Text by Josh Alston; photographs by Ramin Rahimian for Newsweek
They came costumed: neon colors, translucent fabrics and acid-wash denim, with teased hair and single earrings. Not to an '80s night at a trendy nightclub, or a Halloween party, but to the hottest concert in Orem, Utah: MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice. The duo of pop rappers performed together at Orem's McKay Events Center for their first show together in 18 years. For one night only they reunited, and scores of their fans reunited with long-dead fashion trends. The majority of the crowd falls into the late-teen, early-20s range. They aren't the ones who bought Hammer's and Ice's records the first time around. They got their nostalgia secondhand, from VH1's ceaseless "I Love the '80s" and "Awesomely Bad" specials, from iTunes recommendations and from "Family Guy," which derives a solid half of its humor from arcane pop-culture references. To these kids, the Hammer era is fun and frivolous, something to celebrate, not to deride.
Comments