This isn’t a promo, and it’s not a curated nostalgia post. I'm sharing this across a dozen different places to gather what people actually remember from the summer of 1997—not general vibes, not playlists, but real, lived-in details. If you were too young, no worries- this if for people who remember what Be Kind, Rewind is for.

So think back:

What car did you or your family drive?
What song or movie hit harder than it should have?

Was there any local lore where you lived—urban legends, rumors, strange headlines?

And who—real or fictional—were you secretly obsessed with? (No judgment. But answer at your own risk.)

What do you actually remember?

Anything you share here might help shape R. P. Gage’s upcoming sci-fi novel set in small-town 1997. No proper names or identifiable specifics will be used. If you'd prefer not to have your reply inspire anything, just mark it accordingly.
If you need help jogging your memory, here’s a few facts from the time:

It was Peak Will Smith.
Not just Men in Black—he dropped the soundtrack too. 1997 was his year. Slap-free, drama-free, and chart-topping.

Bottled water became a thing.
Evian was status. Aberfoyle meant your parents read the science section. The rest of us drank hose water—warm plastic aftertaste and all.

There was a biker war in Quebec.
Real one. Bombings. Shootouts. Headlines that felt like GTA before GTA existed.

Backstreet wasn’t arriving. They were Back.
Yeah. That old.

What do you remember?