"Everything Old is New again!", did Cole Porter wright that?
Nostalgia is a word fraught with meaning. For those who see all things as progressing in a linear fashion from point a to the dirt nap then it takes on a grim connotation.
Do people really hold their world view in such a prescriptive manner? I wonder.
Gil-Scott Heron makes great music and writes beautifull songs; what has that to do with nostalgia? And Kerouac can suck you in emotionally like all true writing should so that serves a modern purpose.
I never put on rose glasses; but those things that were good didn't get bad over time. They bridge the things we do with experience; not always remmembered correctly but then nothing has the exact reality for each of us and niether does the passing of time.
I hope this doesn't sound confrontational because it isn't but as an older guy these things have a immediacy that demands attention.
I think also the current lack of valuable musical and written art available forces us to examine the best of all that we have at hand.
And what is shared events but the evolving of culture.I believe that music had a more connected effect back in the day and I also think it will as everything does resume that function.
Why If I may ask are you a member of the underclass?