The "I Love the 90's" Blog

To populate my blog, I am backfilling with some journal entries I tapped out in Microsoft Word over the last few years.

4/20/2006 10:30 PM

What is about going back down pop culture memory lane that makes our eyes light up, nod our heads, and laugh? I just saw an episode of “I Love the 90’s” and they showed clips of “Sex & the City”, Monica Lewinski, the Backstreet Boys, Swing (Brian Setzer Orchestra & Big Dad Voodoo Daddy), Teletubbies, Martha Stewart, Soccer Moms, Mark McGwire, Jerry Springer (“trailer trash circus”), and Natalie Umbruglia (what was she so torn about anyway?). I didn't even think that the 90's constituted as historical enough to be on a show called "I Love the 90's." It’s amazing how easily these things are forgotten, but how easily they come to mind. In this world of chaos and confusion, the familiarity of something gone by is almost warm and fuzzy.

Hearing all the great songs played on the show (emphasis on “great”) made me realize that we all get stuck in a decade of music and stop “moving on” with the times…and that I’ve definitely gotten stuck in the decade of the 90’s! I can’t think of the last time I tuned into a Top 40s radio station, because I didn’t recognize any of the songs and frankly, didn’t enjoy what I was hearing…and to think, I used to make fun of Brian for being such a 80s flashback with his diehard passion for the Petshop Boys and his totally 80s haircut.

What is it about change that scares us into hanging on for dear life to the glory days of the past (even if means we completely rehaul that glory of the past)? Selective memory at work.