This Saturday I attended U.N.I.T.Y (or UNIT-AY if ya nasty), a 90s dance party being hosted for three weekends at Hugs in Williamsburg. Personally I was jazzed to jam for this one. Most of the 90s for me was about sitting in darkened bedrooms, brooding over posters of The Smashing Pumpkins and being unpopular. After the year 2000 I finally learned to dance and I regretted having missed the opportunity in the decade before. U.N.I.T.Y. would hopefully be my salvation, providing me with the smooth piano riffs and tight snare beats I had missed out on the first time. I don't care what F. Scott Fitzgerald says, this is going to be MY second act! I wanted something to get out of my head the soundtrack to endless middle school bus rides.
I'll preface my summation of the evening with this: my biggest fear of a 90s revival is a repeat of what I saw with the 80s revival. I was big into the 80s at one point, probably starting in the late 90s if I remember. What always stuck with me however, is how people-teachers, siblings-who had come of age during the 80s would always raise an eyebrow when seeing me and my friends bouncing to Kajagogo, like some post-Soviet youths finally getting legal copies of previously-banned music. "That's not how it was" is what they would always say. While comments like these actually lead me to discover some great bands from that decade I wouldn't have otherwise known, I also worried about becoming that person.
I arrived at Hugs around 12:00am or so, and to my delight the first song I heard playing was "Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)" by C+C Music Factory. Yes! This is what I had come for! I dispensed of my coat and hit the floor. Hugs is a pleasant enough little dive with a full bar and 50 cent skeeball, though its only drawback is having tragically low ceilings-making it difficult to throw your hands in the air with true abandon.
My real reason for attending this party was less a nostalgia trip but to see the local DJ collective, Finger On The Pulse, two brothers who produced one of my favorite mixtapes of 2007. DJ Never Forget put this together, and it's one to hold onto until next summer. They have a solid ear for what makes a good time, so I trusted I was in capable hands.
About thirty minutes in, the crowd in the bar had become tightly packed, but everyone seemed to be having fun-nobody seemed too self-conscious to dance or rub up against someone sweaty. However at this point, the music switched from early-90s grooves to post-Nevermind grunge rock. With the first tune, I wasn't so upset, I expected to hear some songs that would bring back that old awkward feeling. However this set continued for about two hours or so. I suddenly found myself not the person I had feared becoming but rather the opposite. "Thats exactly how it was" I said to myself as I stepped outside for my fifth cigarette after my third beer. The next few hours I sat at the bar, played skeeball, and kept tabs on the crowd. The dance floor had come to emulate one of my many middle-school socials, with most people jumping in place or perhaps a mild mosh pit breaking out, but little grooving going on. I was disappointed, not to say slightly embarrassed when a cardinal sin was committed. I also would have gladly taken "Basket Case" over "Jeremy". Granted, I was surprised how danceable a lot of mainstream rock in the 90s was, especially compared to today's bland tattooed thirty-somethings making music for fifteen year-olds. Some decent tracks got thrown in here-Beastie Boys, EMF (now THAT is the 90s I want to remember).
I was about to pack it up and head home when over the speakers came a small glimmer of hope-is that "Wannabe"? Ok, maybe not the best moment of 90s pop but it was a start. We quickly moved to some of the tunes I had come for-Haddaway, Milli Vanilli, Kriss Kross and the eponymous Right Said Fred. This change in mood got me back on the floor and I stayed until about ten minutes before closing (I didn't want to make the same mistake I did in middle school and be the last one still dancing). Once the good club beats started going, I was sated, and I rarely stepped off the stage except to refill my drink.
As for FOTP, the brothers definitely captured the 90s I remembered, though by the time the good grooves started toward at end of the evening, they were strangely absent from turntables, leaving duties to a third DJ and some cool chick with a KMFDM shirt. The choice of dance tracks was solid, though I would have liked to see them reach a bit further into their collections for some less obvious numbers. Very solid dance and rock tunes emerged from the UK and Europe during the 90s, and some of that should have trickled down during the evening (Happy Mondays, Blur, anyone? Where the hell was Daft Punk by the way?). Also, the whole night I did not hear one ditty from Madonna or any member of the Jackson family. I know I arrived a little late, but there's enough gold there to fill an entire Mini-Disc cassette! I'm not mad, just a little underwhelmed. I think the boys could make amends by releasing a really solid mixtape of all the goody goods (DJ Never Forget also has a new, excellent tape available here).
One final observation-I wanted to see the girls on the flyer, or at least facsimiles thereof at this party. I guess Urban Outfitters needs some time to update their stock.
U.N.I.T.Y. is a free bi-weekly party and still has two more nights to go, though I'm sure with its popularity it will either be extended or continue at another bar. I'll definitely end up at it again, just to see how other DJs interpret the decade of anti-fashion.
Yo man lets get outta here. Word to your mother.
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