Welcome to Students Incorporated. I'm your host,
Mr. Jason. Join me weekly as my students and
I bring you content that's informative, positive,
fun, and uplifting. This podcast is created and
produced with the help of students from the International
Community School of Bangkok. Have you ever looked
at a current fashion trend and thought, wait
a minute, didn't my parents wear that? How much
of today's culture is brand new and how much
is just a remix of the past? It's a feeling many
of us have had, whether it's seeing flared jeans
back in style or hearing a popular synth beat
from the 80s in a brand new pop song. The past
is always present. Today, we're putting that
feeling under the microscope. We're going on
a pop culture road trip, making stops in the
iconic decades from the 70s up till now to explore
the music, movies, and moments that defined each
of those decades. And then we'll turn our eyes
towards the future. What will define the 2020s
and what's next? But before we jump back to the
70s, let's hear our quote of the day and get
some headline news. For a quote of the day, returning
to a true icon of modern pop culture, Beyonce,
who once said, I don't like to gamble, but if
there's one thing I'm willing to bet on, it's
myself. Now, on the surface, that's a powerful
statement about self -belief. And you can see
it in her career. She has constantly evolved,
taken huge creative risk and trusted her own
vision. She's a masterclass in betting on yourself.
But it also brings up a bigger question that's
perfect for our topic today. When we see that
the level of iconic confidence, how do we use
it as an inspiration without trying to copy it?
Pop culture gives us heroes, but the real challenge
is to take a piece of their fire and use it to
build our own path, based on our own convictions.
It's that balance between being inspired by culture
and being defined by it. Something for us to
keep in mind as we get started. And that's our
quote of the day. Now on to some headline news.
Thank you for our quote of the day. All right,
now it's time for a look at what's making news
in the world of pop culture right now. First
up, from Billboard, the music industry is talking
about the recent MTV Video Music Awards, which
delivered one of the most controversial moments
in the show's history. While pop superstar Ava
Chen took home Video of the Year, the big story
is the Vanguard Award being given to the virtual
AI -powered artist known as Aura. Legacy artists
and critics are arguing it devalues human creativity,
while a new generation of digital creators is
hailing it as the future of entertainment. The
debate completely overshadowed a night that also
featured a surprise reunion performance from
the Fugues, making for one of the most talked
about VMAs in recent years. Next, a story from
The Hollywood Reporter that could signal a huge
change in how we watch movies. After years of
prioritizing their streaming platform, Warner
Bros. Discovery, just announced a major strategic
shift back to the theatrical first model. The
move comes after reports of unpredictable streaming
profits and widespread subscriber fatigue. Most
notably, they announced a slate of new mid -budget
dramas, a genre focused on adult stories without
superhero budgets that was considered nearly
extinct. Theater chains have praised the decision,
hoping it will bring a more consistent and diverse
audience back into cinemas. And finally, a story
from Vogue that proves the cyclical nature of
pop culture is alive and well. The undeniable
trend dominating the runways of Paris Fashion
Week was a massive revival of the 1990s minimalism
and grunge. We're talking spaghetti -strap slip
dresses, oversized flannels, chunky combat boots,
and stark, clean silhouettes. Trend forecasters
suggest this is a direct reaction against the
chaotic, algorithm -driven microtrends of the
early 2020s, with consumers craving more authentic,
lasting styles. So, from AI artists redefining
celebrities to Hollywood rediscovering the magic
of cinema and 90s fashion making a defined return,
it's clear the past and future are colliding
in pop culture today. Thank you for the quote
and headline news. It's funny that story about
90s fashion isn't just news to me, it's a flashback.
Which is the perfect segue to our main event.
For my co -host and our guest, we're about to
discuss history. For me, we're discussing the
first half of my life. So let's dive into the
70s, 80s, and 90s. Let's start with the 1970s.
