If the nuclear holocaust happened in 2077, then why are the clothes and music in the style of the 1950s? (source)


Because the Fallout universe is set in an alternate history. Basically the Fallout universe explores how the world could have evolved if the nuclear visions of the 50's would have come true. It's called Retro-futurism, and it's been executed perfectly by the game designers IMHO.

As you can tell from the background info you get in the game world, the society in the year 2077 has stopped evolving, its ideals of family, patriotism, life style etc. come straight out of the 50's. The design of cars, planes, buildings, and the technology behind are the exact same as envisioned in our 50's, except in the Fallout universe, they've actually come true. If you've played Fallout 3,

even the aliens and their death ray weapons are exactly like imagined back then.

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    Side-note: while much of the design and values is from the 50's, much of the music comes from the 30's and 40's (for example The Ink Spots feature heavily in Fallout 3 and New Vegas and their main time of activity was the 40's. So even in the 50's setting, the music is (slightly) anachronistic. – Joachim Sauer Aug 26 '11 at 6:07
  • @JoachimSauer Well, to be fair, people listen to old music all the time, and it usually takes a while for music to become popular and, you know, actually good. In any case, it's a common trope for 50s-like movies, making this either Truth in Television (er, Games) or at least a wide-spread misconception :) – Luaan Sep 26 '16 at 8:14

I heard its because both timelines played out exactly the same, but in the 50's we made the transistor which replaced all nuclear things and they didnt.

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