Ever notice that the older you get, the more fond of things in the past you are?
Apple Computer was soooo much better when Steve Jobs was around, and much cheaper, too. Cars were so much more reliable back in the day, and you could work on them yourself. Electronic devices lasted longer. The music was better. Companies weren’t so greedy. Politicians weren’t so corrupt. The list goes on.
But if we stop and think about things, being completely honest with ourselves, we may realize that the grass wasn’t actually greener, and in some cases the grass was dead.
Cars weren’t more reliable, in fact, they were much less so. It’s just that we could work on them ourselves instead of paying the dealership to fix them. But is that “better?” Do we really want to spend three weekends in a row in a hot garage fixing our cars? And do we really want to keep the same car for 15 years? Most people, I suspect, would say no to both of those questions. Cars didn’t have power steering, anti-lock brakes, FM stereos (let alone a Bluetooth connection to (then non-existent) cell phones, or air-conditioning.
Electronic devices didn’t really last longer, either. They cost twice as much “back in the day.” The only reason they seemed to last longer is that we weren’t so easily distracted by fancy new blinking lights as often.
Was music really better? Music is all about taste, trends, and opinions. Was Van Halen better with David Lee Roth, Sammy Hagar, or Gary Cherone? We could argue about it all day, but the fact is that if you had never heard Van Halen lead by Sammy Hagar (or Roth), then Van Halen with Gary Cherone was actually a really good band… it just wasn’t Sammy Hagar (or Roth). Music from my favorite era (the 80s) was definitely more diverse than it is today, but I’m not sure it was better. It was just what we had at the time, we liked it, and don’t have the time or desire to expand our minds enough to make room for today’s music.
Companies have always been greedy, we just weren’t as savvy about seeing it. And politicians have most decidedly always been corrupt, we just didn’t have mass access to everything they said and did 24/7/365 to see it so clearly.
As for Apple Computer, things were definitely NOT better when Steve Jobs was around. I have vivid memories in the late 80s and 90s of crashing computers, incompatible and buggy software apps, and obscenely expensive pricing. And Steve Jobs did release some real turds upon his return to Apple. But Jobs was a master visionary and salesman. He had a knack for releasing products whose concept was so new and creative, and also knew just how to sell it to us in a way that convinced us it was the greatest thing since sliced bread and we had to have it. So it appeared that things were much better than they actually were.
The reality is that all my Apple products purchased since Tim Cook took over after Steve Jobs’ death in 2011 are either the same price or less as they were back then (adjusting for inflation), work infinitely better, and deliver on the sales pitch now that technology is largely “been there, done that.” Apple’s products are not perfect, by any stretch. But if you think Apple’s products were better in 1999, you have a very distorted view of the past.
I propose that things were not simpler or better “back in the day,” we just had much lower expectations.
Photo credits: Steve Jobs: Blake Patterson, AMC Gremlin: Barnstarbob, Gary Cherone: GMG Creative, Sammy Hagar: Weatherman90, David Lee Roth: Toglenn
