Cornershop, “Brimful of Asha”

by Alexandra Molotkow

There’s a Saturday Night Live sketch from the late ’90s in which Chris Kattan plays the guy from the Stray Cats, whose name I can’t be bothered to Google (just kidding, it’s Brian Setzer — sorry, it’s just my Dad once got on a “Rock This Town” kick and I disliked that song the first time I heard it and despised everything about it by the 34,304th).

Anyway, Seltzer [sic] is being interviewed by Goat Boy (Jim Breuer) about the ’80s. Their exchange isn’t funny, but I remember it for two reasons: I had wild crushes on both Breuer and Kattan, and because at one point the latter breaks down and says something like, “Yeah, I remember the ’80s, remembering the ’50s. Now it’s great to be here in the ’90s, remembering the ’80s, remember the ‘50s.”

Now we’re here in the 2010s, remembering the ’90s remembering the ’60s. This week I’m all about the ’90s ’60s revival, which I associate with big, brightly-colored bubbles and chunky heels and Austin Powers, which had its own revival about five years ago, as well as this fine, fine number-one single. I’m posting the Fatboy Slim version because it’s danceable, no disrespect to Tjinder Singh’s original, which is slower but more thoughtful, and really lovely. I never really cared for the line “everybody needs a bosom for a pillow” until I read this explainer.