Mixtape Musings: How the Pop Culture of the 80s and Music Scene of 90s Shaped Our Lives

From the mixtape musings of PAUL CRENSHAW (Melt with Me: Coming of Age and Other ‘80’s Perils) and TOM MAXWELL (front man for the Squirrel Nut Zippers and author of A Really Strange and Wonderful Time), we take a journey from the pop culture of the 1980s—video games, pro wrestling, and Satanic panic—to the North Carolina-based indie rock boom of the 1990s. Each author explores how the shifting cultural phenomena of the times—from Bugs Bunny cartoons and Reagan-era politics to the witty, post-grunge appeal of bands like Ben Folds Five and Squirrel Nut Zippers—shaped their lives, and ours.