didn't help), it [[Contractual Purity|ruined the clean-and-wholesome image]] that he had cultivated (he was, and still is, a Pentecostal minister, and included a Christian song on every one of his albums), which had allowed him to sell rap to mainstream America [[Lighter and Softer|without the controversy raised by the more hardcore artists]].

{{quote|'''Bart''': We're in Branson, Missouri. My dad says that it's what [[Las Vegas]] would look like if it were run by Ned Flanders.}}

* The Darkness: huge in 2004, won loads of awards, album sold over a million copies in the UK alone. Then the follow-up album arrived in 2005, sold less well and the band subsequently split. Now, despite probably still having a copy of ''Permission To Land'' kicking-around, most people pretend they never liked them in the first place.

* The [[Orchestra Hit Techno Battle|orchestra hit]]. A recording of same was included with the Fairlight CMI digital sampling workstation of the early 1980s, and was quickly exploited by producer Trevor Horn for Yes' ''Owner of a Lonely Heart'' and anything else Horn produced over the next few years. It became a cliche of 80s synth pop, appearing on records by Duran Duran, Pet Shop Boys and New Order. The sound was resurrected in cartoon form by the rave and acid house crowd in the early 1990s - notably by Altern-8 and The Immortals for their ''Mortal Kombat'' theme - but was killed stone dead forever by its association with 2 Unlimited. It hasn't come back since, not even ironically.

* The 90s vogue for Gregorian chants and/or New Agey music mixed in with modern instruments. Canto Gregoriano, Adiemus, Enigma and the like sold ridiculous amounts of discs back then but soon receded back into semi-obscurity.

== New Media ==

* Any number of older [[Friending Network|friending networks]]. Friendster is considered one of the defining examples of a fallen social network (although [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|it stayed popular in Asia]]), and [[Myspace]] has gone the same way due to competition from (and attempts to [[We're Still Relevant, Dammit!|catch up with]]) [[Facebook]].

 

 

== Pro Wrestling ==

* [[Professional Wrestling]] itself is almost ''always'' this trope, excluding the periodic boom periods <ref>The mid-'80s, for example, brought us [[Hulk Hogan]] and the Rock & Wrestling era, and the late '90s and early 2000s brought us the [[Monday Night Wars]].</ref> where it becomes okay to admit that you're a wrestling fan without getting called a redneck. Of course, even when wrestling is on the low, wrestling companies still tend to be relatively successful. Fans cry that [[Ruined FOREVER|the end is coming]] far too often however.

* The [[Monday Night Wars]] put an end to shows made entirely of [[Squash Match]]es. Once shows presented quality matches on free tv, fans of either company wouldn't settle for anything else. While some may have a squash match or two to debut a new wrestler or for a joke match, a show consisting entirely of them will suffer in the ratings. And if you're a younger wrestling fan (say, ages 10 to 30), you might not even be aware these shows ever ''existed''.

 

== Puppet Shows ==

* ''[[Spitting Image]]''. In the 1980s the puppet-based satire show was the most important topical comedy show in Britain. Now it's almost totally forgotten except as a relic of [[The Eighties]]. However, its writers and voice actors went on to do things like ''[[Red Dwarf]]'' and ''[[Blackadder]]''.

** Some of us, however still [[Nightmare Fuel|see those puppets in our nightmares]].

** ''Les Guignols'' started in the beginning of the nineties, following the very same concept of ''Spitting Image'', and is still aired. Slowly dying of [[Flanderization]] after the successive departures of Benoît Delépine and, some years after, Bruno Gaccio, who both were a LOT sharper in their texts.

 

== Radio ==

** The next Ryan Leaf is [http://bleacherreport.com/articles/413296-twilight-eclipse-top-10-athletes-who-sucked-the-life-out-of-franchises#page/3 JaMarcus Russell].

