Neapolitan

I wasn't trying to make it sound severe. I at least tried to point out referencing "old things" or ideas is a part of creative process. I believe it's something you can not get away from, only because knowledge is rooted in the past. The future is only speculation.

Billy Corgan's point of retromania wasn't about using it in the creative process. That point is mine, trying to explain it - just to be clear. I think in the context he meant it, it relates more to being stagnant in the choices of artist most people listen to. That might not have anything to do with everyone in society making one mass decision, it's more to do with personal choice, and what period someone grows up with, or wants to explore, or maybe a small niche group caught up in revivalism.

I am a little bit foggy on the whole Curt Kobain examples Billy Corgan brings up in the video, because at one point in the interview he's admonish hero-worship of someone who passed away and in the next breathe making him the bench-mark that today's 20-something haven't measured up to. A good example of someone doing the latter is the character of John Milner in American Graffiti:

You could paraphrase Billy Corgan in saying practically the same thing "I don't like the last 10 years of Rock and Roll, it's been going down hill ever since Curt Kobain died."

Maybe "retromania" has more of a specific meaning that Simon Reynolds intends it to have. (I watched his video, and I don't entirely agree with some of the things he says, and on specifics. I have to comment later.)

Keen On... Simon Reynolds: Retromania: Pop Culture's Addicti

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