China Crisis

The ongoing appreciation of pop culture, and specifically pop music, and the appreciation's relationship to nostalgic impulse are interesting. Over time, why does a person return to the forms and expressions—of some, not all examples—of an earlier time with renewed appreciation? Is it because some thing essential to the form and expression is valued, or is it because the thing triggers or recalls, however imperfectly, a remembrance that is valued?
My opinion is that the mature and discerning listener continues to find some thing of essential value in the given artifact, which I probably hold to because this opinion props up my claim to being objective about the appreciation.
Whatever, huh.
I continue to really enjoy the music of China Crisis, a little-known English pop band from the 1980s. I acknowledge that their forms and expressions are relatively light-weight, which is precisely at the heart of why I enjoy them. Can I claim that their music is optimistic, hopeful, even charitable—essentially? Or does their music recall a time in my life that memory has made happy? The 1980s were not exactly happy times, but there is a lot of 80s music that has a bouncy, blithe appeal. This band represents one of my favorite styles from the period.