Why Do We Want The 1990s Back?

In case you haven’t heard, a ton of people want ‘90s pop culture to come back in full force.

Clothes, TV shows, whatever, people don’t care. They (see: adults ages 20-35 approx.) just want what they remember and they want it now. And their wish is being granted.

I heard the first whispers of this trend when a back-up dancer friend of mine started dressing like AC Slater in 2006 and I remember thinking “Ugh, you want to revive ‘90s fashion? Really?”

And now it’s five years later and the tidal wave keeps hitting us all, day in and day out.

H&M is selling scrunchies.

Scrunchies. For real.

The same bullshit, elastic-lined smooshy fabric hairbands my Mom taught me how to make when I was a kid —sometimes out of denim scraps! jealous?— are being sold at H&M.

A wide variety of Brooklyn bars frequently have ‘90s karaoke nights and Saved By The Bell costume/viewing parties — not that they need to, since a fair portion of Brooklynites already dress like Kelly Kapowski on any given day.

It seems like, if asked, the number one wish of anyone from the ages of 20-35 would be to spend a year inside a Clarissa Explains It All episode, even if that only involved hiding under her bed.

So, I ask you. Now that we have SNICK back, NKOTB and Backstreet Boys reunited, and the return of Beavis and Butt-Head, 120 Minutes, and Pop-Up Video (hooray! not gonna lie. there’s something seriously hypnotic about that show), does it feel like you thought it would?

Or have you hit the point that I hit a few years ago when I tried to re-watch these shows as an adult and realized they will never seem as incredible as they did when I was younger (with a few exceptions).

I’ll admit I was kind of excited about the return of some of these shows but I also realize no matter how hard I try to make these fond media-related childhood memories feel as candy-coated and dreamy as they did before, it’s nearly impossible to recreate the same feelings I had the first time around.