My earliest memories are of the look of that
decade. The earthy tones, the oranges and browns,
and the bold geometric patterns on everything
from shirts to wallpaper. Goldenrod was a color
used on kitchen appliances. Shag carpet was a
thing as well. I have this old family photo.
I'm from a family of five. I have an older brother
and a younger sister. Anyways, this photo was
taken as my parents were taking us to church,
I think, and my mother had dressed my brother
and I in a full plaid suit, browns and yellows.
Even the quality of the photo, my mother's hairstyle,
my dad's expression on his face, my sister's
church dress, and her hairstyle, the whole image
just screamed the 1970s through and through.
So when I think of the 1970s, that old photo
comes to mind. That and the orange shag carpet
in the living room of our house I grew up in.
It was incredibly distinct. Not that I was alive
yet, but we can all do the research on that decade.
You had the flared bottom jeans, sky -high platform
shoes, and corduroy everywhere. It was a mix
of bohemian hippie holdovers and this neo -slick
disco glamour. The patterns were bold, the collars
were wide, and there was a confidence to the
style that was really unique. And people wore
that stuff with confidence. And the movies became
just as bold. The 70s invented the modern blockbuster
with Jaws and Star Wars, but it was also a gritty
decade for film with classics like The Godfather
and Taxi Driver. It was this amazing split between
epic fantasy and harsh reality. It's true, and
the music reflected this same split. I remember
my car radio playing this huge mix of classic
rock anthems from bands like Queen and the Eagles.
Well, not my car, but my parents' car and my
friends' cars. Like most pop culture and music,
The 70s has a clash of music styles. While the
airwaves were full of massive, polished rock
and the glamour of disco, the underground was
hitting back with raw, three -chord energy of
punk rock. It was a total rejection of the mainstream
spectacle. People even talked differently to
a degree. People were saying things like, can
you dig it? Or calling things groovy. It sounds
like a movie, honestly. It sounds so stylized.
You can hear it sampled in music or see it in
retro t -shirts. But it's hard to imagine people
actually saying Jahive Turkey. Seriously, it
feels like a different language. I promise you
they did. Okay. So to wrap up this fascinating
decade, the 1970s, Proud put together a top 10
list of its most iconic cultural hallmarks. Go
ahead and share those with us. According to the
internet, the top 10 cultural hallmarks of the
1970s are 10. Bell -bottom jeans. 9. The TV shows
All in the Family. 8. Punk Rock. 7. The Godfather.
6. Saturday Night Fever. 5. Lava Lamps. 4. Pet
Rocks. 3. The word groovy. two platform shoes,
and the number one on the movie that changed
everything, Star Wars. What a list from Pet Rocks
to Star Wars. Now let's step into my teenage
years, the bright, bold, loud, and totally awesome
1980s. For me, the 80s were all about color,
neon pinks, electric blues, and everything felt
bigger, especially the hair and people's attitudes.
The fashion was pure spectacle. You had the huge
shoulder pads, the acid wash jeans, and the leg
warmers. It was the decade of spandex and big,
bold brand logos. It felt like fashion was shouting,
where the 70s had been more of a groove. And
the music was shouting too. MTV launched and
created a new breed of pop superstars like Michael
Jackson and Madonna, whose videos were global
events. But you also had New Wave, the birth
of mainstream hip -hop, and of course, the over
-the -top glamour of big hair metal bands. Oh,
the hair metal bands. Yes, there was a lot of
them. I definitely had some of those tapes. The
movies were dominated by high content blockbusters
like E .T., Ghostbusters, and Back to the Future.
And of course the iconic John Hughes teen films.
And the way we talked completely changed. We
were all like totally sane like all the time.
Phrases like, gag me with a spoon, and... grody
to the max were everywhere and we said words
like awesome a lot really a lot so much so that
the word has lost its actual meaning and impact
the 80s slang is the one i hear the most in movies
it seems like every film set in the 80s has a
character who says rad or totally in every sentence
it has become a kind of cultural shorthand for
the whole decade it really is All right, James,
give us the definitive top 10 list. What were
the biggest cultural touchstones of the 1980s?
