Ahhhh, 7th grade. Those halcyon days when it was not only cool to wear flannel and ripped jeans, your popularity hinged on just how many holes those jeans had. When Kurt Cobain and Eddie Vedder ruled, and when the death of the former just hours before my 12th birthday party was cause for a seance among my closest girlfriends. It was the dawn of the 90s, or at least, what I remember as the dawn of the decade. Grunge rock was in, and no one was hotter than Nirvana.
(Pause for a funny antedote: Years later, almost after a decade after Kurt killed himself and the band had broken up, a friend's much younger brother remarked to me how much he adored Nirvana. I asked him what his favorite song was; he replied, "Smells Like Team Spirit"... funny, especially for a kid who didn't even play sports.)
Lately, I've been finding myself turning the dial of my XM radio to the "90's on 9" station on channel-- you guessed it!-- 9. Listening to the grunge of my middle school years to the lollipop boy bands of my high school days definitely takes me back. And each song has a memory.
The other day, I heard the old "Ace Of Base" standard "All That She Wants". I could instantly remember singing that song, along with my friends, during 6th grade homeroom. What did she want? Another baby! But to us, we didn't really hear (much less, understand) the words as much as we loved this "risque" element to a pop song.
Fast-forward though almost the entire decade, and you've got the band that-- I am so ashamed to admit-- more or less defined high school for me: Backstreet Boys. Yes, AJ, Nick, Brian, Howie and Kevin, the "men" (ahem, "boys") who guided me through relationship break-ups, dances in the high school gym, and homework sessions in my bedroom. But my pinnacle BSB moment (which is sadder? that I had a "pinnacle" moment with this band, or that I fluidly use the abbreviation BSB?) was the summer before my senior year of high school, when three of my best friends and I crammed into my little VW Jetta and rocked out to the band's newest smash hit, "I Want It That Way". Wait-- it gets worse. We also convinced our boss to play it over the loudspeaker at the pool where we worked during one slow day and performed the song for a dozen or so bathers... complete with hand gestures. Lame-O. Please don't judge.
They say music can define a generation. Rock 'n Roll defined the 50s. The Beatles characterized the 60s. For better or for worse, the 70s were the age of Disco. But for a child who came of age in the 90s, what music will define our generation? I'm not sure.
What songs do you remember from your youth? What memories do they conjure up for you today?
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I adore 90's country. Tim McGraw's "Don't take the girl..." Always sets me off. Can't decide (now) if it's the childhood sweetheart romance or the sad ending, but I LOVED that song when I was in school and I still do!
Whoa...that mention of Ace of Base just brought me flying back to all my high school memories! Wow thanks for the ride! = )
I love this post because Louisville recently got a new radio station - GenX radio. I haven't heard BSB yet, but a lot of Dave Matthews! I listen to it and remember my high school days. Being from VA, DMB was the big thing!
Woooo Girl I am so with you and the BACKSTREET BOYS!! I cut school about 3 X's just to get the mic on TRL on MTV to say they were #1! I was absouletly head over heals for Kevin & Nick lol :)
These music nostalgic moments happen to me all the time the ones that bring me back to high school is Korn & Metallica....I was an alternative grunge kind of chick with 10 chains, purple pig tails and a limp bizkit kinda clothing look except I had tighter shirts and :)
btw/ Yes even though I was a "rocker chick" I still was a sucker for Backstreet Boys ;)
Good Times...Good Times :)
For me Aerosmith would get my vote. From grade 7 with the release to Dream On to my high school years of Walk This Way, right through the 80's and 90's with Pump, Dude Looks Like A Lady, (I could go on and on naming their tunes but I think you get it) during my dating years and even a couple of years ago when I dragged my husband to one of their concerts.
Your mention of Ace of Base made me go to YouTube to look up the video of "The Sign," a song I haven't heard in years.
(And I fully admit to having spent years roaming the halls of middle school wearing flannel shirts.)
For me it is the song Closing Time it was a huge hit my senior year of high school to the point that the key note speaker even referenced it in her speech. Every time I hear it on the radion I am instandtly 17 again
Oh I was so crazy about Nsync!! LOL justin timberlake.. need I say more! WOW funny how music can take you back like that... neat post! :)
Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Violent Femmes were my big groups in high school. I was in college when KC committed suicide. We dedicated an entire drunk fest to his memory.
I loved grunge too but I was a little older when I was listening to them. They were my high school and college music.
