Stuck in the 90s

Nostalgia is when you feel sentimental about something-- a place, music, or a period with fond and happy personal memories. When we find ourselves listening to music from our adolescence or being in a place where we’ve experienced much of our personal history, we can’t help but feel a tinge of emotion where sentimentality takes you back to times gone by. The 90’s were a transitional period where everything was a lot less complicated, the world had only begun getting ready for the 21st century and people were yet to become slaves to technology. Back then life was a bit easier. Music still had meaning and a message, mainstream movies and TV were less dark, and socializing actually meant going out and talking to people. Hip-hop, Rap, RnB, Grunge, and Heavy Metal were the soundtrack and outlet of the youth. The music opened our eyes and woke up our sense of rebellion and it showed in the way we dressed and spoke. MTV was still fun and featured all sorts of new music and your favorite VHS rental shops were stacked with movies that were meant to inspire people and make you laugh. The 90s were a simpler period where people were more intimate - guys had to make “ligaw” (courtship) when they liked someone (giving girls flowers and handwritten letters, meeting her folks, and sending chocolates and a huge teddy bear were the in thing). Friends would make “Telebabad” (long phone calls) which would mean being on the phone for 5 hours or more talking about everything and nothing at the same time. Yes, relationships were more old-school and “cheesy” but they were truly more meaningful and sincere because people had to put the work in to make connections. Nowadays, thanks to apps like Tinder, modern romance is now simply dumbed down to a few swipes and taps. People now have “digital relationships” and social media often dictates your attitude towards people. These days it’s hard to listen to pop music or watch Hollywood movies without having to decode what they really want you to think. The transition from the analog age to digital brought on the advent of chat rooms, Windows computers, free music (thanks Napster), and digital photos which changed our world forever. The youth of the new generations will never know how we were able to squeeze every drop of fun out of a world that didn’t have a lot of the modern luxuries that they take for granted today.

Nowadays we are bombarded with so much technology and media that it’s easy to get overwhelmed with life in general. It’s good to look back at simpler times and remember that life wasn’t always this complex. An old photo, a memorable song, or even just remembering a fond memory from growing up with your “barkada” (best friends) can always make your day. Sometimes, a good bit of nostalgia is all you need to take you back to a world less complicated.

Camille, 32

"Everything! From Backstreet Boys, NSync and Spice Girls, to our porma (jumper, mid-riff, clogs, Doc Martens), hitching a ride to Town Center to watch a movie or play in Glico’s, dancing with my girls in our attic after school, begging my parents to let me go on an overnight trip with my barkada to Batangas or Tagaytay. I also remember all the food we ate after cheerdancing practice - Miggy’s and Henlin! Our first “major” concert was watching Allure at Hard Rock Café in Glorietta and we were all wearing tube tops like we thought that was cool. The nineties was THE best decade (no bias here haha)."

Karen, 30

"What I remember most while growing up in the 90's are the Backstreet boys, Britney Spears, Destiny's Child, Spice Girls, Nokia 5110 and the snake game, Super Mario Brothers, Tamagochi, Polly pockets and Pogs."

Andoni, 31

"Who could forget those huge Laser discs? I had to call my Dad or Bro so that I could watch my cartoons. I just couldn’t grip those Frisbees, man! Haha.

Walkman and VHS! My Dad’s huge headphones, and not wireless.

Playing Wolfenstein on MS DOS. Hanging out with friends and taking turns to play Super Nintendo with games like Street Fighter and Mario Cart (That homing red shell was the best), and finishing Zelda, Donkey Kong and Mario World (Flying and Riding Yoshi!). Don’t forget the first Diablo, Warcraft, Red alert and Doom.

Watching Cartoons the whole weekend like Flinstones, Jetsons, Top Cat, Josie and the pussycats, Penelope pitstop, Thunder cats, Biker Mice, Centurions, Swat cats Yogi Bear and Booboo. Waiting for the Laf-a-lympics so that you see all the villains and heroes of the network and rooting for the heroes to win, which of course they always do.

