Coolness

Was just looking through some of my old chat conversations and I found this one that I had with soupy sometime in January. We somehow switched to how nearly everyone we know went through a "Backstreet Boys! Aaaaaaaa! OMG! I LOVE them!" phase. To quote her:


soupy: some of it was ok. actually. if you look at it. it was the thing then, cheesy bubble boy lyrics. backstreet boys were actually late on the scene. if you look at it.
and everyone who grew up then, had "i love the backstreet boys" phase.
even though you hate to admit to it now! ;p
but it explains how you know all the lyrics when they play them randomly somewhere and you sing along! ;p


And that reminded me of this episode of "How I met your mother" where the following exchange happens:

Barney: Marshall, you look like a Backstreet boy. And not even the good Backstreet boys, the lame comeback tour boys.
Ted: The "good" Backstreet Boys?


And that got me thinking. How did the boy and girl bands of the '90s become so big? How did people even think lines like "Get down, get down and move it all around" or "I wanna see you out that door. Baby Bye! Bye! Bye!" were cool? I guess we all know why they faded away (their songs are plain stupid). But how did they capture our minds (me included)in the first place?


I guess this sort of thing's been happening since the time of the Beatles. Sure, they did play some good music. ("Yesterday"'s one of my favourites). But how could a song with lyrics like this become popular:
"Oh please, say to me, you'll let me be your man
And please, say to me, you'll let me hold your haaaand
You'll let me hold your haaaand
I wanna hold your hand"
I mean, are you kidding me? This song was on Vh1's list of 100 most popular rock songs of the 20th century. And for the life of me, I can't understand why anyone would listen to it.


I suppose every single fad works that way. Bell bottoms, hula hoops, floral print shirts,denim jackets, disco dancing, baggy jeans (which are making a comeback, btw). And every subsequent decade we talk about how lame people were "back then". Why is it that till date nothing has achieved any kind of lasting, eternal cool?


Maybe it has something to do with the fact that "cool" is defined by "young" people. Being young and rebellious, we naturally reject anything that's not ours. That we can't claim to have "discovered". All of it seems so old-fashioned, awkward....uncool. It's only after we're "older" and "wiser" that we realize what's actually useful and worth keeping. But by then we're too old to decide what's cool and what isn't. And there's a new bunch of youngsters to reject everything we liked. (this coming from me when I'm still in a position to decide what's cool)


Of course, that's not to say that adults don't have fads as well. What can one say about the sudden emergence of veganism, new-age living, strange far-eastern martial arts and all the myriad mutations of yoga. Nothing but fads. Not many people have the commitment it takes to keep at something like reiki or t'ai chi. They're just looking for a quick fix. What's the problem? no one knows.


Going into adulthood is a little scary actually. It's like exchanging one set of fads for another. Here's hoping that FRIENDS stays cool for ever. And that BSB never become cool again. Or the Spice Girls, for that matter.