"Fire is motion / Work is repetition / This is my document / We are all all we've done / We are all all we've done / We are all all we've done / We are all all defenses."

- Cap'N Jazz, "Oh Messy Life," Analphabetapolothology

Friday, March 28, 2008

celebrating the '90s

my friends and i were chatting at dinner. making plans for the summer and all the fun, wild and wonderful things we need to squeeze into these last 7 weeks of school before graduation and splitting ways.

the big screen TV was on in the dining hall, per usual, but it was on VH1 today and it was showing one of those "best 100 songs of the '90s" specials and all our "childhood songs" were blasting full force, like a freight train of memories, and we were transported back to the times of middle school dances and summer camps and that nebulous time of your life called adolescence.

we were reflecting on the proto-emo music of the time, laughing as we could recall almost word for word the lyrics to Goo Goo Dolls songs ("when everything feels like the movies, you bleed just to know you're alive/ AND I DON'T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE ME, CUZ I DON'T THINK THAT THEY'D UNDERSTAAAAAND!") and how angst-y we must have been as teens to have loved that song as much as everyone else our age did.

and, in reflecting on how super dramatic and emo (before "emo" was a genre) that song was, i remarked how it would be so funny to do a dramatic reading of all our favorite '90s songs. and from this, an idea for a poetry reading of sorts, a collaborative performance for the sake of nothing but fun times and nostalgia with some good friends, was born.

the place i imagine is Bachelor Hall's courtyard, on a breezy spring evening, entry and exit music consisting of a playlist of all the read pieces, and definitely some wine.

now, i'm trying to think of material. any suggestions? i went through my '90s music on my computer (sadly lacking, i've lost a lot of those old favorites in the process of transitioning to different computers) and only thought of a few enticing reads:

K-Ci & Jo Jo's "All My Life" (probly a much better song than a poem, but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. i especially love how the first line of verse is "Baby (11x)" ha!)
Everything But The Girl's "Missing" ("like the deserts miss the rain")
Sinead O'Connor's "Nothing Compares 2 U" (oh man, this might be "it"!)
Boyz II Men's "I'll Make Love To You" (this would be so uncomfortable to read: "girl relax, let's go slow, i ain't got nowhere to go/ throw your clothes on the floor, i'm gonna take my clothes off too")

other suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

x's
-stef

6 comments:

The ZenFo Pro said...

Heh. "All My Life" was my second fiancee (the psycho-stripper)'s favorite song.

Wha? No Nirvana? Yo La Tengo? Breeders?

Lord, now I'm hunting for mp3s...

Anonymous said...

Me second - not teen spirit but come as you are. Like a 90's anythingy sans the nirv. LOL

TGIF <-- look, pre-txtspeak!

stephanie lee said...

i thought about Nirvana, but it's not really a band i associate with my childhood. my high school wasn't grunge so much as top 40.

and i didn't even think of Yo La Tengo as a '90s band until you mentioned them. sadly, they're a band i didn't discover until i came to college!

and sadder still: i have yet to familiarize myself with the Breeders. :-(

help me! i need to be 90-fied.
-stef

The ZenFo Pro said...

Lol, after spending the last, oh, six months assisting the Mac & Joe's bar staff in the surgical extraction of 80s schlocky cock rock (i.e. Journey)from local hipness

... hmmmm...

1. Social Distortion's Story of my Life and Bad Luck. (1990, 1992)

2.Geto Boys - Mind Playing Tricks on Me. (1991)

3. Bob - NOFX

4. I Got a Man - Positive K

5. Hyena - Rancid

6. Runaway Train - Soul Asylum

7. What's the Frequency, Kenneth? - REM

8. Anything by Juliana Hatfield, Daniel Johnston, or Frente! for those My So-Called Life moments.

9.Bad Religion - Victory (97?)

10. Weezer's cover of Green Day's Worry Rock (bootleg and rare - see me after class, young lady :)

11. Triumph - Wu-Tang Clan (1998)

12.AM/FM - Say What? (1999)

13. Wilco - Shot in the Arm

14. Boys on the Docks - Best. Dropkick Murphys song. Ever. (1998)

15. Finally...

Tom Waits - I Don't Wanna Grow Up [VIDEO]

stephanie lee said...

oh J, you SO totally have to give me a copy of this cd.

tho, i am glad to say i recognized about 4 of these songs, and could hum them too. still, i want this cd.

-stef

Kathee said...

Stephanie, I'm so excited to celebrate the nineties with you! I have a bunch of the above-mentioned songs (including the Weezer Green Day cover - which is only nineties in the sense that it's a cover of a 1997, the actual Weezer recording was done in the 2000s). Anyway, I have a bunch of thoughts about this, so maybe we can have a 90s meeting & share some music & ideas?

Your's in goofy, heartfelt nostalgia,

Kathee