I'm a dELiA*s Girl in a 90s World
with Rachel Burke of 90s Obscurity 📻
Rachel Burke from 90s Obscurity is featured on this week's episode of Nicstalgia. What did we do when we didn’t know the name of a song before Google or lyrics before Shazam?? Called the radio station. How did we get to dELiA*s before Google Maps, GPS, or Mapquest? Honestly, I don’t exactly know.
We talk about 90s music, fashion, and movies, and despite how trend cycles repeat every 20 years or so, people always look to pop culture to explore and express their ever-evolving identity. Was being a teenager better when there was no technology/cell phones/social media? TLDR – yes.
Rachel is Team Dylan and breaks down the Aaron Spelling universe: seminal 90s classic TV shows Beverly Hills, 90210 and its spinoff Melrose Place. Think you know every 90s song? Think again: She also shares the bands and recommends a song that truly IS 90s obscurity.
Watch/listen: YouTube • Spotify • Apple Podcasts • Website
🛼 Haven’t You Heard?!
My fav things from the internet rn:
I am obsessed with Rachel’s radio show, 90s Obscurity, and this episode is my favorite: Delia’s Catalog Edition: Letters to Cleo and the Sneaker Pimps. Hearing Sneaker Pimps’ “6 Underground” unlocked a major memory –– The song is featured in the quintessential 90s teen movie, Can’t Hardly Wait. (You know I find Gen X ensemble casts like, the most comforting thing ever.)
Like Rachel, 90s alt rock band Letters to Cleo is also from Boston! LTC most famously was featured in 10 Things I Hate About You. They also appeared on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and soundtracks for The Craft and Jawbreaker. In addition to supplying Rachael Leigh Cook’s singing voice in Josie and The Pussycats, Letters to Cleo’s Kay Hanley wrote for Doc McStuffins and provided backup vocals on tour with Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana. Amazing.
Inspired by last week’s Nicstalgia episode, Be Kind, R3WIND with Tasafila, the community played Rent or Return. Instead of deciding which 90s Teen Movie you would rent or return (because let’s be honest I would rent them all), I made it harder by making people have to choose between two beloved movies!! Winner = rent. The results:
📼 RENT or RETURN
✅ Never Been Kissed vs. ❌ Romeo + Juliet
✅ Cruel Intentions vs. ❌ Jawbreaker
✅ 10 Things I Hate About You vs. ❌ She’s All That
✅ Clueless vs. ❌ Romy & Michele’s High School Reunion
✅ Can’t Hardly Wait vs. ❌ Dazed and Confused
✅ Reality Bites vs. ❌ Girl, Interrupted
From the fashion to societal attitudes, 90s Gen X grunge-inspired slacker culture is back. This time, it’s as 20s Gen Z ‘anti-ambition’. “[90s and 00s films] presented anti-ambition as lazy. Today, anti-ambition [is] a status symbol of autonomy, of doing what you want, when you want. And why not look good while doing it?” I simply love that this article’s cover image features Mean Girls’ most prominent ‘burnout’, Amber D’alessio.
⏮ Let’s Go Back….Back to the Beginning
A time capsule of this week:
In 1994, what I actually think is my favorite show of all time, My So Called Life, premiered. Maybe part of what protects the sanctity of this masterpiece is that there was only one season, its end leaving more questions than answers. Watching the show for the first time in 2021, I find Jordan Catalano was more toxic/less heart-throbby, (this shift in POV happens while examining the past through a contemporary lens), but IMO, this show perfectly encapsulates the zeitgeist of the 90s.
In 1999, Christina Aguilera’s debut album was released, gifting us with hits such as, “What a Girl Wants”, “I Turn to You”, “Come On Over (All I Want is You)”, “Reflection”, and of course, “Genie in a Bottle” (not to mention its Spanish versión icónica, “Genio Atrapado”).
In 2000, the seminally classic cheerleading movie Bring It On was released. Yes, I still have the entire opening sequence memorized. Fun fact, Big Red was in an episode of My So Called Life and Missy, Courtney, and Whitney were all in Buffy the Vampire Slayer. (Again, we love a Gen X ensemble cast, where actors are instantly/vaguely recognizable enough to feel familiar.) Jump into the Nicstalgia archive to listen to Tatiana Lampa and I chat about how Bring It On made us cheerleaders.
💿 Hey Mr. DJ, put a [playlist] on
Playlist of the week:
Party Like It’s 1997 is an eclectic mix of 90s songs inspired by the 'Drew’s Famous® Smash Hits Party Music' CD I had in second grade. A core childhood memory I think about very often is going to iParty, a New England-based chain that was acquired by Party City in 2013.
Drew’s Entertainment is a NJ-based company that would sell mix CDs of ‘sound-alikes’ and covers (aka. not the original artist singing the song) so you could play a variety of songs at a party/event without having to hire a DJ. Apparently their compilations have sold over 40 million copies since 1994 (!!!!!!)
🏆 Nicstalgia Trivia
“Buttons” by the Pussycat Dolls was Rachel’s first Myspace song. Incredible. You might be wondering, What’s PCD’s connection to the 90s? Well, Robin Antin started PCD first as a burlesque troupe in 1990 (with Christina Applegate was a performer).
The subject of an episode of Dark Side of the 90s, which infamous nightclub did PCD have a residency at from 1995-2001?
Find the answer in this week’s episode of Nicstalgia!
Last Week’s Answer
In Spiceworld (the very meta Spice Girls movie about a movie about the Spice Girls), there was a scene that included the crime fighting quintet, Spice Force Five. What movie was this scene originally inspired by?
Pulp Fiction. Uma Thurman’s character shares with John Travolta’s over milkshakes about the pilot she was in for a show called Fox Force Five.
Watch last week’s episode, Be Kind, R3WIND with Tasafila from R3WIND, on YouTube!
🧨 Spice Up Your Life
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