90's Baby: 1990

The Missing Pieces

So far, I’ve mostly written about years I have fairly solid memories of. Trying to remember what happened to me in 1990 turned out to be a bit more difficult, because it was around 35 years ago. I wonder what I’ll be able to remember when I turn 75, if I live that long.

As with all the other years, most of my memories revolve around the media I was consuming. However, 1990 was a little different, because the previous year my immediate family and I had moved to San Jose, California. I think it was also the year my sister was born. I’m not going to ask her because that feels like cheating. But I’m pretty sure.

The year we moved to California was unusual because it was the year that both of the baseball teams from the Bay Area, the Giants and the A’s, were in the World Series. They called it the “Battle of the Bay.” In Game 3 of the series, something even more unusual happened. There was a massive earthquake, and around 63 people died when a section of the freeway and several other structures collapsed. I was watching Sesame Street at the time, so that’s what I remember. Or at least I think I do.

In terms of music, the biggest thing in my rotation was a compilation album by the Beach Boys, which is a bit weird, because as I’m writing this, Brian Wilson has just died. It took me a little digging to find it. It’s called Made In U.S.A. This is what the cover looks like.

I like the fact that it's a collage of the most American-coded stuff: a baseball, an astronaut, a Ford Mustang, a surfboard, a frisbee, a milkshake. A blonde girl who looks like she could be kind of a bitch, but in a fun way. It turns out that the artist who designed the cover is a marine named Keith Mcconnell, who served in Vietnam, and later in Operation Desert Storm. Between his time in the military, he worked on several projects for the Beach Boys, as well as a 10th anniversary poster for the Beatles. He also did some of the courtroom sketches during the Patty Hearst/SLA trial, which is another interesting Bay Area connection.

For the release of the album, the band did a cover of “California Dreamin’” by the Mamas & the Papas. I really liked the guitar part at the beginning, which is being played by Roger McGuinn from the Byrds. Here is the music video.

If you’re anything like me, you will have no idea that John and Michelle Phillips from the Mamas & The Papas are also in the video. That same year their daughter Chyna released an album along with Brian Wilson’s daughters Carnie and Wendy. They called themselves Wilson Phillips, and the album sold over 10 million copies.

You should bear in mind that 1990 was the most 80’s-like of all the years that decade, and the other thing I remember listening to extensively was a compilation of 80’s singles. It was tough to track down because the CD is long gone, and so many newer compilations have been released that fit that description, but after looking all over I’m pretty sure that it was the Totally 80’s album by Razor & Tie. I only say that with some hesitation because I distinctly remember the CD itself and the back cover, but I have no memory whatsoever of seeing the front cover with Robert Palmer, the Bangles, and Boy George. I have no idea who is top right and I’m not going to Google it. Sound off in the comments if you know.

This kind of music still makes up the bulk of what I listen to today.

In terms of my parents CD collection, the ones they were in their heavy rotation were The Other Side of The Mirror, by Stevie Nicks, Graceland by Paul Simon, and Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits. I also listened extensively to my aunt’s copy of Dangerous by Michael Jackson, especially the song “Black & White,” which kind of feels like it was created in a marketing lab to make people accept multiculturalism.

Reading back over what I’ve written so far, this might be the most boring installment of 90’s Baby to date. Hang on.

That year, the first episode of Twin Peaks premiered on ABC. In case you’ve never watched it, everyone loved the pilot, and then hated everything that came after for the next three years or so. Then, in the decades that followed, they decided it was the greatest thing ever, to the point where now my Substack feed is full of people writing about Fire Walk With Me more than 30 years after it came out. Having recently finished the entire series, I think my opinion is that it represents the best expression of David Lynch’s approach to filmmaking of anything I’ve seen, which I think is everything except for The Elephant Man.

There are so many analyses of Twin Peaks on the internet. The one I find most compelling, and that I’ve basically decided explains the show for me, is that the events we see represent the unconscious mind of Laura Palmer as it undergoes the process of compartmentalizing and repressing her childhood abuse. I don’t know if it’s a coincidence, but since I’ve finished Twin Peaks, I’ve found myself reflecting more and more on the nature of my own memories, and what might be buried in my subconscious from so many years ago. And I can’t quite shake the feeling that something is there, lying just out of focus.

One moment that I find particularly interesting in the pilot comes towards the end of the episode, when Josie Packard, the owner of the town’s saw mill, learns of Laura Palmer’s murder. The death has shocked the town so thoroughly, that Josie decides to close her business for the day. Many years later, when I found myself in a similar situation, I learned that this is actually not what happens when a popular young woman is brutally murdered in the prime of her life. Quite the opposite in fact. I’ll talk about that another time.

Here’s Sheryl Lee, who played Laura Palmer, hosting a 1990 retrospective on BBC 2.