I’m 21. So my cultural memories of the 90s are mostly of the late 90s - before then, I was pretty unaware of pop culture.
Until I was 12 or so, MTV was a mysterious, naughty thing that I only saw when my bad-boy rocker uncle, 5 years my senior, came over and turned it on. When I was a kid, I only listened to the Beatles and Yes - picked up from my dad - so I’d always protest when Uncle Richard turned on MTV. (I was like a curmudgeon even at age 6.)
The Red Hot Chili Peppers, the Smashing Pumpkins, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction - the only exposure I had to bands like that came in the form of posters in the rooms of my friends’ older brothers, rooms that always smelled of incense. Grunge rock, alt rock - all that stuff was before my time. It was something naughty, edgy, mysterious, and obtuse.
I do remember some things. Pogs, for instance - those stupid milk caps that people collected, and the “slammers” that were used to flip them. Skateboards - all the cool kids had them. Michael Jordan was the man - when I broke my wrist at age 9, I got a black and red Bulls cast on my arm even though my dad was a hardcore Knicks fan.
But my real memories of the 90s were 96 through 99 - these were my “coming of age” years when I started to become concerned with being “cool,” and consequently became conscious of the pop culture of the time.
So here goes:
JNCO jeans. I had jeans big enough to fit 2 people, with the crazy embroideries on the sides.
Hair-dye jobs on guys with the top part blonde and the bottom part with the brown roots showing. I had that too, in middle school (1998.)
Video games - the only system I had until 6th grade was an NES, so I missed a lot of games. In '96 I got an N64 and a PS, and played the hell out of Goldeneye and Turok: Dinosaur Hunter. But mostly Goldeneye. I was so fucking obsessed with that game that I even learned how to read Cyrillic, from a teach-yourself book that I bought, because I was so enthralled with the aura of political intrigue that Russian carried. (Well, that and my best friend at the time was Russian and I thought his family was super awesome and “exotic.”) Also played a lot of FFVII - was totally stunned by the story and the amazing graphics for the time.
Hockey - played youth hockey in 6th and 7th grades. Boy did I love checking guys against the boards. I fell over a lot at first, so Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down) was my official theme song for that year. I actually got the whole album by Chumbawamba and listened to it a lot - I really enjoyed all the songs on it, not just the big radio hit.
Other music I remember:
Sixpence None the Richer (Kiss Me)
Cardigans (Lovefool)
Wallflowers (Three Marlenas, One Headlight)
Lauren Christy - Magazine, Breed
Paula Cole (Where Have All the Cowboys Gone, I Don’t Wanna Wait)
Shaun Colvin (Sunny Came Home)
Hanson (Mmmbop, etc)
Lorena McKinnitt (Mummer’s Dance)
Natalie Imbruglia (Torn)
OMC (How Bizarre)
White Town (I could Never Be Your Woman)
Sister Hazel (All for you)
Counting Crows (Mr. Jones)
Third Eye Blind (Semi-Charmed Life [I remember when I first heard it, I was riding with my friend Jordan in the back of his mom’s Navigator, and he goes, “A BRITISH rap group?” Apparently he thought the singer’s voice sounded British.)]
Dishwalla (Counting Blue Cars)
And of course, the Cherry Poppin’ Daddies and Squirrel Nut Zippers and that whole swing craze, which inspired me to take up saxophone in 7th grade.
I could go on forever - perhaps I’ll add more tomorrow but I gotta go to bed.
