We can understand having trouble coping with change. The realities ofThe Vietnam War, for instance, were a very hard change for the veterans ofWorld War II to accept. In fact, there might even be the urge to revert some of those changes, or at least live as though those changes never happened.

Yet to dothat with pop culture?

It's one thing if you have trouble getting overThe Beatles breaking up.Disco Dan acts as though they are still around, plasters posters all over their homes, compares every other rock song in existence unfavorably to Beatles songs, and may listen to other music as long as it's nothing past 1980 (or by ex-Beatles). These people are basically trying tobend reality back by force of will. And that's with a band who are still relatively popular and influential; those who are besotted by something that isDeader Than Disco can be even worse.

Usually, this is played for laughs. We get a funny character, who is a walking anachronism by simple virtue of denial. Bonus points if this character forces other people to act as though this reality is true. Curiously enough, more than a few of these characters have an affection for disco music, hence the title.

CompareBorn in the Wrong Century,Fish Out of Temporal Water,Outdated Outfit. ContrastFan of the Past,New Age Retro Hippie. See alsoAwesome Anachronistic Apparel , which is wearing what should be absurdly outdated outfits and making itwork. Can lead toUnfortunate Implications if the character insists on reviving some cultural practices thatwe had very good reasons for getting rid of (as in theKalifornia example below).

Not to be confused with"Disco Dan" Ford, the former major league baseball player,Disco Dan, the 80s ZX Spectrum computer game in which the player fixes nuclear reactors by jumping around inside them, or withCool "Disco" Dan, the Washington, DC graffiti artist.

Anime and Manga

• Played with inSonic X. The Chaotix still have one of those old-timey video projectors, and they try to play anHD Dolby Digital 2.1 Sonic X DVD on it. Then, Espio is assigned to go "borrow" a DVD player for them. Charmy is in awe.
• InSpider Riders, one episode has Prince Lumis trying to impress a girl he likes. Hunter comes up with a disguise that he actually calls Disco Dan.Hilarity Ensues.
• Maximillian Pegasus fromYu-Gi-Oh! is anEccentric Millionaire who dresses as a Victorian nobleman would, living in a castle with furnishings that are either antiques from that era or reproductions of such. He also shows preference for old over new, such as using a pocket watch rather than a wristwatch.

Comic Books

• TheImage Comics miniseriesPhonogram is about this: a "phonomancer" who draws power fromBritpop comes into conflict with a group of "retromancers" who wish to reshape the cultural memetics of Britain just so that they can clutch on to their youth.
• Spider-Man:
  • The utterly ridiculousEvil Reactionary villain Turner D. Century, who botheredSpider-Woman before Spider-Man trounced him.
  • The (somewhat) more serious Spidey baddie Hammerhead talks and acts like he was a member of Al Capone's mob. Hammerhead even has a vintage limo inThe Spectacular Spider-Man, which is kind ofBadass.
  • Disco-themed villain the Hypno-Hustler. To be fair, his debut was in 1978, where Disco's popularity was only starting to decline, but since then, he's been a big joke.
  • The Enforcers are three thugs the hero occassionally encountered early in his career (almost alwaysin the employ of another villain, such as the Green Goblin or Kingpin); their first appearance was in 1964, but even then, they seemed to be from a different era.Fancy Dan dressed in a "roaring 20s" style "zoot suit", Montana looked and acted like a cowboy, andthe Ox seemed like one ofThe Dead End Kids as an adult. They did seem to upgrade their clothing style in more modern appearances, but they didn't have many - the trio was iconic, but lame.
• Briefly happened toGreen Arrow after he was resurrected. His soul (which opted to remain in the afterlife) only allowedHal to bring back a previous version of himself, one from before his life fell apart. The reborn Arrow doesn't know what year it is, thinks a man is a super-villain simply for owning a modern (for 1999) computer, and mistakes a cellphone for a walkie-talkie. By the end of the story, his soul rejoins his body, bringing him back up to date.
• Dozier D. Daze and his Nostagianator on theTomorrow Stories byAlan Moore.
• In Howard Chaykin'sThe Shadow miniseries, Lamont Cranston is a little... well, let's just say that well into the 1980s, he still feels that women should speak when spoken to or else risk a good thrashing.
• In Image'sDeadly Duo, Kid Avenger mixes this withFan of the Past; He's actually from the very end of time, but for some reason loved the 1970s and only knows about culture and politics and technology from that era.
• Indigo fromImpact Comics. Because he's been in jail so long, he was unaware of the leaps and bounds made in technological developments in the last three decades.
• The Mad Mod inTeen Titans was, in the original comics, a contemporary 1960s character.Comic Book Time led to the version inthe cartoon and thecartoon-based comicTeen Titans Go, where he became a Disco Dan type instead, still obsessed with 1960s pop culture even though the 1960s were long gone.
• Icon featured a Luke Cage parody named Buck Wild Mercenary man, who showcased all the most ridiculous andoffensive aspects of 70s "Blaxploitation" super-heroes. This was because the experiment that gave him his powers also literally froze his brain in 1973.