* Ever wonder why [[The Beautiful Game|association football/soccer]] [[Americans Hate Tingle|has such a vocal hatedom in the United States]]? This is why. In the early part of the 20th century, when most of the major professional sports leagues on both sides of the Atlantic were in their infancy, the [[wikipedia:American Soccer League#ASL I|American Soccer League]] was among them. It was, at one point, the second most popular sports league in the country after [[Baseball|Major League Baseball]]. However, disputes between the ASL and the rival United States Football Association over a number of factors led to a "[http://www.bigsoccer.com/soccer/roger-allaway/2010/10/25/what-was-the-quot-soccer-war-quot/ Soccer War]", with FIFA butting in and siding with the USFA over controversy that the ASL was signing players who were under contract to European teams. The Soccer War crippled the ASL, with the league folding at the end of the 1933 season. Worse, while the USFA and FIFA ''won'' the war and established their pre-eminence, the spectacle of a US athletic association conspiring with a European organization to undermine its rival alienated many U.S. sports fans by creating an image of soccer as a sport controlled by foreigners, and along with the lack of a professional league that was able to field good players like the ASL did, the events pretty much killed the sport’s popularity for decades.

 

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** This is not helped by the fact that said 13-year-olds still [[Overused Copycat Character|love to create Drizzt imitations]] in about every MMO known to man. If you see any sort of dual-wielding darkish kind of elf in an MMO, chances he'll have a name suspiciously similar to "Drizzt". Even that seems to be a [[Dead Horse Trope]] now.

** This might be partially because the ''Drizzt'' books rely on the assumption of the reader that dark elves are evil. If the only dark elf you've ever heard of is Drizzt, you're going to lose something.

 

== Toys ==

** For the fogies in the crowd: Pet rocks. Mood rings. Lava lamps. (Although that last one has never quite gone entirely away, but is now mostly the venue of young kids. A lava lamp seen in a movie or TV show is an indicator that its owner smokes a ''lot'' of pot.)

** For people of a certain age, we've seen our following childhood toys go through this: Cabbage Patch Kids (though they're making a valiant attempt at a resurgence), Teddy Ruxpin, Simon, pocket games that play only one game (such as Pac-Man or Centipede), Pound Puppies, the Snoopy snow cone maker, Strawberry Shortcake, and Rainbow Brite (though those last three are making something of a comeback).

== Video Games ==

 

* The entire home video game industry was Deader Than Disco in the US and Canada after [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983]]. Overloaded with options and crappy games, consumers were convinced that consoles were nothing more than a passing fad until Nintendo came along and revitalized the entire industry. Note that the Crash did not affect the market in Asia or Europe and video arcades remained highly profitable.

** In Europe, the video games industry actually ''started-up'' around the time of the Crash in North America, largely thanks to the explosion in popularity of cheap home computers around 1981-82.

* Back in the [[Video Game 3D Leap|Leap to 3D era]], especially on the Nintendo64, a staple of the industry was the [[Gotta Catch Em All|collectathon]] [[Platform Game]], starting with ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' and exemplified by ''[[Banjo-Kazooie]]'' and ''[[Spyro the Dragon]]''. But by the next console generation, the genre was relegated to [[The Problem with Licensed Games|cheap tie-in titles]] and [[Franchise Zombie|series that overstayed their welcome]]. The reasons aren't certain, though some blame ''[[Donkey Kong 64]]'' for [[Genre Killer|breaking the spirits]] of gamers, with a massive and frankly unreasonable amount of collectables (which seemed to have garnered few complaints back in the day).

** One exception is the ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'' games, which have been wildly successful despite (or because of?) sticking to the overall format and gameplay established by ''[[Super Mario 64]]''.

* While you might see the occasional one coming from a Manic Shmup company such as CAVE, the [[Shoot'Em Up]] industry is getting far fewer entries than it did in the past, and some would say that the ones it does get are often lacking compared to their older counterparts. Most of the titles released now are either [[Video Game Remake|remakes]] of earlier titles or [[Bullet Hell]] shooters.

* [[Full Motion Video|FMV games]] were huge during the early '90s, and were once hailed as the future of gaming. But technology advanced and the genre got a reputation for shovelware (thanks to infamous bombs like ''[[Night Trap]]''), and by the end of the decade, developers and customers alike treated the genre as though it had been put on the sex offender registry.

