Archival Revival

(Image Credit: Louis Halley II courtesy of Warner Music)

Ever since I studied abroad in 2000, I’ve been keeping a detailed journal of my experiences and downloads. Ideas, meetings, music, people, things I saw, things I thought were going to happen, things I wanted to remember.

Each year, the knowledge compounds. So does the vision, the skillset, the relationships and the perspective.

Since moving back to New York in May, I’ve been cleaning out the archives. After 25+ years in this business, I’ve accumulated an insane amount of stuff: collectibles, books, artifacts, cards, records, personal notes, and a lot of stickers.

On vacation in Martha’s Vineyard earlier this month, I finally pulled out the stickers and started categorizing them. I’ve always imagined that one day I might create a museum exhibit around the collection. You could tell a pretty great story about the history of music, music tech, and brand activations entirely through stickers.

I started to fantasize about a livestream sale of all my stuff, right out of the storage unit. There are so many treasures in there. But I’m not quite ready to open up that archive yet.

It got me thinking, though. Everywhere I look right now, people are digging back into the archives.

Wu-Tang is selling some of their earlier Wu Wear designs.

50 Cent just re-released the classic Reebok G-Unit G6. But it’s the packaging that came with the shoes that arrived this week that really made the difference.

Even the CBGB Festival taking place under the K Bridge is pulling from the archives. How cool is it that they are rebuilding founder Hilly Kristal’s office, where so much of that history was booked, along with the iconic CBGB bathroom?

There’s also been buzz about the late, great Dolly Parton and whether her estate will release her capsule song “My Place in History.” The song was locked in a wooden chestnut box buried under the DreamMore Resort and Spa, with a planned opening date of January 19, 2046, her 100th birthday.

A book I’m super excited about is Blurring Books’ ILLEGAL: Rave Flyers of the 90s, a book I’ve been eagerly anticipating since first hearing about it at Dale Zine in Miami’s Design District.

These flyers defined an era of culture, and an era where I first learned about life. They also taught me a lot about marketing before I even knew to call it marketing.

The maximalism. The fonts. The chaos. The collision of counterculture and commerce.

They weren’t just promoting events. They were building worlds. Vibe coding, but in the most analog of ways.

And right now, they feel incredibly relevant.

As DJ culture reaches new heights and branding becomes more personalized, maximalist and niche, you can see the fingerprints of that era everywhere. The same visual language that once lived on underground rave flyers now feels at home across the internet.

There’s a lesson in all of this for brands too. Your archive is IP. The designs, packaging, collaborations, campaigns, and ideas that worked before can have a second life if you know when and how to bring them back.

Culture doesn’t disappear. It gets archived, rediscovered, and remixed.

In an increasingly AI world, where anyone can generate almost anything, truly original ideas become even more valuable. Lauryn Hill rapped on her classic album “not a game new under the sun / Everything you did has already been done.” But I don’t believe that means there are no new ideas. I think new ideas are everywhere. Sometimes the best way to find them is by digging through what came before, connecting dots, and seeing something that everyone else missed.

At the same time, the more digital and AI-generated the world becomes, the more people seem to crave the physical. The real thing. Something you can hold onto, collect and keep. AI may actually make IRL experiences and physical objects even more valuable.

Maybe that’s the real value of keeping an archive.

Sometimes you have to look backward to realize just how much of the future was already there.

Musically yours, 

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