The trajectory of the 'golden age' is that it is only always proclaimed with hindsight. And so it was in the 1970s that the '50s were considered the golden age, with reference to movies, in particular. Likewise in the '90s, we looked back at the '70s as the golden age, instead. The sudden thrust toward nostalgia-which is inevitably an exaggeration-the '90s are now often lovingly, longingly looked at as what a fine decade that was-for both movies and music-or pop-culture in general.

The reason for this is rather obvious, if you consider the fact that the 'golden age' essentially refers to the best of the past funneling into the present, and so a playlist of the greatest hits automatically ignores the junk that also got created alongside, creating an illusion/impression that the material was so much better than the daily/weekly gunk getting generated at present.