The ’90s seem so far away, don’t they?
There are ‘‘90s nostalgia shows now. Of course there are. I listen to one regularly called Quickly Kevin. It’s about football where the ’90s were a bridge between a long ball hoofed to the big man upfront followed by a night on the town downing lagers … and the continental sophistication that came with diets, sports psychology and Italians sipping citron presse on the Kings Road.
What happened in the ’90s again? The O J Simpson trial. Yes, that definitely occurred. Princess Di died. Australia had a “recession it had to have”. Britain got Tony Blair before he turned evil. “Things can only get better”, the Labour Party song in 1997. Yeah, no.
The music had a few cranks of the handle – trip hop, grunge, Britpop. Girl power!! Noel Gallagher in Downing Street. Jarvis waving his arse in front of Michael Jackson. Briefly British music was on the front pages again – it’s the Blur versus Oasis Battle!! A bit like but not quite the same as The Times writing earnest editorials about The Beatles and the Stones thirty years before.
The 21st century has not gone great so far. Can we agree on that? So I thought it’d be nice, talking of Jarvis, to meet up again in the year 2000. The year after the 90s, the year before 9/11. The last innocent year, or so it seems in retrospect. A great year for music, in fact. See whether you agree.
