In Defense Of The Late ‘90s - Early Aughts
Adding to the debate that millennials have inherited the leftovers in most every aspect of life – from the overabundant yet heavily defective capitalistic job market to witnessing the effects of climate change on our very own skin - it could also be argued that this mess of a thing we were catapulted into was indeed a mass of confusion and trying-too-hard from a pop culture point of view as well, at the moment the catapulting happened. Incidentally, “a mass of confusion and trying too hard” also seem to be the best descriptors for my generation. But perhaps I should just speak for myself. After all, the very nature of this piece might be too divisive to even try and pull an entire generation of well-respected young adults into the argument.
A good friend of mine recently pointed out to me how every decade of the 20th century had its own music genre that consecrated it: the ‘50s and ‘60s with the rock and rock and motown, the ‘70s had the classic rock and disco, while the ‘80s introduced us to R&B and launched us way out of space with the synth pop tunes. Even the early ‘90s introduced us to the grunge scene and gave us Nirvana and Pearl Jam.
After that, with the arrival of the mid to late 90s, the biggest shift in music history happened, and there was no way back from what our ears and eyes were subjected to: Flashy clothes, synchroised dance moves and the ever-present autotune. It was imminent. Living rooms, shopping centres, discotheques (yes, I still use that word) and basically every event happening in a public place.
So in terms of musical lottery and bragging rights, growing up with the tunes of the late ‘90s was really a losing ticket, and it dragged us well into the early years of the new millennium. Arguably, our generation had to work harder than any other generation before us to be able to construct, individually, a dignified musical knowledge with which to present ourselves to the world, without a ‘Dirty Pop’ or ‘This is a story about a girl named Lucky’ to sip into our brains during a conversation. The shame! The rage! The confusion!
Ok, before we chuck an entire musical decade down the trash chute, allow me to intervene! While all these statements did in no way come from snobbism (this is the same person whom I quote ‘The Room’ with or listen to Bad Lip Reading’s Bushes of Love with!), I think they needed a little more nuance to actually distinguish the ‘cheesy’ amongst the myriad of sound streams that sprung from that decade.
Indeed, we may have or may have not listened to Christina, The BSB and Britney non-ironically at the time because that’s what we were given (and some may even do it to this day, by their own choice, but let’s not name names). And don’t even get me started on pop music from my own country that decade! Disclaimer: the most listened to radio channel in my household, Europa FM, whose tagline was “The best music from the ‘80s to the present day” was like Forest Gump’s box of chocolates – you never knew what you’re gonna hear next – but one thing was sure: we were always living a decade or two behind, 99% of the time. That is, until the local music TV channels started gaining following – as the song goes, video sure as hell killed the radio star. I think that growing up in a post-communist country with a neo-latin language and having access to TV channels and radio stations that were finally welcoming the international tunes that were taking over the world, not only from the US and UK, but quite heavily from Latin America, was probably the best time for a young kid like myself. It expanded my realm of possibility, it transported me to different cultures and lifestyles in the span of 3 to 4 minutes – the world was big and full of options and I could actually enjoy more than just one! Plus, have you any idea the level of happiness at a party when you discover that only yourself and maximum two other people know all the lyrics to Amor A La Mexicana? That is a bond for life! Or at least for the remainder of that party!
So I ask thee: where would I be without the latin tunes of good ol’ MTV? Without Thalia, Gloria Estefan or Marc Anthony? Without ‘El Talisman’ or ‘Ojos Asi’? (for reference, the latter is a song from Shakira’s earlier ‘¿Dónde Están los Ladrones?, an album from an almost forgotten rock-era Shakira and one that I will never stop falling in love with – and that goes for both the album and Shak). Thus, my answer shall be: I’d be joyless, with no reference system to their pop culture and definitely without the love of speaking español-y. But above all, to quote another ‘90s legendary band, all I’d be is incomplete.
But of course, many of these genres, artists or videos might just be left aside, and in the end, the only identifiers for that entire decade of music will remain the catchy bops of boybands and pop princesses whose looks and outfits we desperately tried to imitate at the time, let’s be honest.
And sure, both the music videos and outfits may all have been out-of-space metallic, painfully multi-coloured and quite frankly incomprehensible from a practical and aesthetical point of view alike – but hey, that should me it all blinded us out of this fashion for at least the next hundred years, right?
*Disclaimer:
“Ooops… I Did It Again” is to this day my absolute favourite music video of all times, I watch it every time I happen to catch it on VH1 and whenever else I feel like watching it for myself on YouTube. Because unlike my 7-year old self who would have to wait in front the TV for the video to show and on many occasions be faced with disappointment, now I can watch it whenever the hell my cheesy-pop-loving muscle wants to. It makes me happy, I think it’s the greatest video ever and to me it’s up there in a higher sphere where all the perfect and beautiful things are and nothing can ever touch it. And if someone ever offers to help me re-create the video, my only request is to call me 1h before, just to brush up on the choreography. Please and thank you!