Thanks for stopping by today. My husband likes to sterilize the contact cases and then freezes them so they can not grow germs. A little extreme to say the least.
Hello!!! Thank you for visiting my blog and for your sweet comment, although I must admit...your style totally surpasses mine ;)Your daughter is precious!!! Tonight, when the kiddies are asleep, I will come back and browse some more...
XoxoGapGirl
I love "90's on 9"! Every song brings back a memory of being so young and innocent. The first CD I bought was Nirvana and I think the 2nd CD was Pearl Jam! I think the term "grunge" defines the 90's.
my first high school boyfriend, when i was a young 15, introduced me to u2 and i've been hooked ever since. after we (gasp!) i mourned our relationship to the tuen of "with or without you." in college i rocked to "beautiful day."
thanks for the comment on my blog! i'm going to start following your's, being a working mom myself. :) your daughter is adorable!
Chris and I were JUST talking about how the best music came from our high school days. I was singing along to Oasis and Third Eye Blind over the weekend on this fabulous DC station we get ... and was reminescing. I remember driving with the windows rolled down, belting KC & JoJo's only single "All My Life." LOL ... good times.
Thanks for stopping by my blog! Your blog is adorable, I'm definitely a follower now. Your daughter is so stinkin cute, I miss my girls being that age already :(
Don't think twice about having a girls night Friday and a date night Saturday! Sometimes us momma's just need that time with our friends and hubby's in the same weekend! I have to remind myself the girls need that special time with their daddy as well so it was good for them to hang out Friday night!
I can also totally relate with all the music you mentioned in your posting today. Ace of Base, wowza! I totally forgot about them until I read your post, too funny!
Take care!
Thanks for stopping by my blog last week!
I love all nineties grunge music. Never got into the boy bands (I've blocked NKOTB from my memory!) It's so funny you mentioned Ace of Base- I heard one of their songs on the radio a couple of weeks ago!
Great post!!! You brought back SOOOO many memories lol
I grew up overseas - so we were at least a decade behind......so my 2000's were really 1990's......i love all the music you mentioned....and am not ashamed to crank up the stereo to a little backstreet's back ALRIGHT every now and then....
Hey Elizabeth! Thanks for the comment on my blog. I wanted to stop here and read your post on prayer as well...can't find it...perhaps it's right in front of me? :) Can you steer me in the right direction?
Mine are pretty similar to yours! But college was a big time for me musically- I went a thousand miles away and started listening to Jimmy Eat World, Puddle of Mudd, and Good Charlotte. But I think "At YOur Funeral" by Saves the Day really epitomized my freshman year of college. I listened to it about 50 times a week.
Oh heck yeah! You KNOW I turn on the 90's channel on my cable tv box when I am blogging at night! I think I'm only a couple years older than you, so I remember the same songs.
Had Ace of Base, BSB, Guns N' Roses. I went through ALL of those phases. Smells Like Teen Spirit - yep! Jodi Whatley, uh-huh. New Kids (the first round), absolutely.
I could probably list a million more, but yeah, it brings me back to my youth when I hear all those songs. Maybe that's why I am always listening to them?!
I love the 80s and 90s stations on Sirius. I find myself off in years past every time I listen! :)
I have added you in links. Hope you can link me up too. Thank You and God Bless!
Thanks for checking out my blog! Gotta love the full time working, full time mommy juggle! And aaaah the 90s! How 'bout Poison and Milli Vanilli? And even Extreme's More Than Words!
I'm a child of the 80's. There's nothing like the music from our youth to bring back a memory. My favorite: going to see Ozzy Osborne with my friend's boyfriend. We didn't really know who Black Sabbath was, so we dressed up in our best preppy outfits, collars turned up, penny loafers, purses with wooden handles and mix-n-match cloth covers. Talk about a fashion faux pas :-)
I was into Grunge music but I was in college when it was popular. In high school I was into hair metal.
Oh man, Nirvana was so 7th grade. Gosh I feel old now! lol I love listening to the 90's on TV while I clean.
Wow Ace of Base!!
Spice Girls!
Boyz II MEn, End of the Road, Senior year of high school
Nirvana, N SYNC was my favorite boy band, TLC, SWV, Janet Jackson "Like a Moth to a Flame Burned by the Fire", Jodeci, man so many more. I don't know what to call the 90's generation b/c I really think we are the same age. 30 right? I guess the HIp Hop generation?