Films

• Fly Guy, a pimp who got out of prison in the 1980s (after being a big shot in the 1970s) inI'm Gonna Git You Sucka, decides to hit his old stomping grounds infull pimp regalia: a white tiger-striped suit, a giant hat with a pink feather, six inch platform shoes with goldfish inside, and a jeweled cane. He gets laughed off the street in a second.
  • More of a subversion, as he ditches his outdated pimp gear; he's wearing smart suits by the end of the film.
• The Brady Bunch Movie hasThe Brady Bunch living in the 1990s but still acting and dressing like their idealized 1970s sitcom selves.
• The themed Disco boys fromMystery Men, who emerge from prison and refuse to believe that Disco is dead: "Disco is Life!"
• Uncle Rico fromNapoleon Dynamite is awashed-up former high school football player who still films himself throwing his football around and forces people to watch the videos. When Kip buys a "time machine", Uncle Rico sets the year to 1982, his prime year of football playing in high school.
  • Then again, thewhole movie seems to be full of throwbacks. Minus the Jamiroquai andBackstreet Boys songs and the presence of the internet, the entire town seems to bestuck in the '80s.
• InThe Wrestler, Randy "The Ram" Robinson seems to be stuck inThe Eighties, the time of hisGlory Days. He plays Nintendo games with neighborhood kids and talks about how much he hates modern music, preferring hair metal from the eighties.
• A rather dark example inKalifornia, as it involves not outdated fashions or fads so much as outdatedattitudes. Early Grayce (Brad Pitt) is an "unreconstructed redneck" type (one character refers to him as an "Okie,"which isn't really the same thing) who speaks in a slightly animalistic Southern accent. One of his more reactionary beliefs is that women should not only be inferior to men, but should bekept in a state of perpetual childhood. As such, his female companion, Adele, is forced to wear baby-doll dresses at all times and doesn't smoke cigarettes because "Early broke me of it." In addition, she's often seen playing with a yo-yo and speaks in avery whiny voice. When Adele finally starts acting like a grown-up and gives Early aShut UP, Hannibal speech,Early kills her; he then abducts the hero's more modern, liberated female companion and turnsher into a sex toy, with a halter top and cutoff shorts. (Of course, since Early is also an unapologetic serial killer, hisPolitically-Incorrect Villain tendencies are just the tip of the iceberg.)
• Back to the Future; why exactly did Doc Brown decide to turn a Delorian into aTime Machine? "The way I see it, if you're gonna build a time machine into a car, why not do it with some style?"

Literature

• One ofH.P. Lovecraft's inspirations,Lord Dunsany, was archaic in his language use and wrote his extensive works with a quill pen.
  • Lovecraft's own distinctive style belonged to an age about 30–40 years before most of his writing was done.
• The novelWicked Game features a radio station run byvampires, all of whom are musically stuck in the era that they died in.
• The characters in Toby Litt'sBeatniks are determined to live the Beat lifestyle, refusing to acknowledge modern technology or music - even thoughthey were born in the 1970s.
• Anne Rice's vampires are so afflicted by this trope, holding onto the eras in which they were alive, that many commit suicide in a world they no longer recognize. Armand asks for Lestat's and later Louis' help in connecting to the present, so that he doesn't die of culture shock in this way.
• The title character ofDon Quixote is a borderline example: his obsession withChivalric Romance leaves him mentally stuck in an era that barely even existed.

