"Hey, It’s the ’90s"

February 7, 2022 1:52 PM

Our expectations for the decade (and beyond) were doomed from the very start [Mel Magazine, with YouTube supercut]

Bonus: 25 years of 1997 including...

The Sleazeball Publicist Who Manufactured Grand Theft Auto’s Notorious Reputation
How Chumbawamba Tricked Everyone into Thinking ‘Tubthumping’ Was a Pop Song
Today’s Hottest Porn Stars on the Porn of 1997: A Roundtable
What Lesbian Would Give Up Beautiful Women for Ben Affleck’s Weird Goatee?

and many more...

[Assume links are NSFW, especially the porn star interview one]

posted by chavenet (36 comments total)

This is all I need to know
posted by thelonius at 2:03 PM on February 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

Tubthumping is IMO not in fact about the pub as, like, a site of workingclassness; it's "Timebomb" recast as a drinking song. It's a song about the unkillable potential in ordinary people, a thing that I am thrilled the Chumbas seemed to have believed in as recently as the late nineties.

They are good people who believe their beliefs, even if it didn't do much good. On balance, as someone who was a fan before, during and after "Tubthumping", I think they would have achieved more if they'd stayed small because a small number of passionate people is better than a large number of people who were once told on the television to steal a record if they couldn't afford it. It was a gallant effort, though, you've got to admit.

All that raging against the machine and dub foundation-ing - even though we were all totally, totally wrong, I definitely miss that moment when there was still enough outside to think that you could change things by going inside. It's all inside now, so far as pop culture with big reach is concerned.
posted by Frowner at 2:37 PM on February 7, 2022 [11 favorites]

The other day, as film nerds often do, we were talking about Kevin Smith's career trajectory (spurred by the announcement of a Degrassi reboot). We all had differing films from his oeuvre we'd never watch again but the one we all agreed upon that none of us wanted to ever revisit - Chasing Amy. So terrible.
posted by Ashwagandha at 2:41 PM on February 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

The other thing about Chasing Amy, speaking as someone who was a young queer person when it came out....well, it's not like there were literally zero totally straight-passing long-haired blond lesbians around, but, like, I went to a small liberal arts college where several of the women in my GLBTQ group were in fact long-haired blond lesbians and you could tell they were queer. That's not to diminish femme erasure, but it was pretty unusual to be a young lesbian who had absolutely the same affect, hair, make-up and clothes as her straight peers and was also out enough to tell a man about her orientation.

I'd say that mainstream media still often has the problem of "queer characters, especially women because gotta appeal to the men, who are totally unrecognizable as queer people" but representation has improved a lot.
posted by Frowner at 2:55 PM on February 7, 2022 [12 favorites]

Also in 1997, An Oral History of Soap Shoes, the only sneaker to ever come with a warning label.
posted by box at 3:04 PM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Tangentially, it's interesting how we haven't taken to referring to decades this way in this century. Evidently, the '20s, for example, will always refer to the 1920s and so forth.
posted by Jess the Mess at 3:04 PM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Our expectations for the decade (and beyond): we're doomed from the very start.
posted by jamjam at 3:07 PM on February 7, 2022 [2 favorites]

Blows my mind a bit that the (late, lamented) 'Straight Dope' predicted 'the aughts' in 1975.
posted by box at 3:12 PM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think we will get more and more moody pieces about the '90s, which I have already begun seeing, now that the people who were young and hopeful then are middle-aged and miserable. When I began to see '90s pop culture nostalgia, driven by the people who were children then, I was bewildered: it was boring, I said. Sure, there was some good TV and the flannels were warm, but --

Well, that wasn't the point. It was boring because it was safe. I was a teenager, obsessed with books and writing and love. I thought the world would offer an abundance of all these things, that I only had to reach out my hand and take them. In short, I was a kid like millions of other kids then and very few of them today: I was certain that I had a future.

The cup is bitter and deep. I think I'll go find that TMBG cover of "Tubthumping" where they start singing "Danny Boy" in the middle.
posted by Countess Elena at 3:27 PM on February 7, 2022 [21 favorites]

Also in 1997, An Oral History of Soap Shoes, the only sneaker to ever come with a warning label.

Sonic the Hedgehog taught me that Soap Shoes were awesome, and god damnit he was right!
posted by Mr.Encyclopedia at 3:34 PM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

I think I'll go find that TMBG cover of "Tubthumping" where they start singing "Danny Boy" in the middle.

Not to take anything away from your comment, but they do that in the original too.
posted by everdred at 5:56 PM on February 7, 2022 [9 favorites]

That “porn of 1997” link is wild. Just wild. As a teenager in the mid 90s, one of my closest friends’ dad used to rent pornos from the video store and then ask my friend to return them for him when he went out. Super classy. But as a result he has seen every single ass-related porn parody of the 80s and 90s.

Also I am still waiting for wide leg jeans to return. I just want jeans with a 30 inch leg opening. Is that too much to ask?
posted by uncleozzy at 6:13 PM on February 7, 2022 [4 favorites]

Also in 1997, An Oral History of Soap Shoes, the only sneaker to ever come with a warning label.

