Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with 90s

Track ID needed (late 80s/90s popular music) - Reward!

groovinkim — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 22:40:58 -0800

Track ID needed (late 80s/90s popular music) - Reward for the finder! I'll snail-mail a custom made present to anyone who finds this song.

Here's what I know about the song I'm trying to find.

- It was made in 1996 or earlier, and probably in the 90s.
- It's not by a "grunge-y" band
- It's made by a person/band that was relatively popular and well known, but the song itself is on the obscure side because it contains too much profanity/obscenity to receive radio play.
- It wasn't a hidden track on the album, just a normal track along with the rest
- It's intended to be sex-oriented and not relationship/love-oriented
- He doesn't remember it having featured prominently in any movies

Not much to go on :/

(For the curious, a friend who I'm flirting with said that there was a song a friend in high school played him when he was around 14-15 and if a woman ever sang him this song, he'd make out with them on the spot. It's not even a song that he particularly likes, he hasn't heard it in 10 years, and he doesn't own the album. But I've decided to make it a needle in a haystack personal mission.)

Help me find this dystopian movie!

sunshinesky — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 18:01:43 -0800

NameThisMovieFilter: Dystopian society of people living in a domed city, who don't leave their homes and spend a great deal of their time in their dream machines. -Before you suggest it, this is not logan's run
-Made in the 80s/early 90s?

Synopsis:
Humanity is dying out because of lack of contact with one another and one girl decides to break the rules and escape the dome. There are people living outside the dome, and romance ensues.

At some point, she challenges a man inside the dome who is the controller of the dream machines- he may or may not be her father, and there is some question as to whether her entire escape was simply a dream.

---

A friend of mine would like desperately to see this, and my googlefu is really failing me. It sounds pretty interesting, so I'd like to try to see it myself, if the hivemind might oblige and provide a name. Details may or may not be entirely correct, but I have no way of knowing, since I haven't seen it myself!

Thanks, hive!

He sailed the seven seas...?

saxamo — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 22:16:40 -0800

Can you help me track down this early 90s cartoon movie on vhs? I'm trying to remember an old cartoon movie. It's very vague in my mind but I will try to list everything I remember about it. All of this is really subject to my own recollection so take it all with a grain of salt and list anything that you might think connects to my "evidence"

I THINK it's called Captain Columbus. But Google has not given any leads on that name.

The movie starts with a faerie that lives on some sort of chandelier with the other faeries. She also has a big head on the cover of the movie, sort of square like.

There's also this worm or insect or other little creature with a pointy nose used for carving wood he loved to eat wood or whatever he and lived inside Columbus's globe on his ship. Him and the faerie had a relationship together. But they were the subplot of the story.

So Captain Columbus he had 3 ships and he was like a scientist and captain of a ship.

He was searching for this pyramid of gold and found it but somehow it collapses in the end and they all get away.

This cartoon was from the 90s, early to mid 90s. I was in like 3rd or 4th grade. I lent it to someone else and they never gave it back to me. I appreciate all the help and guesses I can get! Thanks!

Help identifying a song!

the_ancient_mariner — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 17:53:35 -0800

Help me identify this (possibly well known) 90s grunge-y ish song. Okay, I just heard this while passing a pub and it stirred up some teenage memories because it was on heavy rotation on MTV back then. I figured I could look it up at home, but I'm having no luck.

I can't remember even the lyrics, I just remember the tune, it was catchy.

Here's what I can recall:

- 90s grunge, vocals/style very similar to Stone Temple Pilots.
- Lead vocalist is a guy.
- The chorus goes "Hey ey ey, now there won't be [something something], hey ey ey, now there won't be [something else]"

For example he _may_ have sang "hey ey ey now there won't be rain, hey ey ey now there won't be stars right now" but I don't really know. The chorus is pretty catchy though.

- It was played on MTV a lot so it's very likely something of a well known single at the least.

If I can remember anything else I'll post. Hope someone out knows what I'm talking about though ...

HBO show from 90s...

muxnaw — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 18:44:37 -0800

HBO TV show in the 90s... Follows a guys life and shows segments from 60s and 70s TV shows because he was essentially raised in front of the television. Can anyone tell me what it was called? Thanks hive!

TV Show with Obstacle Course from the Early 90s

xdeliriumx — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 07:34:24 -0800

TV Show Filter: Show from the early 90's or MAYBE mid to late 80's where the final part of the show was to go through a large obstacle course. More details inside. I remember watching this show with my aunt. The final part of the show (might have been the whole show?) was going through a large obstacle course. It was quite a large course they had to go through with some pretty cool obstacles.

MAY have been on Lifetime or a game show channel. Maybe just reruns were on these channels. May also have been on around the time as the early 90's version of super market sweep.