I remember watching T.G.I.F. and Growing Up with my Nana before I could watch my Ninja Turtles, X-men and Power Rangers. Then after that Palibhasang Lalake, Home Along the Riles and Okay ka Ferry ko! Then during Friday Nights, Are you afraid of the dark? and Tales from the Crypt. [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

Movies like Wayne's World, My Girl, Free Willy, Jurassic Park, Forrest Gump, Hot Shots, Robin Hood Men in Tights, Little Rascals, Mighty Ducks, Major League, Dracula Dead and Loving it, Police Academy, Naked Gun and The Land Before Time (I cried)! The in-thing and cool toys were Katchupoy look, elephant pants, using pomada, headbands. Mechanical pencils and that other advanced pencil that comes with cartridges and when you finish it you stack it at the top, push it down and a brand new cartridge pops out the bottom and it's well sharpened (mind-blown that time).Those shoes with soles that lit up when you walk on them and basketball shoes which came with pumps. Aspen Perfume and Cool Water by Davidoff. Polo RL shirts, Giordano (Sooo Comfy), Carpenter pants, braided belts, Maui and Sons and Tommy Hilfiger. Oversized shirts and low waist jeans! Birkenstocks, Sandals, Roller Blades and Top Siders. Pog and slammers! Those weird looking midget trolls with awesome hair and matchbox cars that can change their color when you dip it in water and assembling your Dino Riders. NBA trading cards flair, fleer and upper deck. The start of floral boardshorts or floral polos with puka shell necklace hahaha!

Drinks like Blue Ice Beer, Smirnoff Mule (because you couldn’t down a beer yet or just the taste of it, haha) and Sub Zero.

We just have to say this...Back Street Boys and Spice Girls. Even those people who hated and despised them knew a song or two. Waiting for Rick Dees and the weekly top 40s and trying to record those songs hoping the DJ would shut up before you hit the record button.

Anticipating watching Woodstock 99 on TV . I remember going to my grandparent’s house to watch this because I couldn’t use the TV in ours haha.. Limp Bizkit, Korn, Buckcherry, Jamiroquai, Bush, Counting Crows, Red Hot, DMB and Rage Against the Machine burning the Amercan Flag and “If you don’t like Kid Rock you can suck my ****! [if !supportLineBreakNewLine] [endif]

And the one and only...Peter North hahaha!"

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Tanya, 30

"Having to wait for cassette tapes to rewind and then the tape getting twisted and stuck! Roller skating, spending hours at "Kids at Work", collecting My Little Pony toys and Cupcake Dolls. Dial up internet -- crossing my fingers that sound would end and that it would connect! My obsession with collecting neoprints and studio pics with my friends and my monthly subscription to MEG magazine. Life was simple then. People would show up to meetings as planned -- no last minute excuses over text!"

[endif] [if !supportLineBreakNewLine]Giacomono, 41

"I started off the 90’s graduating high-school back in ’92. Back then, without cellular phones we would go around town in our friend’s L300 van souped up in Bose subwoofers and JBL speakers pumping music such as “I’ve Got the Power” by Snap, “Just Another Day” by John Secada, and the essential “Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer. In the advent of cable T.V. in Bacolod, came MTV. From then on we were flooded by new 90’s alternative, and grunge music which helped express our teen angst through honest, insecure-laden lyrics brought out by 90’s greats Nirvana (Smells Like Teen Spirit), Pearl Jam (Jeremy), and REM (Losing My Religion). It was the time that music influenced change, like U2’s “One”. That was the era of Rock greats Metallica, and Guns n Roses. Notable music by Color Me Badd (Sex You Up); C&C Music Factory (Wanna Make You Sweat).

During the 90’s I never really had much fashion sense, only wearing what I thought suited me or my mood back then. Not knowing if it was “the” fashion trend or not. For the record, occasionally I’d go out in a striped t-shirt, dark pants, white socks on black Brogues shoes…picture that! Now, you think I have a good fashion sense?

I never really cared much for toys as the 90’s was a time of alcoholic discoveries fuelled by our own curiosities on stimulating substances. Although I dabbled in video games like Sega’s Sonic the Hedgehog, Supernes’s Castlevania, NBA Live, and Nintendo’s Punchout. Then it all came to an abrupt end. Now back to my favorite topic: Music. College years was from ‘92-’96. It was an era where music was most influential for me. Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Blood Sugar Sex Magik, where classics like “Soul To Squeeze”, “Under the Bridge”, and “Give it Away” were perennial favorites. Then came my favorite album of all time, Pearl Jam’s Ten, classics like “Alive”, “Even Flow”, “Jeremy”, and “Oceans”. These songs pretty much sums up my life in college. Hearing them now never fails to bring back the days of feeling lost, and then found. A feeling of hopelessness, and yet in the end, utter joy and a sense of being complete (Wow! Deep?!). And who can forget RadioHeads’ “Creep”? After listening to it didn’t we all feel better?

