History Main / DiscoDan

[[folder:Real Life]]
* JoeQuesada is a RealLife example of being stuck in the past, in the sense that he couldn't get past the changes in {{Marvel comics}} after the early 1980s. What he did ''does not'' need to be mentioned here. Those are [[ExecutiveMeddling other]] [[RunningTheAsylum tropes]] [[WallBanger entirely]].
* Contemporary indie-pop musician Richard Swift seems to be a RealLife example. At the start of his solo career, in the mid-2000's, he exclusively released his music on [[WhatAreRecords vinyl]]. (He eventually started re-releasing his back catalog on CD, after he signed with a record label. Score one point for ExecutiveMeddling.) Also, based on some interviews he's given, it seems that he suffered a nervous breakdown when he was working in Nashville, because after spending his childhood on a farm without electricity, he had difficulty adjusting to city life.
* A sizable (or at least very vocal) portion of the ''StarTrek'' fandom acts this way about anything that came after the original series/the first Trek movie/The Next Generation/fill-in-the-blank. It got so bad with the announcement of JJAbrams' new take on the franchise that [[FanDumb some people]] were seriously demanding that the movie recreate the sets and ships of the 1960s series with minimal or no changes.
* Also just about anyone who's at least in their late 20's wears a NostalgiaFilter of somekind. Right?
** Wrong. That's just a generalization.
* [[NoTrueScotsman All real metalheads]].
** Some are, but not all. The ones who are generally just hate any music from before or after a certain era. It's less about being out of touch, and more about bashing what they don't like.
*** Eric Kripke, creator of {{Supernatural}} could fit that "metalheads who don't like any later music" stereotype. He has stated that he doesn't really listen to anything made after 1980-ish, and that the other guys on set jokingly refer to him as "Old Man Kripke" because of this. This post is not meant as a knock against Kripke though: even though he doesn't listen to other music, his love for classic rock has become an integral part of {{Supernatural}}'s ability to kick ass, as its been worked into the show very well.
* The NewYorkCity-area radio station 106.7 Lite FM seems to be populated entirely by [=DJs=] who fit the {{Disco Dan}} trope, despite claiming to offer a "mix of the the best of yesterday AND today." The station persisted in playing disco and disco-ish songs to an annoying extent, despite its claims that it supposedly gave new songs equal time. When a rival radio station in NYC labeled itself Fresh 102.7 and began offering a much more equal mix of old and new songs instead of merely ''claiming'' to do so, Lite FM lost a huge amount of its listeners as a result.
[[/folder]]

* A villainous example would be Meltdown of ''TransformersAnimated''.

* A sizable (or at least very vocal) portion of the ''StarTrek'' fandom acts this way about anything that came after the original series/the first Trek movie/The Next Generation/fill-in-the-blank. It got so bad with the announcement of JJAbrams' new take on the franchise that some people were seriously demanding that the movie recreate the sets and ships of the 1960s series with minimal or no changes.

** C. Montgomery Burns, whose values and [[AntiquatedLinguistics vocabulary]] are still stuck on October 27, 1929 (just before Black Tuesday and the start of TheGreatDepression). His antiquated demeanor and ideas are a recurring source of humor in the series, as is his on-again off-again ignorance of history after the 1930s (he still thinks there's a Negro League in baseball...).

* Fly Guy, a pimp who got out of prison in the 1980s (after being a big shot in the 1970s) in ''[[ImGonnaGitYouSucka I'm Gonna Git You, Sucka]]'', decides to hit his old stomping grounds in [[PimpDuds full pimp regalia]]: a white tiger-striped suit, a giant hat with a pink feather, six inch platform shoes with goldfish inside, and a jeweled cane. He gets laughed off the street in a second.

* Judge Harry Stone on ''NightCourt'' wears a fedora, is a huge fan of crooner Mel Torme, and loves movies and fashions from the 1940s.

* Miror B in ''[=~Pokémon~=] Colosseum'' and ''XD: Gale of Darkness'' is a minor boss in the first game (and a minor crook in the second) who has an Afro ''bigger than his head'' and has his own unique battle music - salsa in ''Colosseum'', real disco in ''XD.''

** Fans of classic Nickelodeon. I dare you to say the word Nickelodeon in front of a group of college kids. Watch the conversation instantly transform into a long rant about how awesome Nickelodeon was when they were kids and how it sucked the second Doug was cancelled. They still go apeshit for their favorite shows, and this is made really easy with YouTube around, at least before Viacom's lawsuit anyway.

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<<|CharacterizationTropes|>>

* All real metalheads.