THIS IS NOT:
-Legends of the Hidden Temple
-Master of the Maze
-Double Dare
-The Crystal Maze

Help me find this eerie rap video

qvtqht — Fri, 29 May 2009 23:30:38 -0800

In the 90s, I used to watch music videos on The Box. In particular, I remember this one video that was spooky, with a lot of echoes in the music, possibly black and white video, possibly with kids playing in the ghetto street. Sadly, I don't remember much more of it, though I think I'll know it when I see it. With that in mind, can you please recommend some spooky, eerie rap videos from the 90s? Hopefully, this one will be among them, but I'm definitely interested in others.

I've already googled around a bit, and have looked through all the videos in this list.

I know you're NOT a cannonball.

parkerjackson — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 17:09:53 -0800

Another name-that-song: female vocalist, driving guitar line, 90's alternative? I heard a song on my alternative/classic rock station (KRNA) this morning and never thought it would get so stuck in my head. I need to listen to it all the way through or I'll go crazy. Can someone help me out?

Here's what I know
- it was a popular song, but not hugely so, probably in the early/mid-90s
- has driving guitar line (almost constant eighth-notes), not much drum line
- female singer who sounds like The Breeders or Veruca Salt, but none of their hits (as listed by Wikipedia) are the right song
- partial line "I've been waiting... all my life" or maybe "I've been waiting... for you"
- opening part has mellow singing that blends with guitar chords, but I seem to remember that it gets much more exciting/yelling towards the end

Multiple Mystery Songs

batmonkey — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 22:33:00 -0800

Three songs I'm looking for - various degrees of difficulty... Easy:
Song played frequently on KEXP 90.3 in Seattle in '07. A dude is going to head to his shack with his woman and smoke weed (he may have used euphemisms...damn my conceptual memory). Sure it's not "Shake the Shack Tonight" by Sid King & the Five Strings. Solo artist, I think, but could be wrong. Quite frequently played on Fridays, near rush hour. However, even my digging through the archived playlists isn't jogging my memory. I'll bet you're smarter than me & know it right off.

Medium:
House-ish song from the late '80s. Most remember the samples: "Brothas and Sistas!", "I've got a question" - may be snippets of the same person, more likely separate samples. I've been told it may be tackhead. I've been told it may be "[?]screw" or "screw[?]". I know it most comes to mind when listening to "Beat Dis" by Bomb the Bass or "Hey, Poor - Jesus is Here" by Front 242. The "I've got a question" part is the most central piece of the whole search. Played in various clubs there (notably #s), heard years later in Dallas, lost the slip of paper with the details long ago.

Hard:
A version of "White Rabbit", house-ish - trippier/swirlier than techno - from very early to mid '90s (I dunno, could be late '80s, too). The key here is that it was played at The Church (Goth night at Dallas's Lizard Lounge") fairly frequently, generally in a set containing "Daisy Chain 4 Satan" and "Sober".

Help me identify an obscure video game from the early 90s!

Tachoh — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 09:09:27 -0800

An old RTS game from the early 90s, took place in space. Controlled mother ship, collected blobs of stuff. More info inside. Anyone know the name of a game that was released around... well 1994 - 1996. (I think, give or take 2 years. Sorry.)

I'll list what I can remember about it.

It was a RTS, 4 playable races and took place in space.

You had to gather globs of coloured stuff using a mother ship. The mother ship was directly controllable, and had some kind of detached arm or probe thing that would do the gathering. The thing would basically roam out, attach on a glob and pull it back. The globs were purple, blue, red and something else. The blue blobs looked like 2 fused orbs (I think) and the purple blobs were spiky star like things (I think).

The races would either control drones, take over other units or do something else I couldn't remember. The colour of the races were red, purple, blue (I think) and something else. (yellow, maybe?)

You could built turrets and I think some drones would take over other players turrets.

This was not a 3d game, played well in SVGA. I remember it came out as a demo on an old PC gamer demo CD.

Any hints? This has been bugging me for literally 10 years. Thanks MF!

Songs That Defined the 80s and 90s

lysistrata — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 22:48:02 -0800

I'm looking for 80s and 90s songs that defined the times. I'm looking for the songs that dominated the radio between the mid 80s and mid 90s. I'm looking for the songs you made out to and the songs you made fun of. Help me make a friend's birthday party a good one. If you graduated high school between '89 and '94 what are the tunes that bring you back to home room?

Disney movie about telepathic twins?

alona — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:22:31 -0800

MovieFilter: When I was a kid (late 90's) there was a movie on the Disney Channel or Family Channel that I absolutely loved. Help me find out what it's called! Note: It may not be a Disney movie. I went through a list of Disney movies of the 1990s and couldn't find it.

