Late 90s Wishful Thinking

I'm sure I'm not alone in wanting to go back to a simpler time when things were not quite as complicated as they've become now. All I'd need is a TARDIS or Doc Brown's DeLorean, and I'd be set. The issue would just be picking out such a time to live.

Of course, there are no time machines, unless you count music. Because music is the best way I know of to transport myself to a time when I didn't have to worry about paying bills, bullshit at my job, being glued to my phone, or the specter of the world electing itself into dictatorship.

And what time would I go to, you ask? The 90s. It wasn't perfect by any stretch, but I was a kid then so what the hell did I know. Back then, Donald Trump was a clown who was only fodder for the New York tabloids, and the internet was a promised land of human connection and porn. Or something like that.

These were some songs that made the back end of the decade a glorious time to live in, and allow me to keep my sanity during this current time period:

1. New Radicals - "You Get What You Give" Twenty-five years later, this song still feels as liberating as it did when it was current.

2. Madonna - "Ray of Light" The video for this is still one of my favorites, a frenetic day in the life of the world that foreshadowed every day thereafter.

3. Sheryl Crow - "Every Day Is a Winding Road" This song can never not make me feel better.

4. Hole - "Celebrity Skin" I was too young for grunge, but this song is so snarky and badass, I can't exclude it.

5. Dionne Farris - "I Know" If ever a song didn't deserve to be a one-hit wonder, it was this one. Although, I never bothered to check out the album it's from, so maybe I'm part of the problem.

6. Fastball - "The Way"

7. Aaliyah - "Are You That Somebody" The only time I ever cried over a celebrity's death was when I learned of that plane crash that claimed Aaliyah's life in 2001. She was unlike any R&B singer before her, as a song like this proves. Doja Cat? Nicki Minaj? They don't exist without Aaliyah.

8. Green Day - "Hitchin' a Ride"

9. Real McCoy - "Another Night"

10. Garbage - "Special" Speaking of badass female singers, I remember being in awe of Shirley Manson when I heard this song.

11. Alanis Morissette - "Hand in My Pocket" For whatever reason, my 9-year-old self didn't get into "You Oughta Know", but this song was a different story.

12. Counting Crows - "Mr. Jones"

13. Deep Blue Something - "Breakfast at Tiffany's"

14. Eagle-Eye Cherry - "Save Tonight"

15. U2 - "Last Night on Earth" I actually wasn't really into U2 during the Pop album cycle. I think it's an underrated album in their catalog; derided in its time, the textures and themes they were playing around with feel ever so relevant today.