Escaping into the '90s

Let me start this by saying that I truly love the '90s.\nWhen the first installment of the series, appropriately titled "I Love the '90s," premiered on VH1 last summer, I ate it up. Through the extensive reruns aired daily, I'm pretty sure I prematurely reminisced about every year in the glorious decade with the well selected panel of comedians.\nIt wasn't until the release of the second installment, "I Love the '90s Part Deux" that I really considered the pop culture phenomenon of '90s nostalgia. It isn't just VH1 that is capitalizing on the decade. The cable network Nick at Nite began airing "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," "Full House" and "Murphy Brown" and calling them "classic TV." The independent game company Intellinitiative, Inc. made a fortune from "The '90s Game" and Trivial Pursuit competed by releasing their "Time Capsule" edition, which asked questions solely about the decade.\nI realize that part of the craze is generational. We may miss the '90s because we spent the decade in lower education, working part time jobs and living with our parents. The speed and accessibility of information is another factor in premature nostalgia. We live in a time where information is so accessible that news from the morning is old by noon. Information is valued for a much shorter time than it used to be and consequently we feel nostalgic much earlier. But it isn't just our generation that's yearning for the '90s which leads me to believe that it's much deeper.\nIn a time when Americans are worried about terrorism and war, we're nostalgic for the politically peaceful days of the 1990s. More importantly, though, the '90s were a time when politics and pop culture were separate. \nThe first half of this decade has been fueled by politics. With the turn of the century came arguments over the presidential election and less than a year later American culture was irrevocably shaken by the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Since then, there has been a fusion of pop culture and politics. Musicians are singing about politics. Filmmakers are making movies about politics. College kids are arguing about politics at parties. Pop culture is inundated with political propaganda.\nWhile I don't think the recent trend of political awareness is a bad thing, there is a lot to be said for a separation of politics and pop culture. The recent explosion of '90s nostalgia is proof that what we really miss is the escape music and movies gave us from heavier issues during "the most trivial of decades." \nDuring the '90s, pop culture provided a common ground for the wide spectrum of political views. Today, music has become just as dividing as politics. What used to be common ground is now yet another dividing force in our culture. Perhaps we love the '90s because we miss the time when we could talk about music without being stereotyped by political assumptions. Listening to country music didn't have to mean you were a Republican. It just meant you were into country. Likewise, U2 was huge and more conservative audiences ignored Bono's liberal rants.\nPolitical parties suddenly have unlikely supporters. From P. Diddy's "Vote or Die" campaign to numerous volumes of Rock Against Bush albums, it seems everybody is turning music into a political forum. Toby Keith has become the unofficial spokesman for the war in Iraq with songs like "Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue" and Eminem is bashing Bush in his most recent release, Encore.\nPolitics have always had a place in popular culture, but today musical genres have become separated between political lines and the effects have trickled down to the fans. Fans seem unable to enjoy music that doesn't match their political views, and breaking the barriers of these lines can even be detrimental to musical careers. When the Dixie Chicks, a country group, spoke out against the President, country fans boycotted and, in extreme cases, burned their albums. Not only have we lost our escape in pop culture, but politics seem to have overshadowed popular culture completely to become a determining factor in what we listen to and watch. We can no longer disagree with our favorite artists, nor can we disregard with their political views.\nMaybe the problem isn't with pop culture. Maybe the fusion is necessary because today's issues are inescapably important. Perhaps we miss the '90s because the biggest political question on our minds then was what the president did with his interns in the Oval Office. Now we worry about our safety and the direction in which our country is headed. \nWhatever the reason, I hope that with the 2004 elections finished, we'll get a much needed break from political propaganda. Until then, I'll temporarily escape with Michael Ian Black's witticisms on Mentos, O.J. Simpson and Tamagotchi.