I don't remember much about it. Part of the premise was that everyone in the world had a twin somewhere, and this girl found her boy twin and they became best friends. And there was something about how they lived at a rich old man's house and he bought them lots of toys, but it may only have been the girl who lived at the man's house, I'm not sure. Also, once any set of twins in the world had met they'd do something like join hands and then purple light would appear and they were beamed up to another planet where everyone lived with their twin. My friend also remembers this movie and he claims the twins had a telepathic connection but I'm not sure.
Any help with figuring out the name of the movie is appreciated!

When we look back, what will this decade look like?

Cool Papa Bell — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 13:48:08 -0800

Neon and skinny ties in the 80s; flannel and nose rings in the 90s. What will be the signature, stereotypical fashion or clothing item of this decade, the one that will be used in the future to instantly reference and signal this time period to others? If I want to stereotype the 80s, I'll dress men in Miami Vice neon colors and do their hair like the Flock of Seagulls guy. Women will look like Madonna in the height of her thrift-store look.

If I want to stereotype the 90s, I'll dress everyone in grunge flannel, clunky boots, tattoos and nose rings. Maybe that's only the early 90s, but you get my point.

If I want to stereotype the time period from roughly 2000 to now, what will it look like?

Don't show me the money.

Christ, what an asshole — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 13:48:40 -0800

What are some of the best independent, foreign, artsy, or unique films that came out during the 90s? The entire decade was misspent on video games and real fluff (I thought Con Air and Independence Day were ace movies -- gag). Now that I've developed an aesthetic, I've tried to retrace my steps, but my like-aged peers haven't got a clue, either.

I tend to enjoy more esoteric films like Oldboy, Requiem for a Dream, 3-Iron, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. None of that David Lynch or Donnie Darko free-association crap, though.

Some recent 90s finds I've enjoyed include La Cite des Enfants Perdus and Leon.

Where to find TBS promos from the 90s?

Botunda — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:37:56 -0800

Where can I find a TBS promo from the 90s? It wasn't specific to any programming but it had a lot of motion graphics. It was, if I remember correctly, in the form of a pinball machine and it followed a pinball around the board. The bumpers of the pinball machine were different parts of the overall TBS programs. I remember that John Wayne and Braves baseball were a couple of the things highlighted. It was really cool.

Any help appreciated!

Danke,
Botunda

can you help me find this experimental web navigation site?

tremspeed — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 22:00:05 -0800

can you help me find this experimental web navigation site? A buncha years ago, perhaps 2000 or the late 90s, I stumbled across a page of what I would call 'experimental' web design. Many of the mini-sites were very minimal, and lacked content altogether, but had a unified look (I remember light grey on dark grey, possibly) and had very smooth, 'tactile' feel to the components. One in particular stands out, as a bunch of nestled folders spread out on a Tron-like plane.

This wasn't a company, but, IIRC, was a student or other non-commercial entity. I'm like, FAIRLY sure it would have been done in Flash, for the time, it seems to make the most sense. Again, IIRC, source code/means to download this stuff was possible.

This is a total longshot, but thought I'd give'r.

What was this horror/thriller from the late 80's / early 90's?

hitopshelf — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 17:54:04 -0800

What is the name of the movie or show with this plot?: A young girl with an abusive father is given a black-robed doll name "the Viper." At night, the Viper comes alive as a human-sized version of itself with green, glowing eyes and helps the girl. Near the end of the movie/show, there is a twist where the Viper is actually the girls father or something along those lines.

Favorite obscure pop/rock tracks from the 1990s

iamisaid — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 13:31:57 -0800

Let's say you're putting together a mix of your favorite obscure 1990s pop/rock music. What are the top couple of tracks you'd be sure to include? I realize that "obscure" is a very subjective term, so as a point of reference, I would not consider Bjork or the Flaming Lips to be obscure. I would also disqualify any artist who received significant play on mainstream commercial radio, and any artist who might have been obscure during the 90s but has since gained wider appeal (see above, Sigur Ros, Of Montreal, Cat Power, etc) such that their back catalogs have probably already been explored by new fans.

I also realize that pop/rock is a very vague descriptor and intentionally so, but the point is that I'm not asking about rap, hip hop, country, r&b or techno. The overall point of my question is that I'm fairly sure I missed out on a lot of good 90s music in favor of more mainstream fare, and I hope to remedy that now. What are your favorite hidden gems?

The 90s weren't all grunge...

I EAT TAPAS — Thu, 15 May 2008 16:31:39 -0800

What movie defines the 90s? It seems like at least once a decade, there's a hugely successful movie that taps into the contemporary social zeitgeist that shapes a large part of how people remember an era. Back to the Future in the 80s. Saturday Night Fever in the 70s. Easy Rider in the 60s. Rebel Without a Cause in the 50s.

What film will future generations look at and say "Now that was the 90s"?

