If you asked any tween in the ’90s who they were crushing on, undoubtedly Lance Bass would come up. The former *NSYNC band member has come a long way since the decade he rose to fame, but he’s planning to make a sharp return to the ’90s soon, and we’ll get to witness it firsthand.
Bass and fellow ’90s icon Christina Milian are hosing MTV’s new series 90’s House, where they help 12 millennials throw it back to the era of Furbys and Slime Time Live. It seems like the youngsters have the perfect guide—and Bass was pretty psyched to return himself. He caught up with InStyle this week before the show’s premiere and revealed what it was like to walk down memory lane.
“It was amazing. It’s one of those decades that when you’re living in it, you’re saying to yourself, there’s no way this decade will ever be cool again. It is the worst fashion, like there’s such a melting pot of just entertainment and ideas. But now, looking back, it just felt so safe. I feel like everyone … it was just a simpler time that everyone kind of wants to reflect on, especially with politics being so crazy right now,” he said.
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“People like to remember those simple times, especially if they were a kid in the ’90s where they didn’t really have much responsibility. All they had to worry about was killing their Tamagotchi.”
For the record, keeping a Tamagotchi alive was pretty troublesome, but the cast members of the show wouldn’t know that firsthand, since they were all born after the decade ended.
“It was great because obviously we love the ’90s and being able to film the show with millennials, who didn’t really remember the ’90s, it was fun to educate them on how everyone acted and what was going on. Amazing cameos walked through the house that I was geekin’ out over. Like Salt-N-Pepa was the coolest,” said Bass.
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“And just so many great people came to the house and these kids were freaking out and having a good time. It was really fun. At least I got to keep my cell phone, though. The kids did not get to keep their cell phone.”
While the house members were given Internet while filming, they sadly got the ’90s version, which included a whole lot more dial-up than we’re used to today.
“They freaked out the first couple of days because they didn’t really know how anything worked,” Bass admitted. “None of them … I mean, even them trying to figure out how to use the answer machine was difficult. They would take cassette tapes and they thought they were supposed to put that in the VCR, you know?”
If you want to get in on the decade-induced fun, check out 90’s House, which premieres Tuesday, Sept. 26 at 11 p.m. EST on MTV.
—Includes reporting from Jennifer Ferrise