Back to the future....

Then: Club kids like Heatherette designer Richie Rich, tranny pinup Amanda Lepore and Tunnel promoter-turned-murderer Michael Alig were ’90s counterculture kingpins. Ecstasy-fueled raves lit up NYC’s underground with the brilliance of a million glowsticks.

Now: Michael Alig (inspiration for the 2003 movie Party Monster) is up for parole this week and yearning to retake the limelight—if not the club Limelight, which closed in ’02. Richie Rich has been approached to design costumes for Madonna’s Sticky and Sweet tour. Amanda is a spokesmodel for MAC and CAMP cosmetics. And in homage to them all, MisShapes DJ Greg Krelenstein has teamed up with writer Leslie Arfin to launch Loser, a Thursday-night party at Bowery Electric featuring music from ’90s bands like Hole and the Smashing Pumpkins. So why are New Yorkers hungry for last decade’s scene? “Musically, there’s nothing besides Amy Winehouse that feels inspiring now,” Greg tells PSM, “so people are going back to what they know they love.”