I just remember skimming the music sections of entertainment magazines that I read back then and reading countless pages devoted to supposedly “important” female singer songwriters that you don’t hear about anymore. This was all post Alanis, post Joan Osborne hairy armpit shit when writers were trying their damndest to make a big hash about feminist 90s pop music. Do people still care about the Paula Cole band? Probably not…

Sugar Ray - Never liked OR hated these guys. Really I’ve just kind of forgotten them. They are not the only band from the 90s to loudly comment on how their 15 minutes of fame were almost up. The Presidents Of The United States Of America apparently did lyrics to the effect of “there’s a million better bands” and “we don’t have the talent.” Which they didn’t–ever heard “Kitty,” one of the stupidest songs of the 90s? “Fuck you kitty you’re gonna spend the night (meow?) Fuck you kitty you’re gonna spend the night (meow?!?) Fuck you kitty you’re gonna spend the night–OUT-SIIIIIDE!!!!”

Savage Garden - Meh.

Goo Goo Dolls - Meh. They were called “Replacements Jr.” I know Rzezezenorzik or whatever his name is got Westerberg to write a song with him, but I don’t remember it.

I’m not glad that you’re reminding me that when I do 1998 I’m probably gonna have to listen to fucking Celine Dion again.

I didn’t know until I was much older that Marianne Faithfull sang on that Metallica song though by the time I found out I probably did know about her Rolling Stones connection and who she generally was.

We watched part of the DiCaprio Romeo + Juliet for an English class in high school. I shit you not, they actually showed us this shit. It’s HIDEOUS. My main memory is Jamie Kennedy biting his thumb, but some dumbass kid ran around going “fetch me my sword!” for a long time after that (no, the dumbass kid isn’t me.) Even as kids we groaned at that film. The guys at my school all thought DiCaprio looked like a 12 year old.

“Comparatively tame” porn? In 1997? What year was the Pamela and Tommy Lee porno movie? Is that the year you started to hear about thongs everywhere?

I think of South Park’s big launch in 1997 when I think of that year too, but it didn’t have many good episodes in its first two seasons IIRC. Mr. Hankey wasn’t really that funny and that episode with the “volcano” is a real cringer.

The rappers that the kids I went to school with couldn’t shut up about were DMX and Nas.

My central memory of 1997 is predictably getting my N64 and playing Super Mario 64, PilotWings 64 and WaveRace 64. Oh, and Mario Kart 64 but I don’t need to play that game ever again. And Driver’s Ed, when I hit a cone doing the test and had to get out of the car and put it back while my instructor called me a “yay-hoo.” Booey booey. I almost went the wrong way down a four-lane, too, and got called a “fagface” for it.