Intro to The Retro Years

Originally posted April 2025

So the project continues but is now split between the present day and filling the 25 year void from 2023 back to the millennium. This means I will still only ever be an expert on pop music up to 1999 and then 2024 onwards. If I dedicated the same listening time to every year as I did to 2024, I'd be in my late 60s before the project is complete. I intend to wrap it up in 3 years - dedicating just 7 weeks per year back to 2010, then just 5 weeks for the rest (as I’m much more familiar with those years). So...... its all very flawed. But its the best I came up with out of a number of bad options. I also decided to work backwards. I think what interests me most is the idea (that I half-agreed with in my 2024 conclusions) that pop music has declined in quality over the years. So, as I am working backwards, each year should get a bit better, right? Let’s see.......