Same Saddam, different Bush

What is with our country's obsession with the 1980s? 1980s music is the stuff to have at a party and these theme parties are becoming more frequent all the time. It's suddenly the best dance music and the fashion, while repulsive to me, is making a comeback (don't tell me you haven't seen more mullets around).\nI was born in and lived in the 1980s. My music was Michael Jackson, my TV was "He-Man," my movies were "E.T." and "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and my fashion was how my parents dressed me for school (admittedly, I had one jean jacket). \nThe nostalgic period for me is the 1990s -- the decade during which I did most of my growing up. That is the decade in which I wish I could dwell more.\nMusic\nNow we have the wonderful lyrics of Eminem -- the white rapper who is the real Slim Shady -- but white rappers will never be able to "check out the hook while my DJ revolves it" as Vanilla Ice did. \nEighties rock music will never hold a candle to bands such as Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Dave Matthews Band, which dominated the 1990s.\nNineties music includes old school rap when it was new, fresh and "the BOMB." The battle of having the title emcee before or after your name was key. Similarly, 1980s hair bands took their music to a new level as they approached an age when it wasn't about how much hair you grew, but what the songs and lyrics meant. Lyrics became poignant; hip hop and pop borrowed from motown and grew into R&B; synthesizers were put away and music became music again, with real instruments.\nMovies\nMany of my favorite films are from the 1980s -- such as the two mentioned earlier and others, including "The Princess Bride" and "Amadeus." But filmmaking in the 1990s was leaps and bounds better.\nDisney revived with releases ranging from "Beauty and the Beast" to "Mulan," which created a new dynasty in Disney animated features -- a genre nearly empty during most the 1970s and 1980s. Disney and Pixar started a revolution in computer-generated images with films such as "Toy Story." Those images are now standard in films, especially those such as "The Phantom Menace" and "The Matrix." \nThe 1990s also brought a new-found maturity to the screen, as Steven Spielberg delved into deeper issues and explored his own heritage in "Schindler's List." Films with topics never discussed before, such as AIDS ("Philadelphia") and homosexuality ("Chasing Amy"), came into the limelight without the prejudice of the 1980s.\nGrowing Pains\nThere are many things about the 1990s I miss or wish to see spurts of again, because they make me laugh. Here's a list of phrases you might remember: "bull-yeah!"; "talk to the hand"; "raise the roof"; "da bomb"; "yeah, baby, yeah"; "oh yeah"; "Alllllllllllll righty then"; "Sup homey?"; using "like" in, like, every phrase; using "not" after things that were so interesting … NOT!\nFashion took some weird turns, such as wearing the right pant leg up to the knee and sagging pants. But we rid ourselves of long hair (which, if you know me, I learned a little late), moved to naturals instead of synthetics and hair coloring went from purple and green to blonde highlights.\nThe 1990s were the days when most of today's college students went to high school and had the experience of becoming an adolescent and moving on to adulthood. The 1990s will always be when I got my first car, found my first love and all of the other cheesy and stupid things we did as teenagers.\nPolitics\nI don't think I'll find a strong argument that the 1990s was a worse decade politically than the 1980s. Reaganomics and Star Wars not only damaged the nation's budget and forced us into deficit spending, but the shift in economy and tax cuts by another Bush led to nationwide recession.\nThe 1990s found us in the midst of a Democratic presidency for the first time in two decades, our deficit was reduced and peace in the Middle East seemed more possible than ever. Nonetheless, as the 1990s waned, we saw how conservative and Puritan this country still is.\nBut we did see the effects of bombing Iraq and what happened when President George Bush wanted to force an issue that blew out of proportion, causing the most recent war in America's history. Of course, history seems to be repeating itself.\nFor me, the 1990s was the decade to be alive. The music, the movies, the clothes, the thoughts and ideas were so hopeful and forward-looking. The drugs, politics and prejudice of the 1980s look like a haunting apparition I want to forget as much as the cheesy music that dominated the decade. I long for the days when the president played a mean saxophone, I could sag and be cool and Eminem was Vanilla Ice.