Toronto Star
January 29,2002
By MICHAEL DOJC

Haven't we had enough retro '80s nights already? How many more times can we reminisce about how Video Killed The Radio Star, Madonna got touched for the very first time or - creepier still - Michael Jackson grabbing himself to "Beat It."

I say we shelve the one-decade waiting period that seems to govern such retrospective treatments and start '90s retro now while our nostalgia is fresh. I don't think I'm alone in missing grunge, girl power, the east coast-west coast rap rivalry, not to mention all those block-rocking beats.

Retro music movements become ripe when the flames of the era's surviving torchbearers start to flicker. Take Green Day, for example, whose latest exploits include releasing a greatest hits package and scoring a cameo on the Chris Isaak show. They've become a caricature of their former selves, to put it bluntly.

Other '90s relics whose time has come and gone include Oasis, who've already had their Behind The Music special; Blur, who fittingly faded from the spotlight; and Alanis Morissette whose upcoming album is titled Under Rug Swept which is where her career seems to have been for the last six years. Even the mighty Spice Girls disbanded to pursue solo careers.

It may seem a little premature for a full-fledged '90s comeback - after all we are only two years into the new millennium. But bear in mind Kurt Cobain died eight years ago and people are still asking, "When is the next Nirvana going to come along?"

My nostalgia for the tunes of the not-so-distant decade came while flipping through the racks at Sam the Record Man's liquidation sale. It was slim pickings by the time I got there yet I still managed to find a gem, Fugazi's Repeater, the debut 1990 LP from the seminal Washington punk outfit.

I popped it in the player as soon as I got home and it was love at first listen. The start and stop dynamics, mangled guitars, and atonal vocals were instantly recognizable to my 23-year-old ears even though I'd never heard the band's music before. As a former '90s angst-rock junkie, you just know when it's the real thing.

It's not like the '90s sound has completely left the airwaves. Current chart toppers like Creed and Nickleback do their best to emulate Pearl Jam, but the visceral, propulsive energy and emotional edge that drove the original '90s bands is sorely missing.

My first rock concert was an Offspring show at Varsity arena in the spring of 1995. The ticket stub is still attached to my Grade 11 yearbook. Their Smash album played every night in my bedroom, and I had an intimate connection with all 14 songs on the disc. In my mind nothing was more exhilarating in the world. Offspring's music made me feel alive.

I went to the concert with three friends and by the end there were just two of us. We just couldn't stay together in the throes of the mosh pit, which went completely insane when fans recognized the first few chords of Offspring's then signature song, "Come out and Play." We were even linking arms Red-Rover style but the frenetic energy of pogoing sweaty fans easily broke our chain. It's ironic because the chorus to that song has the refrain "You got to keep them separated."

I saw Offspring three more times in the '90s, each time trying to recapture the innocence of that first experience. While all the shows have been incredible, nothing compares to your first.

Never before in history has nostalgia been so accessible. Not only are there gazillions of Web shrines immortalizing everything from mullets to Cabbage Patch Dolls, but thanks to digital cable, escaping into the good old days just got a whole lot easier.