At the end of last year one of the big questions was what defined the last decade. What were the movies, songs, biggest people and events of the 2000's?
And it made me think back even farther — what defined our childhood in the ‘90s?
Thinking back, it made me realize the ‘90s are easily the greatest decade we will ever see. We were lucky to grow up during a golden generation of entertainment and culture, the likes of which we will never see again.
Turn on the TV now and compare it to what we used it have. Between "Legends of the Hidden Temple," "Double Dare," "Guts" (I still want a piece of the Aggro Crag) and countless other shows, ‘90s Nickelodeon will never be surpassed. Power Rangers was fantastic, and how much would you pay for the old MTV? "Say What Karaoke" and "TRL" made any afternoon entertaining for at least two hours.
Even education was back then. The Magic School Bus went anywhere and Oregon Trail still stands the test of time as one of the greatest computer games I've ever played.
No movies of the last decade came close to equaling those of the ‘90s. If I could only watch five movies for the rest of my life, I guarantee every single one would come from that decade.
Pick any of this list and you have an all-time classic in every category: "Billy Madison," "Pulp Fiction," "Fight Club," "Forrest Gump," "Saving Private Ryan", "The Lion King," "Independence Day," "Space Jam" (you heard me), "Jurassic Park" and "Shawshank Redemption." You cannot compete with those, and I know I left out plenty of great options.
Maybe the easiest place to find 90's greatness in the music. It doesn't matter what genre you're into, there was something for everyone.
Rap emerged and evolved, with Jay-Z at his best (Reasonable Doubt), 2Pac and Biggie alive and Dr. Dre and Snoop taking over the West Coast (how did they make songs before auto-tune?).
Green Day was actually good, Blink-182 was formed and Third Eye Blind and Counting Crows songs are still played everywhere. We know every all the words to way too many 90s songs, from classics like "Closing Time" and "Champagne Supernova" to Backstreet Boys and Britney songs we belt out after drinking.
All in all, I feel bad for future generations. They'll have their own nostalgic memories, but there's no way Hannah Montana compares to "Saved By The Bell," and the Power Rangers would own Dora the Explorer.
Maybe most depressingly, they'll never know Will Smith had a music career.
So next time you're tired of T-Pain and terrible reality shows (Jersey Shore excluded), turn up some "Bittersweet Symphony", turn on The Sixth Sense and think about how good we had it.
