Life
Cringeworthy Things You & Friends Did In The '90s
There were a lot of cringeworthy things you did with friends in the '90s. As we hold up the era as the height of cool, it was also sometimes deathly awkward. The catch is we didn't necessarily know how dorky we were being at the time. Hindsight's a killer, right? So as we strutted around the mall in our crimped, matching side pony tails quoting Clueless, we were totally oblivious to the fact that we were sometimes actually the worst. Yes, as it turns out, your Spice Girls tribute band is actually something that's quite likely to make you blush when you recall it, no matter how popular it made you in the '90s.
Friendship in the '90s was better, no doubt, than any friendship after, and part of the reason you and your friends are glued to one another the way you are is because you went through that weird period together. You and your friends in the '90s were a whirlwind, a phenomena, and looking through your photo albums from the '90s will reveal something all together so awkward you'll want to crawl back into your own skin and pretend the era only existed in a dream. Here are 12 things you and your friends did in the '90s that were totally cringe-y.
1. Started A Spice Girls Tribute Band And Tried To Book Gigs Or Just Made Your Parents Pay To Come To Your "Concerts"
Remember when your friend's mom spent 40 hours sewing a Union Jack flag dress for your Spice Girls tribute band? Unfortunately you booked at least one "gig", "playing" a school assembly. The rest of the time you were charging your parents $5 a "ticket" to see you mime and dance out of time with each other.
2. Seances That You Believed Were Actually Real
It wasn't doing the seances that was necessarily cringeworthy. It was believing that none of your friends was pushing the cup.
3. "Cyber Sexing" In Chat Rooms While Giggling Maniacally
You'd get home from school, make yourselves PB&Js, and login to chat rooms where you'd sit side by side, daring each other to write dirty things while giggling manically. As though saying "penis" anonymously to strangers was the most hilarious act of comedy ever committed on earth.
4. Three Way Call-Bombing A Friend With Another Friend To Get Secrets
Sometimes you feel ashamed at all the times you tricked a friend into saying things on a call where another friend was secretly listening. You're also likewise probably ashamed of all the things you were tricked into saying about a friend that was secretly listening.
5. Driving By Yours Or Their Crush's House
Otherwise known as "stalking".
6. Talking Exclusively In Friends Quotes
In the '90s you could have a whole conversation just in Friends quotes with your actual (true) friends. You thought this was super cool at the time. It is not.
7. Doing The Clueless Hand Slap And Hair Flick Combo
Why would you come up with your own secret handshake when Cher already invented one for you? Why would you want a secret handshake at all? As cute as it made you feel, looking back, it's definitely a little on the embarrassing side how often you'd slap hands with your friends and flick your hair in unison. It's certainly one of the whiter things you did.
8. Spending Hours Trying To Call The Radio To Request A Song Together
These days we talk about wasting time staring at screens. In the '90s it was the hours you'd spend with your friend, locked in your room, dialing and re-dialing the radio to try and get your song played, as though that was the greatest life achievement of all.
9. Dressing In Thematic Outfits
Thanks to Destiny's Child, TLC and Salt N Pepa you and your friends liked to dress the same, but different. You'd match theme or color for outfits that were so face meltingly rad all you could say was "That's So Raven". Except looking back at photos is totally hilarious, because none of you were as fly as Beyoncé or Kelly Rowland, even though you thought you were.
10. Wearing Matching Floppy Hats With Big Colorful Gerberas Attached To The Front
You were Blossom on double vision in your cute little floppy hats with the giant neon colored flowers stapled to the front.
11. Arguing Over Who Got To Be Belle
Lengthy arguments over which of you was Princess Belle and which was Princess Jasmine (because let's face it, Nala was a lion, and none of you identified as lion), in retrospect, are adorable, but also kind of cringe-y now that you're into more dynamic roles for women.
12. Dousing Yourselves In Offensive Amounts Of Perfume
When you went to the mall they smelled you and your crew long before they saw you.