It was a decade of gadgets and icons. Here's
the top 10s for the 1980s. Number 10, leg warmers.
Actually gonna warm up my leg here. All right,
nine, the Nintendo Entertainment System, the
NES. Eight, the movie The Breakfast Club, a true
classic of its time. Seven, MTV. Six, the movie
E .T., the extraterrestrial. Five, big hair and
shoulder pads. Four, the Rubik's Cube. I saw
a couple of them back in my day. Number three,
the phrase, like totally. Number two, Michael
Jackson's Thriller album. And the number one
invention that defined the decade's personal
freedom, the Sony Walkman. Ah, The Walkman. I
had two of them. The first one I had played tapes,
and then I had to buy a new version of The Walkman
as the music industry started going digital and
putting out all their music on CDs. What a great
list. Now we'll move into my 20s, the 1990s,
and after the bright colors of the 1980s, the
90s felt like a color saturation was turned way
down. The fashion of the 1990s was a direct reaction
against the 1980s. The grunge look came out of
Seattle, flannel shirts, ripped baggy jeans,
Doc Martens. It was anti -fashion. At the same
time, hip -hop culture introduced its own iconic
style with starter jackets and baggy sportwear.
It was all about being casual and comfortable.
And the movie saw a huge shift with the rise
of independent filmmakers like Quentin Tarantino
with Pulp Fiction. And of course, technology
changed everything with CGI blockbusters like
Jurassic Park and Titanic. TV was also huge with
Friends and Seinfeld. Musically, it was a mashup.
Grunge took over, but then you had the slick
R &B of groups like Boyz II Men and the global
explosion of pop with the Spice Girls and Britney
Spears. And the slang got a bit more sarcastic.
We were saying as if. talk to the hand, and if
you wanted to know what was going on, you'd ask,
what's the 411? That one is still used sometimes,
which is funny, but the face, as if, is so iconic
because of the movie Clueless. It's another one
of those things where a movie defines a whole
generation's slang for people looking back. It's
so true. The 90s really set the stage for the
world we live in now. Esther, go ahead and close
out this segment. What's on the top 10 list for
the 1990s? Alright, this list bridges the analog
and digital world. The top 10 for the 1990s.
10. The Sony PlayStation. 9. Pulp Fiction. 8.
Spice Girls. 7. Gurge Fashion. 6. The Movie Jurassic
Park. 5. Beanie Babies. 4. TV Show Friends. 3.
The Face As If. 2. Nirvana's album Nevermind.
And the number one thing that changed the world
forever, the internet and the sound of dialogue.
The dial -up sound, oh, the perfect cliffhanger.
We've journeyed from bell -bottoms and groovy
to grunge and the birth of the web. When we come
back, we will dive headfirst into the digital
world with the 2000s and beyond right after this
short PSA. Hey everyone, we're taking a quick
break from our trip through the decades to discuss
the world that the internet has created. We just
spent time in the 70s, 80s, and 90s when your
favorite song, movie, or TV show came on from
just a handful of trusted sources. But today,
we live in a world with millions of channels.
We get our news, our entertainment, and our culture
from countless feeds, creators, and accounts,
all competing for our attention. It's an amazing
thing, but it also means that the responsibility
is on us to be critical thinkers. Misinformation
spreads fast, and it's designed to get a strong
emotional reaction. So here's a simple challenge.
Before you share that shocking headline or that
viral clip, just take five seconds and ask yourself
these three questions. Who made this? What's
the real story? And how does this make me feel?
By taking that pause, you're not just being a
smart consumer of media, you're helping build
a better, more thoughtful culture online. And
that's a trend worth starting. Welcome back.