** The precursor to FMV in the 90s, Laser-Disc arcade games saw a brief explosion in the early-to-mid 80s, with games like [[Dragon's Lair]]. [[Don Bluth]], in news footage extolling said game, said in effect "Hollywood is now getting into the interactive business, with writers and actors involved with gaming." [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983|The Video Game Crash]], plus the high cost maintenance of laser players, saw the genre die out in a few years.

*** By extension, actors in general (not counting voice-overs) in gaming died out in the nineties. In addition to FMV actors, many games featured digitized actors, such as [[Mortal Kombat]]. Once consoles entered the [[Console Wars|sixth generation]], digitization was completely phased out for original graphics.

** For that matter, the entire Japanese video game industry has seen its once-sterling reputation in the West slowly erode over the past decade. From [[The Great Video Game Crash of 1983|1983]] up until around 2003-04, Japanese companies like [[Nintendo]], [[Sega]], [[Square Enix]] and [[Capcom]] were the only real names in video game development, garnering most of the big titles and affection from critics. However, the spread of PC gaming sensibilities into the console market (PC gaming having always been a Western domain), the rise of Western game developers that can produce AAA titles with the best of them, and the slouching Japanese economy mean that Japanese developers have lost their untouchable position. Worst case scenario, they're seen as hopelessly trying to play catch-up with Western developers by keeping [[Widget Series|their "quirkier" titles]] from Western shores and tailoring their other games more towards Western sensibilities.

** It's telling that, despite critical acclaim, [[No Export for You|it can pretty much become an uphill battle to even get certain JRPGs localized]], even in limited release. For example, the games of the Operation Rainfall campaign, such as [[Xenoblade Chronicles]] or [[The Last Story]]. Both received rave reviews in Japan and Europe, and ''Xenoblade's'' run in Europe turned into a surprise commercial success. Unfortunately, selling JRPGs practically became commercial suicide in the US, with the massive backlash against post-''[[Final Fantasy XIII|XII]] [[Final Fantasy]]'' games still fresh in people's minds. After a massive word-of-mouth campaign though, both games managed to get release dates in the US, and Xenoblade opened to similarly glowing reviews and surprisingly good pre-order sales.

* Pre-rendered graphics enjoyed a day in the limelight from about 1994 to 1996 but is now happily forgotten, being only used in the odd handheld game and even that is exceedingly rare. In retrospect, what was once lauded as the new cutting edge just looks cheap and ugly 90% of the time, especially on with the current generation using consoles capable of far better graphics than could have been pre-rendered at the time.

 

* When the original [[Sonic Adventure]] was released as a launch title for the [[Sega Dreamcast]], fans and critics raved about its graphics, its amazing sense of speed, its surprisingly complex story, and the joy of finally seeing [[Sonic the Hedgehog]] make a [[Video Game 3D Leap]]. Over the next few years (with more games being released for the Dreamcast and the launch of the [[PlayStation 2]]), games with graphics and frame rates that were as good as, if not better than, [[Sonic Adventure]]'s became the norm, and players began to look past those qualities and find faults in the game, like the overabundance of half-baked gameplay styles for the sake of variety (most notoriously [[Scrappy Mechanic|FISHING in a Sonic game]], the [[Camera Screw|unreliable camera]], and the questionable voice acting quality. Nowadays the game is cited as one of the prime examples of the [[Polygon Ceiling]] and the start of a [[Dork Age]] for the Sonic franchise. It's telling that the game's [[Updated Rerelease]], which came out a mere four years after the original, received mediocre-to-bad reviews, despite reviews for the original being glowing.

 

== Web Comics ==

** The episode [http://gameoverthinker.blogspot.com/2011/08/episode-55-what-we-lost-in-fire.html "Thing We Lost in the Fire"] also covers this trope, talking about how arcades have experienced this in the US, and how they could possibly [[Popularity Polynomial|make a comeback]] (using the ''Golden Tee'' series of golf games as Exhibit A).

** Discussed again in the episode [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVV7vHiJqps "Setting Sun"], where he talks about the decline of the Japanese game industry.

