Where Are The 90's? Don't Ask Radio...

Anytime you bring up the vocal tracks that shaped the 90's the last thing anybody wants to hear is how Hip Hop, Gangsta and Crunk invited the demise of one life's most enjoyable ear candies: metal. The entire industry was evolving! Grunge , New Age Country and Poetic Slamming with street beats had ignited a fire so tall the end result was separation. Coming straight from the clubs the nightly mixes featured several levels of spins constructed not by who was on the dance floor but what time the owners felt comfortable with whom they were letting in through the front door. I'm still not over the night the manager at Planet Q leaped into the booth screaming, "I said no Michael Jackson!" Sadly the "real" music of the 1990's will fade into forgotten treasures like that of 80's British electronic releases. Radio gets the blame for staining the waves of what the 80's were by selling out to cheap Pop pieces from Lauper, Mellencamp, Springfield and Dexy's Midnight Runners. While I Heart Radio toys with a brand called "GenX" the puzzle will never be complete without un-filtering the ten years that separated two completely different dance movements Disco and The Bump and Grind. The Electric Slide was chased out of town by the Macarena immediately followed by The 69 Boyz doing The Tootsie Roll. The 90's did exist and Rollingstone Magazine has recently set free a classic collection of the photographs that might lean a timid perception into understanding why today's clubs have bottomed out and taken up the idea of enforcing a dress codes. Courtney Love added dirty nasty tuck and twist while Gwen Staffani highlighted the bottle job beautiful. The Beasty Boys opened the gates for un-tucked street slang covered t-shirts and Lenny Kravitz never stopped being too damn cool for any time of day. It never pays to get caught without the shades. Chris Rock was in love with Jenny on the blocks butt. I've often wonder what might come from a private dress up party where Madonna exercised her Vogue with Bjork? Wait! A birth did take place: Lady Gaga! Marilyn Manson mass marketed eyes only Betty Davis could yank from the tanks of blistered personalities. TLC was cute but dangerously cuddly while Tupac tried to keep it within a groove of popularity. Few believed a war between east and west truly existed. Maybe that's why Ernie's Records and Tapes hung signs from their store window that read: We don't sell Rap Music. The Spice Girls really? How about Cobain? How's that boyish facing looking two decades after stealing it from music scene? What are we listening to today? Pop Rock or shaved ice from sculptures once viewed great? How can they be if nobody's playing the 90's? Smashing Pumpkins were more than just one song. Did you know critics and concert fans that have never seen them live fight with Nickelback over their Grunge flavored roots? Justin Bieber recently hung up the phone during a radio interview after being compared to Justin Timberlake. N SYNC, Backstreet Boys, Boyz II Men and 98 Degrees... remember these? Is it true Paul McCartney was once a Beatle? Have you seen him on stage lately? He's in his 70's and still puts on a three hour show in every hall that invites him to perform. Bet he doesn't take the little blue pill... Wait... I believe that was the new millennium.