Discussion Post: Why the 90s Were the Best

Discussion Post: Why the 90s Were the Best

There's a couple of things that have prompted this post. I've been kind of reading this nonfiction book called Sexy Feminism (because kind of is how I always read nonfiction. I'll pick it up and read a chapter or two, put it aside for days, rinse, repeat. I'm lame, I know), and it made me think about my teen years when I was a pretty gung-ho feminist (not that I'm not now, but definitely not with the same energy that I was when I was 15 or 16--although I don't do anything with that kind of energy any more) that was spurred on by the awesome magazine that existed back in the day called Sassy. Reflecting on Sassy made me reflect on all kinds of other things that made the 90s an awesome decade to be a teen. These are just a few:

Sassy Magazine

Sassy Magazine was this insanely awesome magazine that existed from 1988-1994 which were my most formative preteen/teen years. Everything about Sassy rocked. It put real girls on its covers, and every issue featured work that real teens had sent in from poetry to short stories. It introduced me to books and music outside of the mainstream. It showed me a world that was so different from the one I was living in small town Wyoming. It recognized that not every girl was a blonde cheerleader (and even though I was a blonde cheerleader it wasn't the only thing I was). It talked about feminism in a way that made me proud to start identifiying myself as a feminist. It introduced me to the Riot Grrl movement and bands like Bratmobile and Bikini Kill.

I still have a stack of the magazine in a crate with my books--much to my husband's dismay, but I just can't get rid of them. The magazine went completely downhill after Jane Pratt, the editor, left and the magazine got taken over by a different publisher who immediately turned it in to every other teen magazine that has ever existed (Teen/Seventeen/YM, etc). It, of course, folded shortly after because the publisher obviously just didn't get the point: What made it so cool was its uniqueness. It was cool in that leather jacket, pack-a-day, bad-girl way we all admired, but kind of feared.

Jane Pratt eventually moved on and founded Jane magazine just in time for my 20s. Jane was pretty awesome, too, although maybe not quite as awesome as Sassy.

My So-Called Life

  

How to explain my love for My So-Called Life? I plan on doing a full review of the first, and only season, so I'll try to keep this as brief as possible. My So-Called Life aired during the 1994-1995 TV season and spoke directly to my soul. Everything about it was amazing. It was just so real. The friendships, the crushes, the parents (and mad props to actually giving the parents a real story line, too). Jordan Catalano. I was Angela Chase in high school, down to dying my hair bright red and having an obsessive crush on a guy in my algebra class for way, way too long. I recorded, and kept, every episode of this show on VHS and watched them over and over until the tapes stopped working. And then I bought it on DVD when the box set came out. I can literally recite whole episodes. I cried when I heard it got cancelled. Worst decision ever.

If you've never seen this show, you need to rectify this immediately. If you have seen it, than I know that I'm just preaching to the choir. 

P.S. I'm working on that full review. It will be up sometime this Spring. 

 

The Music:

 

 

Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Hole, Dave Matthews Band, Smashing Pumpkins. These bands, and many more, made up the soundtrack of my teen years. Shit, they make up my soundtrack now. Angst-y, loud, and made of awesome.

The Movies:

   

 

Clueless, Reality Bites, Empire Records, Singles, and Election are just a few of the movies that I watched over and over and over again when I was in high school. Other movies that teen me loved were 80s gems like Pretty in Pink, Say Anything, and Heathers, but I didn't think it was fair to include them seeing as how this is about how the 90s ruled. 

The Fashion:

 

Oh, Grunge. So fun, so comfortable, so full of plaid. 

The Books

I'd feel remiss not mentioned any books in this post, but this is a hard one. I absolutely loved The Secret Circle series and read the series repeatedly. It's when I first discovered Bret Easton Ellis (although I haven't been able to stomach anything he's written lately. Anybody else read the sequel to Less Than Zero? It made me want to cry). I picked up The Robber Bride after reading a review of it in Sassy. To this day, it is probably my favorite novel of all time.

You Could Disappear:

 

There were no cell phones and social media. I know that cell phones make life easier, but I cannot even imagine having to deal with mean girl shit on FB/Twitter/whatever site the kids are into these days. It seriously makes me break out into hives just thinking about it. The worst I ever had to deal with is three-way calling attacks.

No Caller ID or *69:

You could stalk (ahem, yeah no, stalk is the right word) that cute boy all you wanted. But you know he knew it was you.  

In other words, the 90s were totally awesome, and I'm so happy that I got to spend my teen years in that decade. 

As always, I'd love to hear from you. Are you a 90s girl, or did you grow up earlier or later? Want to make a case for your decade if you did? Did I miss anything? Let me know!