So you’re still awestruck over the sheer bravado that Right Said Fred oozes when he lists, in a techno-tastic fishnet shirt, the number of things he out-sexies. You fondly remember the United Colors of Benneton ads and tying a flannel sweater around your waist while chilling to Soundgarden and Screaming Trees.
Perhaps you twirled your hips to “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” and “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” or chuckled whenever Screech tripped in the classroom hallways. Maybe you dug the cheesy R&B track “I Believe I Can Fly” that played on the “Space Jam” soundtrack – ad nauseum – or still have a Wreckx-n-Effect tee lying around the closet.
Lest the opening of this article sound any more like a VH1 “I Love the ’90s” countdown, the reason we reminisce is simple: West Palm Beach’s notorious alt-rock nightclub Respectable Street is double-downing on its totally tubular ’80s prom night – a glam-haired evening of hoop earrings and tie-dyed shirts – with the Cheesy ’90s Homecoming on Sept. 4. But before anyone goes rushing to the defense of this decade’s worst-sounding pop culture with overtures of Jane’s Addiction, Alice in Chains, Nirvana, club promoter Allan Cabowron insists the entire decade wasn’t a complete cheesefest. In fact, he’s actually cherry-picking through the trashiness that infested ’90s pop culture.
“The homecoming is basically a scene gathering encouraging people to dress up in ’90s attire. We’re trying to focus on what people consider the bad parts of the ’90s – the cheesy 90s – but I guess it really depends on your perspective. Like MC Hammer,” he laughed during an interview last week. “I like to say that we’re doing the worst music of the 90s, but we’re also throwing in some of the best.”
Respectable Street’s regular roundtable of turntable-spinners – DJ Contramus, Cabowron, DJ Marvelous Kendall and Danxiety – will punch out everything from grunge to gangsta rap to nu metal while the club screens clips of “Saved by the Bell” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” In the same breath, “Pulp Fiction,” Smashing Pumpkins and Nine Inch Nails (to sate the alt-rock- and grunge-philes) earn some airplay to prove that Respectable’s not all about bashing the ’90s.
Most of all, the night of ’90s-flavored cheese affords club-goers to reminisce on their own dreadful high school homecoming, or wax nostalgic about the one that went mega-“schwing!” The savvier ones will raid West Palm’s thrift stores and arrive decked in their best costumes. The best-dressed of the night – the homecoming king and queen – earn bar tabs for prizes, he said. Clubbers will pass underneath balloon archways as they enter and order retro-beers, including $3 Bud Ice (remember the spooky “dooby dooby doo” penguin from the commercials?) and, of course citrusy $3 Zima shots, that fruity, estrogen-packed drink spawned from the unholy confluence of so-called “clear” beers and beverages in the early ’90s.
He modeled the Cheesy ’90s Homecoming after the ’80s proms Respectable has hosted over Memorial Day weekend the last five years. He expects to see plenty of Kevin Arnolds paired with Winnie Coopers, Screech outfits, high-tops, and shimmery MC Hammer pants.
“The ’80s prom has gotten mobbed every year. I tried to do a ’70s party for Labor Day weekend, and it didn’t work out too well the first or second years because we were a little too disconnected from our core crowd,” he said. “We’re not a hip-hop club, we’re not a straight rock-and-roll club, and playing that type of ’90s music is out of our norm. And that’s what makes a ’90s homecoming all the more fun.”
The “Cheesy ’90s Homecoming” runs 9 p.m. Sept. 4 to 4 a.m. Sept. 5 at Respectable Street, 518 Clematis St., West Palm Beach. The cover’s free. Call 561-832-9999, or visit RespectableStreet.com.
Planned Playlist:
R Kelly – I Believe I Can Fly
69 Boys – C’mon N’ Ride It (The Train)
MC Hammer – Can’t Touch This
Smashing Pumpkins – Zero
Real McCoy – Another Night
Cher – Believe
Beastie Boys – Sabotage
Marky Mark – Good Vibration
No Doubt – Just a Girl
Los Del Rio – Macarena
The Verve – Bittersweet Symphony
En Vogue – Never Gonna Get It
Spice Girls – Wanna Be
Nirvana – Smells like Teen Spirit
Blur – Song 2
‘N Sync – Tearin’ Up My Heart
Hanson – MMMBop
Ace of Base – The Sign
Savage Garden – I Want You
4 Non Blondes – What’s Goin’ On
Nine Inch Nails – Closer
Right Said Fred – I’m Too Sexy
Boyz II Men – Motownphilly
Coolio – Gangsta’s Paradise
Snoop Dogg – What’s My Name
The Rembrandts – I’ll Be There For You
Shaggy – Boombastic
House of Pain – Jump Around
Fastball – The Way
Marilyn Manson – Beautiful People
Outkast – Rosa Parks
White Town – Your Woman
Oasis – Wonderwall
TLC – No Scrubs
Haddaway – What is Love
Green Day – Brain Stew
