There are certain things about being a millennial that I don’t think people who didn’t grow up in the 90s will ever fully understand.
The excitement of getting home from school and turning on TRL. The anticipation of your favorite music video coming on. The feeling of buying a new CD and immediately putting it in your stereo like it was the most important event of the week.
And boy bands.
Oh, how I miss boy bands.
Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy music today. There are songs I like, artists I appreciate, and the occasional new release that makes me think, “Okay, this is actually really good.”
But sometimes I turn on the radio, scroll through a streaming playlist, or hear a new song playing somewhere, and I find myself thinking:
“Where did all the catchy music go?”
Because I miss the 90s.
And I miss the music.
The 90s Had Songs You Couldn’t Escape. And That Was the Point.
Let’s talk about the boy bands for a minute.
*NSYNC. Backstreet Boys. 98 Degrees. Hanson. O-Town. LFO.
I could probably hear the first three seconds of certain songs today and immediately know exactly what song it is. I wouldn’t need Shazam. I wouldn’t need to look it up. I wouldn’t even need to think about it.
My brain would just go:
“Oh. I know this one.”
And then, suddenly, I’m singing along like I’m 14 years old again.
Bye Bye Bye.
Everybody (Backstreet’s Back).
I Want It That Way.
All or Nothing.
Summer Girls.
I mean, come on.
These songs were catchy. They had choruses you remembered. Lyrics that got stuck in your head. Songs that you could sing in the car, in your bedroom, with your friends, or while doing absolutely nothing productive.
And the best part?
You didn’t have to try to remember them.
They just stayed with you.
Somewhere in my brain, there is a permanent 90s playlist that apparently has unlimited storage.
I can forget why I walked into a room, but I can still remember the words to a song I heard on the radio in 1999.
Make it make sense.
Music Today Just Feels… Different
I know. I know.
Every generation says music was better when they were younger.
Our parents probably said the same thing about their music. And one day, kids today will probably be talking about how music from the 2020s was the best music ever made.
But I can’t help how I feel.
Music from the 90s just had a different kind of magic.
There were songs that felt fun. Songs that made you want to dance around your room. Songs that you could sing with your friends even if none of you could actually sing.
There were songs that didn’t require you to sit down and analyze what the artist was trying to say.
Sometimes the song was just about falling in love, breaking up, wanting someone back, having a good time, or being completely ridiculous.
And honestly?
That was enough.
Today, so much of the music I hear feels like it’s trying to be something. More serious. More polished. More complicated. More focused on being a moment than being a song you remember five years from now.
Maybe that’s just me getting older.
Maybe I’m officially becoming the person who says, “They don’t make music like they used to.”
But I said what I said.
Give Me a Good Pop Song and Let Me Live
One of the things I miss most is how much fun pop music used to be.
The 90s had a little bit of everything.
Pop stars. Boy bands. Girl groups. R&B. Alternative rock. Pop punk. Country crossover hits. Songs that somehow ended up on every radio station regardless of what genre they were supposed to be.
You could be listening to Britney Spears one minute, Matchbox Twenty the next, and then suddenly you’re singing along to the Spice Girls.
And nobody questioned it.
That was the playlist.
That was the experience.
And don’t even get me started on the music videos.
The outfits. The choreography. The dramatic storylines. The questionable hairstyles that we all thought were amazing at the time.
I miss it all.
I miss when a new song felt like an event.
I miss when an artist released a new album and you actually wanted to listen to the entire thing.
I miss when a song could make you feel like the main character in a movie, even though you were sitting in your bedroom doing homework.
And I miss when the music was so catchy that you could remember the chorus decades later.
The Songs That Still Live Rent-Free in My Head
Here’s the thing about 90s music.
I don’t have to listen to these songs every day to remember them.
They just exist in my brain.
Waiting.
Ready.
For the moment when they hear the opening notes of a song at the grocery store and suddenly I’m transported back to a completely different time in my life.
I hear I Want It That Way and I’m immediately singing along.
I hear Bye Bye Bye and suddenly I’m doing the choreography in my head.
I hear MMMBop and somehow I know every word, despite the fact that I haven’t intentionally listened to it in years.
I hear All Star and I am once again living in a world where that song could be heard absolutely everywhere.
And then there are the songs that bring back memories I didn’t even realize I still had.
A certain song can remind me of a car ride, a friend, a summer, a school dance, or a time when life felt a whole lot simpler.
That’s what I miss.
Not just the music itself.
The feeling attached to it.
Maybe I Don’t Miss the 90s as Much as I Miss Who I Was
Okay, now we’re getting a little deep.
Because maybe the truth is that I don’t just miss the music.
Maybe I miss the version of myself who enjoyed it.
The girl who could spend hours listening to CDs.
The girl who had favorite bands and favorite songs and probably knew way too much about which boy band member was which.
The girl who didn’t have a mortgage, work responsibilities, endless emails, or a never-ending list of things that needed to be done.
The girl who could hear a catchy song and just enjoy it.
No overthinking.
No wondering if it was productive.
No thinking about what needed to happen tomorrow.
Just music.
And maybe that’s why 90s songs still hit differently.
They remind me of a time when life felt a little lighter.
When my biggest problem might have been whether my favorite song would play on the radio before I had to leave the house.
Honestly, what a time to be alive.
So, Can We Bring Back the Catchy Songs?
I’m not asking for everything to go back to the 90s.
I enjoy my smartphone. I like streaming music. I appreciate being able to listen to almost any song whenever I want.
And I am definitely not giving up modern conveniences.
But I would like to make one small request.
Can we bring back the songs that get stuck in your head for the right reasons?
The songs with the big choruses.
The songs you can sing along to in the car.
The songs that make you want to roll down the windows and pretend you’re in a music video.
The songs that you hear once and remember forever.
The songs that make you feel something without needing a complicated explanation.
Because sometimes I don’t need a song that’s going to change my life.
Sometimes I just need a song that’s going to make my drive home more fun.
And maybe that’s the real difference between then and now.
The music of the 90s didn’t always try so hard to be important.
Sometimes it was just fun.
And sometimes, fun is exactly what we need.
Until Then, I’ll Be Over Here Listening to My 90s Playlist
If you need me, I’ll be in the car, singing along to songs that came out before some of today’s artists were even born.
I’ll be listening to boy bands, pop stars, and all the songs that somehow still know every word of my life.
I’ll be enjoying the music that made growing up in the 90s so memorable.
And I’ll probably be saying, “They just don’t make music like this anymore.”
Because honestly?
I miss it.
I miss the catchy songs.
I miss the nostalgia.
I miss the feeling.
And I miss the days when hearing the first few notes of a song could instantly make everything feel a little better.
Now if you’ll excuse me, Bye Bye Bye just came on.
And yes, I will be singing every single word.
What 90s song can you still sing word-for-word today?
Tell me I’m not the only one who has an entire 90s playlist permanently saved in their brain.
