Time to hit the nostalgia button for this one, folks. If you were way too young to experience the early years of the World Wide Web, there’s always an article or two about how that time went. The Internet was gawky, and painfully slow. While people complained about how tedious it was to connect back then, let’s not forget a good aspect when it comes to reminiscing about the old times: web design. The majority of web designers at that time only had experience with designing printed materials, as Mashable details:
Many websites today look the same because there is greater “emphasis on accessibility, applicability and UX at the expense of visual originality,” Kovar said. That’s not a bad thing, added the UX designer based in Prague, but it does leave web designers from the ‘90s like him pining for colorful backgrounds and Comic Sans. Although, that aesthetic wasn't embraced by corporate brands, with many like Amazon, AOL, and AltaVista opting for box grids and just a splash of color just before the new millennium. (AOL was the most vibrant of the bunch at the time.)
While there are many services archiving the web, like the Internet Archive with its influential Wayback Machine, Kovar organizes the historical snapshots to provide better context about the internet’s past. Want to see what porn, music, movie, and soccer websites looked like decades ago? Kovar’s museum has a sampling. The museum also has a collection of search engines from the ‘90s, many of which you’ve probably never heard of. After all, Rough Guides, the travel guidebook brand, didn’t include Google in the index of its internet guidebook in 1999. (Yes, people wrote books for internet tourists back then.)
Image via Mashable
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Another little tidbit....Fred and Cindy met while working at the Whirly Q which was the lunch counter found at some Kress stores. I have fond memories of the crappy food at the Whirly Q...everything tasted the same. jeez, anyone out there remember Kress? My all time favorite B 52s song is "Private Idaho".
While I love the B-52's (Channel Z rocks), Iggy needs a bit more respect here.
Songs by Iggy: China Girl (recorded by David Bowie), Lust for life (Trainspotting made good use of it), I'm Bored....C'mon, if Candy were his only commercial success, he'd be living in a dumpster by now....
who can forget Timbuk 3, Wall of Voodoo, M, the Presidents of the USA, Aqua, the list goes on forever!
They had a group called Loon, which was strongly influenced by Captain Beefheart and His Magic Band.
Ricky played guitar and sang and Keith Played bass guitar.
Sometimes Ricky's sister Cindy Wilson, would sing with them.
They had a song titled I'm Not Looking For Myself.
After the B-52s formed in 1976, Keith and Ricky would write the music, together for the band.
Ricky Wilson played guitar on Tom Verlaine's first, self- titled solo album.
After the death of Ricky Wilson in 1985, Keith moved from drums to guitar and wrote the music for Cosmic Thing, Good Stuff and Funplex.
If you had sent away your ten dollars to become a member of their fan club back in 84-85 all you got was a few photocopies of a newsletter and a piece of paper with your name on it. After that Frau became disenchanted with the band.
They had only one public performance in 1975 at a place called The Station.
People walked in off the street with instruments and joined them on stage. Keith wore a little red pixie wig and blue velvet peddle pushers and played noise guitar.
Fred wore blue lipstick and recited poetry and sang.
Megan sang and may have been nude.
One of their songs was called Dead Mink.
It may have been their only song.
They projected scenic views of Canada on a screen behind them.
Kate Pierson was in the audience.
Some say that this performance was the beginning of the Athens music scene.
;)
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Whammy was the first cassette tape I ever bought, back in the early 80's. I was in sixth grade and my friends thought I was such a weirdo for going so gaga over them. I have loved them to pieces ever since. There are few bands that feel like best friends, too, and they're definitely one of them.
This post made my day!