The 90s Revival Started in 1998
I’m kind of curious to know what the 90s revival is going to spit out. I mean, it’s presumably inevitable that some time in about 2012 or so we all start looking back at that decade with a sort of patronising, nostalgic affection, but I am still struggling to entirely picture it.
Firstly, perhaps because of my age, I don’t yet look at the 90s with a kind of horrified fashion thrill that is something like revulsion mixed with fascination. This kind of curious horror preceded both the 70s and 80s revival, for me, but I can’t quite see what was so incredibly 90s about the 90s just yet. I’m sure it will come.
I also can’t quite picture the music that will have to be critically re-appraised. The 90s was the era of Britpop, basically, but Britpop doesn’t really sound either laughably old-fashioned or woefully misguided to my ears. Sure, there were shit bands, but the movement itself doesn’t make me cringe enough to be the pre-cursor to a good ironic reinvention. Maybe this will come with time.
Still, I may not be able to imagine quite what music the 90s revival will seize upon and drag back up to the peak of Mount Revisionism just yet. I can’t picture quite what that smug prick of a hipster will put on the stereo with an unbearable look of arch irony and condescending, self-satisfied superiority while all his friends gape in awe at his audacity. ‘Oh my god, dude, that’s like so nineties.’ Mind you, perhaps not. Because things being ‘like so‘ anything is just like so nineties to begin with.
Anyway, I remember making a tape once which I called Learn to Bop With the Brits, which was basically a 90s Revival tape made in about 1998. It had some Wonderstuff, some Inspiral Carpets, a bit of Morrissey, some Echobelly, a bit of James and god knows what else on it. The tape itself is long gone, and I barely remember what was on the thing, but it wouldn’t make a bad starting point for that 90s revival that we’re presumably all going to succumb to in the next four or five years.
Inspiral Carpets – Saturn V
James – Sound
Belly – Untitled & Unsung
Wonderstuff – Welcome to the Cheap Seats
Morrissey – Seasick, Yet Still Docked
I remember before Britpop people looking at each other and saying that we weren’t going ot have anything to revive because we were too busy reviving the past. It has become fashionable in some quarters to slag off Britpop but there were some great bands, and it wasn’t all white boys with guitars (Echobelly, Elastica and Sleeper did start off doing some great stuff), and if it led to the arse-end of britpop with bands like Ocean Dullard Scene, remember that disco, for example, fell into cheese and many genres have crap (we can’t blame Nirvana and Green Day for shite like Nickelback and Sum-41, for example).
But for me: music-wise: Blur, Hole, Massive Attack, Oasis, Smashing Pumpkins, Suede, Pulp, Boo Radleys, Nirvana, Portishead, Tricky, Jungle/Dum’n’ Bass, Primal Scream, DJ Shadow, Beck, Jurassic 5…
…and I never want to hear bloody ‘Angels’ by Robbie Williams ever again.
As for the clothes, well, that Kurt top’ll probably replace the Ramones ones in Top Shop at some point soon. Sigh…
Ed
Interestingly enough, I was watching Reality Bites last night and thinking, “god, this movie is ridiculously ’90s.” Maybe it’s different for me being from Los Angeles – I remember a lot of the movies, music and fashion from the L.A. ’90s and can definitely pinpoint something that reminds me of that time – but with music in particular, I think grunge, and also minimalist guitar rock/indie rock as a genre (think Pavement, Toadies, Belly, Breeders), are already in the process of coming back. I didn’t grow up on your side of the world, so correct me if I’m wrong, but I get the impression that there’s sort of a pre-Libertines/post-Libertines division of Britpop and rock over there. Is that not the case? I say this mainly because I don’t see ’90s Britpop as having gone out of style the way American ’90s rock did, and the only transition I can think of is the Libertines and their followers.
On a side note, I do believe Pauly Shore is about due for a comeback as well!
China, interesting point about the Libertines. It’s fair to say that they did spearhead a new wave of British guitar rock, which had been deeply unfashionable circa 1998-2001 but now sees bands playing massive gigs here. Guess everything goes in cycles…
Edx
Yeah grunge was definitely a very definable sound that was hugely popular. It was also probably the first real movement in music that I got into at the time it was actually popular – a lot of the stuff I liked up to then was much older.
And I think you’re right that British guitar rock from the 90s didn’t seem to go way out of fashion in the way you’re talking about. After Britpop fizzled out the garage blues stuff from Detroit was big over here, and then the Strokes and the Libs hit, but we’re definitely back in a much more pop-friendly era at the moment. Most of the guitar bands emerging now aren’t anything like a ramshackle and basic as the deliberately low-fi stuff we were all into in about 2001 or so.
Bands like Portishead and Bjork are interesting because they were also very much of that time, although I couldn’t name exactly how I think they will be resurrected.
If there’s a proper Britpop revival I just hope that the new generation discovers the pure joy of The Popguns. I’ve been listening to them quite a lot lately and this is just the most criminally unrerrated band ever to walk the planet. “Because He Wanted To”? There is no good reason why this song was not the biggest hit of its generation. And the same goes for “Landslide,” “Waiting for the Winter,” “Bye Bye Baby”, etc.
When the telly-folk do start taking the piss out of the 90s, they will do so by highlighting some naff acts like Menswear and one-hit gimmicky wonders like Flat Eric.
Most of those doing the reminicising will be London media whores who will wistfully remember the likes of Carter USM, Suede, Saint Etienne, Sleeper, Lush, Elastica, Gomez, and the Boo Radleys, all of who came and briefly conquered for a while.
Not forgetting a special programme all on its own devoted to Trainspotting…
You heard it here first.
You just reminded me of how much I miss Lush.
…and nobody has mentioned the Spice Girls yet
For which can be eternally grateful!
I’m waiting for the ironic re-appraisal of Menswear and Gay Dad.
Also for me, the latter part of the 90s was all about BIG BEAT. A lot of that seems quite dated now. I can feel a blog post coming on…
Acid fucking Jazz.
Oh god, I can honestly say i would rather listen to Menswear than Acid fucking jazz.
Though not compared to say, the first three massive attack albums, obviously…