After graduating college in ’96, I started working on our family’s aqua-culture farm raising milkfish and prawns. I was hooked on a little known band called Dishwalla. Their album Pet Your Friends featured songs like “Counting Blue Cars” and “Give” and “Only For So Long”. As well as Ocean Colour Scenes’ “The Day We Caught the Train”, and Eel’s “Novocaine for the Soul”, helped me get through the quiet and everyday mundane life in the farm.

The bar scene started catching fire so to speak in the late 90’s and Arkarna’s “So Little Time”, “Life is Free”, Oasis’ “Champagne Supernova”, “Wonderwall”, “Stand By Me”, “Don’t Look Back in Anger” were blasting away as we down our beers to their tunes. The 90’s wouldn’t be complete without Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill album. Looking back in the 90’s you can say that music is/was my biggest influence. Here are some notable artists to name a few: Blind Melon (“No Rain”), EMF (“Unbelievable”), Ben Folds Five (“Brick”), LL Cool J’s (“Momma Said Knock You Out”), Arrested Development (“Mr. Wendell”, “Tennessee”), Eric Clapton (“Layla”), Cranberries (“Linger”), Edwin Collins (“A Girl Like You”), Right Said Fred (“I’m Too Sexy”), US3 (“Cantaloop”), Jesus Jones (“Right Here Right Now”), Tracy Chapman’s album “New Beginning”, Collective Soul’s album “The World I Know”. There you have it, my point of view of the 90’s. Weren’t the 90’s AWESOME?!"

Luigi, 31

"Michael Jordan - The greatest basketball player of all-time!"

Roch, 34

"I remember school bands playing a lot of Sugar Ray and Dave Matthews Band songs. The gimmick place was SanMig in Greenbelt. Porma of boys were RL shirts with loose jeans and Porma for girls were palazzos or anything Jean material.

Movies - Clueless, My Girl, Mighty Ducks, Romeo and Juliet, Blair Witch project, Cruel Intentions.

Tv shows - Beverly Hills 90210, Friends, Doogie Howser, Boy meets world, X-files.

Artists - Spice Girls, Alanis Morisette, No Doubt, Backstreet Boys, Nsync.

I also loved watching MTV. I had crushes on Devon Sawa, Brad Renfro, Jonathan Brandis, Luke Perry, Will Friedle. I also learned Chatting via Internet on MIRC and ICQ. I wanted to be like Winona Ryder, Meg Ryan and Claire Danes haha!"

Tammy, 31

"What I remember the most when I think of growing up in the 90's: Devon Sawa, Jonathan Taylor Thomas, those B.B. and Bop magazines, polly pockets, roller blades, walkmans, CD players, gameboys, the "uh-oh" sound of the ICQ chat, handwritten letters, Lisa Frank, spending hours on the landline, the lemmings, and patiently waiting for someone to request the MTV Vj's to play my favorite songs or videos since there was no youtube then."

Jappy, 34

"Grunge Music - Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Stone Temple Pilots"

