“At the time the 1980s seemed so bright and frantic. But now they have become a sort of  Walden in Generation X's collective psyche. I understand that for me, the 1980s never ended--just as the 1960s never ended for so many in my parents' generation. And as for the subsequent decades, why can't they f*ing get in line? It's not  me who should adjust! I can't adjust, not fully. It's the rest of the world that needs to cohere! To reconcile itself with what I thought life was, and what the future would hold. I will carry this delusion onward.”  - from Listening to 1984, Part 12: December.

“Robert Dean Lurie, one of the truly great writers on American culture, does something amazing. He spent the pandemic year chronicling his (and my) favorite year, 1984 . . . It's a nostalgia trip that overrides my brian's mental circuits and sends me if not to 1984 then to somewhen not now.”  -Daniel J. Flynn, The American Spectator

“Instead of finding Morlocks and Eloi, as H.G. Well's time traveler did, this married father of two in Tempe, Arizona, encountered Walter Mondale and Night Ranger--and he lived to tell his entertainingly perceptive tale.”  -Bill Kauffman, The Spectator World

Listening to 1984  was a mutimedia project that rolled out on Substack and on audio streaming services in 2024, commemorating the 40th anniversary of the greatest year in the history of civilization. 

Read the complete epic here.

And/or

Listen to the album here.