Sunday, June 29, 2008

1994: A Cultural Nostalgia Trip

Re: my post below. Some of you might recall that 1994 was actually a very, very important year in American culture. In fact, it remains one of the most important cultural years ever. Think about it:

It was the year Pulp Fiction came out, revolutionizing independent cinema, unleashing the whole Tarantino phenomenon, and making John Travolta cool again.

It was the year Friends and ER premiered, giving us George Clooney and Jennifer Aniston and a whole lot more big names.

It was the year of the great but tragically short-lived show, the aforementioned My So-Called Life (that gave us Claire Danes).

It was the year REM released Monster, with their big hit "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?" Madonna also had a big hit called "I'll Remember" (the video of which you see here), that appeared in a now forgotten movie called "With Honors." The only thing that was interesting about this movie was that it was the last even semi-successful thing Patrick Dempsey did before Grey's Anatomy.

It was the year Kurt Cobain committed suicide and effectively ended the whole grunge movement.

It was the year Richard Nixon died, the first president to do so in more than 20 years.

It was the year Republicans took over the House and Senate, redrawing the political map. George W. Bush was also elected Governor of Texas that year and, well ... we all know what that led to.

And as I also indicated below, it was the year OJ Simpson was accused of murder, starting the whole 24/7 cable news soap-opera format.

I'm not saying everything that happened in American culture 1994 was great but it sure was memorable and it certainly had a lasting impact.

1 comment:

Please keep it civil, intelligent, and expletive-free. Otherwise, opine away.