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As I was driving back from South Carolina the other night, Backstreet Boys were playing on the radio which always makes me smile when I hear it. Not because I'm lame and i'm in love with them but because they were a true staple of the 90's which led me to the theme of today's blog........the 90's!

I was born in 1984 and so I was a true kid of the 90's. I consider the 90's to be a good decade to grow up in. Sure I would have liked the 50's in postwar Britain or the Beatles era of the swinging 60's. Not sure about all the disco and Abba in the 70's and I would have given my left testicle to be a kid/teenager in the 80's (even though I was born in 1984, it is hard to remember much about it). So destiny decided that I was to be a 90's kid along with millions of others.

Now we are in the 'noughties' and are suffering the side effects of the glorious nineties. I wish I could somehow go back to the decade when houses were cheap, jobs were vast, clothes were ridic and TV and music was at its best.

When I think about the music from the 90's, I instantly think of Pop and boy/girl bands. England was responsible for a lot of the boy band phenomenon in the form of Take That, Boyzone, Westlife, East 17, Another Level and of course we had the American selection of said Backstreet Boys, N*Sync and Boys II men. We also sadly were responsible for the Spice Girls and I can remember girls older than me wearing that Union Jack dress. The Spice Girls also kicked off the Brit Pop revival in the form of Oasis, Blur, Sleeper, Radiohead, Pulp and a few others when Britania was considered cool and everyone went around with 60's/70's style clothing (parker jackets, leather man purses, tshirts with targets on and anything with a Union Jack flag).

I feel like TV was the best in 90's - a conversation I was having with someone recently. We mostly had American shows dominating our airwaves and some that I really enjoyed were Saved by the Bell, Boy meets World, Baywatch, Gladiators (UK), The Simpsons, The Big Breakfast (UK), Beavis and Butt-head, South Park, FRIENDS, The X-Files and Dawsons Creek to name but a few.

So while I'm taking a trip down memory lane, I should really talk about the clothing which always makes me laugh! 90's clothing is most obvious when I still watch Fresh Prince which I left off the above list (my fav 90's show). Clothing in the 90's seems worse than even the 80's did. My parents couldn't keep up with all the fashions of the 90's and shopped at cheaper shops like Primark (when it wasn't cool to shop there) and, well, that might have been it actually but I remember one year I got a Bomber Jacket and thought I was the coolest kid alive. Also, when bomber jackets came out, so did a whole line of 'Spliff' jeans and bomber jackets with a cartoon guy holding a spliff. My school actually banned them and I remember my brother having one. Also, in my hometown there was a shop that cropped up called the Sweater company and they seemed to become massive instantly and then go bust just as quick. Baggy clothing seemed popular everywhere as did Doc Martin shoes and them trainers you could 'inflate' on the tongue for extra comfort. Looking back, 90's clothing was just about as lame as it could be but at least it was a trend. Trends seem very rare these days.

The 90's seems a long time ago. I think I had my first kiss/make out session in the 90's with a girl called Danielle and thought I was in love. I remember the days of going round Steven May's or David Meek's house to play N64 (Mario Kart or Goldeneye) all afternoon on a Saturday or taking our bikes out to Canvey Island. I remember my youth club and going to the cinema when tickets were £3.50. I remember Peter Pan's playground when wristbands were £5 and not £20 like now. I remember recording songs off the radio onto tapes or buying singles. I remember happy shopper ice pops for 10p a piece or Chomp chocolate bars for the same price. I remember Princess Diana dying and Michael Jackson releasing Heal the World and Earth song. I remember it being safe to go out all day with your friends and playing in the street. I remember Phil Mitchell sleeping with Sharon on Eastenders and his brother Grant finding out. I remember words like "phat" and "asif" being said as though they were going out of fashion - and they did! Mostly I remember the 90's because life was much simpler, safer and fun. Yes I had a step haircut which I tried to make into curtains and I once had a Bart Simpson backpack when the Simpsons had gone out of fashion. I'm not sure I was the coolest kid in the 90's but I sure look back now and wish I was living back in that era.

Oh and out of all of that....I missed off the Power Rangers which I owned all the action figures from the show. Oh and Mr Blobby and Noel Edmunds house party and The Generation Game and Big Break and I have to stop writing now.




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