Dess, 32

"Where do I even begin?! There is so much to happily reminisce about this era because I believe it's the best decade I've ever journeyed in, so far. But I would like to focus on music, fashion and makeup. I was born in the 80s so my growing up years were serenaded by the 90s music and it was the "dekada nobenta fashion and makeup" that ushered me into my teen years aka self-discovery phase. Being a performer since birth, I had the privilege to interpret many songs in the 90s, both through dancing and singing. I hardly noticed it before but apparently, my current taste for music and lyrics has been greatly influenced by many artists who conquered the music scene in the 90s such as Tori Amos, Alanis Morrisette , Boyz 2 Men, Wilson Phillips, The Cranberries, Janet Jackson, and many many more. The late 90s eventually gave birth to the Spice Girls (Wahhhh!), Britney Spears, Mandy Moore, The Corrs, and Jeniffer Lopez (to name a few) who have injected a much modern approach to RnB and dance. Not to mention the rise of the boy bands which girls would go against each other for! If you found Nick Carter more attractive than Justin Timberlake, then friendship over!!!! I must say that the evolution of music in a span of ten years was pretty fast-paced. Artists had much more to come up with in terms of writing style and melody, thus, also encouraging a hyper creative collaboration in dance steps. Young people in the 90s would certainly not forget the super easy bitsy dancesteps for TOOTSIE ROLL. Then there was MACARENA and came the ultra rigid RENEGADE MASTER at the end of the decade! As a dancer, I found it pretty wild in terms of transitions in dance aesthetics. Let's talk fashion! What I think was the best thing about the fashion during those days was the freedom to experiment, to the point of probable fashion suicide for most millenials. From grunge to kriskross pants to macarena skorts. Who would forget the long dress and low-cut boots to boot?! Or the "fashion forward" printed shorts with sandals and white socks?! If you also rocked some flashy bootleg pants with super body-hugging tops and those colorful clips that validated your being a master hoarder at Marcella's or Cindy Carol, then you are indeed a 90s fashionista! The later 90s also had a major attempt to resurrect our parents' fashion staples, hence calling it retro. Brooke Shields' thick eyebrows and Julia Roberts' big messy hair had a massive following in the 90s. But it was Drew Barrymore's thin arched brows plus bold chocolate lips that hasn’t made a comeback yet. That distinctly belongs to the 90s!!!! Whenever I get lost in this crazy Facebook era, I take comfort in taking myself back to the 90s where people moved slower yet were richer in experience, identity and authenticity."

James, 32

"The best memory I have of the 90s believe it or not are the brownouts that made us all resourceful when I was growing up. We would be waiting for the brownouts because everybody will be out of their house and everyone is obliged to play and we have the best excuse not to study. Haha"

Therese, 41

"Grunge was the only thing that mattered in the 90s. It's the only thing I could remember. Everything else was a blur. The music dictated the look and the supposed "lifestyle". Kurt Cobain was a god. So was Chris Cornell and Eddie Vedder. And many other Seattle gods and goddesses. Whoever made plaid fabric then made a killing because everyone owned a lot of plaid shirts. And DM boots. We sweated over for fahshun. Anyone who said they didn't like grunge music was lying through their teeth. Grunge will forever run through every 90s kid's blood. And there also was Pauly Shore. He was kind've a big thing in the 90s. Whatever happened to him? #90smystery Maria Clara sangria was my poison. It was so cheap and easy to buy from the corner shop. #90sdrink Oh, and I also tweezed my eyebrows til they were almost nonexistent. Thank goodness they grew back. Phew! #90sregret"

Pontiff, 29

"It was Dr. Martens over Air Jordans for me then, and JanSport or Benetton backpacks to transparent Polo Sport bags. We biked around Town in custom Shimano, GT, and Odyssey BMXs. FRIENDS was on TV and reading was Sweet Valley and Encyclopedia Brown. We grew up on Hip Hop in the South, but us friends also had a Beastie Boys to Smashing Pumpkins assembly of sorts in a defiant bout with Pop and Drew Barrymore-inspired rebelliousness, all rooted from Spice Girls and TLCs Girl Power crusade!"

Cookie, 33

"According to an article I read online, I'm right at the tail end of the "millenials" age group. Born in the 80's, grew up in the 90's. I spent the 90's being a school girl, a grade schooler to high school. As a teen in the 90's for me meant sporting a glitter polished beeper, and clipping that silver or gold chain on the pocket of my school uniform skirt. Oh the beeper! Imagine having to call someone to type your "text message" for you. Awkward. Then Motorolas and Nokias came, the snake/maze game was the only entertainment a mobile phone could do. Haha.. I remember bouncing and singing to Mariah's R&B songs during cheering practice breaks. Parokya ni Edgar, Eheads in class jams. Fashion trends in the 90's have made a comeback, like the chokers are back. The brown-ish lippies are back too. The Birks and slides slippers are here again only fluffier. But one fashion trend I do remember as a school girl was the slouch socks and that St. Michael's signature butas-butas pattern socks. Yes, right before it changed it's name to Marks & Spencer in the year 2000, we called it St. Michael's. Going back to the socks, wearing a lair of knee high means socks means spending a ridiculous amount of time trying to "slouch" your pair of socks making sure every single scrunch you make is equally shaped and counted. Haha such an effort for an undergarment. Chatting with a group of friends then didn't mean like typing and sending stickers or emojis but means calling your 2 friends at the same time on the landline with a 3-way call feature then the 2 friends you called will call 2 more people and so on. Until there were too much talking on the line you could barely understand anything. What a riot! But fun! Yep, 90's was fun!"

