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For some reason unbeknownst to me, UCLA students love the ’80s. At least that’s what I’m assuming the countless ’80s roller skating outings, ’80s club nights and ’80s-themed parties I’ve been dragged to is evidence of. And while some people find the tacky outfits and cheesy dance music entertaining, it’s actually a decade to which few UCLA students have a whole lot of personal attachment. Seriously, we were like, 4 in the ’80s. The real fun lies in celebrating our childhood and adolescence in the ’90s.

Now I’ll be honest, I do have some vague memories of bonding with ’80s pop culture – snapshots of me sneaking downstairs to watch Madonna videos on late night MTV and dancing around to Paula Abdul records with my sister. I can even remember the sheer joy I felt when I unwrapped a pink crimping iron for my sixth birthday.

But it was when I was hanging out with some older people from a trip I took to Africa this past summer that I had the startling revelation that while I may appreciate the music of ’80s pop icons from my early childhood, I didn’t really experience the decade like they had.

Sure, I knew what my fellow trip members were talking about when they discussed wearing Hammer pants and listening to Prince, but when they mentioned how they used to peg their jeans, I could only respond with a blank stare.

Pegging pants? My friend Josh then decided to demonstrate the look by pegging the red sweatpants I was wearing (which were, by the way, too tapered and embarrassing to wear even in my apartment). I then discovered that pegging one’s pants meant folding the bottoms in a way that made them more tapered than the pants the dorkiest guy in junior high would have worn. And to really complete the decade’s look, the pants would need to be high waisted enough to give people that pregnant pouch look.

The look was heinous. I mean, I could handle the plastic jewelry, but pants-pegging made me ready to declare my allegiance to ’90s rather than ’80s fashion trends.

And so, when I was eventually dragged to another ’80s club night by one of my friends who wanted to meet up with a guy she met at Maloney’s, I consented to go on the condition that we would not dress in theme.

However, I was left to groove to ’80s dance beats with the Maloney’s guy’s friend and make awkward conversation over Top of Michael Jackson songs, I was struck by a new thought. Why didn’t people have ’90s parties? That decade at least features the music we learned to dance to and to which we have some personal attachment.

I was relieved to finally stumble upon a ’90s party in an unlikely spot – the karaoke room at BrewCo. on Monday nights. It was as though by simply walking upstairs, I was instantly transported back to a junior high dance party. Pretty much every person who went up to sing had selected one of those great ’90s classics such as Britney Spears’ “ ... Baby One More Time” or the early *NSYNC tunes. They were songs that everyone knew so they could get the crowd to sing along and cover up their vocals. It became a fun ’90s sing-along/dance party flooding my mind with junior high and high school memories in a way that no ’80s party ever could.

I was so excited that I decided to try to conquer one of my biggest fears – singing karaoke. My friends and I selected Spice Girls’ “Wannabe” as the song to which we would humiliate ourselves performing. Unfortunately, my insistence not to sing sober resulted in me needing to end my night before they called our number.

But while I may not have conquered my fears, one thing is certain: Forget the ’80s. Grab your favorite junior high albums and put your hair in a side ponytail because the next party you go to should be all about the ’90s.

Rodgers is determined to conquer her karaoke fears before graduating. E-mail her ’90s pop song suggestions at jrodgers@media.ucla.edu.