The Totally Sweet ’90s: From Clear Cola to Furby, and Grunge to “Whatever,” the Toys, Tastes, and Trends That Defined a Decade Read online

  Advance Praise for

  The Totally Sweet ’90s

  “Mr. Dewey gives The Totally Sweet ’90s an A+! Should be on the required reading list for all Baysiders. But don’t worry, no need for caffeine pills, Jesse. Each page is a delightful reminiscence of that sometimes glorious but all too often ignominious (look it up, slacker) decade that polished off the twentieth century.”

  —Patrick O’Brien, actor from Saved by the Bell

  THE

  TOTALLY

  SWEET ’90S

  From Clear Cola to Furby, and Grunge

  to “Whatever,” the Toys, Tastes, and Trends

  That Defined a Decade

  Gael Fashingbauer Cooper

  and Brian Bellmont

  A PERIGEE BOOK

  A PERIGEE BOOK

  Published by the Penguin Group

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

  USA | Canada | UK | Ireland | Australia | New Zealand | India | South Africa | China

  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  For more information about the Penguin Group, visit penguin.com.

  Copyright © 2013 by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont

  Photographs by Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.

  PERIGEE is a registered trademark of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  The “P” design is a trademark belonging to Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Cooper, Gael Fashingbauer.

  The totally sweet ’90s : from clear cola to Furby, and grunge to “whatever,” the toys, tastes, and trends that defined a decade / Gael Fashingbauer Cooper and Brian Bellmont.

  pages cm

  “A Perigee Book.”

  Includes index.

  ISBN: 978-1-101-62399-2

  1. Popular culture—United States—History—20th century. 2. United States—Social life and

  customs—1971– 3. Nineteen nineties. I. Bellmont, Brian. II. Title.

  E169.Z82C675 2013

  973.929—dc23 2013000219

  First edition: June 2013

  Text design by Tiffany Estreicher

  While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers, Internet addresses, and other contact information at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  Most Perigee books are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or educational use. Special books, or book excerpts, can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write:

  [email protected].

  This one’s for our siblings—

  Rudge, Claudia, Drew, Clio, Anne,

  and Dave on Gael’s side,

  and Mike, Dave, and Kevin on Brian’s.

  And also for the friends who helped us survive and thrive in the 1990s.

  For Gael, that’s Lisa Olchefske Gilbert, Sue Dillon, Bob Seabold and

  Bobbe Norenberg, Scott and Stacy Pampuch, Todd Mannis, Dan Dosen,

  Scott Feraro, and Matt Gillen. For Brian, that would be Chris Moore,

  Mike Zipko, Kathleen Hennessy, Dave Aeikens, and all the folks

  at WEAU, CONUS, Axiom, and Shandwick.

  Table of Contents

  Kids of the ’90s, Unite!

  Adam Sandler Songs on Saturday Night Live

  The Adventures of Pete & Pete

  America’s Funniest Home Videos

  American Gladiators

  Andrew “Dice” Clay

  Arch Deluxe

  Austin Stories

  “Baby Got Back”

  Baby-Sitters Club Books

  Barney & Friends

  Baywatch

  Beanie Babies

  Beavis and Butt-Head

  Bee Girl

  Behind the Music

  The Big Lebowski

  Big Mouth Billy Bass

  Bill Nye the Science Guy

  Billy Bob Thornton

  The Blair Witch Project

  Blossom Fashion

  Blue’s Clues

  Bob Ross and The Joy of Painting

  Body Glitter

  Bottled Water

  Boy Bands

  The Brady Bunch Revival

  Brenda Walsh

  Bubble Tape

  Buffy the Vampire Slayer

  Bungee Jumping

  Caboodles

  Caller ID and Star-69

  Calvin and Hobbes

  Cassette Tapes

  Celebrity Movies

  Cheetos Paws

  Clarissa Explains It All

  Clear Colas

  Clerks

  “Closing Time”

  Coke MagiCan Promotion

  COPS

  Cuba Gooding Jr.

  Dawson’s Creek

  Department 56

  Dippin’ Dots

  Discovery Zone

  “Don’t Copy That Floppy!”

  Doritos 3D

  Dream Phone Game

  Dunkaroos

  Earring Magic Ken

  Ebola Virus

  Facial Hair

  Fanny Packs

  Fargo

  Father of the Bride

  Fax Machines

  Floppy Disks

  Forrest Gump

  FoxTrot

  Free Willy

  Friends

  Fruit by the Foot

  Furby

  Gak

  Game Boy

  George Foreman Grill

  Giant Cell Phones

  Goosebumps Books

  Got Milk? Ad Campaign

  Groundhog Day

  Grunge

  Hacky Sack

  Happy Fun Ball

  Have You Ever…You Will!

  Home Alone

  Hypercolor

  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Books

  “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)”

  “I’m the King of the World!”