Jelly, 29

"I grew up in the beautiful but remote island province of Catanduanes where everything was rustic and rugged. The island was frequented with a lot of typhoons so in our town there was (and there still isn’t) a landline telephone line. Us kids had to amuse ourselves by actually playing with each other. I was a master of the “Chinese garter”, “piko” and “patintero” and when we somehow eventually caught up with the digital world, I ensured that my “Tamagotchi” pet was fed on schedule. We sang our hearts out to recorded cassette tapes with lyrics out of the “song hits”. The words to Natalie Imbruglia’s “Torn”, M2M's “Mirror Mirror” and Britney’s “Sometimes” are still engraved in my heart. We kept up with the most recent episodes of “Ang TV” and “G-Mik” and I remember having a crush on Carlo Aquino. I found his classic 90s middle hair-part cute. We rented Betamax of “OK Ka Fairy Ko”, “Titanic”, and “Terminator” and organized movie viewing sessions with the neighborhood children. The 90s had the best of both the analog 80s and the digital 2000s and it was just such a beautiful period to transcend from four to fourteen."

Macky, 35

"Powerpage and Memo jazz pagers. 6-disc/12-disc ALPINE or Pioneer CD changers and CASE LOGICS with 12"JL Audio Sub. 2Pac, Biggie, NateDogg, Warren G, Dre, Snoop, Arrested development, Keith Sweat and Usher. Oversized Tommy Hilfiger or Polo Sport shirts (long back). Chevignon jeans cargo jeans and Undercut hairstyles. Pacino's 90s movies such as Scent of a woman, HEAT, Donie Brasco, Any Given Sunday."

Justin, 31

"Growing up in the 90's I remember being an avid supporter of Hiphop and OPM music. From 2pac, Bone Thugs & Harmony, Warren G, to Eraserheads, Rivermaya, True Faith etc. I'd make mixtapes using a microphone attached to a tape recorder. The fashion trend was baggy jeans, over-sized shirts, etc. inspired by movies such as Boyz n the Hood and Don't Be a Menace. Also collecting NBA basketball cards was big back then."

Rico, 37

"I loved the 90's... everything about it was so iconic and memorable. The TV Shows we had were Twilight Zone, Doogie Howser M.D., Small Wonder, Macgyver, and Moonlighting. I was also obsessed with GI Joe, Transformers, Ghostbusters, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (even asked my mom to sew me a Leonardo costume for Halloween complete with a shell). My music taste back then was so diverse from Rock/Heavy Metal (Metallica, GNR, Slayer) to Rap (Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Wu-Tang Clan) to R&B (Boyz II Men, Brian McKnight, Tevin Campbell) to Easy Rock (Steve Perry, Extreme) to Pop (Jeremy Jordan, BSB). I also remember spending my allowance on cassette tapes, making mixes on my tape recorder, and borrowing VHS and Laser Discs.

Gel, 29

"Outdoor street games like Patintero, piko, ten-twenty; Childhhood toys - jackstone, paper dolls, game boy. Kiddie snacks - ice scramble, iced gem biscuits, Nips. Feeling nostalgic!"

Nace, 42

"90’s stuff that I remember most: Revival of sorts for the golden age of OPM led by the Eraserheads, Rivermaya, POT, and Side A. Grunge music obviously lorded over the music charts, so to be able to watch Pearl Jam live in CCP during their peak was something else! That was my first time to watch a concert where people inflated condoms as pop-up balloons to be tossed up and passed around the mosh pit. Urban legend says Eddie Vedder and rest of the band also rode the bikes around CCP prior to the show."

Chinky, 33

"I remember Nintendo, Popples, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, grunge fashion, glossy lips, brown lipstick, spaghetti strap tops and dresses, Doc Martens and dresses with boots"