Somewhere around 1995 I started seeing a commercial with a guy who vaguely looked like my class valedictorian asking me, "Hey, remember the 80s?" It was an ad for the 80s Preservation Society or something like that, and I recall thinking I wish I had an Einstein-type time/space eraser with which to eliminate that entire decade. I hated it. The music, the clothes, the attitudes. Even the underground scene was one big ball of bitterness. I'd like to forget that, too.
While going through the 90s, I thought I would have many fond memories of it: I was in my 20s, acoustic instrumentation had returned to popular music, and nobody was trying to moonwalk. In fact, the 1990s was almost parachute pants and penny loafer free. The only white glove of the decade didn't fit on OJ's monstrous hands, and that only made it more memorable.
The geeks finally inherited the earth, at least until venture capitalists figured out geeks were selling ether rather than physical objects that could be sold off piece by piece if the company went under. Normal people could buy homes AND stocks. It gave us the Internet and Internet addiction. I remember paying less than a buck for gas, even while Bush the First discovered Saaaaa-dum as the perfect foil to pump up flagging approval ratings. It gave one of the funniest political statements in the history of American political debate: James Stockdale's opening line, "Who Am I? Why am I here?" I recall thinking I really didn't care what his answer to those two questions would be. It also gave us Ross Perot, who was a political cartoonist's wet dream incarnate.
It was the era of the sitcom and animated series: Seinfeld and Friends, with a full-on dose of the Simpsons helping reshape our world view ... we're Ugly Americans, and it's bloody funny. It was also the era of coffee. I don't remember what I did with my friends before venti cafe mochas with quadruple shots while pleading with the short-haired woman with the acoustic guitar in the corner to play something other than Indigo Girlz. I would complain about the neo-hippie culture trend, but it was so ridiculously fashion driven rather than the original cultural phenomenon, it remains a funny and memorable part of the decade.
There are a lot of things about the 90s to like. I believe in hindsight many of us who lived it will remember it as a hey day. In so many ways I believe we've entered this new millennium trying to recapture the simple magic of the previous decade. We want a major bounce back from recession, low interest rates, a technological boom, and faith that even when we badly screw up foreign policy, it can't touch us here.
I fear I'm going to end up like a lot of the original hippies, who have spent their lives trying to recreate the 60s. As Edie Brickell, the Joan the Baptist precursor to the 90s, once sang: "Drown me in the shallow waters before I get too deep."
While going through the 90s, I thought I would have many fond memories of it: I was in my 20s, acoustic instrumentation had returned to popular music, and nobody was trying to moonwalk. In fact, the 1990s was almost parachute pants and penny loafer free. The only white glove of the decade didn't fit on OJ's monstrous hands, and that only made it more memorable.
The geeks finally inherited the earth, at least until venture capitalists figured out geeks were selling ether rather than physical objects that could be sold off piece by piece if the company went under. Normal people could buy homes AND stocks. It gave us the Internet and Internet addiction. I remember paying less than a buck for gas, even while Bush the First discovered Saaaaa-dum as the perfect foil to pump up flagging approval ratings. It gave one of the funniest political statements in the history of American political debate: James Stockdale's opening line, "Who Am I? Why am I here?" I recall thinking I really didn't care what his answer to those two questions would be. It also gave us Ross Perot, who was a political cartoonist's wet dream incarnate.
It was the era of the sitcom and animated series: Seinfeld and Friends, with a full-on dose of the Simpsons helping reshape our world view ... we're Ugly Americans, and it's bloody funny. It was also the era of coffee. I don't remember what I did with my friends before venti cafe mochas with quadruple shots while pleading with the short-haired woman with the acoustic guitar in the corner to play something other than Indigo Girlz. I would complain about the neo-hippie culture trend, but it was so ridiculously fashion driven rather than the original cultural phenomenon, it remains a funny and memorable part of the decade.
There are a lot of things about the 90s to like. I believe in hindsight many of us who lived it will remember it as a hey day. In so many ways I believe we've entered this new millennium trying to recapture the simple magic of the previous decade. We want a major bounce back from recession, low interest rates, a technological boom, and faith that even when we badly screw up foreign policy, it can't touch us here.
I fear I'm going to end up like a lot of the original hippies, who have spent their lives trying to recreate the 60s. As Edie Brickell, the Joan the Baptist precursor to the 90s, once sang: "Drown me in the shallow waters before I get too deep."
