Fine--Let's Talk About 1992

If we're going to dedicate some space and time to the analysis of the present renaissance of early ninetiesness (apart from the usual schooldays nostalgia that goes on at A&P), we should do it up right. It was a pretty thrilling year, in which, (of course) the music video was unavoidable, though burgeoning gangsta' rap had yet to become part of MTV kulture (por ejemplo, there were no videos made for The Chronic!!). In 1992, there was a visible push and pull between grit and glamour, but on either side of that pond, ideas of nostalgia and the underground were paramount. There was also a fascinating dual urge toward health and sickness. HIV was still very much a crisis, beginning to be addressed in mainstream media with messages of care and consciousness; people balked at 80s excess; earth and creature-loving liberal politics seemed to surge. But drugged New York clubs, Bloods, Crips, and heroin addicts from the drowsier cities were aesthetic kings. Here is a smattering of information--Annie Lennox's "Money Can't Buy It," The Lemonheads' "My Drug Buddy," En Vogue's cover of "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," a clip from Road to Avonlea, a Gangsta Blacc mix-tape, a GLBT P.S.A., a clip from the pilot of Absolutely Fabulous, and a news segment. Note, most of these are favorite things of seven year old Able, which is fitting, as, to look at it now, 1992 was innocent, scrappy, and a little hilarious.