Funny thing, I’ve already made four posts about the year I was born, those of course being the biggest hits of 1992 in Australia and nz both singles and albums. That said, I’ll probably talk about something different as I’d rather my readers check out those posts for more details on what songs and albums were popular in the southern hemisphere that year.
One thing I can say about that year in terms of music is that the number one song around the world on the day I was born was “black or white” by Michael Jackson, a song I don’t particularly care for despite having a positive message of racial harmony that doesn’t come off as ham-fisted as most songs about racial equality these days as this was made at a time where being a hateful person wasn’t lucrative and thus there was no incentive to use identity politics to create division amongst demographics like there is now. I’m not that knowledgeable on video games, however I do know that this was the year where Wolfenstein 3d was released which of course revolutionised the game industry, sure doom would beat it out of the water the following year, however aside from a garish colour scheme, the game holds up rather well even to this day as opposed to many console games of the time which have since fallen into obscurity due to being cookie cutter licensed games that did little to differentiate themselves from the likes of Mario or sonic.
As far as films go, this was during the peak in popularity that Disney was having, sure the film of the year was Aladdin which of course remains a classic to this day, however this year also saw beauty and the beast achieve the bulk of its success given how it was released in late 1991 to capitalise on the awards season of that year. If you’ve read my lists for this year, then you know that’s my favourite movie of all time (which means that yes, those “feminists” who claim that it promotes Stockholm syndrome despite this claim being debunked by professionally trained psychiatrists are the bane of my existence.) This was also a great year for comedy as the Addams family film also had most if its success this year, we saw the release of sister act which is a great comedy from when Whoopi Goldberg was funny (and not a clinically depressed host of the view.) Death becomes her is another personal favourite of mine thanks to its dark sense of humour, and in the opposite end we have a league of their own which is a more wholesome comedy about an all-women’s baseball league from the 40s.
In terms of bad movie from this year, there’s nothing that springs to mind that even comes close to the atrocities found on Disney+ that social media expects us to like. That said I’m not the biggest fan of Bram stokers Dracula for more reasons besides Keanu reeve’s bad English accent. Alien 3 is also a disappointment compared to its brilliant predecessors, although again it’s nowhere near as creatively bankrupt as the slop that’s come out in recent years from the likes of Star Wars, marvel and every other franchise Hollywood refuses to let die. Of the movies I’ve seen, the bodyguard would be my pick for the worst movie of the year simply because it’s poorly acted and has a dull and generic script, although it wouldn’t even crack the top twenty of movies I’ve seen in recent years as at least the music is solid, and Whitney Houston is trying in her acting debut. As for TV shows, my knowledge is also fairly limited for this year. I guess Seinfeld would be my choice for the best show of the year as the Golden Girls was past its prime in its final season and I’m not that big on cheers as I feel Fraser is a far superior show that wouldn’t come out for another year. Even the Simpson’s hadn’t reached its peak genius yet even though I would consider it a close second as the best show of the year, seasons 5 and 6 is where the show peaks which would be later in the decade for the show.
In terms of kiddie media, I only have fond memories of darking duck and goof troop from this year as most of the best kids shows wouldn’t come out until later in the decade, Dexter’s lab and the Aladdin show being two of my favourites. Actually, there is one other kid show from this year that holds up remarkably well, that of course being batman the animated series which was originally meant to be the TV tie in to the Tim Burton batman films (particularly batman returns which also came out this year.) This of course leads to the best character of the year, which is Harley Quinn, I know she’s been ruined by the “nonbinary” crowd (i.e. clinically depressed cat ladies who’ve hijacked intersex terminology for their own psychotic values) however she had real character depth in the show and was brought to live action by Margot Robbie over two decades after her debut in the show masterfully. She’s a personal favourite of mine to this day that will never be ruined for me by a bunch of deranged psychopaths who shouldn’t even be in public, let alone in queer spaces giving REAL intersex individuals a bad name.
I guess the final thing for me to talk about here is the political climate, this was the year that Bill Clinton was elected American president which would in retrospect be a controversial decision. I’ll just say the name Monica Lewinsky and leave it at that as that debacle will remain one of the more infamous blunders in American politics (also the less said about his wife the better.) Don’t think that Australian politics was any better because it wasn’t, we were in the middle of a recession so severe that many of us could barely scrape by despite working multiple jobs. I barely got to see my parents growing up due to how hard it was to keep up with the cost of living throughout the 90s, and the person to thank for this was our prime minister at the time Paul Keating, a name that will send shivers down any Aussie older than 45 to this day. Still at least neither of these men ever reached meme status as opposed to politicians of today, they could at least stay awake during important meetings, didn’t have an irritating laugh or wasn’t convicted of any crimes (at least that were aware of.)
Well, that’s my recap of 1992, the year I was born in. It was an interesting year to say the least from the rise of the grunge movement to innovations from the likes of Id software and Disney. It’s certainly more than I can say for this year (2024 as of this writing) which I doubt will have any cultural impact by the end of the decade, let alone in thirty years’ time. Will we see a year as interesting as 1992 ever again? Who knows, but it’ll be a while before that happens as one thing I know for sure is that we’re currently living in creatively bankrupt times regardless of what sector of humanity were referring to. With that said, take care and I’ll see you next time.
the year I was born
Hits of Australia and NZ 