A few years ago I bought a pair of light-up LED sneakers and they came with a warning label! It said not to get them wet. I have occasionally been unable to avoid wearing in the rain but have successfully kept them out of puddles and most of the lights do still work.
posted by HypotheticalWoman at 6:57 PM on February 7, 2022 [1 favorite]

GTA was weak sauce compared to Carmageddon.
posted by credulous at 7:10 PM on February 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

Carmageddon

Oh, it's a game. That's just what I used to call the south end of Somerville.
posted by Reasonably Everything Happens at 10:37 PM on February 7, 2022 [5 favorites]

Once again DEVO was right.
posted by boilermonster at 11:20 PM on February 7, 2022 [3 favorites]

Also I am still waiting for wide leg jeans to return. I just want jeans with a 30 inch leg opening. Is that too much to ask?

Nope. Here you go.
posted by RobinofFrocksley at 5:27 AM on February 8, 2022 [4 favorites]

"As a kid, I was taught from history textbooks that wrapped up with the dismantling of South Africa’s apartheid regime and the election of Nelson Mandela as president, plus a rosy implication that everyone’s life would simply get better from then on."

It's now occurring to me that 9/11 wasn't really included in any of the print textbooks I had as a student, including late into HS. I don't know what standard of current event inclusion to expect from a history textbook, but I watched towers fall on the morning news before school in the 2nd grade. I graduated in 2012.

“I wish it need not have happened in my time,” said Frodo. “So do I,” said Gandalf, “and so do all who live to see such times."
posted by shenkerism at 6:34 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

But as a result he has seen every single ass-related porn parody of the 80s and 90s.

Oh, and one copy of Happy Scrappy Hero Pup.
posted by 7segment at 6:35 AM on February 8, 2022 [7 favorites]

...that I only had to reach out my hand and take them.

As a former '90s English major I loved your comment. It also reminds me of this post that I think of a lot.
posted by johngoren at 7:17 AM on February 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Nope. Here you go.

I buy $20 jeans at Costco. $135 is like my clothing budget for half a decade, at least. But yes. I want those.
posted by uncleozzy at 7:23 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

My expectations for this decade are nil. And so far, it has delivered in spades.

Sure, it sounds pessimistic, but the 90s taught us you shouldn't expect anything from any decade.
posted by tommasz at 7:31 AM on February 8, 2022 [3 favorites]

Not to take anything away from your comment, but they do that in the original too.

Ah! That's fair. I don't remember it too well, except for the chorus. I never listened to it on my own account; the name "Chumbawamba" gave me the same unpleasant feeling that some people have about "moist." I was the kind of kid who didn't listen to the radio, and at at the time, I frequently confused Chumbawamba with Jamiroquai, and their little devil-guy mascot I would confuse with the hatchet guy from Insane Clown Posse, resulting in a smeary continuum of them all. Personally, I was into showtunes, and insufferable.

As a former '90s English major I loved your comment. It also reminds me of this post that I think of a lot.

Thank you! That's a really sweet article. I miss the Awl.
posted by Countess Elena at 8:02 AM on February 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

It's now occurring to me that 9/11 wasn't really included in any of the print textbooks I had as a student, including late into HS. I don't know what standard of current event inclusion to expect from a history textbook, but I watched towers fall on the morning news before school in the 2nd grade. I graduated in 2012.

(slight derail: This is less to do with standards of current event inclusion and more to do with the budgets districts have for book purchases, unfortunately. We were including 9/11 in pretty much all history and lit textbooks by 2005, but odds are your school did not have the newest and shiniest textbooks unless by some lucky chance you were in a wealthy CA or TX district)
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:03 AM on February 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

Previously
posted by acb at 8:34 AM on February 8, 2022 [1 favorite]

MetaFilter: into showtunes, and insufferable.
posted by chavenet at 9:49 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

Tangentially, it's interesting how we haven't taken to referring to decades this way in this century.

I'd say the cultural/political "eras" of this century don't really break down into decade-ish chunks, but more like:

9/11/01 - 2008 (when the Great Recession hit)
2008 - 2016 (election of Trump)
2016-2020 (pandemic)

I realize that these coincidentally fall along Presidential terms, but I don't think that's necessarily the defining characteristic. The Great Recession happened to start as the real estate bubble burst at the end of Bush's term. Trump was the culmination of currents that had been steadily strengthening in the Obama years. The pandemic happened to occur at the end of Trump's presidency, etc. Though the current period might be called the "post-Trump" era, or possibly retroactively the "Trump Interregnum" should Trump win/steal the win in 2024.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:51 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

Maybe we should just adopt the historical (and in Japan still-current) practice of naming eras after the ruler of the time, so this year would be Biden 2 and we can refer to the "great plague of the fourth year of Trump".
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:57 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

Sure, it sounds pessimistic, but the 90s taught us you shouldn't expect anything from any decade.

