Interview with Populuxe author Thomas Hine

Here's an interview with Thomas Hine about one of my favorite books, Populuxe, and a forthcoming book about the 1970s he wrote called The Great Funk.

In the final paragraphs of Populuxe I talked about how the world had changed and about how I, for one, could not imagine going back to the world I had described in the book. The time when the assumptions of the Populuxe years were truly undone, once and for all, was the decade of the 1970s. And I realized that even though this was a period that was antithetical to the fifties in so many ways–a time of scarcity rather than abundance, fragmentation rather than national unity, personal exploration rather than social progress, corruption rather than trust, defeat rather than victory–it visually interesting and even positive in all sorts of unexpected ways.

I had the idea of a sequel to Populuxe in mind quite soon afterward, but I went on to write five other books instead. Now, after two decades of gestation, I have gone and done it. The Great Funk: Falling Apart and Coming Together (on a Shag Rug) in the Seventies is a real companion to Populuxe, and it has a real family resemblance, in large part because it was designed by Iris Weinstein, who also designed the earlier book. But it reflects its time in that it is less about technology and more about consciousness. It deals a lot with clothes and the body, and thus is PG or even R rated, rather than G.

The title is a play, of course, on the Great Depression, which is one meaning of funk. But funk is also about texture, and rhythm, and a sensuality, which is also an important part of the picture. And it contains some incredible pictures of interiors. I think that those who like Populuxe will be intrigued.