  Inline Skates

  “I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get Up” Ads

  Janet Reno’s Dance Party

  Jell-O Jigglers

  The Jerry Springer Show

  Jim Carrey

  Jim’s Journal

  Juice Boxes

  Kid Cuisine

  Kindergarten Cop

  Koosh Balls

  Kris Kross

  Lamb Chop’s Play Along

  Leisure Suit Larry

  Light-Up Sneakers

  The Lion King

  Lisa Frank School Supplies

  Mac Classic II

  “Macarena”

  Magic Eye Pictures

  Magic Middles Cookies

  Martha Stewart

  MC Hammer

  McRib

  Melrose Place

  Mentos

  Micro Machines

  Mighty Morphin Power Range
rs

  Milli Vanilli

  “MMMBop”

  Movie Rental Stores

  Movies with Twist Endings

  My So-Called Life

  Mystery Science Theater 3000

  Nelson

  Nerf Guns

  Newsies

  The Nutty Professor

  OK Soda

  The Olsen Twins

  Online Services

  Oprah’s Book Club

  Orbitz

  The Oregon Trail

  Pajama Pants

  PalmPilot

  Party of Five

  Pogs

  Pokémon

  Pop Up Video

  Pretty Woman

  Pulp Fiction

  The Real World

  The Return of Donny Osmond

  Ring Pops

  Riot Grrrl

  Rise of the Disney Princess

  Riverdance

  Roller Shoes

  Roseanne

  Salute Your Shorts

  Saved by the Bell

  Scream

  Scrunchies and Little Kid Barrettes

  Seinfeld

  Skip-It

  Slap Bracelets

  Snapple

  Socker Boppers

  Sour Candy

  Spice Girls

  Spuds Mackenzie

  Squeezit Drinks

  Star Trek: The Next Generation

  Star Wars Prequel Mania

  Surge Soda

  Swing Dancing

  TGIF and SNICK

  Taco Bell Chihuahua

  Talk Show Boom

  Tamagotchi

  Tan M&M’s

  Teddy Ruxpin

  Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

  Terrible Saturday Night Live Movies

  “The More You Know” Public Service Announcements

  Thomas Kinkade Art

  Tickle Me Elmo Craze

  Topsy Tail

  Troll Dolls

  Turbo Football

  Upper Deck Baseball Cards

  Urkel

  Violent Video Games

  Waterworld

  Wayne’s World

  Whassup? Ads

  “Whatever”

  Where’s Waldo?

  Windows 95

  WWJD Bracelets

  The X-Files

  X Games

  Xena: Warrior Princess

  Y2K Panic

  Zima

  Zines

  Zubaz

  Acknowledgments

  Index

  About the Author

  Kids of the ’90s, Unite!

  We know, you’ve spent a lifetime celebrating the nostalgia of older generations. Every other week a magazine cover remembers the enormous social changes of the 1960s, a shaggy 1970s band goes on tour, or a hideous fashion trend of the 1980s returns. That’s all well and good, even if jelly shoes haven’t gotten any more comfortable in thirty years.

  But maybe you still smile when you hear someone mention The Oregon Trail, or when you find your old Lisa Frank notebook in your mom’s closet. Or maybe you get sucked in to watching the entire Big Lebowski every time it pops up on cable. Or you can’t bear to throw away your cassette tapes, even though you haven’t owned a tape player for years. There’s nothing wrong with holding fond memories of your own chosen decade—even if you still can’t figure out why Urkel was ever popular.

  The reason we wrote this book—and its 1970s–1980s-themed predecessor, Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops?—is that we believe the lost toys, tastes, and trends of an era do more than just remind us of what we liked as kids. They tell us a lot about who we were then, and who we are today. You can’t figure out where you’re going until you understand how you got there.

  Sure, each decade is technically just ten years, but we feel confident saying that the twentieth century seemed to gain speed as it neared its end. Starting in the 1990s, technology jumped on a roller-coaster-fast track that changed everything. Mobile phones went from brick-sized behemoths that only Gordon Gekko carried to slim little numbers that everyone from nannies to nuns popped in their pockets. Televisions used to be so clunky they might have singlehandedly made you refuse to help a friend move. After the ’90s technology revolution, they morphed into sexy flat screens that hung on walls like paintings.

  Before the 1990s began, you may not have received a single email. By 2000, the dude who lived in your AOL inbox was barking “You’ve got mail!” every couple of minutes.

  It’s not just that the 1990s introduced us to a boatload of new stuff—all decades do that. It’s the fact that items we first encountered in the ’90s didn’t just come and go. Computers, mobile phones, electronic news and communications—these things may keep changing form, but they’re never going to fade out of our lives completely, not now. They’ll get better—or weirder—but for good or for ill, they’re here to stay.

  Also in the ’90s, many of the things generations had grown up with started to slip away. Photographic film. Landlines. Newspapers. You almost don’t notice when those things start to slowly roll out of your life, but when you look back at where you were in 1990 versus where you were in 1999, it’s mind-blowing.

  Technology aside, it was a decade of rich creativity and downright crazy inventions. Just think about how the 1990s loved to play with form.