 

 

 

== Real Life ==

* For most of the [[Cold War]], the idea that revolutionary communism (specifically of the [[Josef Stalin|Stalinist]] variety) was a) a valid alternative to the Western capitalist system, and b) inevitable to become very widespread. After [[The Great Politics Mess-Up]], it's very much a niche opinion. While democratic Marxist parties have enjoyed considerable success in several countries (e.g. Brazil, South Africa, Nepal, Uruguay, Cyprus), the radical revolutionary brand is limited to a few far-left fringe parties, mostly in ex-communist countries and on college campuses.

** Ditto for communism's old arch-enemy, fascism. During the interwar period, a considerable number of intellectuals felt that liberal democracy was a fundamentally flawed system that was doomed to collapse, and that fascism was the only thing that could save the Western world from the decadence and materialism produced by that system. After [[World War II]], though, it's tough to find anybody, other than the most die-hard neo-Nazi fringe, who will openly admit sympathy for fascism, and the mere existence of [[Godwin's Law]] shows how hated fascism is in all corners of the political world (and even in many debates wholly separate from politics).

* Various automobile aesthetic styles have died as well, such as the big, cartoony fins of [[The Fifties]] and the "box-on-wheels" look of [[The Eighties]].

* Automobiles with V6 and V8 engines are, despite the economic crisis, back in fashion, as technologies improve. Despite the CO2/g culture in the UK, it's still not stopped it. This is despite the fact you nowadays see 4-cylinder turbos as large engines, or 6-cylinder ones. But [[Internet Backdraft|buyers still want the "old-style" engines for simplicity's sake]]...

* The idea of "free love," at least as it was conceptualized by [[The Sixties]] [[New Age Retro Hippie|counterculture]], was pretty much discredited in [[The Eighties]] by [[The Plague|HIV]] and the rise of [[Moral Guardians|the New Right]] as a potent political force. (Not that pre-Sixties puritanism has ever truly returned, of course.) <!-- But not for lack of trying! -->

* Chuck E. Cheese's and [[Suck E. Cheese's|similar children's restaurants/play areas]] are zig-zagging. In its heyday in the '80s, Chuck E. Cheese's was the most popular party spot for kids. Along with similar copycat businesses, fast food joints such as [[McDonald's]] and Burger King developed their own giant playgrounds in the '90s. Over time, however, such places came to be viewed as hunting grounds for [[Paedo Hunt|pedophiles]] and/or targets of [[Urban Legend]]s related to disgusting unmentionables lurking in ball pits. While Chuck E. Cheese's is still doing well, most of its competitors (including Show Biz Pizza and Discovery Zone, which it bought out, and regional players such as Jeepers!) are long gone, and most fast-food places have removed their playplaces. On the other hand, Dave & Busters came up with a successful spin on the concept by targeting adults (on-site bar, bowling, billiards, arcade, etc.).

* Many fast-food concepts:

** Drive-''thru'' pretty much killed off drive-''in''. A&W has caught somewhat of a second wind, but they're most often combined with Long John Silver's or in some other location that's more conventional (food court, gas station, "regular" fast-food drive-thru). Lesser drive-in chains like Dog n Suds and B & K were nearly crushed in the 70s as McDonald's and the like became more popular, not to mention more practical in colder climates. Averted with Sonic, which has escaped the decline of the drive-in restaurant.

** And speaking of Long John Silver's, increasing fish prices pretty much did in the concept of a fast-food seafood restaurant. Long John Silver's dropped a ton of locations in the 1980s and 1990s but has made a bit of a comeback (mostly by co-branding with A&W). Former nationwide players H. Salt Esquire and Arthur Treacher's have mostly retracted to their respective home bases of California or Ohio, although you might still find a stray Arthur Treacher's tacked onto your local Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs.

** Fast-foods specializing in roast beef. Heap Big Beef came and went in the 1960s, Roy Rogers retracted to New England in the '70s and '80s, and Rax retracted to Ohio. Arby's has been slowly slipping for years, and has pretty much pushed roast beef to the background in favor of subs, salads and chicken sandwiches.

** Unique architecture. Ho Jo motor lodges and restaurants had unique, A-frame lobbies with bright, orange porcelain tiles. Similarly, Holiday Inn had its huge neon signs, and Knights Inn had medieval architecture to stand out. Compare to the glass and stucco boxes of today, and often oppressive sign ordinances (not to mention the rampant re-branding — as bland as the architecture may be, some details of chains past are harder to mask than others).

