What ever happened to 90s music? Yes, I know, the 90s are over, but is there a reason that all the good stuff vanished? Don’t mistake me here. Stuff like Katy Perry and Kesha is fun to dance to, and Adelle has a wonderful voice. However the sound of today’s popular stuff is very different than what it used to be. The music of the early 2000s has an electronic feel that looks back to the 80s, but without the really noticeable electric guitar and opera-like vocals. Pop punk, dance pop, and hip hop has taken center stage. It’s fun and bouncy, but it leaves me missing something.
The power pop of the 90s (thanks, Wikipedia, for telling me what it was!) has such a distinctive sound. All the bands still managed to sound unique and interesting in their own ways, but still. You hear a song by the Wallflowers, Third Eye Blind, Matchbox 20, Barenaked Ladies, or any of the one hit wonders ... it just screams 90s. It’s the soft male vocals. The bouncy power chords. The really cheery beats hiding really somber, trippy lyrics. They were fun songs about life, love, and death in the modern landscape, without all the oversexed stuff that’s everywhere nowadays, and doesn’t really have anything to do with me or my life.
Which is the big issue. I don’t go to clubs and wear fishnets and have Rihanna-style weird sexcapades. I can’t really relate to that. It’s fun to dance to, but at the end of the day it doesn’t really draw an emotional reaction. I forget about those songs as soon as they’re off the radio. But I won’t forget about listening to “One Headlight” by the Wallflowers when I was feeling down over my first crush, or “Semicharmed Life” by Third Eye Blind driving and head bopping in the car with my best friend, or “3am” by Matchbox 20 after my first hard breakup. Dance pop is fun, but 90s songs just get inside your head and heart in a way that Kesha and Gaga can’t.
So I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that a few new bands will go back and take a look at what we’re all missing.
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