Every generation has its quirks, eccentricities and just plain laughable aspects.
Maybe it’s just me, but the 1990s seem to be the exception.
Before you stop me and say, “Did you see what they wore back then?!,” I urge you to think about what college students are wearing today.
Skin-tight cotton pants-esque contraptions that leave little to the imagination.
Girls’ shirts that perpetually hang off the shoulder and lack any sort of flattering fit whatsoever.
Boat shoes, when we’re clearly located several miles inland.
Designer boots that cost $200 and make it look like you just got back from hunting caribou with your cave friends.
I rest my case.
In contrast, the fashion of the ’90s may have been technically awful, but it sure as hell did look comfortable.
In fact, I highly regret being a youngster in the ’90s instead of a teenager, as I missed out on the overalls, the striped shirts and grungy flannel and the combat boots that likely would’ve made me feel like the biggest badass alive.
The outrageous colors, patterns and complete regard for color coordination further evoke my admiration for the seemingly carefree lives of ’90s teenagers.
In terms of musical entertainment, the ’90s gave us Oasis, Nirvana, Third Eye Blind and Hootie and the Blowfish. The Goo Goo Dolls and Counting Crows were at their primes, and U2 was going strong as well with hits like “With or Without You” and “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”
Who couldn’t be happy when listening to Blues Travelers’ “Run-Around” or Sister Hazel’s “All for You”? These songs are indicative of what I remember about ’90s music: simple, happy, life-affirming.
Strong, talented female artists were in abundance as well. Alanis Morissette, Tracy Chapman and Ani DiFranco were and continue to be talented, unique and inspirational women with messages of empowerment and staying true to oneself, unlike the highly sexualized, shallow, skinny and substanceless female performers that girls have to look up to today.
You could argue that the ’90s had its fair share of gangster rap and provocatively dressed females. But Biggie, Pac, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera all had one thing artists of today, by and large, do not: true talent. Sans auto-tune, their vocals and performances were their own, and in that regard they are much more respectable than anyone on the top 20 today.
But perhaps the thing that I long for the most is the simplicity of being a child that I had in the ’90s: collecting Pokemon cards, watching “Saved by the Bell” and playing with my Furby.
I had two or three Hit Clips that play awful, fuzzy 30-second clips of songs and treasured each and everyone of them.
“Good Burger,” “All That” and “The Amanda Show” were the funniest things to ever happen to me, and within “Legends of the Hidden Temple” and “SlimeTime Live” existed all of my life’s hopes and ambitions.
From all I’ve seen, kids today have none of this quirkiness, humor and innocent fun to grow up with.
Hit Clips have been replaced with 60-gig iPods that kids can listen to at all times, avoiding any sort of human interaction.
“The Amanda Show” is no longer on air, but there is a show featuring a young pop star that, in real life, makes music videos featuring her on a pole.
“Legends of the Hidden Temple,” which once inspired me to achieve the very heights of cleverness and athleticism, is gone, supplanted by shows about pregnant 14-year-olds and short, drunk, orange party girls hooking up with strangers and getting arrested on the beach.
It hurts to say it, but in a lot of ways it would seem like the best days of our culture are behind us. Those final days were the ’90s.
So this is what it feels like to be old.
— kabeasle@indiana.edu
