1990s music - VIDEOS. The best.

1990s music.

In my mind... it's the best.

For me, the year 1990 was the year I kinda found my freedom.

It was my first year of uni. I'd turned 18 in January, and it was the year of my first boyfriend (I was incredibly shy and turned down so many dates between age 15 and 18. Finally, I gave dating a go. Yeah, I liked it...)

The 1990s then meant I went out 'clubbing' like mad.

And so, these songs were the soundtrack to my late teens and throughout my 20s.

For me, 1990s music was Euro-dance allll the way.

Listen and reminisce.

Let's start with... Whigfield (with weird cat motifs and random sailors...?):





And Ace of Base:





And Black Box:





Rozalla:



A spot of Sash!



Haddaway:



Real McCoy:





DJ Bobo:





2 Unlimited:





Alexia:



Culture Beat:



Eiffel 65's 'Blue':



Dr Alban:





Corona:



Snap!







And then we had Bubblegum dance, in later 1990s, like the monster hit 'Barbie Girl':



And... I think I am done. For now.

Any you can add?

Most Googled in 2013: VIDEO

What did we Google most in 2013?

Google has produced a cool, rather moving video to show us, and remind us. If you're all for retrospect and nostalgia (as I am), you will love this.

Wanna see what YOUR city Googled the most?

Here's what went down (up?) most in Sydney.

What about trends for 2013? Click here for that.

What was YOUR top Google search?

If a report was run on my searches, I'd be thought of as a tad weird. But... it's my job!

'They're A Weird Mob' - An Australian Classic: A Tribute To The Best Country On Earth

Australia Day to me means remembering how incredible this country has been to my parents (RIP my father, who came out here in the 1960s to work as a kitchen hand at the Rex Hotel in Kings Cross in Sydney and flatted with several blokes in a terrace in the Cross), and for in turn giving us an exceptional future in the luckiest country of all.

It also means enjoying one of my fave movies of all time 'They're A Weird Mob', which means: Graham Kennedy, Les Girls, "your bloody shout", Kings Cross, pouring concrete while wearing a blue Bonds singlet in hot Aussie sun, cold beer, midi or schooner, the unchanged Marble Bar, Ed Devereaux, John Meillon, rolling your own, those delicate Aussie macaron things, Kay and Nino, that Olivetti typewriter [we still have it!], and archival footage I just can't get enough of, and much more.

Here is the trailer, plus some additional clips [and: BONUS! I found the whole movie on YouTube! Scroll down]. They always play this vintage flick on Fox Classic on Aussie pay-TV on Australia Day... check your guides! (Or... watch the whole movie in parts one and two of these clips below, after the trailer clip here):

Other classic scenes I have pulled out for you to enjoy:

I love that under this clip on YouTube is this insider comment:

A great funny movie that has not aged with time. The St George cab driver was Mr Robert (Bob) Smith of Punchbowl. One nite he picked up a fare who happen to be Michael Powell Director. The cabbie suggested he should use a real Australian taxi driver in the movie. Bob receives a call on the taxi two way well the rest is history. The car used is a Australian Valiant AP5, they were usually not taxi's in 1966, Holden were king.

And, fantastic footage from the world premiere the movie, at the State Theatre in Sydney:

"Your bloody shout!"

Appeared originally in Australian Women’s Weekly 29 June 1966. Sourced the digitised article from the Australian newspapers digitisation project athttp://trove.nla.gov.au/

What's your fave Aussie classic film, and what does Australia Day mean to you?

Ada Mori and Tina Arena - Mare, Mare, Mare, Mare. How old songs take you right back

Now, this may well be an obscure post, which may only appeal to a handful of people. Well, the song that moved me is very obscure.

Hearing a particular tune again tonight made me cry.

You know how songs take you back to a time and place?

Well this one takes me back to my mum and dad's house.

I'm 5. Maybe 8. Perhaps 13. (Ah, that period was the most innocent and carefree of my life, for so many reasons). And I remember vividly hearing this song played on repeat in our home .

Well, the needle had to be reset on the vinyl. Those were the days of vinyl, baby.

And this is the song that played, non-stop. 'Mare Mare Mare Mare', by Ada Mori (the picture of the purple record with the yellow sleeve is the exact one mum still has stored under the record player).

My parents loved this song. Especially my mum. Who would put it on and cry. I never quite understood her tears, the depth of her emotion.

Then I started listening to the lyrics, as I got much older - and understood.

And now I really understand.

The lyrics can really mean anything - lost love, missing one's homeland - and I know that the latter is what tapped into my mum's emotion.

Ada sings: "E' troppo grande l’ansia di tornare della mia dolce terra…" which translates to: "The anxiety to return to my country is too deep..."

Mum loved, still loves, Australia. It's just that... she always thought she'd go back to Italy to live - she'd left all her family behind.

I went in search of this song after my brother asked me who originally sung the song we'd seen Tina Arena sing on the latest episode of the SBS TV program 'Who Do You Think You Are'.

I Googled and searched... nothing.

All I found was Tina's version as a kid on TV show Young Talent Time (so beautifully sung by someone so young):

And then, in the comments section, I found my clue.

And there it was:

Oh... did I cry when I heard this for the first time in decades.

Suddenly, I was 5 again.

Do you have a song from your childhood that takes you right back? And what does it stir in you?

[And not forgetting the English version of this song, recorded by Australian singer Judy Stone]: