'90s music forms the foundation of my collection. I've spent an ungodly amount of time sliding Better Than Ezra compact discs into binders, prying them from 6-CD changers, using them as hockey pucks.

I came of age during that idyllic time before Napster and Spotify, in which circular discs were sold for $15.99 (or if you preferred less for more, CD singles for $6.99) We loitered in music megastores like Virgin and Sam Goody (in my case Strawberries and Newbury Comics) and let shows like 120 Minutes with Matt Pinfield and Yo! MTV Raps tell us who to idolize and what to buy. It's no wonder music revenue peaked in 1999 at $23.7 billion.

The musical landscape at the time still dominated by '80s holdovers like U2, Madonna, and Michael Jackson. Mononymous names like Celine, Mariah, Janet. But really when we talk '90s, it's rap and grunge. Snoop & Dre, Biggie and Tupac. Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden.

Radio was as diverse as any previous decade; Jamiroquai to Eric Clapton unplugged, Skee Lo to Chumbawumba. It was a decade brimming with one and two-hit wonders. Duncan Sheik anyone? Vanilla Ice! Tom Cochrane's Life is a Highway? Radio friendly alt rock also occupied a huge space: Dave Matthews, Matchbox 20, the Lillith Fair gang from Sarah McLaughlin to Natalie Merchant.

There were boy bands, starting with New Kids - the highest grossing tour of 1990 - and Spice Girls, who redefined the girl group forever.

With so much to cover, this won't be the last '90s music piece. We'll start with the icons.

NotoriousBig.eth

Owner: BigPoppaEth (no primary assigned)

Registered: 3 years

Sales/Offers: Bought for 1e 7 months ago (Free.)

Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G, Biggie, Biggie Smalls. His Ready To Die album, released in fall '94, was one of the biggest revelations in rap history. I listened to it on loop in my yellow Sony walkman, walking in the snow to hoops practice. As Snoop Dogg and Dre had in 1992-3, Biggie's debut album crossed over and had everyone from Detroit to small town Vermont pumping Juicy.

Discovered by then A&R man Sean Puffy Combs, his first album sold 6 mil records. His second album, the prophetic double album Life After Death has sold over 10 million records making it one of the best selling rap albums of all time. His rivalry with Tupac.eth (also a towering figure of this era) and subsequent death at 24 in a drive-by shooting made him as much myth as rapper. And it makes this domain one of the celebrity grails of the era, music or otherwise.

It should be noted that the owner not only owns BigPoppa.eth, they ALSO own 61 Biggies from the Big Poppa Collection on Sandbox that looks fun. A true fan.

Biggie.eth is owned by ENS Trading Post, listed for 5eth, registered for 3 yrs.

Biggiesmalls.eth is also registered for 6 years. Owners know what they have.

My favorite tracks: One More Chance, Get Money

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽 💽

KurtCobain.eth

Owner: http.eth

Sales/Offers: Listed at 89.99

Another gone too soon. Kurt Cobain and his Seattle-based band Nirvana (including bandmates Kris Novacelic and Dave Grohl) broke things wide open for grunge with their album Nevermind, featuring the hit Smells Like Teen Spirit. It made Cobain an overnight star. His torrid relationship with Courtney Love only heightened his public persona.

Despite only releasing 3 major albums: Bleach, Nevermind, and In Utero, they're one of the best selling bands of all time, having sold over 75 million records. As with Biggie, Cobain's premature death at 27 only heightened his legend.

Favorite tracks: The entire MTV Unplugged album, especially Lake of Fire.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽 💽

MariahCarey.eth

Owner: MariahCarey.eth (primary!)

Sales/Offers: Bought out of premium for 1e+ 7 months ago.

I still remember where I was the day I heard Mariah Carey for the first time. Her 1990 debut Vision of Love featured 5 consecutive #1 singles, shattering records.

She's one of the most successful recording artists of all time with 200+ mil records sold. Considered a true modern day diva (you get what you want when you have 5 octave range) Mariah's marriage to Nick Cannon is one of the most perplexing celeb coupling ever.

All Mariah knows is hits. 19 Billboard #1s. Including the most successful Christmas single of all time, All I want For Christmas Is You, which has over a billion spins on Spotify. The song was included this year in Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Like Alanis below, Mariah's a huge name but not quite as transcendent as the two deceased legends Biggie and Cobain, thus her ranking.