Live-Action TV

• Some people from theDoctor Who storyInvasion of the Dinosaurs plan to literally revert modern-day Earth back to prehistory usingTime Travel technology.
• In thepost-shark seasons ofHappy Days, when the show was encroaching intoThe Sixties, Fonzie refused to let go of his Greaser ways. In an earlier episode, he evenlampshades this himself: "If it was up to me, it would stay 1955 forever!"
• A 1997 episode ofSaturday Night Live took a look at the "Superfans" after Mike Ditka became head coach in New Orleans. Chris Farley's character Todd O'Conner, having had a nervous breakdown and now believing it was still 1985, fit this trope to a T: he mentioned he had to get home "to seeJimmy Stewart onCarson."
• Similarly, an episode ofThirty Rock featured Andy Richter as Liz's brother who, thanks to a "really bad skiing accident", thought it was still 1985 and that he was still a teenager despite him being a 40-year-old man. At the end of the episode, he found out the truth and held up a cocktail, complaining "I could've been drinking these foryears!"
  • What's sad is that it's based on an actually form of amnesia, in which the afflicted victim is unable to remember information for very long ieminutes. The only discrepancy is that the brother would only forget everything at the end of the day.
• Tommy Saxondale in Steve Coogan'sSaxondale has a bit of this going on; an ex-roadie fromThe Seventies convinced he's still bucking the system, he's a bit stuck in the past and not quite the rebellious spirit he thinks he is.
• Neil ofThe Young Ones dressed and behaved like a hippie well into the 1980s, and once stubbornly declared that "Flares are coming back in! I read it in my horoscope!"
• Episode three ofBeing Human (UK) gave us Gilbert, dead since 1985 and less than willing to move onin more ways than one.
• InBuffy the Vampire Slayer's pilot episode, Buffy recognizes a vampire by his disco-era clothing.

Buffy: "Only someone who's been under the ground for decades would thinkthats the look".

• The Price Is Right looked and sounded almost exactly the same at the end of Bob Barker's tenure in 2007 as it had in 1972. Same sets, same music, same graphic fonts for the credits.
• In theCommunity episode "Modern Warfare", Jeff encounters an afro-ed, rollerblading Disco Dan trying to bring disco back, and mocks him. Later in the episode, when it turns into aPaintball Apocalypse, the guy has apparently succeeded in bringing disco back, and now leads an army of rollerblading, disco-dancing paintballers.
• Judge Harry Stone onNight Court wears a fedora, is a huge fan of crooner Mel Torme, and loves movies and fashions from the 1940s.
• Buzz Sherwood fromThe Red Green Show is still ahippie, despite the '60s being long over.
• Kath fromKath and Kim still perms her hair and dresses as though it's still the '80s. She doesn't even seem to realize that times, and fashions, have changed.Lampshaded in 'Da Kath and Kim Code' where Kath arrives at an 80s themed party dressed in her everyday clothes...

Kim: Oh, Mum! What a great costume! Sharon: Oh wow, Mrs D. You look hilarious. You're gonna win for sure. Where'd you get that? Kath:[Wearing an over-the-top 80's style pink outfit] Oh, from my wardrobe, Sharon. Costume? Kim: Yeah, it's an 80's party. Kath: Oh, no! Nobody told me! I would have put something funny on!

• Dan Stark inThe Good Guys lives and breathes this trope. To him, the whole world still works like it did in Eighties cop action shows. At times, he seems to make the world around him work this way by sheer force of will.
• In the first episode ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, the heroine claims she can spot a vampire by their wardrobe; given their advanced age, they tend to have clothes that are years or decades out of date. Zigzagged, however, as while the guy she points out this way is, indeed, a vampire, he was only "sired" as one a day or two previously - meaning he fit this trope when still human.

