Things that are no longer cool

Keep telling yourselves guys: "A Harley is not cool."

Repeat.

Smoking cigarettes

I think my generation was the very last where it was still kind of cool to be a teenager who smoked and even that's pushing it.
 

I think the group of high school kids I walk past each morning have a slightly differing opinion.  Heck, even my middle school kids brag about their smoking, drinking and poker playing (though I'm sure it's mainly lies).

What I am meaning to say by this, is that many of us on here are a long way from being teenagers / in our early 20s and therefore, uncool.

A lot of high schoolers in the states have swapped over to juuling/vaping. That said juuling/vaping is also seen as douchey and uncool, thus smoking cigarettes is cool again.

Even Boomers generally think Harley's are pathetic little poser pushers.

Why were Harley's considered cool in the first place? I'll take a crack at it though it still perplexes me.

- Symbol of the rebel (from 60yrs ago)
- History (in other words, a way for old men to relive the glory days)
- Associated with motorcycle gangs (who were "apparently" intimidating "badasses")

I read Sonny Barger's autobiography a number of years back.  He's one of the early Hell's Angels and founded the California chapter.  Anyways, he's one of the most well known, high profile Hell's Angels.  In the book he was talking about how Harleys became THE bike for the gang and he basically said it was happenstance more than the bike being kick ass.  He said if he were to do it all over he'd pick a Japanese bike because they're better. 

That being said, I worked for about two months doing private English classes six days a week at the only official Harley dealership in Bangkok at the time.  My ex worked there and they had loads of Thai celebrities and various hi-so people coming in.  They would buy so much overpriced merchandise, including full on leather gear for their dogs.  These are people that showed up in Ferraris and what not.  These weren't the Thais running longtail boat tours down by the river.  So, lots of poseurs.  However, I have to say some of those classic bikes with red and white trim were gorgeous.  And the sound of a group of them starting up was always impressive. 

I think the group of high school kids I walk past each morning have a slightly differing opinion.  Heck, even my middle school kids brag about their smoking, drinking and poker playing (though I'm sure it's mainly lies).

What I am meaning to say by this, is that many of us on here are a long way from being teenagers / in our early 20s and therefore, uncool.

Well, things get a bit tricky when you're comparing what's cool across cultures. I think Korean "cool" is divided into two categories: Trends that originally developed in Korea (many of which I think are cool) and trends from the West that Korea has copied (which, for the most part, are laughably uncool).

With the 2nd category, Korea traditionally catches on a bit late.

The "badass" HS/MS kid having a ciggie on his way to school alla Judd Nelson in 'The Breakfast Club' is pretty 80s/90s trope. At least to me, it doesn't seem like it's cool in the West anymore. I know for a fact that plenty of MS/HS boys are smoking and trying to act tough but does anyone other than them consider themselves cool?

However, I have to say some of those classic bikes with red and white trim were gorgeous.  And the sound of a group of them starting up was always impressive. 

True, the same logic could be applied to many things.

I've been a Steve Vai (virtuoso guitarist) fan for years. When I got into electric, I always dreamed about owning Steve Vai's signature Ibanez Jem, it's a staggeringly beautiful guitar, with features I'd appreciate (including very slim necks which I prefer) and the versatility to make it good enough to be the only guitar you'll need. As I got old enough that I could realistically afford one, I realised that buying another dudes signature guitar would be a constant reminder that you're a fanboy.... it's just dorky. Luckily, there are tons of better alternatives to choose from.

Same with watches. The Omega Seamaster is a beautiful watch, but do you really want to be "that guy" telling everyone you're wearing James Bonds' watch?

I suppose I can see your viewpoint that some Harley's can be considered Art; they're not particularly useful for anything other than being a piece of Art. Just don't buy it because some other famous dude owned it, that's lame.

...
Same with watches. The Omega Seamaster is a beautiful watch, but do you really want to be "that guy" telling everyone you're wearing James Bonds' watch?
...

That is the watch my 12 year old wants.

It is my job as a parent to dissuade him from this.

He has much to learn!

Living in big cities is no longer cool. Covid has made people re-examine their relationships with high density cities. On top of this, protests, crime, and traffic are getting people to say goodbye to cities like New York which were the pinnacle of trendy in the past.

There might be a slight de-urbanization trend occurring now but if so it's likely to be temporary. Cities have proven to be very resilient in their attractiveness to the young, educated, creative and - apropos of the thread title - cool. There was a buzz about suburbs becoming cool in the aftermath of the 2008 housing market collapse. I'm sure that some suburbs are cooler than they were before, but the predicted phenomenon didn't really materialize. After the early 2000s dotcom bust, everyone thought that the Bay Area would empty out and house prices would return to "normal". That obviously didn't happen. In the late 70s and early 80s, New York really was badly governed, dangerous and beset by crumbling infrastructure. It was also one of the most fertile periods in the city's artistic history, and NYC was a magnet for creative people.

These "decline of the city" predictions are cyclical and are rarely supported by any evidence. COVID could be a confounding factor, though. Crime isn't increasing by any significant measure in large cities, and lots of lower-density areas have crime rates to match. California's Central Valley is statistically more dangerous than the Bay Area, for example. And protests are something actually affect a small proportion of the population, for an even smaller proportion of their time spent in the city. The fear of protests and crime is much stronger among suburbanites and rural populations than it is for your average city dweller.

The USA is kind of unique, when compared to most of the word, for large cities. Most countries have one, maybe two, large cities (usually significantly larger then other in their country). And these cities have always been larger for the last few thousand years.

I do see a lot of cities in the US shrinking in the future, like what happened to Detroit. But cities get insanely large because of factors like location, cultural draw, and availability of jobs. Cities like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, will be large cities for a very, very, very long time.