* In ''TheProudFamily'', Oscar's brother was stuck in the Disco era, complete with saying "ow!" after every sentence.

* The Mad Mod in TeenTitans was, in the original comics, a contemporary 1960's character. ComicBookTime led to the version in the cartoon and [[RecursiveAdaptation cartoon-based comic]], where he became a Disco Dan type instead, still obsessed with 1960's pop culture even though the 1960's were long gone.

* Uncle Rico, from the movie ''{{Napoleon Dynamite}}'', is a washed up ex-football player who still films himself throwing his football around and forces people to watch the videos. When Kip buys a 'time machine', Uncle Rico sets the year to 1982, his prime year of football playing in high school.
** Then again, the ''whole movie'' seems to be full of throwbacks. Minus the Jamiroquai and Backstreet Boys songs and the presence of the internet, the entire town seems to be stuck in the Eighties.
* In ''TheWrestler'', the protagonist seem to be stuck in TheEighties, the time of his GloryDays. Not as extreme as other manifestations of this trope, but still depressing enough.

* Anne Rice's vampires are so afflicted by this trope, holding onto the eras in which they were alive, that many commit suicide in a world they no longer recognize. Armand asks for Lestat's and later Louis' help in connecting to the present, so that he doesn't die of culture shock in this way.

* A 1997 episode of ''SaturdayNightLive'' took a look at the "Superfans" after Mike Ditka became head coach in New Orleans. Chris Farley's character Todd O'Conner, having had a nervous breakdown and now believing it was still 1985, fit this trope to a T: he mentioned he had to get home "to see Jimmy Stewart on Carson."
* Similarly, an episode of ''[[{{ptitleolsdue4jfzga}} 30 Rock]]'' featured Andy Richter as Liz's brother who, thanks to a "really bad skiing accident", thought it was still 1985 and that he was still a teenager despite him being a 40-year-old man. At the end of the episode, he found out the truth and held up a cocktail, complaining "I could've been drinking these for ''years''!"

* Episode three of BeingHuman gave us Gilbert, dead since 1985 and less than willing to move on [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxgiHvZd3Lg in more ways than one]].
* In the pilot episode ''{{Buffy}}'' recognizes a vampire by his disco-era clothing. "Only someone who's been under the ground for decades would think ''thats'' the look".

* BowlingForSoup's song ''1985'' is about a girl who refuses to accept the fact that 1985 is long past.

* {{WWE}} tag team Deuce 'n Domino were a pair of '50s greaser throwbacks complete with pompadours, leather jackets, a valet who dresses in a poodle skirt (albeit ''much'' shorter than actual ones of the period) and rollerskates, an entrance that involves them driving out in a classic convertible, and a theme song that wouldn't be out of place on the ''{{Grease}}'' soundtrack. This got a brief subversion from play-by-play commentator Michael Cole, where he mentioned that they admitted in private with him that they realize it's not the '50s, but they like the look.

* Long before Deuce 'n Domino, ''{{WCW}}'' had The Disco Inferno, whose gimmick was ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. In his later years, in an attempt to be more current, he changed his name to Disqo. That didn't work very well.
** Not nearly as entertaining as Disco Inferno, [[IncompetenceInc WCW]] attempted to cash in on the popularity of ''That 70s Show'' by turning [[{{ECW}} Mike Awesome]] into "That 70s Guy". [[TooSoon Awesome committed suicide a few years later]], [[DudeNotFunny though these events are "probably" not related]].

* Eddie from the ''{{SSX}}'' games. He has ''an Afro'', come on. Oh, and he's a white guy, so he really has no excuse apart from "I really never let go of my childhood."
** And yet while his style is stuck in the 70s, his personality is stuck in TotallyRadical 90s mode.
* Charles in ''SpaceColony'' is described as an officer in the Royal Navy during World War I. He keeps a stiff upper lip, lies back and thinks of England, and won't take any sass from those Indian fellows. But he was actually born sometime in the 22nd century and currently lives in outer space. His official company profile says it's a complete mystery how the Hell he got the way he is and stayed that way.

* Disco Kid in ''{{Punch Out}}'', although it can be argued that the game takes place in the 70s, meaning that Disco Kid grew up during the days of disco.

* Konstantin Brayko of ''AlphaProtocol'' has an obsession with the 80's and is basically a Russian Tony Montana. Hell, his boss music is even Turn Up The Radio by Autograph.

