The 1999 film "Go" is not great cinema, due to its obvious ersatz Tarantino quality (i.e. monologues on pop culture, interweaving stories, dry humor about death/injury) BUT it's an interesting historical relic that reveals a few major turning points in culture...

First it's an ultimately *uncool* movie that captures the awkward, adrift aesthetics of post-grunge America — e.g. the Fatboy Slim big beat "electronica" soundtrack. But since raves never nestled into American pop culture, the characters feel like they're cosplaying "rave"

More interestingly: There are a ton of mediocre 1960s movies (e.g., The Trip, The Wild Angels) that became cult classics because they so embody the specific Sixties vibe. But "Go" only barely represents a unique set of styles compared to today — and it's 25 years old!

Scott Wolf's jacket and Jay Mohr's hair are very, very 1999, but people today still sort of look like the people in the movie. This makes the movie not quite strange enough to be full camp/kitsch retro. The Nineties-ness of aesthetic is subtle.

But in looking not so dated, "Go" reveals the exact moment where culture reached a stability point that has stretched out to today. And since culture was already slowing down in 1999, when the internet was still niche, stasis can't all be technology's fault.

I saw this movie on opening night and even then it felt a bit ersatz/uncool. (And I liked Doug Liman!) "Go"'s opening credits scream 1999 to me, but I don't think this aesthetic was ever truly a major and rooted part of American youth culture

@wdavidmarx Idk man you been to a music festival recently?

@GritGrowthCap I'm aware Edm went extremely mainstream later. The CEO of Goldman Sachs is a DJ

@wdavidmarx With respect, the film is very LA. I was living here in that time and was the same age as the characters and listened to electronic music. It’s very authentic.

@andykhouri Sure and LA of that era was sort of uncool, no?

@wdavidmarx Was there ever a bigger Cosplaying band than the Strokes? Didn’t they just not return the outfits and props from a magazine shoot they were doing? Fakery of the highest order. Nepo posers.

@iambenstephens I am just describing what happened

@wdavidmarx This is maybe the most wrong tweet I’ve ever seen

@wdavidmarx Did you stop paying attention to music at this time?

@wdavidmarx This really how I remember Late 90s NYC. Vibe of guitars out, laptops and turntables in. though lots of people were making great music on guitars as well as laptops

@wdavidmarx You're right, nothing more raw than trust fund kids from New York who met at boarding school in Switzerland.

@wdavidmarx Turntables indeed went on to be an enormous part of the future though

@wdavidmarx Look at the pop charts at the time for why people wanted something more raw. Real turntablism requires skill, dedication.

@wdavidmarx Is this just an @lcdsoundsystem lyric?

@wdavidmarx I don’t know about that. Being there at the time the Strokes also were retrograde, somewhat consciously — East Village rich kids who wanted to rewind the clock to 1975. Most people just didn’t get “big beat” electronica as it was sourcing from the UK / EU and not native NYC.

@wdavidmarx Can't speak for nyc but electronic music was far far from dead in 01.

@wdavidmarx "...the last moment where 'maybe turntables are the future'"?!? Have you listened to today's music?!?!