We are well into the dog days of ’90s nostalgia, when things we liked from the previous millennium’s final decade are no longer embarrassing but endearing and awesome anew. Pokémon Go‘s popularity is some proof of the era’s resurgenceâthough Pokémon never really went out of vogueâbut is it enough to prove the comeback? With this new compilation of the franchise’s theme song rendered in 20 of the decade’s distinct styles, it feels like our ’90s reboot is here to stay.
Ten Second Songs, a Youtube channel in which the versatile Anthony Vincent reimagine’s an artist’s music in a bunch of different styles, made Pokémon the subject of his latest installment. Vincent chose to recondition the iconic theme song in all the styles that were popular at during Pokémon’s peak: the late ’90s. Too niche an era? Apparently not. Despite my memory of the late ’90s being a dearth of quality music, Vincent was able to find 20 distinct, recognizable artists for his compilation.
As he does in all of his videos, Vincent opens with a deft impression of the original, and he does a spot-on imitation of the theme song’s vocalist, Jason Paige, as Rolling Stone notes. Then he moves into the variations, covering artists as disparate as The Beastie Boys, Nine Inch Nails, Bjork, Blink-182, Aqua, Destiny’s Child (“I know it’s my destiny!”), Rob Zombie, The Offspring, Cher, and an especially tender Paula Cole bit that’s complete with a Dawson’s Creek still. He ends the video with an OK Computer era Radiohead, capping a brilliantly on-point display of musicianship and ’90s nerdom.
Vincent has also made Ten Second Songs videos of Katy Perry, Eminem, Adele, Gorillaz, and several others. Check out this video and then go catch all the rest!
Here is the math behind Pokemon GO
Image:Â OLM