Nostalgic for the ’90s

Student Activities’ annual Coffeehouse event reminisces on decades past

The crowd roared as the DTREX dance team stepped under the yellow, pink and blue neon lights beaming on the stage.

TALENT — Throughout the night, students showed their artistic abilities by performing popular ’90s songs and presenting videos about the decade of their birth. Photo credit: Leah Seavers

TALENT — Throughout the night, students showed their artistic abilities by performing popular ’90s songs and presenting videos about the decade of their birth. Photo credit: Leah Seavers

Opening the spring ’90s-themed Coffeehouse March 21 at 11:30 p.m. with a medley of popular songs from the decade, the DTREX dancers matched their moves with beats such as MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” and TeenNick’s “All That” TV show theme song.

Throughout the evening, the acts varied from the Peacemakers dance team to bands including Lenny and the Kravitz playing “Are You Gonna Go My Way,” MCN rocking out with “Enter Sandman,” The Frontstreet Boys singing “Hallelujah,” and Jonny and the Peaches performing the Newsboys “Jesus Freak.” As was expected, Dogwood and Holly also made an appearance performing for the sold-out Vines Center crowd.

“Playing at #SAcoffeehouse has definitely been a highlight of my life,” Kinshiro Shimochi, a performer with the band The Boombox Saints tweeted. “(I) can’t even put into words how happy I am to have had the opportunity (to do this).”

During the night, the students tweeted with the #SACoffeehouse, and during the event, the hashtag made the top ten trending list, according to HashGurus.com. Even an old Liberty University celebrity decided to comment on the popularity of the hashtag.

“And #SACoffeehouse is trending nationwide because we are @LibertyU … and that’s how we roll,” Johnnie Moore, former senior vice president for communication and campus pastor, tweeted.

Students sang, or rather shouted, along with recognizable tunes throughout the performances and videos, and many students loudly screeched as they watched montages specifically focusing on each of the years of the ’90s. The videos, designed by the Student Activities (SA) team, allowed students the chance to express their excitement about particular TV shows, brands, pop culture or songs from the ’90s era.

“I love everything about the ’90s,” Harrison Mead, lead singer for Lenny and the Kravitz, said. “I love the fashion from the ’90s. I love all the music from the ’90s.

It’s a great decade.”

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Mead, who wore a grungy, black T-shirt, along with black pants, fit in well among the ’90s-style imitations of the evening. Some students supported fashion statements such as baggy flannel shirts tied around their waists while others dressed for the evening by wearing apparel with ’90s-specific logos such as Reptar, Nirvana, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and many others.

From fashion trends to favorite pieces of culture from the decade, the ’90s brought back memories from a childhood not too long ago. This is especially true for
sophomore JT Filegar.

“I cannot imagine that there was one person in here tonight that did not recognize something that was displayed here in Coffeehouse,” Filegar said. “… I grew up on (this). I’m going to go YouTube a bunch of ’90s music, and I’m probably going to start wearing a bunch of plaid.”

For some, the ’90s also brought to mind a certain toy with good and bad connotations attached to its name. The Area 51 Film crew displayed this love-fear relationship between a young man and his new toy, a Furby.

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The video set the scene for an older boy to receive a package with a Furby inside. While he neglected to pay attention to the Furby by throwing it back in the box, taking out it’s batteries and leaving the toy in another room, the Furby consistently came back to it’s new owner.

“Liberty: … where we sing Brittany Spears together, do the Macarena together and have nightmares of Furby together #SACoffeehouse,” Blake Pilgreen tweeted.

As SA Coffeehouse wrapped up for the evening, students exited near the upper concourse and snapped pictures with friends next to ’90s props like a
gargantuan, imitation Nintendo 64 and a look-alike Central Perk couch from the hit show “Friends.”

“Time to put my hair up in a scrunchie, pull my ankle socks up (and) tighten the flannel on my waist. Thanks for the great night,” Emily Gibson tweeted.

For more information on SA events, visit liberty.edu/campusrec/studentactivities.

TILLER is the feature editor.

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