By Kailyn Jennings
Staff Writer
You open Pandora and which station do you choose? Summer Hits of the 90s is an obvious choice…if you’re a true 90s kid.
What’s up with our obsession with the 90s? What epitomized the decade and made it so memorable to us?
People within the Bona Bubble have the answer covered, sharing their favorite aspects of the decade.
Nichole Gonzalez, executive director for Residential Living and Conduct, said she feels old for even being asked to reminisce on her college and grad school years. However, she obliged, and the question took her down memory lane.
“The 90s were about the social things – style, fashion, email, music. A song can come on now and instantly remind me of college,” Gonzalez said. “Alanis Morissette was just coming out, and her stuff was great.”
In addition to Morissette, Gonzalez said she enjoyed Rusted Root, Blues Traveler and the beginning of Dave Matthews Band.
She also reminisced on the television shows she used to watch.
“I was a little older, so I watched MTV and ‘The Real World,’” she said. “I watched ‘ER,’ too, before it was horrible. And ‘Friends’ – key TV stuff there.”
Music and TV weren’t the only things popular in the 90s. Fashion also played a major role.
“There was no defined hairstyle, but the Jennifer Aniston shag was in,” Gonzalez said. “And we did everything baggy. T-shirt with a flannel shirt over it, even when we went out. It’s embarrassing when I look back on it.”
The decade isn’t only remembered for its style and pop culture. There were numerous events that epitomized the years.
“The social stuff was where I was because I was in a bubble,” Gonzalez said. “So many other things were happening, like the Rwanda genocide, and I wish I had paid more attention outside of my own little world.”
“The 90s were a blast, but they definitely weren’t the 80s,” Rob DeFazio, director of the Center for Activities, Recreation and Leadership, said.
However, DeFazio said he did find some things to enjoy through the decade.
“The Bills were in the Super Bowl on a consistent basis,” he said. “There was also the expansion of the Internet, Zubaz pants and grunge music.”
First Year Experience and Orientation Director Chris Brown noted grunge music as a key part of the 90s as well.
“I tried to fit in. I went from Nirvana to grunge to Natalie Merchant and Alanis Morissette,” Brown said. “I remember being heartbroken when (Merchant) split from 10,000 Maniacs. I also remember being upset my parents wouldn’t let me go to Lilith Fair and trying to figure out why my friends wanted to go to Lollapalooza.”
Brown remembered some major pop-culture moments from the 90s.
“I watched ‘My So Called Life,’ and I remember ‘Survivor’ and being proud that I didn’t see ‘Titanic’ for years,” he said. “And then the Spice Girls, I almost cried when they broke up.”
Like Gonzalez, Brown classified T-shirts and flannels as a major fashion staples of the 90s.
“We also had slap bracelets,” Brown said. “You had to have one. Those were fabulous.”
Brown also recalled playing pogs. Pogs was a game played with discs. The “slammer” was thrown down and discs that landed face up were kept by the player. The player with the most discs won the game.
“Those were the absolute best,” Brown said. “I still have my slammer, but none of the actual pogs anymore.”
But the 90s went beyond style and pop culture, Brown spoke about what he remembers of the Gulf War.
“This was my first exposure to war,” Chris said. “One of the kids in my class brought in sand from Iraq that his father brought home. That was the first time I even remember war. And then they put ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ into law. I remember thinking that was progress.”
Jean-François Godet-Calogeras, professor of Franciscan Studies, spoke about his experience with moving to the United States in the 1990s and what highlighted his decade.
“It started in April of 1990 in Assisi, Italy. It continued to Feb. 14, 1992, when I got married,” he said. “It was a big turning point in my life. I also left Europe to move and resettle in America. I experienced the change of living from a small village to a big city, Chicago. My wife and I got involved in social justice issues regarding jobs, health care and education.”
According to Godet-Calogeras, what intrigued him the most about the U.S was the individualism that’s celebrated in our society.
“There was the belief that if you don’t make it, it is because you are lazy, which is not true,” he said. “But on a positive side, I enjoyed the land. America, the beautiful.”
He also enjoyed the music.
“I attended a concert of Dire Straits,” Godet-Calogeras said. “I am a guitarist myself, and I even had a rock band.”
Students find themselves loving the music of the 90s as well. Junior business major Andrew Dugan said he still favors music from the decade.
“To this day, my iPod and Pandora station only play the 90s,” Dugan said. “Bands like Third Eye Blind and Goo Goo Dolls have been a staple in my musical diet for as long as I can remember.”
Troy DeWeever, a sophomore music major, said he enjoys the era’s soundtrack as well.
“My favorite part of the 90s was the music,” DeWeever said. “That’s when hip-hop and R&B were original, in my opinion.”
Students not only remember the music, but they fondly recall the television shows.
“As a young kid, I loved the television shows from the 90s,” Dugan said. “The cartoons, like ‘Rugrats,’ and sitcoms, like ‘Boy Meets World.’ Everything was good on TV. I can vividly remember being so envious of the contestants on shows like ‘Nickelodeon Gas,’ ‘Legends of the Hidden Temple,’ and ‘Figure it Out.’ The list goes on and on.”
It’s hard to believe the 90s were more than a decade ago, since many of us grew up experiencing all they had to offer.
“It’s embarrassing when you look back,” Gonzalez said. “It’s funny the things you remember. And I feel old for having given this interview.”
Gonzalez summed up the 90s easily.
“I think we wanted to do everything opposite from the 80s, and I don’t think we were really successful,” she said.
jenninkm13@bonaventure.edu
