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Do you know what year it is? Is it 2026, or 1996?

There was a discussion on a local Facebook page recently that made me laugh. Somebody had found a dropped camera on the ground and uploaded one of the photos on it to Facebook hoping someone would recognize the two people in the picture. The photo saw two men with digital cameras hung around their necks, one was smoking a cigarette, and both were dressed in baggy clothing: flannels, JNCO jeans, and a band shirt. All of the boomers in the comment section took one look at the photo and assumed it was from the 90s, they wouldn’t even consider that the photo was from modern day because of their clothing and equipment. The photo did look exceptionally vintage, except for the massive iPhone 14 in one of their pockets.

The 80s and 90s are coming back into rotation, and the best part of this trend cycle for us music lovers is that they are bringing the music back with them. 90s shoegaze, grunge, alternative rock – you can probably find more local bands taking up that sound in modern day than you did back then!

So what has changed?

When you listen to a local alternative rock band here in British Columbia, you are not going to hear that polished, overly-produced sound. There are certainly artists out there who embody that sound but the majority of British Columbia bands are rough and unpolished in the best way.

In your local music guitar is becoming much more prominent. Not that it ever truly went away, but those crunchy or distorted sounds are being heard a lot more again and the synth heavy tracks are losing popularity. Just being in Vancouver means your musical influences are naturally dark, distorted, and bass driven. There are a combination of loud and soft dynamics that shape how a song is played and produced, and those stylistic choices are very prevalent in British Columbia.

Trends come full circle every now and again and I am so happy this year’s cycle is swinging the 90s back at us. Has your recent playlist been seeing a lot more music made in the 1990s, and is your newer stuff beginning to sound like the older records?