I’m Afraid Of Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Backstreet Boys And N’Sync

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1NUHrYLsws&w=584&h=390]

This was a song that went viral back in 2002 and pretty much sums up my personal 90s teenybopper era. Though I cannot really grasp what the song is about to this day, hearing a few seconds of it gets my brain stuck on it for hours on end.

I was obsessed with Pop back then and somehow managed to memorize almost every song ever released by Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, the Backstreet Boys, N’Sync, the Moffatts and M2M. My eldest sister suckered me, my other sister and my cousin into making a bunch of “music videos” of us lip synching to their songs. Oh the memories. Oh the lost videotapes that must be burned if they ever resurface.

But I’m not ashamed to say I absolutely loved the 90s. I loved the shows, especially. I feel like they don’t make them like that anymore. It’s not just that the shows out there aren’t made for my generation. I thought I might have just outgrown Disney and Nickelodeon, but I know that’s not the case. Recently, I watched episode after episode of Boy Meets World on YouTube, and after all this time, I still love it! Who could not be charmed by the magic created by Cory, Shawn, Topanga, Eric and Feeny on screen?

And what about those 90s books? Admittedly, reading about Jessica and Elizabeth Wakefield surviving kidnaps (in the plural), earthquakes, serial killers and evil cheerleaders is preferable to reading about today’s sparkly vampires having kinky sex in every other bestselling novel. Yes, I’m embarrassed to say I collected and revered the Sweet Valley series ten years ago.

Another thing I appreciated about growing up in the 90s was that we were in an era exposed to advancing technology, but our lives weren’t overrun by gadgets the way it is today. I appreciate the convenience that cellphones and social networking and mobile internet has given my social and academic life, but dinners and coffee dates reduced to silence with everyone’s eyes fixated on their little screens is a pain in the ass. I confess to being among those annoying avid Instragrammers and Tweeters—it gives me a way out of some boring conversations. But to have a group of twenty silent friends all posting about their current reunion in real time, seventy times in a row really pushes the social media limits. Really, stay home and log onto a group chat instead. But that’s another topic for another time.

I remember how playtime used to be spent during my childhood. We used to act out Power Rangers every chance we got—the original Power Rangers. Not the Turbo or Ninja or Whatnot, but the Ivan Ooze and Rita Repulsa and Lord Zedd (though this is already a second-generation team) era. They wore spandex and transformed into huge-ass animals—how could that not be cool? I still get thrills down my spine whenever I hear the soundtrack to this movie.

I miss the 90s. The music, the shows, the books, the movies–even the Polly Pockets and the actual paper dolls. There was too much good stuff in those years to not have been happy growing up then. In fact, when some new viral-but-totally-brain-damaging thing comes out these days, I retreat into my 90s world with my 90s playlist and my 90s shows and my 90s movies and reminisce about a wonderful time that had come to pass, but will never be forgotten.

So, good people of the 90s, anything you’d like to recommend for my trips to the past? Let’s be nostalgic together!