Favorite tracks: One Sweet Day (w/Boyz II Men), Heartbreaker (w/Jay Z) Beautiful (w/Miguel)

RATING: 💽 💽 💽

AlanisMorissette.eth

Owner: Older wallet includes gems like Methodman.eth and StevieNicks.eth

Sales/Listings: N/A

Jagged. Little. Pill. The feminist anthem that's since spawned a Broadway show and been re-embraced by a new generation

The Canadian singer-songwriter (who I met, best smile in all of music and such a voice) started out making pop, then worked with producer Glen Ballard to craft what became a signature '90s rock classic.

Few artists or albums more evoke '90s' than Jagged Little Pill. It sold over 18 million copies worldwide, the highest selling album of 1996, and won Alanis a bunch of Grammys including Album of the Year.

FUN FACT: Alanis dated Dave Coulier aka Uncle Joey, and fellow Canuck Ryan Reynolds.

Morissette's gone on to make a few successful records, but nothing comes close to the outsized impact of Jagged Little Pill.

Favorite tracks: Right Through You, acoustic cover of King of Pain

RATING: 💽 💽 💽

Oasis.eth

Sales/Offers: .05e offers months ago

The Gallagher brothers. Liam and Noel. Perhaps the most combustible siblings in rock history.

Part of the Britpop explosion which included bands like Blur and The Verve, their 1995 album What's The Story Morning Glory? absolutely owned the charts in the UK, hit #4 in the US, and spawned a bunch of hit singles. including Wonderwall (a cover) which shot to #1 and as of today has nearly 2 billion plays on Spotify. Th album is one of the best selling of all-time with over 20 mil copies sold worldwide

The band has stayed in the limelight, not so much for their music but their cantankerous public personas and spats. They've sued each other, abruptly broke up on a tour in 2009, taken jabs in interviews and on social media.

Fave tracks: Wonderwall, Morning Glory, Champagne Supernova

The domain, like a lot of musical names, have more meanings than one. This is a nice 5 letter word without the Galleghers attached to it.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽

HONORABLE MENTION

Nirvana.eth - Surprisingly, high offer of .1e

Tupac.eth - Listed for 500eth (2Pac.eth another great alt)

Wutangclan.eth

PearlJam.eth

Greenday.eth

FionaApple.eth - Bought for 1e 2 years ago!

RedHotChiliPeppers.eth - PrePunk, listed for 25e.

Countingcrows.eth - Listed for 11.7e. Ambitious.

TLC.eth - A strong 3L all round. Listed at 24e.

Matchbox20.eth - Listed for .13e

The Offspring - Listed for 4.95e

Available domains!

StoneTemplePilots.eth

BigPun.eth

VirginRecords.eth

Compactdisc(s).eth

until Y2K,

Careless Whisper

My father has the kind of insatiable sweet tooth that dentists dream about. This is a man who puts 2 packets of sweetener in his herbal tea nightcap. No chocolate, biscuit or licorice is safe in his airspace.

Dad was born and raised in South Africa, a country firmly in the grasp of the British candy empire. Sweet pantries filled with Cadbury Crunchies, Peppermint Crisp, and fam favorite SA's own Manhattan Senties.

I’ve inherited his predilection, and now passed it on to my daughter. God help her and her enamel. The thing is: sweets are joy. What's more, sweets are shared experience. Some of my fondest memories with loved ones, certainly grandparents, includes a serving of refined sugary goodness.

In ENS terms, sweets are a prime example of a culturally relevant category that gets very little love. There are very few notable sales; the recent purchase of Oreo.eth for .75e was an outlier (and a nice scoop.)

The Candy Business

The global candy market is approximately $250-300 billion, segmented into chocolate, non-chocolate, hard candy, caramels, chewing gum, breathe mints, gummies, licorice, lollipops and on.

Per the National Confectioners Association (NCA), 64% of US candy sales are from 4 major holidays: Valentines, Easter, Halloween, Christmas. It comes as no surprise that the American Holiday Industrial Complex has us in its grasp.

While I focused on classic, mass market names (sweets you’d see in any airport Duty Free) I should note that premium confectionary sector, namely chocolate, is growing fast, as people have more expendable income and are looking for healthier, low-sugar alternatives.

It’ll be interesting to see what young brands capture the market in this next generation 

Industry Players

Mondelez (previously Kraft) - Big US conglomerate. Cadbury, Toblerone, Sour Patch Kids, Oreo, and on.

Mars - Privately owned 20+b global brand. M&ms, Snickers, Starburst, Skittles, Altoids, the list goes on. 

