The Summer of '96: The Good, The Bad, and The Macarena
Listen up children. Time for a little pop culture history lesson...
The year was 1996. Will Smith was defeating aliens in Independence Day, Bill Clinton was defeating Bob Dole in the polls, and the Macarena was defeating us all. Twenty-five years ago, I was working my first summer job at Playland Park in New York, the amusement park where Mariah Carey once sang "Fantasy" on a roller coaster for her music video (and where Tom Hanks took back his wish on that boardwalk at the end of Big).
That summer was a magical one. I was the brand new recipient of a driver's permit. I had disposable income that enabled me to purchase plenty of CD singles. And, one afternoon at the Jacob Javits Auto Show in Manhattan, I had the chance to geek out over a meet-and-greet with Melrose Place's Kristin Davis and Marcia Cross (another story for another time).
This was the soundtrack that got me through it all.
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