  You think you had candy, previous generations? We have super-sour candy that will rip a layer off your tongue! Think T-shirts pretty much can’t be improved? We have shirts that change color with the temperature! Thirsty? We have clear colas and beverages with weird floating pearls in them! You’ve seen dozens of movies and watched a million hours of TV? We’re going to hit you with Quentin Tarantino’s pop-culture-flavored violence and the whole bizarre reality TV universe. What’s that Al Jolson said as Hollywood moved into talkies? You ain’t heard nothin’ yet, indeed.

  As advanced and futuristic as we thought we were back in the 1990s, we look back on it now as a decade of innocence. The Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union imploded, and for a brief moment the nuclear fears that haunted ’80s kids almost fell away. We had no idea, as we sailed into airports an hour before a flight, cruising through metal detectors with shoes and belts on, tweezers and giant bottles of mouthwash stowed in our carry-ons, what the 2000s would bring.

  What happened to the gentle memories of our youth? Some vanished totally, like the craze for clear colas. Some stayed around, but faded from the spotlight, like America’s Funniest Home Videos and the bungee-jumping fad. Some temporarily disappeared, were revised, and reintroduced…but you’ll have to read the book to find out which ones. Not everything we remember here was invented in the 1990s, but it was important to us then. And since you’re flipping through this book, we’re guessing it was important to you too.

  So don’t let anyone tell you it’s too early to remember the 1990s. Smear on some body glitter and put some fresh batteries in your Big Mouth Billy Bass. We’re heading back to the era when clear cola seemed somehow cool, we all knew how to fix a cassette tape with a pencil, and TGIF and SNICK ruled the airwaves.

  Grab some Dunkaroos and pump it up, Kris. This is your so-called life.

  Adam Sandler Songs on Saturday Night Live

  Ambitious cast members on Saturday Night Live always find new ways to stand out. In the 1990s, Mike Myers had Wayne’s World, Chris Farley played lovable chubby losers, and Adam Sandler, long before he was a movie star, hit the right note with his own original songs.

  Sandler’s topics were truly off the wall. His “Thanksgiving Song” mixed completely random pop-culture lines with tales from Turkey Day itself (“Turkey for you and turkey for me/Can’t believe Tyson gave that girl VD”), while his “Hanukkah Song” listed famous Jews who celebrate the holiday. (“Guess who eats together at the Carnegie Deli? Bowser from Sha Na Na and Arthur Fonzarelli!”) And he wasn’t afraid to rhyme “Hanukkah” with “marijuanica.”

  Perhaps Sandler’s best-loved SNL song is the one Farley helped him perform, “Lunch Lady
Land.” Farley was perfect as the mole-sporting, hair-netted worker who’s the Simon Legree of cafeteria food—until the pizza and pudding came out for revenge. On a show where sketches often run groaningly long, seeing Sandler bring out his guitar meant a guaranteed two minutes of the purest and most joyful laughter.

  STATUS: Sandler’s moved on to movies. His role as the SNL songwriter was eventually filled by Andy Samberg and his Lonely Island crew, singing about cupcakes and the Chronicles of Narnia and gift-wrapping one’s genitals.

  FUN FACT: The lunch lady in “Lunch Lady Land” is reportedly based on a real cafeteria worker Sandler knew at NYU.

  The Adventures of Pete & Pete

  Before Yo Gabba Gabba!, the show every indie hipster wanted to guest star on was The Adventures of Pete & Pete. And no wonder—if you were Iggy Pop, Debbie Harry, or Michael Stipe, wouldn’t you kill to be on the coolest, weirdest, most surreal program of the ’90s? Ostensibly about two carrot-topped brothers, Big Pete and Little Pete (“Get a life, jerkweed!” was one of the littler Pete’s favorite put-downs) the Nickelodeon show was like nothing else on TV—and certainly like nothing else on Nickelodeon, which had traditionally run more, uh, lowbrow fare. (Cough—Hey Dude.)

  The Adventures of Pete & Pete was an oddball offering about school, suburbia, and subversion. Little Pete was an anti-authority nut with a tattoo of an adult woman (Petunia!) on his forearm. The boys’ mom had a metal plate in her head. They hung out with the neighborhood superhero, Artie, who described himself as “the strongest man…in the world!” Luscious Jackson played at their prom. And it kept getting weirder. And better than 99 percent of anything else on TV. In the immortal words of Little Pete, “Read it and weep, fungus-lick!”

  STATUS: Pete & Pete started as minute-long short segments, then graduated to regular-show status from 1993–1996. The cast and crew reunited for an event in 2012.

  FUN FACT: Toby Huss, who played Artie, went on to voice Cotton Hill and Kahn Souphanousinphone on King of the Hill.

  America’s Funniest Home Videos

  Before YouTube, the only place you could check out embarrassing real-life video footage was on America’s Funniest Home Videos, which kicked off in 1989 and quickly became the water-cooler show of the ’90s. “Oh, man—did you see that one of the kid smashing his dad in the nertz with a golf club? Classic. I wish I could post that on the Internet.” “What’s the Internet?” “No idea, but someone should totally invent it so we can watch that video over and over again.”