Though never a bandwagon Bulls fan like everyone else in the 90s, there was a definite aura that surrounded the best team in basketball. Everyone wanted to ”Be Like Mike”, but I said they should “toggle the goggles”- Horace Grant’s goggles.
Check out some classic plays by “Goggles” below.
It was the bedrock of all things TGIF. The anchor. The laugh-maker.
From 1989-1991, “Full House” WAS Friday nights. Seriously. Was there a half hour more important to you as a kid than the half hour spent watching a new episode of “Full House” on TGIF?
Although it was considerably corny (and you knew it, too), the irresistible appeal of Uncle Jesse, Uncle Joey, little Michelle, the unforgettable theme song, the iconic street of Victorian houses, and the beautiful San Francisco setting was just too great to ignore.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Danny Tanner- The cleaning obsessed (OCD?) father of the house. His wife was killed by a drunk driver, leaving him with a perfect premise for a sitcom.
Uncle Jesse- The brother-in-law sex god. He brings his high maintenance hair to the Tanner house where he learns the joys of babysitting little girls while trying to have band rehearsals.
Uncle Joey- Danny’s childhood friend and a comedian, Joey is known for his endlessly abrasive cartoon impressions. He also has a ventriliquist dummy named Mr. Woodchuck.
D.J. Tanner- The oldest daughter of three, D.J. is a typical adolescent. She experiences various problems with dating, driver’s ed, and being Kirk Cameron’s real life sister.
Stephanie Tanner- The middle sister of the three, Stephanie suffers from “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Syndrome”, always having to share a room with one sister or another.
Michelle Tanner- The youngest of the Tanner girls, Michelle was the criminally adorable, de facto star of the show. (And the Olsen twins never, ever looked back…)
Becky Donaldson- Danny’s co-host and Jesse’s eventual wife, she was known for her obscure mid-western remarks. Why again does she agree to live in the attic with Jesse??
Kimmy Gibler- The stereotypical, wacky neighbor next door, she was universally disliked by the Tanners, except for D.J., who was her best friend.
Steve- In later seasons, D.J.’s food-machine, jock boyfriend. Did you know that Steve was the voice of Aladdin?
Nicky and Alex- Jesse and Becky’s long-haired twin sons, they were brought on the show to up the cuteness level to a 20. Did they succeed? You be the judge.
Comet- A talking dog. (What, you didn’t see that episode?)
There was no decade quite like the 90s. Politically, economically, whatever. But nowhere was this more evident than in the music that was made during those years. In all genres, new styles rapidly emerged and evolved. Of it all, there was one genre that meant more to me than any of the others. I’m talking, of course, about rock music.
Growing up in New Jersey as a white, middle-class male, I easily identified with the ethos of rock. The rebellion, the angst, the idealism- born out of the 50s, these sentiments were still alive in the 90s, finding its form in newer and noisier ways. The stylings of 90s rock were wide ranged- grunge, britpop, pop punk, indie, rap rock- some were good, some were bad, some were forgotten to adulthood. Yet even though our tastes evolve after adolescence, the appeal of nostalgia can just be too hard to igore.
I’m calling this series “Rock By The 90s”. Each week, I plan to post a new article on a different subgenre of 90s rock, and the specific bands and songs that characterized each movement. By the end, I hope to have extensively recounted all things 90s rock.
But first, to tell the FULL story of 90s rock, we need to go back a little bit further in time. I’m talking ALL the way back…to…
The late 80s.
GLAM METAL
As the 80s came to a close, MTV had already begun to suck. No, not as badly as today- for one thing, they still played videos- but videos primarily of hair bands. Yup, in the late 80s, hair metal was the king of rock. And with it, an all-pervading, image conscious commercialism had become the status quo. Bands such as Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Motley Crue and Poison murdered our ears with sonic monstrosities, and burned our eyeballs with their high maintenance hair and flamboyant outfits.
But as the decade of the 90s began, glam metal started to be seen as excessive, both in its power ballads and its volumized hair, and the genre began to fall in to decline. Maybe the biggest indictment of this music was a scene from the documentary, ”The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years”, involving the guitarist from the band W.A.S.P., as he excessively abuses alcohol. (more…)
“Misirlou”, the iconic surf song by Dick Dale & The Del Tones (more commonly known as the song from “Pulp Fiction”), was remade as an 8-bit Nintendo song. Check it out- it’s tubular.
I wish there was a filter on the radio that turned everything 8-bit!
In case you want to hear the original, Dick Dale & The Del Tones performed ”Misirlou” in the 1963 move, “A Swingin’ Affair.” Check it out- it’s tubular.
Thank Goodness It’s Friday.
Since it’s the beginning of the weekend, what do ya say we take a trip back…way back…
To the early 90s.
Don’t be scared! Zubaz can’t hurt you- they really can’t!
Are you ready?
Ok. Imagine what Friday was like a long time ago. You’re sitting in school, it’s 2nd maybe 3rd grade. At 3 o’clock, the bell rings and the school week is finally over. For the next 66 hours, you are free. For the rest of the afternoon you’re gonna be running, jumping, and screaming outside! When you get home, you find Dad picked up McDonald’s for dinner. Excellent! Next, it’s time for some video games. Man, what a rush! I hope this feeling NEVER ends!
Then it’s 8 o’clock.
And you know what that means.
Before there was the Internet, and before there was the independence of adulthood, there was only one thing to do on a Friday night. I’m talking, of course, about the TGIF lineup on ABC.
“Family Matters”, “Full House”, “Step By Step”, “Boy Meets World”, “Perfect Strangers”, “Hangin’ With Mr. Cooper”, “Sabrina The Teenage Witch”, “Dinosaurs”- TGIF was the place for many a warm memory around the old TV box with Ma and Pa.
It was the age of sitcom perfection, or as I like call it- “The High Sitcom”. No not stoner high you idiot- like ”High Modernism” or “High Classical”.
It was the era of genius ideas.
Here’s a show for you: 3 single men living together and raising 3 young girls. A house of love- a house full of laughs. FULL HOUSE.
Or: Middle class black family and the lovably geeky kid next door. Hard work matters. Love matters. ”Did I do that?” FAMILY MATTERS.
Or: Dinosaur family doing dinosaur things in dinosaur times. DINOSAURS.
You can watch these shows now on Nick at Nite and TBS, but it just isn’t the same as that magical block of programming on Friday nights in the 90s called TGIF.
Over the next few Fridays, I plan to feature each TGIF show in its own blog post, and go further in depth about each of these 90s sitcoms.
To get started, I was interested to know which show you would like to see profiled next Friday. Please share your memories!
Brett Camper, a Brooklyn-based designer, has made THE greatest advancement in cartography since the dawn of mankind.
Camper has created fully functional, zoomable, 8-bit city maps in the style of the original “Legend of Zelda” video game.
The maps are entirely integrated with real world data, and you can conduct an address search just as you would on Google Maps.
On the surface, these maps may simply seem charming, but exploring the zoomable feature reveals the intricate work that was put into each and every city block. Searching through my Brooklyn neighborhood, I felt transported back to the Dutch settlements of 1600s Breukelen, where whimsical paths and brick roads replace concrete highways, and rows of crops supplant rows of houses- er…pixelated paths and crops that is.
Be sure to explore the maps! What do you think- should we stop using regular Google Maps altogether?
What better way to enjoy an East Coast heat wave than by taking a walk down Boy Band Lane??
Seriously though, I didn’t realize it, but enough time has passed to make 98 Degrees VERY amusing. Enjoy!
