Having been born in 1980, the 80’s nostalgia fad that seemingly comes around every couple of years, always never felt right for me. I was just too young to have truly lived it. Yes, I can click “Like” on those many Facebook posts that go around proclaiming how wonderful your childhood was if you were born before 1985 (or whatever 1980s year the creator of said post goes with), but the naivety of childhood meant I was only aware through my mum, and my grandparents, of more grownup things the 80s was remembered for. And at that age, I didn’t have any choice in what 80s fashion to dress in - my mum decided.
So the 90s were more my era, having lived my entire teenage years in that decade, had greater understanding and appreciation of the music, popular culture and fashion (although I failed there too). As I write this, the funny thing I keep thinking, is that until last night, I always thought I missed out on being part of an “era”. As mentioned earlier, I was too young for any of the many 80’s eras, I was born after everything from punk to disco to rock n roll. The 90’s always felt not so great or memorable.
Yet it was. Certainly more so than the decade that followed, where I was in my twenties, and saw the explosion in tech from MP3 players to mobile phones to the beginnings of reality based TV and talent contests giving potential pop singers a jumping of the queue to success (but only if the producer of the show wanted them to win).
I now realise, I had a great era. The time of cool Britannia, a pre war criminal Tony Blair, Britpop and the explosion in 60s influenced indie music. A premiership football league on the cusp of an explosion in high money and foreign imports, yet still with the feel of a game for the working class person.
It was also a time when TV was at least entertaining. No reality shows, no talent contests with people desperate for a nano-second of fame. And non typified this more than TFI Friday. So it was a pleasure to sit down and watch last nights anniversary show, or as host Chris Evans described it, a chance to have a final show.
If the Internet broke due to Jeremy Clarkson and his dinosaur ways, it would have regressed back to its pre 1995 state, if TFI Friday was a regular series now. It was loud, brash, sometimes sexist - okay nearly always sexist. It typified the lad and laddette culture of the 90’s. It was dangerously close to the edge, with risque guests swearing three hours before the watershed - it would never be broadcast live at 6pm nowadays.
Of course, I’m not selling it very well. This was unashamedly anti-PC at a time when political correctness was just starting to develop. However, it was clever and of the times. Host Chris Evans was at his very best, almost ready to tip over the edge and go too far (the show ended abruptly, when in his words ‘went a bit mad’).
As a teenager on a eager quest to find new and exciting bands, ones who were at their best in the live arena, TFI Friday was the show to watch with all the cool bands of the 90s playing live on the show. I remember Faith No More appearing, a band I only knew by name, yet the next day I went out and brought their latest single that had been performed on the show.
Its also easy to pin the success on Chris Evans who by being host on this show could play to his strengths. Yet its also easy to forget one of the greats of TV Danny Baker was the writer on the show.
This was more than a talk show, or a music show, it also had its silliness. From Freak or Unique, to Its your letters, to the constant cooing of ‘Wiiiiiillllll’ to its producer Will MacDonald, who was in some ways more than just a sidekick to Chris Evans, he was very much a man who should be knighted for always remaining calm during the hurricane effect of Chris Evans. By the way, whatever anti-ageing cream Will is using, should be the biggest seller of that kind.
The issue with comebacks like this, are that watching it again with the same people twenty years on, sometimes ruins the memory. We’re all grown up now with families, jobs and the show could have seemed almost embarrassing now. Yet it wasn’t. It is what TV light entertainment should be, entertaining. As a friend put on Facebook after five minutes, ‘TFI Friday is already better than 99.9% of whats usually on TV’. Yes, it may struggle to fit in to a culture where you can’t say anything in case you offend someone, but maybe that is needed.
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