What Happened To?

I am feeling a bit nostalgic at the moment. It could very easily be the lack of quality sleep lately. But, with the help of the one person save my parents that I have known the longest, my friend Gio, we spent the last hour or so texting back and forth. The topic? Things that were cool or popular or famous in the 90s that everyone would have banked on being around for years. These things range from people to music to toys. Sit back and enjoy the trip down memory lane. Try to imagine you are sitting in your grade school classroom and you are 12 again.

Rollerblades- I know I know, people still rollerblade. But do they really? You hardly see anyone blading passed you on the street anymore. And I am okay with this. I get scared when people run passed me. You can imagine my fear of someone on rollerblades coming up behind me.

Sega- Gio and I first singled out Sega Dreamcast, but then quickly realized that with the dominance of Sony and Microsoft in the video game realm lately, and the recent resurgence of Nintendo…where did Sega go?? You had Genesis and Saturn, as well as Dreamcast. And that was just in North America. You also had to the handheld Game Gear which was the first color-screen handheld!!!! I miss Sega. Sadly, they stopped making consoles due to low sales in 2001. Enter sad face here.

Beanie Babies- Well, this wouldn’t be a proper list without this inclusion.

The XFL- Vince McMahon’s wonder project here. The mastermind behind the WWF (or whatever the correct acronym is now) woke up one morning and ate one too many chewy entrepreneurial multi-vitamins and decided to mix the barbaric rules of wrestling to the already slightly barbaric rules of the NFL. This was no tag team. (You see what I did there???) Now that I think about it, I don’t think anyone (including Vince) thought this was going to last passed the one year it did.

Lou Bega “Mambo #5”- Who had his CD? *Zach emphatically raises his hand* Nobody on Earth could say that this wasn’t their jam. I dare you to defy that previous statement. Perhaps in public it wasn’t…but secretly you loved it. I just youtubed this and not only was I instantly victim to singing along, but I kind of want to devote a whole post to this song. But I want subject you to that. Some last minute thoughts on Lou and his song, I mean masterpiece:

- Angela, Pamela, Sandra, Rita, Monica, Erica, Tina, Mary, Jessica are the names of the women he loves

- It reached number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. I want to know how it failed to reach 1. It did however reach number 1 in the following countries: Germany, Canada ay, Greece, Mexico, Norway, UK, Italy…and number 5 in Japan. Seriously? You are telling me that there were four songs better than this in November of 99 in Japan?? Recount!!!!!

- The Rolling Stone magazine voted this the 6th most annoying song of all-time. Seriously? You are telling that there are five more annoying songs than this?? Recount!!!!!

- This is by far my favorite tidbit- This song was intended (for someeeee reason) to be the theme song to the 2000 Democratic National Convention but fell through due to the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. I love it.

- And finally, any song that has the opening lyrics of “1, 2, 3, 4, 5” has my vote as amazing songwriting.

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfvJOL1gpic&feature=related

See the vid here

Boy Bands- Everyone remembers *NSYNC and BSB, and probably even 98 Degrees, but what about LFO? O-Town? I wasn’t too into O-Town but LFO introduced me to Abercrombie! I distinctly remembering singing along to this song with my mom in the car, letting her know that I like girls who wear Abercrombie and Fitch…and then abruptly stopping to ask her what the hell Abercrombie and Fitch was. It was akin to me asking her “Mommy, where do babies come from?” Only this time, she didn’t tell me to go ask my father.

Oh also, any of you people looking to determine who was better between The Justin 5 or Backstreet Grown Men? Sorry Justin. All we have to do is look at the record sales for TOTAL albums sold: 120 million for BSB to 56 million for NSYNC. And amazingly, some boy band from Ireland named Westlife (??) has somehow managed to sell 40 million records? Nice.

Fashion- Starter Jackets. Athletic Jerseys ( I realize people still wear these but unless you are doing so at a game or while actively cheering your fav team on, it is just extremely lame). Baggy Jeans. Baggy Shirts. Baggy Sweaters. Baggy Underwear. Baggy Socks. Bowl Haircuts.

Toys- Beanie Babies could be included in this too, but I really hope people didn’t collect these to actually play with. That totally takes down the value!!!! But what about Furby? Tamagotchi? Giga Pets? SKIP IT!!!! The Powerful P toys: Power Rangers, Pogs, and Pokemon (gotta catch em allll). Super Soaker? But the number one toy from the 90s? C’mon. You know. Tickle Me Elmo.

WWJD Bracelets¬ But really. What would He?

There are so many more topics to discuss. But I have already babbled long enough. Feel free to leave comments on some you remember that Gio and I might have missed.