* Technology and music-wise, [[HomestarRunner Strong Bad]] seems stuck in the 1980s or 1990s. Considering how he's been slowly upgrading his computers, it's possible that he is changing with the times, but he's fifteen years behind the curve. He marvels at his [[AmericanCustomaryMeasurements 45-pound]] laptop's 5-minute battery life and has no idea what a mouse is. Old Timey Strong Bad is worse; he's still using the telegraph in 1936, over 50 years after it had been rendered completely obsolete by the telephone. Then there's the Videlectrix guys, who release {{Atari 2600}} style games in the present day without realizing that they're ridiculously out of touch until they're tasked with developing the Homestar Runner game and try controlling a {{Commodore 64}} with a {{Wii}}mote.

* ''TheSimpsons'' features Disco Stu, a recurring joke character who is eternally stuck in [[TheSeventies the mid-1970s]] (though he lampshades it in a moment of secret CharacterDevelopment).

*** Even more bizarre, he scoffs at the idea of ''non-WASPS'' in the major leagues. (He's taken aback, for example, by a vintage baseball card showing Joe DiMaggio as a New York Yankee.)
** Similar to Grandpa Simpson, although his age is wildly indiscriminate. He claims corporal punishment by chief executive is acceptable, as he was spanked by President Grover Cleveland "on two non-consecutive occasions". He does have the excuse that his knowledge of American history was "... mostly pieced together from sugar packets", and includes such tidbits as the Kaiser stealing the word "twenty" (forcing people to use the word "dickety" instead), or Superman challenging FDR to a race around the world (FDR beat him by a furlong).

*** Mad Mod uses mind control to impose his vision of an Anglicized US on the Titan's hometown. (At least, England as seen through the lens of YellowSubmarine and [[MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Monty Python]]!)

* Michigan J. Frog in the LooneyTunes cartoon ''One Froggy Evening'' is a Disco Dan from TheGayNineties brought up to TheFifties and later TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture. He dances around in a top hat and sings the popular Tin Pan Alley music of his era.

** No, the date was at least in the 19th century. What's odd is that his famous song ''Hello My Babyy'' came out after he was put in the cornerstone
* Motor Ed from ''KimPossible'' has behaves like an [[TheEighties '80s]] rocker, [[VerbalTic seriously]], often goes into air guitar riffs, [[CatchPhrase seriously]], and even quits his job because he loves his mullet, [[OverlyLongGag seriously]].

* The gang from ''{{Scooby-Doo}}'', of course, didn't upgrade their 70s-era clothing or slang for decades, until the latest batch of TV movies and ''What's New Scooby-Doo?'' series gave them a makeover. This is {{Lampshaded}} in ''Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase'', where the gang meets video-game doubles of themselves who still dress like in the original ''Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!'' series.

* A sizable (or at least very vocal) portion of the ''StarTrek'' fandom acts this way about anything that came after the original series/the first Trek movie/The Next Generation/fill-in-the-blank. It got so bad with the announcement of JJ Abrams new take on the franchise that some people were seriously demanding that the movie recreate the sets and ships of the 1960s series with minimal or no changes.

* The New York City-area radio station 106.7 Lite FM seems to have been populated entirely by DJ's who fit the {{Disco Dan}} trope, despite claiming to offer a "mix of the the best of yesterday AND today." The station persisted in playing disco and disco-ish songs to an annoying extent, despite its claims that it supposedly gave new songs equal time. When a rival radio station in NYC labeled itself Fresh 102.7 and began offering a much more equal mix of old and new songs instead of merely ''claiming'' to do so, 106.7 Lite FM lost a huge amount of its listeners as a result.

* {{WWE}} tag team Deuce 'n Domino were a pair of '50s greaser throwbacks complete with pompadours, leather jackets, a valet who dresses in a poodle skirt and rollerskates, an entrance that involves them driving out in a classic convertible, and a theme song that wouldn't be out of place on the ''{{Grease}}'' soundtrack. This got a brief subversion from play-by-play commentator Michael Cole, where he mentioned that they admitted in private with him that they realize it's not the '50s, but they like the look.

* Jon from ''{{Garfield}}'' is a fan of disco. In the animated special, "Garfield Gets a Life", he's not even aware that it isn't popular anymore.

* ''TheBradyBunch [[TheFilmOfTheSeries Movie]]'' has the Brady family living in the 1990s but still acting and dressing like their idealized 1970s sitcom selves (which itself was merely TheThemeParkVersion of TheSeventies.

* ''TheBradyBunch [[TheFilmOfTheSeries Movie]]'' has the Brady family living in the 1990s but still acting and dressing like their idealized 1970s sitcom selves.

Compare BornInTheWrongCentury, FishOutOfTemporalWater. Contrast FanOfThePast, NewAgeRetroHippie. See also AwesomeAnachronisticApparel , which is wearing what should be absurdly outdated outfits and making it ''work''.