8 Things That Make It Feel Like The 90s Again!

By Sherrie Gulmahamad on October 12th, 2009

• Share
• Link to StumbleUpon
• 3 Comments

I’m sick of the 80s. Everyone likes the 80s. Children who weren’t even alive during that decade now mince about around me wearing neon nail polish and ridiculous acid wash jeans, yet I know I’ve heard “Hungry Like the Wolf” more times than they ever have. Probably enough to last 3 lifetimes.  Besides, I remember looking at this Pitchfork 90’s album list and remarking to a coworker that I loved so many of the albums in their litany, especially when it got down to the top 10. He responded to me, “Truly you are a child of the 90s.”  So, here we go, on our nostalgic journey to decade that kinda sorta wasn’t that long ago really (ha).

1. Clintons Underfoot

Alright, this isn’t a political website so I won’t get into it with you pubbies. Obama’s White House win brought the Clintons back into the public eye and suddenly everyone’s making jokes about Bill being so sad that Hillary’s away most of the time now. Why, it’s downright 1995 in here.

2. Grunge-y Plaid is back

Kurt Cobain, Eddie Vedder, Thurston Moore and their grunge rock compatriots wore plaid flannel not for fashion, and not out of any statement, but because they were normal people who shop at thrift stores.  Now today, I see 16 year old girls buying plaid long sleeve shirts at Forever 21 and throwing a cute black belt over it. To each their own. FYI, it’s kismet: both Sonic Youth and Pearl Jam have new albums out.

3. Oh, and Whitney’s back

After seeing the state Bobbi and Whitney were in on their reality show, I wasn’t really sure we’d ever see anything positive about these people ever again. But then, after an intervention by her mother, Whitney is bouncing back with her first album in 7 years. And where better to start your comeback than on Oprah’s first episode of her 24th season! Whitney sang on that episode and I think many of us were sad to hear her voice just isn’t what it used to be – but that seems beside the point. It takes a strong woman to survive the beating her self esteem took at the hands of Bobbi Brown, so we celebrate her return.

4. Vintage 90’s Madonna in today’s pop divas

I look at all these blonde trollops today and pfft in their general direction.  We’ve seen it all before, people! This is Madonna in 1992. This is Britney on her tour this year. This is Madonna in 1995 (Human Nature video). This is (NSFW!) Lady Gaga in Japanese Vogue. Do you get it now! Bitch did it all a decade ago! But it’s all good, no hard feelings. Look, here’s Madonna and Lady Gaga kicking it at  a Marc Jacobs fashion show recently.

5. Mumblecore & new indie minimalism feel just like Dogme 95

This is a SNOOTY arty farty entry in this list but if you know the films of Kelly Reichard (Old Joy, Wendy & Lucy) and Joe Swanberg (LOL, Hannah Takes the Stairs), they should remind you of a similar movement started in Denmark in the 90s by filmmakers Lars Von Trier and Thomas Vinterberg.  Dogme 95 was about making movies in the simplest way possible, on location (no sets) with a small budget, outside the Hollywood system, with whomever you could drum up to act.  Reichard and Swanberg are American filmmakers working with different subject matter but both make movies that are stripped down and simple.  A little slice of Dogme 95 in the 00s.

6. 93.5 is back!

So this one is mostly for our sistahs in the City of Angels, but KDAY 93.5, a classic hip hop radio station has returned to our local airwaves recently, bringing with it a wave of nostalgia for 90s R&B and rap.  When was the last time you heard Tupac’s “How Do You Want It”? How aboutDigital Underground’s The Humpty Dance? And “Scenario” by Tribe Called Quest? Listening to this station day in and day out has made me feel alive again, a veritable FM fountain of youth.

7. Waves upon waves of children

In 1997, Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to the world’s first set of surviving septuptlets, and in 1998 the world met the Chukwu octuptlets (sadly, the oldest Chukwu died a week after her birth). All of this has been one-upped by Octomom, the Duggars, the Gosselins,  and the 40 other clans on the TLC channel that have more than 5 children.  The McCaugheys and Chukwus paved the way for this giant family craze we are mired in now.

8. 90210 and Melrose Place are back

May I remind you that the original 90210 ran from exactly 1990 to 2000, and Melrose Place ran from 1992-1999?  These creatures of the 90s have been resurrected but I’ll have to leave it up to you readers to let me know if they compare in the least.

What did we leave out? Can you see other flickers of the 90s in today’s cultural landscape? Sound off in the comments!