1993 A to Z: Y is for…
Yo! It’s hard to believe, but we’ve made it all the way to “Y” already?? Yipes stripes (fruit striped gum)! Which means it’s nearly the end of . . .
1993 A to Z!
Today, in honor of my new book, Rewind, we’re talking all things 90s and “Y.”
Let me break it down!
Y is for . . .
[All images courtesy of Wikipedia unless otherwise noted]
"You Mean the World to Me"“‘Cause you mean the world to me
You are my everything
I swear the only thing that matters
Matters to me”
This single from Toni Braxton’s 1993 debut album, Toni Braxton, wasn’t quite as huge a slam dunk as other singles from the album, like “Another Sad Love Song” and “Breathe Again,” but it definitely did all right for itself. The song spent 31 weeks on the Billboard Top 100, peaking at number seven. Not too shabby! The music video is oh-so-90s, and worth watching for Toni’s main outfit alone: cropped baby doll tee with contrasting seam stitching and safety pins and some glorious high-waisted jeans. I mean, if that’s not the definition of a perfect 1993 get-up, then I don’t know what is. The video also brings up several questions for me, such as:
Does Toni have some sort of medical condition that necessitates her leaving her torso exposed at all times?
How many white grand pianos does Toni keep at this mansion, and is storing one directly next to a pool a humidity problem?
Does Toni’s boyfriend suffer from the same medical condition as she does? Is that how they met, at like an involuntary-torso-exposure-syndrome support group?
What exactly is in that giant fish bowl, and why does Toni keep staring into it?
Despite these many mysteries, you can’t deny the song is a solid jam, and so it seemed like the perfect fit for the last chapter title of Rewind. (You can hear the whole rockin’ playlist of 1993 songs I used as chapter titles in the book here.)
Special props to . . .
"Weird Al" Yankovic“Jurassic Park is frightening in the dark
All the dinosaurs are running wild
Someone shut the fence off in the rain
I admit it’s kinda eerie
But this proves my chaos theory
And I don’t think I’ll be coming back again
Oh no!”
It seems like Weird Al’s been around forever, with a recording career spanning nearly 50 years. In my family, we were definitely Weird Al fans, so when his new album, Alapalooza, dropped in 1993, I was all over it. Among other hits like “Achy Breaky Song” was one called “Jurassic Park,” to the tune of the head-scratchingly odd “MacArthur Park” by Richard Harris. (Fun fact: my brother and I once discovered an 8-track cartridge of “MacArthur Park” in my mom’s car and teased her endlessly about what a perfect storm of uncool that was. Now I wished we still had it, because I’m sure the thing would fetch a pretty penny on eBay.) The claymation music video is the perfect parody of the movie, which was a big part of 1993 for me, and plays a pivotal role in Rewind. Fittingly, I decided to use Weird Al’s song as the title of chapter 27, in which McKinley and her 12-year-old father go to see the movie when it first opens in the theaters. (Again, you can find the full playlist of songs I used as chapter titles here.)
Thus concludes the “Y”s of 1993. If I forgot any good ones, let me know in the comments! Tomorrow will not only be the last day of the “1993 A to Z” series, but also my official Rewind book launch party! If you live in the Philly area, please come join me! And if you want to learn more about Rewind, you can find that info here.
Happy reading!
♥ Lisa
P.S. To read all the posts in the “1993 A to Z” series, click here!
