Gone the way of the 8-track or here to stay like an ipod

I love VH1's "I Love the 70's, 80's, 90's" series. I love looking back at the trends, the fashion (or lack thereof), remembering the music and the TV shows we watched, and laughing at the hairstyles. I've seen a lot of the good, the bad, and the ugly over the last 4 decades, and can thankfully say I avoided some of the worst offenders - leg warmers, tube tops and Hammer pants to name a few. Though I'll cop to mile-wide shoulder pads, pants with whales all over them, and a dose of mall hair in the mid-80's. So how do ya' know when something is a fad versus a trend with actual staying power? What made leisure suits and double-knit polyester go the way of the dinosaur, but kept denim growing stronger every year? Why does no-one sport the "Farrah" or the "Rachel" anymore, but the "Bob"never goes out of style? Why did VW bring back the Bug, but not the Van? How come a Jeep has been cool since like forever, but you wouldn't be caught dead in a Trans-Am these days? Where are all the fondue pots and Jello salad molds? Replaced forever by the chip n' dip set.

From flip phone to smart phone and Atari to X-box, we're always looking for the next great thing. But some things actually stay great. How did Steve Jobs know he had something with staying power? If it has an "i" in front of it, it's a sure thing. If it has "Mac" in the name, we acknowledge its superiority. I'm sure the Apple case study is a staple in any University Marketing class across the country, probably the globe. Anything Apple has proven it belongs among the ranks of Levis, Saturday Night Live, the Rolling Stones, Jack Nicholson, and even Jesus. Yep, the Pharisees thought Jesus was a fad. A flash in the pan. Someone they could easily get rid of. But 2000 years and counting, He's still relevant, talked about and worshiped. THAT's staying power.