I think the aughts were the clincher. Some light Y2K hysteria, all of our hopes and dreams for the new millennium were so very, very crushed within the first two years of the new decade.
posted by Apocryphon at 10:16 AM on February 8, 2022 [3 favorites]

Huey Walker : “Once we get outta the 80's, the 90's are going to make the 60's look like the 50's.” Flashback (1990)

Worst prediction ever!
posted by _paegan_ at 11:52 AM on February 8, 2022 [2 favorites]

Why the Nineties rocked by Douglas Coupland

In the 1990s we still had the future, a place that you could travel to, that would be cool when you got there, like Australia or the South Pole. Right now we merely have a future, and a murky one at that, and it’s probably more like Kenosha, Wisconsin than Sydney.

posted by Apocryphon at 1:03 AM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]

Ah, Douglas Coupland. Yes, I distinctly remember his writing being so optimistic back in the 90s. [laughing-to-tears emoji that the "kids" love to hate]
posted by amanda at 10:21 AM on February 14, 2022 [2 favorites]

that article has some good chords but is bananas enough for its own FPP. Nobody was really surprised by 9/11? Good God man
posted by Countess Elena at 11:15 AM on February 14, 2022

I always say this, but I think that a difference between the nineties and the now is the presence of an outside in what you could call "popular alternative" culture. Like, I actually read Generation X when it came out, plus Greil Marcus's Lipstick Traces and a lot of the other fairly widely available anti-mainstream stuff. ReSearch Publications books, that kind of thing. And then I watched movies like Slacker, etc.

They all contained this general idea that you could drop out/opt out without your life being a total hideous precarious nightmare - you'd work a day job, maybe temp, and you would fairly easily make enough money for shared housing, you'd thrift all your stuff because thrift shops were still pretty good even in major metro areas, you'd do travel by bus on the cheap or do art and so on and just generally make the scene. Health insurance and student loans were problems, but because the internet was not so powerful, credit checks were less common and it was possible to float checks, get free copies at the copy shop and do various other things to lessen the financial burden this was a risk one might reasonably decide to take. If you were this sort of person, you were probably "political", either in the vague sense that you might turn up to a big event or protest or in the sense of being an activist of some kind.

This was all possible because things were not as locked down as they are now - student loans cost more now, credit checks mean that you can't ditch out on your debts, US-wide databases make it harder to just start over somewhere else. The internet had not totally upended picking and flea-marketing, so it was easier to do that as well.

And of course rents were a lot lower. In Minneapolis the real estate crash of the early eighties meant that there was lots of fairly cheap office/retail space, which meant that independent coffee shops, book stores, record stores and so on could flourish. (I actually wrote an article about this for an independent paper once - remember those?)

Of course, because it was easier to drop out, there was a lot more judgement of people who bought in. There's two sides to this - on the one hand, it was enormously unfair to anyone who did in fact need, eg, health insurance and stability. On the other, the culture we were expected to buy into was horrible - the same horrible culture we have today, but less ubiquitous and, to be fair, with less positive representation.

Now, today, there certainly are people who work precarious jobs and do art and activism, but it's a lot harder. You have to be much, much more committed and it's way easier to become homeless, plus the work is more abusive and more heavily surveilled. Sell-out discourse has mostly gone away because anyone who is paying attention realizes that conditions have changed and "selling out" doesn't just mean going from a broke-ish but stable bohemian life to wealth; it means going from total precarity to moderate security. To me, as a nineties person, it seems gross and depressing to have to commodify one's art by "becoming a brand", being an influencer, monetizing one's recipe blog, etc etc, but it's also pretty clear that there isn't too much of an alternative, so criticizing people is unfair and pointless.

In the nineties our critique was correct but the solution was out of our hands. That's true now too, but conditions are a lot worse.
posted by Frowner at 11:17 AM on February 14, 2022 [7 favorites]

that article has some good chords but is bananas enough for its own FPP. Nobody was really surprised by 9/11?

I think he needs to write a longer one, he spends too many words about the time he went hobnobbing at a Nirvana concert. I think his framing is fast and loose but

I do think that deep down, nobody was really surprised by 9/11. In some ways the 1990s were too good to last.

Makes a tinge of sense when both sentences are read together. Certainly few expected the '90s New World Order to collapse so spectacularly- or did we? Y2K panic porn was rampant, there was that late-90s trend of disaster movies, Tom Clancy and Michael Crichton technothriller novels, millennium fears, pop culture imagining all kinds of calamities to shake us out of first world utopia-lite.

I guess Coupland is saying a time so blandly pleasant and hopeful in the wake of the end of the Cold War had to receive something so drastically terrifying to shake us out of it.
posted by Apocryphon at 3:33 PM on February 14, 2022

Ha, yeah. Douglas Coupland in 2022:

In the 1990s we still had the future…

Douglas Coupland in his 1991 novel Generation X (emphasis original):

“Give parents the the tiniest of confidences and they’ll use them as crowbars to jimmy you open and rearrange your life with no perspective… I want to tell them I envy their upbringings that were so clean, so free of futurelessness.”

And also from Generation X:

Strangelove reproduction: Having children to make up for the fact that one no longer believes in the future.

posted by mbrubeck at 10:04 PM on February 14, 2022 [1 favorite]