Music

• Bowling for Soup's song "1985" is about a middle-aged soccer mom who refuses to accept the fact thatThe Eighties are long past.
• There are many popular musicians out there who will do a "throwback" number every once in a while, but then there are also some musicians who make that theirentire gimmick. Exhibit "A" would probably have to be Southern California's Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, who not only refused to acknowledge that swing music went out of fashion in the late 1950s, butactually succeeded in hauling it back into the mainstream media for a short while.
  • While there are people who dislike music (or certain genre of music) made after a certain year, there are others who perform in styles that have since long fallen out of favor except by their hardcore fans, not as a gimmick but as a core part of their style because they are uncomfortable with newer styles or dislike the newer, updated sounds. One example was, toward the end of his career (and, as it turned out, life) was country singer Faron Young. "The Singing Sherriff" (as he was known to his fans), Young—a hardcore honky-tonk singer who occasionally added elements of pop music into his material—enjoyed the peak of his popularity from the mid-1950s through mid-1970s, after which radio began turning toward younger acts. Young, as the story goes, did not take kindly to the changes in the music he loved, and his sound (rooted mostly in the 1960s) was beginning to sound dated with his new material recorded in the 1980s. Young grew increasing bitter and held closer tohis sound by the early 1990s, when a bright young country star namedGarth Brooks set new records for sales and concert attendance ... and not always with sounds that were even remotely considered country, and certainly what Young perceived to be the true sound of country; Young was outspoken about his criticisms about Brooks and others, but few were listening or even interested in his opinions by now. In December 1996, with health problems and his increasingly bitter attitudes toward country music and life in general setting in, he took his life.
  • While other older country singers have never grown as bitter as Young, singers such as George Jones and Merle Haggard have been outspoken about what they regard as non-traditional country sounds (i.e., adult contemporary and straight-ahead pop) encroaching on their sounds of country music; acts likeTaylor Swift and Rascal Flatts, and more recently Lady Antebellum, have taken the brunt of that criticism. While Jones and Haggard continue to record new material that has been critically acclaimed, their sounds remain rooted in traditional sounds.

Newspaper Comics

• Jon fromGarfield is a fan of disco. In the animated special, "Garfield Gets a Life", he's not even aware that it isn't popular anymore. In1991. ("You learn a dance, then zango! - 14 years later, they change it!")
  • His mother is similar, seemingly a fan of Elvis.

Professional Wrestling

• WWE tag team Deuce 'n Domino were a pair of '50s greaser throwbacks complete with pompadours, leather jackets, a valet who dresses in a poodle skirt (albeitmuchshorter than actual ones of the period) and rollerskates, an entrance that involves them driving out in a classic convertible, and a theme song that wouldn't be out of place on theGrease soundtrack. This got a brief subversion from play-by-play commentator Michael Cole, where he mentioned that they admitted in private with him that they realize it's not the '50s, but they like the look.
  • They may have been prescient when it comes to rollerskates, though. Roller derby is currently making a comeback in large to medium-sized American cities, complete with the "retro" pre-1990s skate style.
• Long before Deuce 'n Domino,WCW had The Disco Inferno, whose gimmick wasExactly What It Says on the Tin. In his later years, in an attempt to be more current, he changed his name to Disqo. That didn't work very well.
  • Not nearly as entertaining as Disco Inferno,WCW attempted to cash in on the popularity ofThat '70s Show by turningMike Awesome into "That 70s Guy".
  • And then, of course, there was Johnny B. Badd, wherein Marc Mero was done up in an almost perfectclone of Little Richard.
• In 2010, Jay Lethal ofTNA did a gimmick that entailed pretending to be "Macho Man"Randy Savage (including the wraparound shades and theJive Turkey accent) and literally acting as if it were stillThe Eighties. The gimmick was dubbed "Black Machismo."