** Curb appeal. Floor-level rooms were directly accessible from the parking lot, and even two- and three-story Ho Jo lodges had easy access. Nowadays, rising real estate value often leads to compact multi-level box motels, which require schlepping down the hallway and up the stairs several times to reach your room.

* The personal digital assistant (PDA). From the stylish Sony CLIÉ to the Apple Newton (the iPhone's granddaddy), they were the cool toys to have in the 90s, until smart phones and tablets swallowed them whole. Palm went from being the pioneer of PDA's to a footnote in tech history. RIM survived because they moved into smartphones, though this trope appears to have caught up with them there, as noted above; RIM's spectacular mismanagement certainly isn't helping.

* Fashion in general is heavily subject to this trope. The easiest way to mark yourself as a loser is to wear last year's or even last season's style.

** And if you ''really'' want to look like a dork, wear styles from the previous decade. During the 1980s, wearing 70s-styles fashions like bellbottoms and earth tones was a surefire way to make people think of you as a hopelessly out-of-touch loser. Then, during the 1990s, wearing 80s fashions like acid-washed jeans and neon colors was a good way to get laughed out of a room. And so on, and so on...

* Many things in retail:

*** Zig-zagged in the UK. Argos is a huge chain famous for 'only' putting their products on display in catalogs (later on, online). The unique practice has somehow managed to make them lots and lots of money. But queueing to buy in Argos is seen as a grim and dull process, the only other big chain that employed this method (Index) was bought out by Argos in the early 2000s, now no other catalog chain is well-known, and with online shopping growing increasingly popular Argos might go the way of Woolworths.

*** There are still a few specialty food companies, like Harry and David's and Swiss Colony, that still do good business from catalog orders, possibly due to their nostalgia factor as a traditional holiday gift in many families.

** For that matter, shopping malls in general. Development slowed to a crawl in the 1990s; the last traditional indoor mall in the U.S. was built in Arkansas in 2006.<ref>although an enclosed wing was added to a Michigan mall in 2007, and a mall opened in Calgary in 2009</ref> "Dead malls", nearly unheard of before the 2000s, have become increasingly common. The concept fell hard due to many factors: rampant overbuilding that saturated many retail markets; a declining economy that killed off boatloads of retailers and cause many more to scale back their locations; rising land costs; and again, the rise of online shopping. (To a lesser extent, the Macy's bloodbath also wounded dozens of malls which already had both a Macy's and another chain that they bought out, leaving huge tracts of vacant retail space.) Many developers have tried to jazz up the concept by creating "lifestyle center" malls which are basically built as streetscapes and targeted to upscale clientele, but even these have been hit-and-miss. Literally every year, several more malls are closed or torn down for "big box" stores, lifestyle centers or, less often, non-retail uses such as offices or condominiums. Those that aren't have tried to stem the loss of retailers by adding nonconventional tenants such as college campuses or libraries, or redeveloping entire swaths of vacant retail space as the aforementioned "big box" or lifestyle center concepts, while keeping the rest of the mall intact. Some malls have weathered the storm and maintained close to full occupancy, but just as many (if not more) are wounded — even Mall of America lost one of its four department stores in 2012. And what isn't redeveloped is often times just abandoned, leaving an enormous eyesore that can sit vacant and deteriorating for years.

** The rise of large-scale large-selection franchise chain book stores such as Barnes & Noble and Books-A-Million (as well as Chapters/Indigo in Canada and WH Smith in the UK) seemed to mark the end for not only small-business locally owned book stores, but also smaller, mall-based bookstores like B. Dalton and Waldenbooks (which, for the last several years of their lives, were respectively owned by Barnes & Noble and the now-defunct Borders). However, with the competition eliminated, the price of books generally rose and service declined. With the rise of book sales on the internet (with price, selection, and convenience far greater than any physical store could have), said chain stores failed to capitalize on advantages (physical browsing, instant service, community, fairly good coffee), with the outlook looking grim. Interestingly, this has also led to a rise in locally-owned used book stores.

