1991's 20th anniversary comes to a close

December 30th will mark the 20-year-anniversary of the first time I ever heard "I'm Too Sexy" by Right Said Fred, taped off the radio. The cassette is dated with pencil as "12/30/91." The "Top 10 at Ten" was a big deal to me in those days. So anyway, I'm fairly positive "I'm Too Sexy" was probably the last "new" song that I heard in 1991, in case anyone cares.

December of '91 specifically seems to have been the big pivotal month of that year... Communism had fallen, and the U.S. entered a war that lasted less than a month, possibly to boost morale among the population. Clarence Thomas was essentially the Herman Cain of 1991. Rodney King was beaten by cops. Freddy Mercury and Magic Johnson both announced that they had HIV; one of them died two days later, while the other is now alive after 20 years and possibly still one of the healthiest human beings in North America.

Actually not all of this happened throughout that December... I lost track of the point of this. Fuck.

But Nirvana "happened" in December... The Christmas rush was a huge part of what famously pushed them ahead of Michael Jackson's Dangerous LP. Tons of parents bought Dangerous for their kids. During the week between Christmas and New Years, more than a few Dangerous's and Color Me Badd CD's were returned at the CD's the stores and exchanged for Nevermind.

Strangely enough, "alternative rock as a profitable commodity" actually has a 20th birthday: December 26, 1991.