Are there universal rules governing cultural recycling? Is there a fixed amount of time that needs to pass before one can appropriate a style? Or is it possible, like a perverted Dr Frankenstein, to revive something that is still alive? If so, what will happen when the appropriation of the past creeps closer and closer to the present? What happens when last week’s trends become this week’s trends, yesterday’s music becomes today’s music? What happens if our cultural recycling begins to overtake us and starts reviving events that have not even taken place yet? Will this finally be innovation, or will we simply be stealing from the future?
