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Can We Get A ‘No Scrubs’ for Gen Z?
TLC’s hip-hop/pop divas imparted knowledge, offered advice, and did so with unimpeachable panache. Is there any equivalent today?
The 90s were not an exclusively golden era for adolescence. Running the nation’s first-choice clothing chain for middle-class teens with money to blow on corduroys and argyle were a couple of sex traffickers. On the decade’s back half, high fashion and Hollywood jointly decided “teetering on the brink of starvation” was the right look for a female body. [1] President Clinton’s sexual escapades dominated nightly news for years. In 1999, the century closed with Columbine.
None of this was any good for teenage flourishing, obviously.
But concerning superb pop culture offerings, the 90s did provide, particularly in the music department. For an alternative rock nut like me, 21st-century radio has never achieved anything remotely like the 90s gold on offer from Colorado’s (formerly) independent stations.
Radiohead would play, then Oasis, then G Love, Alanis, followed by Moby, the Butthole Surfers, and finally No Doubt, courtesy of 93.3 FM. But no one had to stick exclusively with alt-rock, and you know what? Sometimes I didn’t. Sometimes, a girl is in a different mood. And I’d switch over to CO’s rap…
