Cultural question, when is the next "fun" era coming up?

I think the technicolour of the 60s was relative to the shades of grey of the 50s. There were drugs, there were parties, there was protest of all sorts, from students being serious, to clothes and music becoming frivolous. But there was not the wealth that there has been in both England and Ireland over the last decade or so There was not the ease of communication that there is now, it was not a technological time, even travelling for holidays was not as commonplace as it is now.
I was in my teens in England through the 60s and I do not think there was nearly as much drug use as people assume. But compared with the 50s, drugs were rampant! I managed to get right through my teens, doing the usual teen things, and never once saw or had contact with drugs or drug use.
I went to work for the Probation service at 18, and drug use was not a huge concern among clients generally.
Most people were working at 16 or 17, there were plenty of jobs both office and factory, and if you showed any interest or inclination there were great opportunities to progress. So young people had jobs, money to spend and music and fashion were the big interests.
The country was finally shaking off the aftermath of the war years and the new generation was not only the biggest group of teens (the baby bulge of the late 40s) ever, they had not been directly affected by the war and the wearyness and caution of their parents was being rejected by the energy of the younger generation.
There were no computers, personal music players, limited television, so if you wanted to listen to music you got together with some friends and played records, or went to a jazz/coffee cafe, or went dancing. Although people did drink alcohol, most pubs were for your parents' agegroup and not all that attractive to teens.
Teenagers did drink, and most of them smoked, and some used drugs, but I think the 60s would have seemed very tame compared with now. At the time though, life was exciting, there were great possibilities to work and travel, and young people had a confidence that unnerved their parents. Older people were scandalised by very minor things, mostly clothes - miniskirts for example - and large groups of people going to open-air concerts, and girls screaming at the Beatles.
So what does this suggest for the next 'fun' era? I think you need social confidence, full employment (or whatever the equivalent will be), a sense of optimism, less need for cynicism and a sense of release from pressure. With the gathering weight of population growth, financial uncertainty, pressure on resources and the threat of climate change it seems unlikely that there will be one for a while yet.

Within the next 10 or so years ,there could be the next wave of fun due to home grown hip hop .This is slowly happening in england ,but because most people look to mass produced and mass marketed hip hop they over look the local produce .The hip hop in ireland isnt good what so ever it attempts so fit in to the mass produced "gang style" genre of american record companys hip hop and as a result only appeals to certain groups of young people who have bad taste in music.

I predict an explosion in irish hip hop in the not too distant future ,after all the true essence of hip hop comes from a type of free style poetry , to be able to stand up and speak of social and economic inequalitys ,percieved global injustice etc ,to backround music .It is designed for live performance whether on a street in a boring time or on a stage during a good time where "poets" can compete ,it is only a matter of time before a few people in the nation of "poets and scholars" take to grafton street and set the good times rolling , the notion of gangster rap is a ball and chain , why not freestyle about bertie , banks ,shell ,the luas ,the spire ,our rising heroin problems what ever pops into your head to the music ,with a bit of practice it just comes ,

google provides a base of knowledge to moan about and social networking sites do away with the need for managers and so on ,ebay does away with the need for a record deal ,and there is a lot of money to be made in reality based hip hop ,,, its only a matter of time ,a few years

Gary L wrote: »

I think a change in the medium of communication that forms the popular consciousness will always change the popular mindset itself. The internet could well set the next generation free of the traditions we try to pass on. That would be lots of fun.

Internet users are already creating new sets of traditions/mindsets, whether they are any better or worse than those we have at the moment will only be shown when the next but one generation changes things again.
The 50's were - do as you are told, dont step out of line, don't argue with officialdom. The 60's - rebel and party. The 70's - find yourself. This turned out to be so boring that not a lot happened in the 80's. 90's - technology is god, 2000's cult of celebrity, possibly the most purile yet.