Every Gen Xer remembers a small moment in time when swing music was extremely popular in the late ’90s. Swing went from nonexistent to an alt-rock radio mainstay from 1996 to 1998 and then, it was gone in a flash.

During that time, young people rushed to their nearest dance studios to learn the Lindy Hop and bought up old-school, retro suits and fedoras. Swing clubs started popping up all over the country, and MTV played swing-inspired videos such as “Hell” by Squirrel Nut Zippers, “Jump, Jive an’ Wail” by Brian Setzer Orchestra, and “You and Me (and the Bottle Makes Three)” by Big Bad Voodoo Daddy.

Film editor Simone Smith asked Gen X to explain what the hell was going on in the late ’90s that led to swing music making a huge comeback.

It started in a punk club in L.A.

It’s always hard to figure out how specific trends crop up, but according to Kenneth Partridge from Billboard, it began with the formation of Royal Crown Revue in 1989 by two members of the seminal L.A. punk band Youth Brigade. Royal Crown Revue’s old-school ’40s tough-guy aesthetic was something punks could........

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