For the last thirty years, American popular culture has had a fondness for nostalgia. As with all things created primarily by marketers, these instances of cultural re-discovery have been very predictable. In the 70's, we glamorized the 50's; in the 80's we idealized the 60's; and in the 90's we've returned to the 70's and all it's insane trappings. This twenty year cycle is perfectly timed to give older Americans an easy grasp on their youth. But with our cultural dog so constantly chasing it's tail, it's easy to get dizzy. Has anyone stopped to notice, for example, that part of the 90's voyage back to the 70's includes re-runs of "Happy Days" - thus, nostalgia for nostalgia?

It's not clear how long this has been going on. Certainly, every generation recalls its "good old days." But was popular culture in the 50's idealizing the 30's? Well, Prohibition and Depression may not be worth nostalgia. June Cleaver never said to her hubby, "Gosh, didn't we have fun after Uncle Tommy lost his shirt, jumped out the window, and left Dad all the gin in the tub?" But here at the end of the 90's, one piece of nostalgia older than Watergate jokes has surprisingly broken through all the disco retreads shaking their saggy groove things. Under those same mirror balls, Swing has returned.

It started slowly, in the early 90's, with bands like Cherry Poppin' Daddies and Royal Crown Revue taking the stage in small clubs. Then, in the last couple of years, Swing broke out, with the move "Swingers" (1997) delving into Swing's fringe culture and introducing Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Last year, The Gap made pants fun again with an ad featuring Louis Prima's "Jump, Jive, An' Wail," performed by Brian Setzer (who, in the late 70's brought back 50's rock-a-billy as the frontman for the Stray Cats) and his Orchestra. Many more people saw the ad than the movie, and Swing was back in the popular culture, being played even on so-called "modern rock" radio stations.

Most of the Swing bands who brought the resurgence about play original material, and one of the foremost is Cherry Poppin' Daddies, who performed on AMC in "AMC Swings!" Born in the early 60's, Daddies leader Steve Perry grew up listening to Duke Ellington, Jimmy Luntsford, and Fletcher Henderson, loving Swing because "it was dance music that wasn't like disco. It had a rockin' edge to it." That edge came from the fact that "Swing was early rhythm and blues, which is essentially what rock came out of. So it was familiar and yet something that no one else was doing."

Though they love their Zoot Suits, Cherry Poppin' Daddies is not meant to be a nostalgia show for the Geritol set. They bring a very modern sensibility to their music, play covers only rarely, and attract a young audience. "It started out with young people liking us, and they'd bring the record home and their parents would say, 'Well, that's not too bad, actually.'" Swing clubs have been opening like crazy and after years of free-style dancing, people are learning the syncopated, sometimes complicated steps of Swing dances.

The rediscovery of swing may be one of the first musical trends of the last half century that bridges the gap between generations. "It recalls to a lot of people a safe, glamorous, romantic time," says Perry. In the early part of the century, kids and adults had generally the same sources of music. Once there were recordings and radio, families would listen together. Then in the 50's, when rock came, the generations splintered and music came to represent lifestyles and, for many younger people, rebellion. Now, with swing on the rise and bands like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra playing swing on the radio, in movies, in advertisements, and in clubs, the generations once again have music that they can listen to together. Says Perry, "The 40's were a time before advertisers had learned about demographics. They would try to put out something that was universal. That's why it's so squeaky clean. Then they realized that some people like being different than other people and they started going into the niches. Swing recalls a time when parents and kids listened to the radio together."

The Cherry Poppin' Daddies aren't necessarily playing your parents' Swing. Says Perry, "Swing today is a little more on the jump blues side of things, whereas fifty years ago they had big bands. It's impossible to put together a big band today - it'd just be too expensive." Another difference is, "We're not as good." He explains, "Back then, every kid instead of playing electric guitar played saxophone."

But beyond the music, the lyrics are far more modern. In earlier times, "no one would talk about child abuse in a swing song. Back in the 40's it was more 'moon, June' stuff, lyrics that wouldn't be offensive or deal with any subject matter that was controversial." In older songs, "there were great lyrics, but not a sense of slice-of-life realism." So "Minnie the Moocher," were it written today, might be titled, "Minnie the Crack Whore." But there were songs in the old days that dealt with more weighty subjects, albeit couched in heavy innuendo. Perry remembers the Louis Armstrong song, "Struttin' With Barbeque," about a white woman with a black man. "You couldn't be up front about it back then, you had to put it in this cartoony innuendo. And really, those songs were few and far between in the swing era."

The Swing resurgence is fully underway. But with the way those pesky marketers use those ever-changing demographics, there's no way to predict how long swing's new popularity will last. Perry likens it to selling detergent. "It's like Tide. You need to have new, improved Tide. Next year you need new brighteners. I think swing is just like anything else - it can only be popular for a little while because then they need to sell you something else." But if Swing turns out to be more than just a minor blip on the 90's radar, you can look for it again in twenty years.