Heyyy, Macarena! Alright! The sounds of 1990s pop culture music exploded onto the scene with songs like these by Los Del Rio, getting everyone up and out of their seats. People danced the night away in go-go cages at their local nightclubs or at private afterparties or various kinds of engagements while DJs rocked out the latest hits.
Music from the 1990’s was fun and interactive. If it had a kitschy feel and a bright eyed pop star attached to it, it was the best song of the moment, that you thought would live forever in your stereos or as the best DJs in Melbourne played them at various functions. Music was Gwen Stefani (before she was the Gwen Stefani we know today), the lead singer of the band No Doubt, sending out adorable, yet powerful vocal blasts with those girl power anthems like “Just A Girl,” getting girls everywhere to sport their Bindi’s and heavy makeup, baggy pants and belly shirts. Even as Britney Spears came into her womanhood, those plaid skirts and belly shirts were continuing to saturate our senses with her catchy, “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” Today, DJs play all the greats from the 90’s right alongside artists like Taylor Swift, Justin Timberlake and One Direction.
Why should you be obsessed with the 90s? Because, the 1990s were the best decade ever! The 90’s were about having a good time and encouraging everyone else to follow suit. 1990s music and the DJs that played it helped kick down gender-traditional doors by using lyrics for what people had been thinking, but were too afraid to say.
Take, for example. Alanis Morissette. DJs in Melbourne are always getting requests for her “You Oughta Know.” In it, she uses lyrical content to powerfully tell her ex-boyfriend to kick rocks – and in the most vivid and hostile way. Another common song requested at afterparties and 30th birthday parties is Meredith’s “Bitch”. In it, she vocalized that she was an independent woman—as well as a mother and lover. Women in the 90s were singing these songs twenty times a day and, if Facebook were alive and well back in the 90s, there would probably be too many posts to count with these amazing songs from women scorned. That’s fine—DJs all over the world did a great job at getting them out there.
The 1990s was a time in music that brought women to the forefront, giving them a voice that needed listening to. Angst-filled teen Fiona Apple vocalized about being a bad girl in “Criminal,” There was also Tori Amos, with her 1992 release of her album Little Earthquakes. This is the side of the 90s music scene that women of that generation stumbled upon self-discovery and realizing girls of all ages should speak up, be loud and be heard. While some of these may not be as common today, DJs in Melbourne still get requests as the 90’s weren’t that long ago.
1990s music was fun, manic, liberating and a joy to put those CDs into your stereo, and play them on repeat. Or, better yet, take advantage of some of the DJs in Melbourne and book a great afterparty or school formal!
