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RJ Classics

RetroJunk Classic: The 90s, My Memories, and The Present


I thought more about my childhood and the 90's in general. As I remember and ponder about the 90's and how it was the start of the tech boom, When R&B, Pop and rap became more mainstream and the anime craze went into full swing. I stop and think about how things not only were much easier then. But the mood over all was more Happy, Lighthearted, and free spirited then recent years have seen and shown. I'm gonna do a run down of a few things I lived with in the 90's give you guys a memory of it and my thoughts on it in present day. Without Further ado I give you my 90's thoughts and philosophy. Or to save the trouble a review of the 90's.



Music:


The 90's brought a boom of Rap, R&B, Pop and may other forms of music. From the twang of a country musician's guitar to the sound of a Grunge band to the popularity of Alternative Rock. Music in the 90's were a breed of their own that in some genres carry on into the present. Though I remember all the times a new pop or R&B song came on the radio I had to at least bounce my head a little bit because of the sound it had. The lyrics usually gave me mixed reactions as a kid. But if it had a catchy chorus and a good beat I was hooked.


The 90's also brought the boy band boom. I can recall fall outs on which was better N'Sync or Backstreet Boys in school. I was always a BackStreet Boys fan and still am to this day. I remember getting my first Backstreet Boys cassette tape and playing it none stop. I can barely remember what was on it. Which gives me an idea. If anyone knows this Cassette send me a song list of the cassette I would really like to hear a few song from it again. Back on topic. Last I heard BackStreet Boys won the boy band battle and continues to make music and go on tour and such. I still would love to go to a concert by them.


As for me looking back on 90's music in the present? I still enjoy it. On my Itunes it's the most dominate out of all my songs and playlists. I'm not that fond of today's music which usually annoys me and gives me a headache with a few exceptions. I'm surprised that these songs still hold up. They aren't only nostalgic but they are also more creative then most songs today. Do an experiment with me take a top 40 list from 2012 and take one from mid to late 90's. Now listen to the top 10 from both lists. I understand people have different tastes in music. The point I'm making is that the 90's had more lyrical structure then most of today's hits.


Television:



Tv in the 90's was a large staple of almost everyone's childhood in the 90's. We had many options to choose from but it ether was ether Nickelodeon , Cartoon Network or the Disney channel. We were blessed with Afternoon Cartoons, Friday night Cartoons, Saturday Morning Cartoons and Saturday Night Cartoons. Along with the cartoons themselves stretched the boundaries of what could be and not be shown on a kids show.


I loved watching tv growing up. So many good shows were on. I remember watching after school cartoons when I got home from school and how I would put my backpack to the side of the room and turn on the tv and play with my toys while watching tv usually was Toonami when I was Six. On Friday nights after I ate dinner and take a bath. I would watch Friday night cartoons. Usually Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. Then I would get up early to watch Saturday Morning cartoons. I usually watched Kids WB, Fox Kids, Cartoon Network or Nickelodeon. After the day was through and it was Saturday night. Then it was ether SNICK or Toonami until I had to go to bed. In the summer Tv was a bit more rare but I caught Stick Stickly here and there.


As I looked back with the quality of shows then and shows now. Kids show wise I can't stand to see what most of the stuff that is currently on for kids recently. I have a few theories that are most likely the cause of this happening.


Soccer moms /Over protective parents:


The most likely of the causes. For some reason during the late 90's there was a boom in soccer moms that are usually over protective and find offense to every little thing. Are all Soccer moms this? No of course not. However a majority are over protective of their kids and will complain about everything under the sun that isn't what she or they don't see fit in their Germ free bubble. Perfect example would have to be with Ben and Jerry's Shweddy Balls ice cream flavor (My personal favorite B&J's flavor) . A group called One Million moms thought it was inappropriate for store shelves and was eventually pulled from shelves after their petition to get rid of it. Same may have happened with the kids shows on tv at some point in the 2000's someone probably didn't like what was playing on tv and complained to the station about it.


