Remember the 90’s? Good. Because it wasn’t that long ago.

Welcome to Damn The Man, Save The Empire! 90's Pop Culture Blog! I am your own personal 90's - ologist, ready to guide you through the bittersweet pain that is nostalgia for things that happened 5 minutes ago. That is so five minutes ago! That was an expression from some 90's movie, I think, but we'll get into that later.

I want to explain why I've chosen Empire Records as a muse for this blog. I think that this highly goofy, alarmingly commercial yet oddly sweet and sensitive movie really embodies the spirit of a decade that is often looked at through rose-colored glasses. It is the celluloid embodiment of all that I feel for the music, film, politics, and general pop culture of the 90's. While the film was unpopular upon release, possibly because of its seemingly rank co-optation of outsider and radical music subculture and values, but time has proven that once you get past the bright and sunny glossiness of the film and Liv Tyler, there lies an unassailable message: Seize the day! OK, so that was Dead Poet's Society, which misses the 90's mark by one year, but anyway...

The song "This is the Day" by The The (a 90's fave) that appears at the end of Empire Records sums up what I'm trying to say about why this blog had to be. I think about life in the 90's nearly every day. It was a halcyon period, that sure, wasn't perfect, but it sure is fun to think about. Some videos for you, friends:




The The - "This Is The Day"



Coyote Shivers performs "Sugarhigh" with Renée Zellweger on vocals