Carmen Electra Strutting In A Bikini On MTV Spring Break Turns 25
Looking back, we had no idea how great we had it in March 2000 when Carmen Electra strutted across a Cancun stage wearing a bikini that sent shock waves through pop culture.
A dozen eggs were 91-cents. Gas was a buck-fifty a gallon. A sixer of Busch Light was around $6. And MTV was still appointment television, especially in March when it took the show on the road to an exotic locale while your ass was posted up in the Midwest.
On March 16, 2000, Carmen Electra stole the hearts and minds of billions of men, and women (I'm fair and balanced), around the world as she hit the stage during Rebecca Romijn's "House of Style" show as Lit hammered through "My Own Worst Enemy" and the rest is history.
This will go down as one of the greatest moments in MTV Spring Break history.
On Friday, Electra celebrated the anniversary on her Instagram page. "Spring break baby đź–¤," the 52-year-old wrote.
"good timezzz 🖤🖤," she added as fans remembered a different time in life when Gen X was in charge and partying its ass off. Now, the generation is worried about 401ks and Costco's new gas station hours.
Carmen Electra poses for photographs backstage during MTV's Spring Break 2000 in Cancun, Mexico. (Photo by: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
Carmen Electra and A. Jay Popoff of Lit perform during MTV's Spring Break 2000 in Cancun, Mexico. (Photo by: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)
Good times, indeed.
At that time, we were just 2 ½ months removed from Y2K when the preppers thought computers were going to start murdering us. The Internet sucked. It took days to download movies via Napster.
Playboy and Carmen Electra in Cancun was our Internet.
What about MySpace? Hell, it wasn't even invented until August 1, 2003.
DVR barely existed. TiVo was invented on March 31, 1999. Very few of you had that tech at your fingertips a year later when Carmen stole your heart.
One could argue that MTV Spring Break 2000 was a major pivot point in pop culture and MTV's importance. It was the mountaintop for the channel.
A year later, Jessica Simpson was at MTV's Spring Break, but there wasn't that one moment that history remembers. By 2002, MTV turned to Jack and Kelly Osbourne as their big stars. Nothing said Spring Break like the Osbourne kids. It flopped.
Mandy Moore handled hosting duties in 2003 as MTV continued to struggle to cut through the pop culture fog. Simpson was back for another tour of duty in 2004 that failed to energize a generation that was starting to spend its time on the Internet.
The end was near.
By 2008, Internet historians estimate that MTV played just three hours of music videos per day.
That is why, 25 years later, we look back so fondly on what Carmen Electra gave us that day in Cancun. Never forget.
Actress Carmen Electra performs during MTV's Spring Break 2000 in Cancun, Mexico. (Photo by: Frank Micelotta/Getty Images)