*** Also contributing is the rise of the e-book reader, which takes up less space, has adjustable font-size and built-in back-lighting. E-books tend to also be cheaper than physical copies.

** Factory outlet malls. The fad came in the 1980s and 1990s, with many small ones located off freeways — most of them were in markets not suitable for one<ref>(often at otherwise-undeveloped exits, particularly in smaller towns)</ref> and died swiftly. Others were poorly-located enclosed centers that often lacked a big "anchor" store.<ref>(primarily in the Southern states — metropolitan Houston, Texas had nearly a dozen that barely made it into the 1990s. One between Allen and McKinney was abandoned in ''1988'')</ref> Mills Corporation (now part of Simon, the US' largest mall management company) built several larger, enclosed ones in the 1990s that were driven by large numbers of discount<ref>(such as TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Burlington Coat Factory)</ref> and/or "big box" anchors<ref>(such as Bed Bath & Beyond, Sports Authority, Old Navy)</ref> mixed with both outlet and regular stores, along with entertainment options such as movie theaters and bowling alleys, and trendy restaurants such as Rainforest Café. This fad died off with the decline of the shopping mall in general, but many of the Mills malls (and even a few one-offs [[Follow the Leader|copying the Mills style]]) have suffered greatly.

* Subverted with the [[Drive-In Theater]]. Although many of them died off in the 70s and 80s (rising land costs, urban sprawl, high maintenance costs, better quality at increasingly-large multiplexes), the concept caught a second wind in the 2000s, with several new ones opening.

* Speaking of movie theaters, large single-screen movie theaters have almost entirely been replaced by multiplexes that feature smaller auditoriums with stadium-style seating. These days single-screen movie theaters often show independent art-house films or special screenings of classic films from decades past.

* [[Hackers]]; Fiction once depicted hackers as colorful anti-establishment rebels who only hacked into government or corporate servers as a way of "sticking it to the man". Today, hackers of that type are mostly profit driven and identity theft is a major concern for the average person. Although a new computer virus seems to show up occasionally, the threat of hackers has been eclipsed by spammers, 419 scams, phishers, and privacy concerns with regard to companies such as Facebook and Microsoft.

* Appropriately, [[Adolf Hitler]] is not only no longer popular in Germany, but today's Germans regard him as the worst thing that ever happened to their nation (not that non-Germans wouldn't agree with that).

** [[Up to Eleven]]: he is hated by modern Germans, yet during [[The Nineties|the 1990s]] both himself and the Third Reich [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|enjoyed great popularity in some Eastern European post-Communist countries]], as the man who fought Communism to the last breath. [[Cyclic Trope|After 2002, his popularity waned even there]].

* The Intel Pentium brand name. It was synonymous with "uber-fast processor" for nearly twelve years, only for its reputation to be ruined and the brand to instead become dictionary definitions of "under-performing" and "overheating" thanks to the "Prescott" model Pentium 4 and the entire Pentium D line. After that, Intel ended up branding its high-performance chips under the Core 2 (and later Core i7) brand and relegated Pentium to being the brand for their cheaper processors.

* Now that it's well known that not only didn't [[Christopher Columbus]] "discover" America,<ref>Not that he isn't historically important, as his "discovery" was the catalyst for the European colonization of the Americas--the Norse didn't do that, nor for that matter did the indigenous Americans. The term "Columbian Exchange" really is fitting, as he ''did'' start that.</ref> he perpetrated an ethnic cleansing of the Arawak tribe, it's rare to find Columbus Day celebrations, especially on the West Coast. Even though it's a Federal holiday, most schools and businesses ignore it.

** Exception: Certain East Coast communities celebrate Columbus Day as a day of Italian American heritage/pride. This started in the late 19th to early 20th century: Italians, feeling put-upon by WASP racism, appropriated Columbus Day to say "You say 'Italian' like it's a bad thing. What's wrong with you? An Italian discovered your country!"

*** Also, it's an excuse to have a parade. Although parades have been going this way in recent years as well. When was the last time everybody was abuzz about a Thanksgiving Day Parade float or balloon or original performance ...?

 

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[[Category:Audience Reactions]]

[[Category:Deader Than Disco]]