Boys vs. Girls on 90s Nostalgia

I am also going to make lists and be nostalgic if I want.

Okay, Ada, so I am feeling some super righteous 90swoman indignation and it is bringing me out of blog hibernation.

I was reading Tumblr yesterday and came across some posts by young guys dissing a particularly young, female brand of 90s nostalgia. The kind of nostalgia expressed by Miss World, who recently posted about “The Real 90s,” a new tumblr by Lesley Arfin and my very good friend Elizabeth Spiridakis. Miss World said of Lesley:

She was there. Like, really being an adolescent in the midst of the 90’s…not just some kid too young to know what the fuck the 90’s really were (grunge, punk, NYC, heroin, flannel, etc.)

The 90’s I was familiar with (and hate that I was only in my pre-teens during the best part of the 90’s) favored neon, NKOTB, crimped side poners, LA Gear Hi-Tops…what the fuck am I on about? All of this shit is awesome.

IGNORE ME. Follow her blog.

Obviously I am all for girls and women working through what the 90s meant and I am all for girls and women supporting each other, so I was pretty into this. Leon was not. He replied:

This has to stop! What the hell, everyone? Nostalgia, especially nostalgia for charming products that used to exist, doesn’t become OK just because you can suddenly rent a car or whatever.

It’s one thing for bands like Wavves and Real Estate to be “nostalgic” for the 90s by making actual art that’s inspired by things that happened then, and another to just like, list stuff.

Leon is friends with some of my friends, so I would like to give him the benefit of the doubt, but this post totally pisses me off.

I Saw Courtney Love and It Was Amazing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RzKaGZXnpoAda. It was so good. So good! Last night, I went to see her with Marisa, Doree, Emily, and Elizabeth. She sang “Violet” and “Miss World” and “Doll Parts” and “Celebrity Skin” and “Malibu.” She also sang some songs from her new album, “Nobody’s Daughter,” which I am pretty into. Doree and Marisa recapped the night for The Awl and I’m not sure I have that much more to add at this particular (personally exhausted from staying up writing papers) juncture. Just that I have seen Alanis Morisette, Liz Phair, Julianna Hatfield, and the Spice Girls (!!) among other 90swomen in concert, and I think seeing Courtney was actually the most satisfying. Her screaming sounded great. (As Marisa said, hard living really works for her particular singing style.) Her lacy black dress and flowy white dress and pageboy and red lipstick all looked amazing. She’s got some custody issues going on that I refuse to know about, not to mention some Twitter feuds, etc., but I still find her the 90sest of 90swomen in the best possible way. By which I mean: She’s bitchy and funny and feminist and femmey and doesn’t take herself too seriously. And her life is seriously not boring.

Deep Thoughts on “Heart Shaped Box”

Ada, I thought you might want to take a look at what our friend Elizabeth Spiridakis aka White Lightning has to say about this Nirvana song:

“I have a theory that my generation has a speciality in darkdarkblack humor & a twisted view of the world precisely because of stuff like this being firmly entrenched in our pop culture history.

You could NEVER make this video today!
I mean…one of the biggest bands in the world at this moment (1993) and their top single’s video is a supersaturated dream of white-haired child KKKs, a wizened Santa on the cross, abortion trees and a fat lady in an anatomy suit.

As Hunter was saying…pretty intense shit to watch after school (over and over and over again on MTV).

oh, PS? This video is SEVENTEEN YEARS OLD. Put that in yr wherethefuckdoestimego container.”

Read her whole post here. She is a 90swoman, 90slover, and recently gave a lecture on Lady Gaga’s fashion that made me (and everyone else) cry laughing. Her blog is the best.

Could this video ever be made today? Or a song called “Rape Me”?