Last week, I wrote about how the decade of the 1980s are near and dear to me, a nostalgic time period that could do little wrong. We all tend to have that reaction to a period of ten years in which we had a lot of growth.
At the end, I jokingly said that only the 1990s could not be defended as being great. Or was I joking?
Should we start with Beanie Babies? You might still have some lying around. Maybe you still have a lot lying around. I remember a student in the 90s giving a speech about the stuffed animals, and she brought in about fifty. For a time, some were selling for a lot of money. Now, they might litter the giveaway box at a garage sale.
Crystal Pepsi? Anyone?
How about Tickle Me Elmo? Anyone else have the urge to commit murder by battery removal? I have fond memories of Sesame Street, but Elmo was not part of it when I was growing up, for which I’m thankful.
Boy bands gave us… music. I played a song by the Hanson Brothers at a basketball game recently, and Onika Peterson looked at me and recited what grade she was in when that came out. Nostalgia? Sure, but she also had the smirk that said, “I can’t believe I thought this was cool.” Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and 98 Degrees all polluted the airwaves of radio stations.
Mariah Carey was the #1 artist in the 90s. I like the occasional Carey song, and I admit to having her greatest hits album. But I couldn’t listen to her like I could Michael Jackson, who topped the charts in the 80s. The #1 song of the decade was “Candle in the Wind,” by Elton John, when he redid it in memory of Princess Diana. So essentially, nothing new could beat out an old song that was re-released.
Shaquille O’Neal was a movie “star” in the 90s. I love super hero movies, but I almost walked out of the theater during Batman and Robin. Pauly Shore was a movie “star” in the 90s.
Jerry Springer dominated the television screen. People tuned in to see if a chair would be thrown. It was trash through and through. Of course, we all watched it! There were also a lot of shows based on movies that didn’t work nearly as well on the small screen: Uncle Buck, Clueless, and Ferris Bueller come to mind.
But wait, you’re saying. Last week, you told us you were 16 as the 80s ended. Didn’t you like anything about the 90s, when you were finishing high school and going to college?
Of course I did. We were recently asked by our band director at school to name the album that had the most influence on our lives. I debated between The Razor’s Edge by AC/DC and the Black album from Metallica, both of which came out at the beginning of the 90s, during my senior year in high school. (I picked Metallica.)
A lot of the music in the 90s moved toward more hip hop, a genre I’m not as fond of. “Gangsta’s Paradise” by Coolio and “Jump Around” by House of Pain might be recognizable, but they’re not at the top of my list. There are also the Spice Girls. And the Macarena. ‘Nuff said.
Television had some big flops. But it also produced the greatest sitcom of all time, Seinfeld. Friends also started in the 90s, and the first seasons are so much better to watch than the dragged-out last seasons. E.R. was a #1 show for a long time, and shorter runs like NewsRadio and Freaks and Geeks still hold up today. Frasier was magnificent.
There were some pretty amazing movies in the 90s, upon further review. Shawshank Redemption is an all-time great. Jurassic Park was revolutionary as far as special effects went. Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan are viewed as being must-watch movies. The Toy Story movies started in that decade. And, of course, there was The Lion King!
Even Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, which came out in 1999, can be considered a good thing. Many Star Wars fans rate this as their least favorite, myself included, but the idea of how exciting it was to have a new Star Wars movie in the theaters is indescribable to those who weren’t alive then. I remember how excited I was, both going to and coming from the theater!
Hmm, maybe I’ve been too harsh when thinking about the 1990s. It’s a bit like finishing a really good book or television series; once you’re done, whatever’s next can’t possibly live up to it. That’s a bit like the 80s and 90s. The 80s were so very good that the 90s will always come in behind them, even if some of my all-time favorite pop culture came out during that time.
But once the century turned over?
Nope, not going there. Enjoy your nostalgia!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is exolete, which means obsolete or faded, as in, “His exolete memory of the 1990s was revived upon looking more closely at what came out in those years.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!