Video Games

• The titular character of theLeisure Suit Larry series is permanently stuck in the 1970s in terms of style; in his case, it's partially justified. At the start of the series, Larry is a 38-year-old virgin who's been completely out of touch with the modern dating scene for most of his life; when he finally decides to remedy the situation, his idea of "cool" is over a decade out of date, more due to ignorance than willful disbelief. Later games, however, establish that even after coming to his senses, he maintains his "classic" look and tastes simply because he personally likes them.
• Bully has an entire clique of Greaser throwbacks who believe they're still in the 1950s and are opposed to the preps --a reference to the classic Young Adult novelThe Outsiders.
• Miror B inPokémon Colosseum andXD: Gale of Darkness is a minor boss in the first game (and a minor crook in the second) who has an Afrobigger than his head (and colored in a way that makes it look like a Poké Ball, no less) and has his own unique battle music - salsa inColosseum, real disco inXD.
• Tiger inTekken 3, a hidden character who is merely a different outfit for Eddy Gordo. As such, he uses the same fighting style (Capoeira).
• Eddie from theSSX games. He hasan Afro, come on. Oh, and he'sa white guy, so he really has no excuse apart from "I really never let go of my childhood."
  • And yet, while his style is stuck in the '70s, his personality is stuck inTotally Radical '90s mode.
• Charles inSpace Colony is described as an officer in the Royal Navy duringWorld War I. He keeps a stiff upper lip, lies back and thinks of England, and won't take any sass from those Indian fellows. But he was actually born sometime in the 22nd century and currently lives in outer space. His official company profile says it's a complete mystery how the Hell he got the way he is and stayed that way.
• TheWario Ware series has the identical but seemingly unrelated Jimmy T. and Jimmy P. The former's parents, brother, and sister joined him in later games.
• A minor character inPaper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is a Disco Dan of indeterminate species with a French accent who flirts with Goombella. Even more random than usual for the Mario-verse.
• Disco Kid inPunch-Out!!, although it can be argued that the game actually takes place in the '70s, meaning that Disco Kid grew up during the days of disco.
• Serious Sam I andII have Dancing Denzell and Groovy Gregory as characters player can choose.
• Toni, the Flashback FM DJ inGrand Theft Auto III. People ask her if she remembers anything after the 70s and the 80s, and she doesn't, but she also thinks there isn't anything worth remembering after those times. You also hear her inVice City (set in the 80s) as the DJ of Flash FM, so... yeah.
• Konstantin Brayko ofAlpha Protocol has an obsession with the '80s and is basically a RussianTony Montana. Hell, his boss music is even Turn Up The Radio by Autograph.
• Chibi-Robo!'s Funky Phil, who is actually aliving dancing flower.
• Milla Vodello fromPsychonauts. Her Mental World is a giant technicolor dance studio with disco music blaring. (Unless you strayinto hernastier memories, anyway.)
• DJ Phantasmagloria, a Disco-dancing boss ghost inLuigi's Mansion 3.

Web Animation

• Technology and music-wise,Strong Bad seems stuck in the 1980s or 1990s. Considering how he's been slowly upgrading his computers, it's possible that he is changing with the times, but he's fifteen years behind the curve. He marvels at his45-pound laptop's 5-minute battery life and has no idea what a mouse is. Old Timey Strong Bad is worse; he's still using the telegraph in 1936, decades after it had been rendered obsolete by the telephone. Then there's the Videlectrix guys, who releaseAtari 2600 style games in the present day without realizing that they're ridiculously out of touch until they're tasked with developing theHomestar Runner game and try controlling aCommodore 64 with aWiimote.

"It's called Japanimation! At least it was last time I checked... which was 1987."

• • Strong Bad's latest computer, the Compé, appears to bringing him a bit closer to the present, but only slightly: while it has a flat-screen monitor, it has what looks like 256 colors and pixels as big as fists. Which means it's, what, 1991?
• Disco Bear fromHappy Tree Friends.

