Baby's Black Balloon Makes Her Fly

Editor's note: Totally taken from my MySpace blog. Because I can.

I love Cold Case on CBS. I like it for many of the same reasons that I dislike other shows—when it comes to showcasing the past, it's not particularly nuanced or complex, but that's what makes it totally awesome, at least in my opinion. If Det. Rush and company are looking into an early '80's case, for example, you can bet on big hair and Duran Duran. You totally know what you're getting into—the only surprise is the obligatory twist in the case 45 minutes into the episode.

Anyway, Cold Case is getting even more love than usual from me so far this season because in the first two episodes the team reopened cases from the '90s. Nineties music hasn't reached that level of nostalgia where it's cool to embrace it yet, but I'll totally cop to still loving those tunes from my middle- and high-school days. The first episode, Thrill Kill, highlighted a '94 case and featured flashbacks jam-packed with flannel shirts and—you guessed it!—an all-Nirvana soundtrack.

But last night's episode, That Woman, was truly awesome because it only went back to 1998, which means that all the songs featured in flashbacks were regularly played in my super-cool '92 Plymouth Acclaim as I cruised the streets of P-town my junior year of high school. Here's a few of the songs featured:

Black Balloon: The Goo Goo Dolls
Closing Time: Semisonic
Counting Blue Cars: Dishwalla
Sex and Candy: Marcy Playground
Torn: Natalie Imbruglia

It's kind of funny to hear those songs and then instantly what was going on in my head when I was 17. I loved some Natalie Imbruglia… I thought she was super-angsty—just like me!—even though I later found out she was a former soap star and didn't write her own songs, but whatevs. I also remember being pretty keen on Closing Time, despite never having stepped into a bar at the time.

I think this may trigger some mid-to-late-'90s iTunes downloading over the next few days. I think my first download might be Banditos by The Refreshments…