JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Remember when Hillary Clinton said...
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HILLARY CLINTON: I don't know who created Pokemon Go. But I'm trying to figure out how we get them to have Pokemon Go to the polls.
SUMMERS: Or when Daniel and his footwear choices became a meme.
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JOSHUA HOLZ: Damn, Daniel. Back at it again with the white Vans.
SUMMERS: Or when people froze in place for the mannequin challenge to the soundtrack of this hit.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK BEATLES")
SWAE LEE: (Singing) Black Beatles in the city be back immediately to confiscate the moneys.
SUMMERS: That was all in the year 2016, and if you've spent time on social media lately, you've probably seen the trend where people post images and videos from their own lives 10 years ago.
HUNTER HARRIS: I remember, 2016, as Solange releasing "A Seat At The Table"...
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "CRANES IN THE SKY")
SOLANGE KNOWLES: (Singing) Yeah, it's like cranes in the sky.
HARRIS: ...As Taylor Swift showing up with the peroxide hair and the dark lip to the Met Gala.
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ANDRE LEON TALLEY: I love your new hair.
TAYLOR SWIFT: Thank you.
TALLEY: I love it.
SWIFT: It was Vogue's idea.
TALLEY: I know.
HARRIS: Even, like, the Marvel industrial complex was still up and running.
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CHRIS EVANS: (As Steve Rogers) Buck, you're a wanted man. They're not planning on taking you alive.
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SUMMERS: The pop culture writer Hunter Harris wrote about the 2016 trend for her Substack, which is called Hung Up.
HARRIS: Nostalgia is sort of always in fashion. I think it's always cool to look back or at least interesting to look back.
SUMMERS: She says, nostalgia for this particular year is a little confusing, given it was when we mourned the loss of David Bowie and Prince and Carrie Fisher, and when our politics changed deeply with the election of Donald Trump. But she also says 2016 felt like the last gasp of American monoculture, the last time that people were talking about the same movies or music or TV.
HARRIS: To me, it feels like when we're all having the same cultural conversation at the same time. And, you know, in an era of streaming, you know, music, TV, movies, that feels like it happens less and less often.
SUMMERS: She says there are still moments where Americans are all talking about the same things, like last year with the movie "Sinners" or this week on social media.
HARRIS: It is funny to see how many celebrities but also just regular people are thinking about 2016 as, like, the last time that we were all on the same page.
SUMMERS: Well, at least we can all be on the same page about something again.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BLACK BEATLES")
SWAE LEE: (Singing) That girl is a real crowd pleaser. Small world, all her friends know of me. Young bull living like an old geezer. Quick-release the cash, watch it fall slowly. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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