Hershey - Iconic US company since 1894. Hershey's chocolate/kisses, Reese's, Twizzlers, York Peppermint Patty etc.

Nestlé  - Swiss multinational. From Nespresso to microwavables to baby formula. Candy includes Smarties, Kit Kat (global, non US) Nestle chocolate, Peppermint Crisp (South African staple) the Rowntree line of gummies et al

Lindt - Swiss chocolatier, known for its colorful wrapped Lindor balls and iconic gold bunny.

Meiji - Japanese company known for Hello Panda chocolates and gummies.

Ferrero Group -Italian multinational.  Nutella, Ferraro Rocher, and they acquired part of Nestle’s US business, Butterfinger, Baby Ruth etc.

Perfetti Van Melle - Italian-Dutch multinational carrying Mentos & Chupa Chups.

Haribo - German company selling gummies of every variety.

Morinaga - Japanese makers of Hi-Chew.

THIS WEEK’S DOMAINS

MandMs.eth

Owner: Damien92.eth

Registered: 3 months

Sales/Offers: None

This is M and Ms. ENS doesn't allow the ampersand, so this isn't a ‘pure domain.' These Frankenstein'd domains will be interesting in terms of future value. One has to believe if emojis have a place in the system, ampersand (a ‘logogram’) will too. 

M&Ms are actually knocks offs of the British Smarties, which I actually favor taste wise. M&Ms started gaining traction in the post-war economic boom. Their first big customer was the US Army. Now there isn’t a grocer in the world you won’t find 8 flavors of M&Ms, from peanut to cream of corn. Making them all the more ubiqitious is their recognizable anthropomorphized spokescandies running about on national commercials. 

As far as that long-running joke about celebs wanting only green M&Ms in their dressing room? That's just hazing. M&Ms all taste the same. The coating is just coloring. 

FILM TRIVIA: The famous scene where ET is eating Reese's Pieces was actually M&Ms in the script! Mars balked at the product placement, and Reese's sales jumped 65% off the film's success.

My personal favorite? Holiday M&Ms. I used to down handfuls at my cousin's house every Christmas. An intravenous drip of milk chocolate. Peanut M&Ms are a close second (PeanutMandMs.eth is registered for 3 years!) and the rest of the flavors are exotic and fun, but I always come back to the OGs.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 x x

TimTams.eth

Owner: ChocolateSundae.eth

Registered: 3 years

Sales/Offers: None

TimTams are delicious, chocolate-covered, chocolate-filled “biscuits “made by Arnott. I'm told the Australian vernacular for biscuits “bikkies.” Crazy statistics: 94% of Australian households purchased TimTams in 2023! They're produced at 60 Timtams/second!

TimTams come in several flavors (dark, white, chewy caramel) and are sold around the world. Like M&Ms, Timtams were influenced by the British, namely Penguin Biscuits. Produced beginning in 1964, founder Ross Arnott named them after the 1958 Kentucky Derby winner Tim Tam. 

The TimTam Slam is a popular move where you bite off both ends of the TimTam and use it as a straw to suck down a beverage. Worth the melty mess.

Not long ago there was hubbub over the US imported version of Timtams being expensive and including the word “cookie” on the packaging. This did not sit well with Australian ex-pats. Trader Joes makes a knockoff that aren't bad, but the inner filling is noticeably thin. 

BELOW: Pre-Fame Cate Blanchett in a 1994 TimTam's commercial.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽 x

Chupachups.eth

Owner: Cryptodominios.eth

Registered: 2 years (Pre-Punk)

Sales/Offers: None

Found in 1958 and based in Barcelona, over 4 billion Chupa Chups (pronounced Choopa Choops) are sold each year around the world, in over 100 flavors. The company has a huge product line, from backpacks to sparkling beverages to air fresheners.

The Chupa Chups logo was designed in 1969 by, wait for it, by Salvador Dali!

Well known for their strategic (and often free) celebrity endorsement. The company has had a knack for getting the pops in celebrities hands like Madonna, Elton John, and Magic Johnson and letting the subliminal messaging do the work.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽 x

HiChew.eth (ハイチュウ.eth | hi-chew.eth)

Owner: No primary ENS name.

Owner of ハイチュウ.eth:  Detectivepikachu.eth

Owner of Hi-Chew.eth:

Sales/Offers: None

Japanese candy Hi-Chew is now one of the bigger chewy candies in the world, having seen massive growth in the last few decades from 10s of millions of sales to 100 million.