Help me remember this detective comedy film from my childhood!

jspierre — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 07:18:37 -0800

I am trying to find the title of this film I remember scantily from my childhood. I do remember belly-laughing at this film when I was a kid, but can't remember for the life of me more than just a few details. Here's what I know (or think I remember)... I don't know the year, but probably the film I remember is from the very late 70s through perhaps the first couple of years of the 90s. It was a movie about a guy who was enrolling in some sort of "detective school" which was actually a scam being run by what I think was a con artist in a run down building. I think in the end it led to the main character actually solving a crime or mystery of some sort and, of course, figuring out that the detective training he attended was a scam.

I'm not very sure about any of the details except that I remember that it was really funny to me (at the time), oh and I remember a scene toward the beginning where the Lead is first brought into the detective training program and he is offered "hor douvres" of peanut butter on crackers by a very intimidating black woman who then charges him for the one he takes - something like six dollars. Then, she offers him a soft drink for which she demands additional money.

I think the word "Tourist" may have been in the title, but I'm just grabbing at straws there from what my fragmented mind remembers.

Any help anyone could give me on indentifying this childhood favorite would be greatly appreciated!

Why do people prefer music from their teenage years?

desjardins — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 06:30:30 -0800

Why do people tend to gravitate more strongly towards music that was popular in their teen years? I was a teenager from 1987-1994, and the music from those years just sounds "right" to me, especially at the tail end of that era (think Offspring, Green Day, Counting Crows, etc.). Music before that time seems dated, and music created after that time, while sometimes likable, never holds my interest the same way.

Mr. desjardins is 4 years older than me, and he tends to like stuff from the early 80s.

When I was growing up, my mother listened to stuff that had to be popular when she was a teenager. I used to make fun of my parents for listening to "oldies," but now I'm the one listening to music from 15-20 years ago. Yet it still sounds current to me.

Is there something in the adolescent brain that imprints music more strongly?

Nineties nostalgia: kids in charge!

coolhappysteve — Thu, 05 Jul 2007 18:36:05 -0800

NostalgiaFilter: Early nineties kids show in which the kids ran the cameras, the sound booth, and possbily sang? Possibly on Saturday mornings on PBS? You know how it goes, I am caught up in a fury of trying to remember this show. It was like a news program, and the kids ran the whole thing, supposedly.

I know someone will be right on this - thanks!

What are some old-school rap or hip-hop songs that go against the gang/sex/drugs culture?

daninnj — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 21:03:55 -0800

What are some old-school rap or hip-hop songs that go against the gang/sex/drugs culture? I'm looking for not-as-well-known-today 80s or 90s (although today is okay, I prefer older music) hip hop or rap music that goes against the norms of rap music today: sex, drugs, violence, gangs, etc...

Some examples are:
Rappin' 4 Tay - I'll Be Around: cautions against the gang lifestyle
Nice & Smooth - Sometimes I Rhyme Slow: tells of cocaine abuse
Nonchalant - 5 o' Clock: cautions against drug abuse and drug deals

There are major hits that fit into this category (TLC - Waterfalls, Coolio - Gangsta's Paradise) but I rather see lesser known hits.

Given a poorly described music video, identify a song.

leapfrog — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 14:23:32 -0800

Late 90's Alt-Rock Video Identification: Name that Band and Song from Vaguely Remembered Clues. Hint: the guitarist has connected the strap to his guitar with a lot of duct tape. Asking for a friend:
There was a song, from sometime in the late 1990s. The genre was alt-rock, and they didn't bounce around like FallOutBoy and they didn't front the early 90s grungy stoner look. There are three strings that come to mind about it:
1) The guitarist played a black Stratocaster, and the guy used a lot of duct tape to keep the strap connected to the upper bout.
2) The video featured a creepy guy dragging what seemed to be a body wrapped in a big canvas bag through a swamp. At the end, he drags the bag into a cave, and inside the cave, you find it's a mannequin.
3) It has an odd meter, which is something like 8/8 on measure, then 9/8 the next. So it has a "Bah" one measure, then "Bah-bah-bah" the next. Or something.

O great and powerful hive mind, I beseech you, answer.

Grunge fashion comeback?

dvjtj — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 22:55:07 -0800

Grunge fashion comeback? I keep hearing more and more about grunge again, see more flannel being worn, and even see 'grunge' as a style for New York Spring Fashion Week...Besides the re-kindled appreciation for 90s indie-rock, are there particular designers putting out new takes on grunge fashion again? Are there cool mashups of flannel and denim? I'm a guy, I want to see if I can bring some flannel and grunge looks (besides the ripped jeans) back into my wardrobe in a sensible, forward-thinking way (meaning not ditching everything I own and dressing like I did back in '95). Suggestions?