Does our obsession with retro music stop us from moving forward?

Does music’s referencing its own past stifle the rise of anything truly original, Carl Dixon asks rock writer Simon Reynolds

Born in London in 1963, Simon Reynolds is a high profile music journalist and writer who likes to explore musical genres from a sociological perspective.

His latest book is Retromania: Pop Culture’s Addiction to Its Own Past. His previous works include The Sex Revolts: Gender, Rebellion and Rock’n’roll (1995), Ecstasy: Into the World of Techno and Rave Culture (1999), and Rip It Up and Start Again: Post Punk 1978-1984 (2005).