Two factors contributed to Hi-Chew's growth in the US 1) Strong sales in Salt Lake City, where Mormon missionaries who'd lived in Japan were fans of the candy, and 2)An influx of Japanese players into major league baseball in the early 2000s. The candy infiltrated clubhouses and caught fire. Hi-chew has long had baseball spokesmen.

As far as the domain, the actual product name is hyphenated. I'm biased against hyphenated ENS names; I believe in future most companies will choose non-hyphenated for ease of use. BUT it's worth noting Hi-Chew's current URL is Hi-chew.com.

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 x x

WhiteRabbit.eth

Owner: whiterabbit.eth (primary!)

Registered: 5 years

Sales/Offers: None

Created in 1959 by a Chinese merchant, these milk candies with rice paper wrapper were also inspired by the English. 

Popularity for White Rabbit peaked in the '80s and '90s before China allowed competing products in the country. Sold globally, they have a particularly strong brand recognition in Chinatown's around the world. In China, they account for 5% of all candy sales, a big number.

White Rabbit is a very nostalgic candy; my best friend growing up his family from Hong Kong, he exposed me to these and even Im nostalgic just looking at the 

RATING: 💽 💽 💽 💽 x

HONORABLE MENTION

Chocolate.eth - Highest historical offer is .5e?! Way undervalued.

Licorice.eth - .02 offer

Skittles.eth - 10 yer reg

Godiva.eth - 9 yr reg

Hersheys.eth - 4.44e listing, 18 year reg!

Nestlé.eth - 3 year reg, never had an offer

Haribo.eth- 4 mth reg, Never had an offer

Twizzlers.eth - 17 year reg! Pre-punk

SwedishFish.eth - 3 year reg

Redvine.eth - Grace

Kitkat.eth - 3 mth reg

Available Domains!

Snickers.eth - In Premium! ($2440 at time of post)

Toblerone.eth - In Premium ($1395 at time of post)

Reesespeanutbuttercup(s).eth

Gummiworms.eth

大白兔奶糖.eth - Chinese for White Rabbit

LicoriceAllSorts.eth

Until next week, sweet responsibly friends

~ Careless Whisper

And they'll walk out to the bleachers; sit in shirtsleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come Ray.

~ Terence Mann, Field of Dreams

If you haven’t seen the movie Field of Dreams, close out DEXTools, pause your saltwater fast, and go watch it. The film is about Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner), a family man in Iowa who finds himself underwater in his struggling farm. Guided by strange voices and serious hubris, Ray decides to build a baseball diamond in his cornfield. What happens next is a moving tale of a father, a son, and the redemptive powers of baseball.

*In terms my audience understands: Field of Dreams is about a degen, neck deep in a rekt asset, who gets alpha from a curmudgeonly chad, re-finds his conviction, and makes a big play to win it all back.

They’ll Turn Up Your Driveway Not Knowing For Sure Why They’re Doing It

Field of Dreams reminds us how compelled we are by sentimentality, nostalgia, and meaning-making.  So it is in our little corner of ENS; the sentimental collectors among us, holding our cat names, Marvel heroes, and anniversary dates in .eth, wondering what have we done with our children's 529 accounts and wen rest of the world?

ENS may look a certain way now, with its eight wallets and fickle liquidity. But in a blink there will be (to borrow from my dear Dua Lipa) a future nostalgia, driving interest and liquidity to names once undetected by the ENS Sales Bot. Sentimentality is timeless. Nostalgia is timeless. Culture is timeless.

RetroENS exists as a reminder to everyone why we drove thousands of miles to Iowa to pursue these names, and why others will too. 

VH1 Behind the Domain

RetroENS is a weekly space on X. Think of it as VH1 Behind the Music for ENS domains. 

Each week I profile a new category, and several domains within that category, joined by the domain owners and opening up the floor for audience banter. The space uses ENS as a gateway to talk fandom, collectibles and cultural touchstones.

While the likes of 10K digits and Pokémon are categorized on ENS marketplaces, there's a great wide ocean of names that are not. I wanted to give voice and shine to those. In both the space, and the weekly post I'll be doing here on Paragraph.

RetroENS aspires to bring a more human touch to the ENS game; a cross-cultural space where passionate collectors can, for one hour a week, 'dip themselves in magic waters' and wax poetically about what ENS names mean to them.

~Careless Whisper