Lazy Writers and bad writers:


Here's one probably alot of people that compare the 90's to today miss on a reason tv fell down. Bad and/or Lazy writers are another likely cause. A good example is with Rugrats. I noticed that before the first movie the writing was great and was a good show. However as each of the movies came out the writing got less and less creative and interesting and more and more bland boring and eventually repetitive. I used to be a huge rugrats fan as a kid. Though now I'm still a fan of the episodes before the movies. It seems as if the writers were ether A. Running out of ideas or B. Were just getting bored and didn't want to put in effort into making a good episode. Though now it seems to be common place to not care about writing thinking that kids will watch anything.


Budget:


Shows like any movie or tv show they have a budget and have to work with it. This can kill a show that is in it's prime or kill it before it really takes off. A good Budget can get good writers and animators. If they don't you get bad writers and animators. The finger to point on this? Well hard to exactly say. Many things could cause this. Such as The big wigs of the studios cut the budget or workers want more pay among other reasons. Budget though is a big drive with making a good show.


Studios:


Even though it takes a few people to come up with an idea for a show it takes a studio willing to take the risk and fund the show with a budget. Now most shows usually get by with a decent or small budget. Others that have promise but are out of a usual standards of a kids show are usually snubbed cause of they as of late don't want to take a risk or just feel it won't work.


These are just the more likely theories of the downfall of Tv after the 90's.


As for regular tv I usually don't pay that much attention since I tend to be online more then tv. However there are some good shows that run on tv still. Such as the recently ended House as well as


Technology:


There was a large tech boom during the mid and late 90's with the invention of the internet. We had what other generations now just take for granted and just want more. To be fair a few people in our own generation do the same. We were the first to have internet and Ipods.


I was behind on internet and especially an Ipod. I didn't get home internet till early 2000s and didn't get my Ipod till 2005 and that died a year ago and haven't gotten one since. Some never had or still don't have that kind of luxury that is the internet. Though schools were using it alot.


As for a present take on it I'd have to say that I can't judge something like this cause as soon as I do something else comes up.


Culture:


The last topic before I call this article a close culture is something that turns after each generation. The 80's kids had their own fads as us 90's kids did and so on. We had Pogs, Beanie Babies, Plad, Slap bracelets, etc, etc.


I was born in 91 so for me the culture came to me when I was about 4. I loved beanie babies and still do I got caught up in the anime craze of the mid 90's (Pokemon, Digimon, etc etc) Me and fads usually don't get along that well even in the 90's. So as for memories of fads I can't really say outside of getting a beanie baby every Christmas.


As for my take on culture today. It's hard to say because of my mention of me not really getting along with fads and culture. However what I will say is that the culture of today is a mixed bag a VERY mixed bag. What I mean is that for every good thing there are 10 different bad things. The culture of this generation from my perspective needs alot of work. Though that's just me.


Overall if I can put the 90's into Three words it would be fun, Imaginative and creative. We lived in a much more free spirited decade where our forms of entertainment such as the cartoons we watched pushed boundaries and made it where both kids and adults would watch the same thing. Things were more creative and imaginative as it was creative. A few friends I asked why they miss the 90's the most common response I got was that things were easier. Yea things were easier. However we were kids back then. Now we are adults so yea things will be harder. However I don't know if that was the whole charm of the 90's was just us being kids. I feel that it's both what we grew up with AND what grew from it. So is the 90's better then present day? That's something I can't truly say because we are adults now and can't compare our childhood to ones of recent years. However I've seen god knows how many people say if you didn't grow up with what we grow up with you pretty much didn't exist. I say show kids today what we grew up with. It'll be a nostalgia trip for you and an experience for kids of this generation to see what we watched at their age. Instead of insulting the new generation show them what we watched, listened and experienced as a kid. I'll leave this article that I found from another article that I actually think would be our kind of heaven. I don't know why but this picture gives me a feeling of both nostalgia and a touch of sadness. I called it "The Ghosts of the 90's"


This is ThatDudeintheHoodie saying live life and live 90's.


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Benjanime Posted on Feb 21, 2019 at 06:52 AM

speaking of r and b, remember when those types of songs would play during the end credits of certain animated movies like space jam and cats don't dance?

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