Before the break, we ended the 90s with the sound
of a dial -up modem, a sound that was the quiet
beginning of a revolution. In the 2000s, that
revolution exploded, and for me, it changed my
daily life as it was part of my early career.
This was the decade the internet went from a
niche hobby to the center of the universe. There
was a huge shift in music as well. People went
from having shelves of CDs to suddenly hearing
about this thing called Napster. The 2000s was
a digital wild west for the music industry. Peer
-to -peer file sharing like Napster completely
upended the business model of the music. And
then Apple's iPod and iTunes came along and created
a new one. It was the death of the physical album
and the birth of the 99 -cent single. It changed
how we valued music forever. And the fashion
was your choice. The Y2K aesthetic was a mix
of futuristic and casual. We're talking about
the rise of low -rise jeans, velour tracksuits,
trucker hats, and pop -punk skater look with
chunky sneakers and bracelets. It was a very
distinct and until recently often mocked style.
My parents' photos from that time are wild. It's
funny because that exact style is what's making
a huge comeback on TikTok right now. What was
once considered cringe is now cool again. It
always comes back around, and on TV everything
changed too. I remember watching the first seasons
of American Idol and Survivor. We suddenly had
this explosion of reality television. Reality
TV took over because it was cheap to produce
and incredibly popular. But at the same time,
cable channels like HBO were starting the golden
age of prestige TV with shows like The Sopranos
and The Wire, proving that television could be
as cinematic and complex as film. It's true,
and the slang was a mix of hip -hop culture going
mainstream and celebrity catchphrases. I remember
hearing bling and, of course, Paris Hilton making
That's Hot a global phenomenon. Okay, to put
a bow on this chaotic and transformative decade,
Vijay, go ahead and give us the top 10 list.
You got it. The top 10 cultural hallmarks of
the 2000s are 10. Low -rise jeans and trucker
hats. 9. The TV show The Office. 8. the Harry
Potter phenomenon. Seven, reality TV, such as
American Idol and Survivor. Six, MySpace. Five,
the Motorola Razr. Four, the phrase, that's hot.
Three, the Lord of the Rings film trilogy. Two,
the rise of Eminem. And at number one, the device
that put 1 ,000 songs in your pocket, the Apple
iPod. From that digital wild west, we move into
the 2010s, the decade where the internet, for
me, stopped being something on my desk and moved
into my pocket. This was the decade of the smartphone.
The smartphone changed everything. It meant the
internet was always with you, and that paved
the way for social media to dominate our lives.
MySpace was replaced by Facebook, Twitter, and
especially Instagram. Streaming services like
Netflix and Spotify killed the video store and
the MP3 download. And the algorithm started curating
our likes and dislikes for us. And that directly
shaped the music. The idea of a genre started
to fade, replaced by algorithm -driven playlists
and moods. But it was also a decade of massive
pop superstars like Taylor Swift, Drake, and
Beyonce, who learned how to master the new digital
landscape. to connect directly with their fans.
The 2010s also gave us the influencer. The idea
that a regular person could build a massive audience
on Instagram or YouTube and become a new kind
of celebrity was born in this decade. It completely
changed the meaning of fame, and slang became
pure internet speak and shorthand for longer
phrases. Things like YOLO and FOMO meant something
when we saw it in a text message. It felt like
a new language was being born online. this decade
really set the stage for the world we live in
right now josiah what does the definitive top
10 list for the 2010s look like it's a list dominated
by technology and new things the top 10 of the
2010s 10 athleisure fashion 9 the selfie 8 the
tv show game of thrones 7 the concept of binge
watching 6 the marvel cinematic universe 5 the
phrase yolo you only live once 4 Instagram. Three,
Netflix streaming. Two, the dominance of Taylor
Swift. And at number one, the device that runs
our entire world, the smartphone. And that brings
us to today, the 2020s. We've gone from the radio
to the Walkman to the smartphone. Vanaj, from
your perspective, what's the single biggest force
driving pop culture right now? It's not even
a question. It's TikTok and other social media
platforms. Trends in music, fashion, and slang
are not born on those platforms. Trends born
on these platforms can dominate global culture
for three weeks and then be completely gone.
