Kids today might think the lyrics to some of their songs would make anyone blush, but we all know there are some 90s bops that make Cardi B’s “WAP” seem like it belongs on a children’s show. After all, the era—thanks in no small part to our shifting societal views about how openly we talk about sex—brought a steady rise to sexually explicit language, certainly more than the 50s, 60s, and 70s. According to the data siteLottie, even the 80s had considerably less sexual content in music…even with Madonna!
All that said, it’s what makes this series of videos created by a Gen X mom so enjoyable, if not a little validating for us older folks.
Jennifer McCormick (@90smusicmomma), 42, from Cincinnati, Ohio has captured her teen daughter Scarlett’s reactions to countless tunes from her teen years. Let’s just say the secondhand embarrassment is palpable.
Below, McCormick introduces Scarlett to that timeless classic: “Ain’t No Fun (If the Homies Can’t Have None)” by Snoop Dogg as a text overlay reads: “My 16 year old was mortified to find out I was listening to this at 14.”
Reader beware: lots of naughty language below. But, boy, it takes you right back to 90’s Los Angeles, doesn’t it?
Understandably, fellow 90’s kids rallied in the comments.
“Our kids think we’re old and boring .If they only knew what we did in the 90s,” one person wrote.
“They have no idea we were cooler than them,” another replied.
Upon a request, McCormick also played “The Bad Touch” by Bloodhound Gang. You might remember it as “the Discovery Channel song.”
Ah, the look of confusion, then shock, then trying to play along, ultimately followed by utter disgust.
“Too bad she doesn’t know what the Discovery Channel used to be. That line doesn’t hit now,” one person joked. Ouch. Too true.
Still, once again, folks of a certain age came to defend this anthem of our formative years. Or, at the very least, it stirred up some nostalgia.
“Inapproate? Maybe. Catchy AF? Damn straight.”
“The song is one thing, the video is another ahahaha. The monkey suits are embedded in my brain.”
“Sometimes I forget how much of a fever dream trip growing up was during our childhood.”
From Digital Underground’s “The Humpty Dance,” to 50 Cents’ “Candy Shop,” to Color Me Badd’s “I Wanna Sex You Up,” Scarlett’s reactions are freakin’ priceless.
On the bright side, Scarlett seemed to recognize and appreciate the Sisqó masterpiece that is “The Thong Song.”
All in all, taking her daughter down a musical memory lane has been a “fun way for her to see what we listened to,” McCormick shared in an interview withNewsweek.
“It [also] makes me question my own parents because I was much younger than her listening to most of the songs!” she added.
A major reason we have the 90s to thank for our awareness of “explicit” music in the first place comes from Tipper Gore (Al Gore’s wife), whose pearls became so clutched after listening to Prince’s “Darling Nikki” that she formed the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) to advocate for a music rating system that would inform parents about explicit content. This would later result in the “Explicit Lyrics: Parental Advisory” label for album considered obscene.
That tactic backfired in many ways, since, like all things taboo, it only made teens more intrigued.
As one viewer put it, “the parental advisory sticker meant the album was gonna be 🔥”
Basically, while the flavor might differ from generation to generation, teens are always going be drawn to that which appears taboo. That, and no matter how cool you were in your formative years, you’ll inevitably always elicit the same repulsion you got from looking at your predecessors. Circle of life, and all that.
Of course, the “Thong Song” will never not slap.
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