Web Original

• InSurvival of the Fittest v4, we have Joshua Krakowski, who has been literally described as "The Living Anachronism" due to his clear 90s influence, right down to using90s slang and looking like aSurfer Dude. Daniel Vaughan also has tendencies of this, as he clearly is a little too fond of the 80s. Naturally, he and Josh get along quite nicely.
• Brad Jones ofThe Cinema Snob, has created a character called80's Dan who is this trope incarnate. His videos are parodies of 80s style sitcoms, with canned laughter and a feel good theme song, and feature the time displaced Dan subjecting his less than enthusiastic roommates and neighbors (including a R.O.B. the Robot) to the joys of 80s pop culture. Bonus points for him actually being named "Dan".
• "90s Kid" onAtop the Fourth Wall is out of touch and obsessed withRob Liefeld-esque1990s comic books.

Western Animation

• The Simpsons
  • Disco Stu, a recurring joke character who is eternally stuck inthe mid-1970s. Helampshades it in a moment ofCharacter Development where he says heknows disco is dead and he really doesn't even like it, fearing he's become a "one note guy" as a result. Downplayed, as most residents of Springfield don't seem to have a problem with Stu; Marge even claims he's the only one of her sister Selma's ex-husbands that she liked.
  • C. Montgomery Burns, whose values andvocabulary are still stuck on October 27, 1929 (just before Black Tuesday and the start ofThe Great Depression). His antiquated demeanor and ideas are a recurring source of humor in the series, as is his on-again off-again ignorance of history after the 1930s; he still thinks there's a Negro League in baseball.
    • Even more bizarre, he scoffs at the idea ofnon-WASPs in the major leagues. He's taken aback, for example, by a vintage baseball card showing Joe DiMaggio as a New York Yankee.
    • There was at least one instance where Burns's Disco Dan tendencies were so extreme that they actually turned him a full 180 degrees! In one episode, he decides to emulate Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban by purchasing a pro basketball team for Springfield, and as cheerleaders he hires women whom he dresses in demure1890s attire and forces to perform to ragtime music. The cheerleaders "entertained" the crowd in the arena bytwirling their parasols and lifting their floor-length skirts to reveal their ankles. The crowd hated the act....and Mr. Burns agreed with them -because he found it too obscene!
• Teen Titans has a few of these.
  • The animated series gets around the painfulTotally Radical nature of old Titans villains like Mad Mod by making them old men who hide behind illusions to make themselves appear "young" and "hip" again:
    • Mad Mod uses mind control to impose his vision of an Anglicized US on the Titans' hometown. (At least, England as seen through the lens ofYellow Submarine andMonty Python!)
    • Ding Dong Daddy, who rides a hot rod and abuses the living crap out of phrases like "Daddy-O". He's got round sunglasses and a beret.
• Michigan J. Frog in theLooney Tunes shortOne Froggy Evening Cartoon is a Disco Dan fromThe Gay Nineties brought up toThe Fifties and laterTwenty Minutes Into the Future. He dances around in a top hat and sings the popular Tin Pan Alley music of his era.
• Motor Ed fromKim Possible behaves like an'80s rocker,seriously, often goes into air guitar riffs,seriously, and even quits his job because he loves his mullet,seriously.
• The gang fromScooby-Doo, of course, didn't upgrade their '70s-era clothing or slang for decades, until the latest batch of TV movies andWhat's New Scooby-Doo? series gave them a makeover. This isLampshaded inScooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase, where the gang meets video-game doubles of themselves who still dress like in the originalScooby-Doo, Where Are You! series.
  • Shaggy's wardrobe neverdid catch up with the times, a fact he comments on himself inScooby-Doo and the Alien Invaders. This is largely due to his outfit, a large plain shirt and pants, being so simple it's never trulyout of style aside from the bright green coloring.
  • The new revivalMystery Incorporated has several characters very much rooted in disco-styling and the era, including Shaggy himself. But the whole setting sort of exists in the 1970s and the 2010s at the same time, so it may perfectly justified.
• InThe Proud Family, Uncle Bobby was stuck in the Disco era, complete with saying "ow!" after every sentence.
• Quagmire fromFamily Guy lives by the swinger lifestyle of the50's and60's. It makes sense when it's revealed thathe was actually born in 1948.

• Trope
• Disco Dan
• Characterization Tropes
• Alliterative Trope Titles