The Golden Years

Last night my friend Carrie came over for the last time before she leaves for New York. We filled the night with Bit-O-Honey’s and Youtube. It started out by showing her my favorite sketch by the Harvard Swimming Team, a NYC comedy group. Then that led us to watching our favorite SNL skits. Many of those include Justin Timberlake, which led us to watching N*Sync videos and then a chain of about ten more top hits from our childhood. Wow, what a great time. And guess whatttttt, I wrote all the songs down so I could blog about them today and share my commentary. Lucky you!

You have to click through on this first one because embedding was disabled.

Okay, first off, I was a HUGE N*Sync fan, I owned all their CDs and made dances up to all of them. So big of a fan that my first AOL Instant Messenger Screen-name was NSynk27 (yes, I spelled N*Sync wrong in the actual screen-name). Don’t you love this video? They’re all so young (except for Chris, he was always old). I think it’s so funny how they are always bobbing their heads. And look at Justin’s highlights… I remember LOVING those back in the day.

Gotta share one more N*Sync video. I’m not sure if I would have gone in the exact direction that they did to interpret the video, because they  really look insane in this video. But I guess that was the point.

Next, we’ve got MMM Bop by the boys from Hanson. Can’t get over those locks. Carrie said when her sister told her they were boys when she was little she didn’t believe them. I’m not sure exactly what this song is about, even after Carrie explained it to me. But it will be forever engraved into all of our minds.

This one isn’t as popular as some of the others, but it was one of my favorites. I thought Aaron Carter was “the man!” He was like Nick Carter, his older brother, but better because he was our age. But now looking at this video, he is a little baby. I also don’t understand why people give JB so much crap, after watching all of these videos. All of these boys who sang in the 90s were just as [insert negative adjective here] as he is, so stop hating the Bieber! Oh and fun fact about this video, I know every single word.

We’re slowing it down at this party with a little S Club 7. If we were at a skating party right now, this is when you would hold hands with your friends, all in a big line, and skate around that floor thinking about your crush. What was better than S Club 7’s music? Their TV show! Remember that? That was great. I remember I called into a radio station one night to hear this song and they said they didn’t play THIS type of music. I was devastated.

If you turn this on around any girls who grew up in the 90s, they will start singing every word, and pick which Spice Girl they wanted to be. I wanted to be Posh (good choice in the end considering who she’s married to, am I right?). Who did you want to be?

I’ll try to make the commentary a little shorter or else this post will never end. I remember hearing this song for the first time. It was then the only song I played on my portable CD player for the next few months. I was pretty sure that this song was my life, or at least I wanted it to be.

Moving on, we’ve got the great A*Teens group, who sang mostly Abba. I think I had a thing for guys who highlighted their hair because I had a major crush on the blonde kid. (Sidebar: T.J. highlighted his hair in the 90s, so we were meant to be haha). This was another I kept on repeat.

Oh, Aqua. They were so weird, but so good! My sister gave me one of their CDs, and I fell in love with that highpitched voice. And everyone loves Barbie Girl, how could you not? Kind of a creepy video, but that makes it even better.

We are really going back on this one. I was five or six when it came out, but my older sisters had it on a tape that we listened to over and over again on a road trip (Sidebar: our car broke down on the trip, and then we had to stay at a creepy hotel and I will always connect this song with that experience). Also on the tape was that song “I can walk 500 miles” or however it went.

I made a music video to this one once upon a time, another past time favorite memory. But it was so terrible we didn’t even put it on the DVD. And if you’ve seen the DVD I’m talking about, you know how bad it must have been. The Dixie Chicks were the first CD I ever bought with my own money. That and Celine Dion.

Last one I have for you is the Macarena. The video is just as great as the song. Their band was quite the melting pot.

Well, hope you enjoyed that flashback. I know I missed a lot, including Britney, but my mom wouldn’t me watch her videos growing up (which was a smart move) and so I still am in that mindset. Anyway, I would love to hear what your favorite songs were back in the day.