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. @TheFirstEcho