The trend cycle is faster than it has ever been,
and it feels like everything is a remix of a
remix. Y2K fashion is back, 80s synth sounds
are in pop music, and it's all happening at once.
It's like culture is being recycled. And we're
in the middle of another technological earthquake
with AI. AI is already creating art. writing
songs and generating videos. That's going to
fundamentally challenge our ideas of creativity
and celebrity in the next few years. So that
brings us to our final question. The whole point
of this journey, we've seen how culture evolves
and how it repeats itself. Looking forward, what
is your prediction for the future of pop culture?
I predict we'll see a push and pull. The trend
cycle will get even faster online, but I think
we'll see a growing counterculture movement focused
on offline experiences, local concerts and craft
markets. things that feel real and tangible as
a reaction against the digital world. I think
AI is going to become a seamless tool for creators.
We'll see blockbuster movies with AI -generated
effects that are indistinguishable from reality
and pop stars who collaborate with AI on their
music. It will be controversial, but it'll just
become a part of the toolkit. And we all see
a lot of people embracing the old ways in some
areas, like buying brick phones again or embracing
record players and building a large library of
vinyl stuff. I predict that the very idea of
a mainstream pop culture will disappear completely.
The algorithm means we all live in our own personalized
culture bubbles. There won't be one big thing.
There will be millions of tiny niche cultures
and everyone's idea of what's popular will be
totally different. Yeah, I think that's so true.
This takes me back to the idea of everything
becoming hyper -personalized to that extent.
Like you said, we each in some way are part of
a micro -pop culture that has been tailored just
for us and maybe a few of our family members
and friends. Those are some fascinating predictions,
so thank you. And you know, listening to you
all, it strikes me that while the technology,
the fashion, and the slang change dramatically,
the core human need for stories, for music, and
for connection hasn't changed at all. We've just
found new, faster ways to share it. And the slang
is moving faster than ever. It feels like a new
word pops up every week. What are some popular
slang words being used right now? You will probably
hear some of these words floating around the
hallways here at school. Slay, drip, no cap,
sus, mid, riz, spill the tea, oh my days. Wow.
Okay. What a list. Yes, and I have heard some
of those. I think I'm in my trying to keep up
with slang error since I hang out with people
your age most of the week. So thank you for enlightening
me with those words. Okay, moving on. And since
we are only halfway through the 2020 so far,
we have only put together a top five list instead
of a top 10 list. So here's the top five for
the 2020s so far. That's right. It's a snapshot
of a decade in motion. The top five cultural
forces of the 2020 so far are five, the Y2K fashion
revival, four, the Barbenheimer cinematic event,
three, the global dominance of K -pop, Two, the
AI platforms like ChatGPT and others. And at
number one, the engine of modern culture, TikTok
and Instagram. All right. Thank you for that
short list for the 2020s. Just because pop culture
is changing at light speed, our fundamental need
to find our tribe, find our community and share
our story or share something we love and appreciate
with them. That's the timeless part. So thank
you for letting us take you through the pop culture
of the decades. And that brings us to the end
of our pop culture road trip. We've gone from
the 1970s to today, from making mixtapes to streaming
on TikTok. And it's clear that while the technology
and the trends are always changing, our need
to share the things we love is timeless. A huge
thank you to all our co -hosts and student guests
for this episode. Be sure to subscribe to Students
Incorporated wherever you get your podcasts so
you don't miss our next episode. Until then,
thanks for listening. And as always, this podcast
would not be possible without the hard work and
support of our international student production
team. All music and sound effects are courtesy
of Pixabay .com, a vibrant community of creatives
sharing copyright -free images, videos, and music.
And we are signing off until next time. We are
Students Incorporated, because your voice matters.