About Nostalgia

Everyone is familiar with the phenomenon and the glorification associated with it: everything used to be better, today doesn't come close to back then, and so on and so forth. And conversely, anyone who does not rely on this idea as the foundation of their own person know of the studies, tests and theories as to why this is actually not true. Not everything used to be better, many things used to be different. We used to be different ourselves. Present-day Mattis would probably want nothing to do with past-day Mattis and vice versa. And don't even get me started on the future. How often have I thought that things will never be the same again - and that's actually true. But does that make it any better? People grow with their experiences. They are what distinguishes old from young (apart from a few colonoscopies). And when the retired or over-40 generation gets upset about young people, it's a mixture of glorification and the "we weren't like that back then" mentality. Yet our parents said the same thing about us, and presumably their parents said the same thing about them. Historically, this generational conflict can be traced back to Plato, who is known to have been upset about the younger Greeks even back then. None of this is anything new and anyone who has 'ever dealt with the subject' is currently spinning bored in their office chair. So why am I starting to contextualize grandma's "That wouldn't have happened in the past" slogans when I actually want to talk about nostalgia?

The thought came to me while I was once again writing a soundtrack review (for The Settlers 1 - anyone interested in reading it is welcome to do so). As is so often the case, I talk about the nostalgia factor, how it influences my ratings and how subjective my assessment ultimately becomes as a result. Of course, I point out everywhere on the homepage that every text merely reflects my opinion and that anyone who reads my reviews is welcome to see them as suggestions and a basis for discussion, not as truths set in stone. But I only realized the double standards I propagate when I was talking to a colleague about podcasts and claimed that everyone was now making a podcast to broadcast their (or her, I don't like gendering) opinion to the world - and that I wasn't doing that because I don't own a podcast.

Cut, back to the Settlers-review, where I do exactly that. "But that's something else, many people have a blog or a homepage, others use social media. Podcasts are now a dime a dozen, so there's no need for more." Do we need more social media channels then? More blogs? More homepages? And do we need this website? And if I don't need it, why am I bothering to spread out my lovingly curated music library like a 1000-album jigsaw puzzle, digging it out piece by piece, looking at it and neatly placing it? For what? And for whom? The Mattis of old, when he was still in his moldy basement playing The Settlers II , was an egotistical, know-it-all narcissist who knew the word empathy but was far too preoccupied with himself. Am I not basically reporting on his experiences, his impressions, his feelings that he associates with these tracks when I issue the "nostalgia warning"? Am I not becoming a mouthpiece for my past self, am I not basically running a podcast for my 12-year-old self instead of giving my opinion? What's the point behind that? And if it's not my current opinion, objectively speaking, are these tracks even worth recalling?

Let's take the Trine-series as a vivid example. The first part of the cute and funny puzzle platformer was a real indie gem when it was released in 2009 and was a lot of fun for me (16 years old at the time), as it was for many other players. The gem was rounded off with music by composer Ari Pulkkinen, whose songs brought the magical, mystical fantasy world to life. I still love listening to the tracks today, and I even learned a few for the piano back then. Two years later Trine 2released: Bigger, more beautiful, better. The game scored well again, was no less fun and the music was as good as ever.

Then came the break in 2015: Part 3 dared to take a new approach with its gameplay and was immediately reckoned with. Critics were disappointed, the Metacritic score slipped from 84% (part 2) to 68%. Put off by the shitstorm, I didn't touch the game, but listened to the soundtrack out of habit. Pulkkinen still presents us with the familiar fantasy fare, only this time I didn't enjoy it as much; none of the tracks cracked the 5-star mark. In the fourth part, the picture was similar to the previous three: again not played, again no top marks for the soundtrack - although the Metacritic score for the spin-off is 80%. This raises the question of whether the music, like part 3, has become objectively worse? You wouldn't think so, after all the composer already showed his prowess in the first two games. And even if every artist, creative or author has downturns from time to time, you don't lose your hard-earned skills overnight - especially as it really is more of the same in this case. Conversely, the music from the latest installment should actually be back on the same level as Trine 1, but for me it isn't.

So had Pulkkinen landed a musical stroke of luck with the first two parts and now lost his drive? A quick look at YouTube reveals that the soundtracks of the older parts have actually received more likes in direct comparison than the sequels. On the other hand, they haven't been out for quite as long to be as well known. So could it be that I, like the people on the net, only find Pulkkinen's music outstanding due to our nostalgia? So what's the point of telling others my thoughts from 15 years past if my listeners will never be able to understand this passion unless they have had similar experiences themselves? And how useful is it to tell these people something they already know? In other words, do they need a prior emotional experience or connection for the music to work? And how useful is it then to categorize it with little asterisks?

Psychologists, musicologists or generally smarter people, like Future Mattis will hopefully become, could probably give a satisfactory answer to this. For my part, for a consistent answer I might just have to throw overboard the conviction that people should only express their opinion if it is relevant. Let everyone make a podcast, and let those who are interested listen to him (or her). In the end, perhaps it's not about the content, but the engagement. You practise speaking, I practise writing. They talk about topics that are important to them and I write about video game soundtracks. Because they are important to me, even if it hardly moves anyone. And that's why I point out the nostalgia that shapes, changes and distorts my impressions. Because the tracks, the themes, the melodies are a part of me, and maybe they really are objectively 'good', even without nostalgia. Perhaps Past Mattis would have enjoyed reading my articles and would be proud of what he will be doing 15 years later. Maybe he wouldn't have found out because he didn't have the internet to communicate back then. Or he wouldn't have given a shit because he was an asshole. Not everything was better in the past - or everyone.