Say I have bad taste in music; say I am so not a hipster. But I miss the good old days of cheesy, catchy, can’t get it out of your head, ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ pop music.

Sure the bubble gum pop craze got slammed by the critics as unoriginal/awful/insert any bad name you can think of here. But face it. What music do you pre-game to? What music do you run to at the gym?

Not Jack Johnson. Don’t even kid yourself.

We all know that screaming, dancing sing alongs to ‘Everybody (Backstreet’s Back Alright)’, ‘It’s Tearin Up My Heart’ and all the other boy band music hullabaloo is what makes taking that 5th shot so much more fun.

You may have dissed it at the time but admit it, you miss …
*synchronized dance moves (often involving chairs, top-hats, and sparkling/leather costumes)
*the shower of confetti that came pouring down on you during the encore of every concert
*the radio concerts that included a mish-mash of your most favorite pop artists (Jessica Simpson, Ricky Martin, 98 Degrees, Backstreet Boys and the like)
* The days when Carson Daly hosted TRL and the screaming fans appeared in the corner screaming “I Love you Nick Carter!”
* waiting in line over night for tickets to see your favorite boy band/pop act
* Always knowing you would be able to rely on the radio to have fun singing along in your car to the Top 40 stations (as opposed to the urban/rap stuff that has taken over)
*Britney Spears pre K-fed/rehab stint/baldness in her tan sparkling body suit, sick abs and total rockstar-ness.
* Debating which Spice Girl you should dress up as for Halloween.

I think we all wished away a great thing we had going in the music scene. Who needs originally written music when you have songs like ‘Mmm Bop’ to jam too? Pop music needs to make a comeback. I am ready for a relapse of Swedish produced pop-music.

There is nothing like nostalgia my friend. So next time you are down and need an instant fun fix, roll down your windows, bust out your best karaoke vocals and sing your bubblegum loving heart out.

ps- click on names to see some old school videos. If you didn’t miss pop music before- you will now!