- The 90s - 9 April, 2013
- Proud To Be Proud - 28 March, 2013
So I think it is safe to say that the year 2013 is shaping up to take us back to the nineties.
PJ & Duncan are at the top of the download charts, the original ‘Sugababes’ are getting back together, and dip-dye clothing is back in our stores. I am not sure whether to think of this as Retro or Recycling, either way though I am taking it as a chance to re-live my childhood years. Bring on the dip daps and bring back the 10p freddos.
Calvin Harris and Example are just two of hundreds of artists at the moment responsible for creating brilliant dance music. I feel that it is definitely going to make a big comeback in summer 2013. The nineties is undoubtedly a huge influence in all this, famed for its dance music as the decade that saw such artists as Scooter, Kelly Lorena, DJ Sammy and Ultra beat. I mean who can forget ‘Pretty Green Eyes’?
I think it’s safe to say however, that the nineties were not all about denim jackets and boy bands; it was a very difficult decade. It was the decade of the gulf war and new labour. Tony Blair came into power and promised that ‘Things can only get better’ which is a very hard statement to believe when a tsunami of tears was about to hit Britain.
The sunlight no longer hit the trees, the laughter died, and tears were born. Atheists began to pray, suppressed emotions surfaced, the pain was real and the hurt could not be erased. She was gone. Our love, our life, our princess, our Diana. A death which will always cause a tear in our nation’s eye, a princess lost in a priceless decade. Amen.
After the millennium, social networking came into our lives letting us create ourselves afresh through profiles, messageboards and more. We read our friends, families and crushes’ personal information and can chat instantly. At the time it seemed pretty poetic and exciting, but not for long, as social networking sites were about to become an intrinsic element of our everyday lives, taking us along for the ride and creating a whole new world of connected, but distant, people.
Social networking sites no longer remain just a fun way of keeping in touch with friends and family and a way to view long distances family photos. It became an addiction where we wanted to receive high levels of self-gratification and the approval of friends, family and even strangers by simply ‘liking’ our status or photo. Social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have now become our diary for people to view, make judgments and comment upon.
We now feel the need to inform people daily on what we are thinking, where we are, who we are with and even what we are digesting. Our inner thoughts and desires no longer remain a secret and we feel like we have to constantly push the boundaries of what is considered morally correct to be simply noticed. Millions of photos are uploaded every day, many of which have been edited or enhanced creating illusions to not only our friends, but to ourselves, creating one big photoshopped lie.
Personally I would love the nineties to make a comeback. The decade of the Spice Girls, Gimme Gimme Gimme, Saved By The Bell, popper tracksuit bottoms, and a young Leonardo Dicaprio, provides all the essentials a modern gay man could want for. The chocolate bars were cheap and Britney Spears was sweet and innocent. Simpler times…
