Front Of The Class -2008- -

The photos were terrible. Red eyes. Greasy foreheads. A girl mid-sneeze. You uploaded them to MySpace or Flickr at 3 AM on your dial-up connection (okay, maybe DSL), and you tagged them with captions like: "Vegas Baby!!!" or "Tuesday night? YOLO before YOLO existed."

Was it tacky? God, yes. Was it expensive? Financially ruinous. Do we miss it? Every single time we hear the opening synth of "Just Dance." Front Of The Class -2008-

Living at the Front of the CL in 2008 meant you were a cultural amphibian—able to breathe underwater in the murky depths of VIP bottle service while gasping for air in the bright, harsh light of the digital future. The photos were terrible

The aesthetic wasn't "clean girl." It was disco nap chic . A girl mid-sneeze

I have interpreted "Front of the CL" as a reference to being at the forefront of the Club Scene (nightlife) and City Life in 2008, capturing the unique convergence of late-decade excess, digital transition, and iconic entertainment. Time Capsule 2008: Living Life at the Front of the CL (The Last Great Analog Party)

The entertainment in 2008 was transitional. Hip-hop was glitzy (Bling Era still hanging on), Electroclash was dying, and Auto-Tune was becoming a lead vocalist.

Leaving the club at 4 AM was a war zone. You emerged into the neon-lit parking lot, ears ringing. You hailed a cab by whistling (no Uber), or you piled into your friend’s Scion xB that smelled like cigarette smoke and Red Bull.