Let's bring back the super weird 1990 Rock the Vote campaign

We're just a month away from the midterm elections, so...where's Megadeth when you need them?

By now, you're probably familiar with Rock the Vote, a voter mobilization nonprofit started by Virgin Records executive in John Ayeroff in 1990. The campaign blew up when it partnered with MTV in advance of the 1990 midterm elections.

The nonprofit is as active as ever. Still, it's the 1990 campaign – featuring LA Gear, Lenny Kravitz, Madonna, Megadeth, and freaking Deee-Lite – that we need today.

SEE ALSO:How to register to vote in less than two minutes

In 1988, less than 40 percent of eligible 18-24 year olds voted. According to the Pew Research Center, just 20 percent of voters aged 18-24 vote in midterm elections nowadays. That's a marked decrease from 1964, where just over 50 percent of eligible voters in that demographic did.

These kids!

Ayeroff started Rock the Vote in 1990 to mobilize this population and, according to an MTV News report at the time, fight artistic censorship and "anti-rock politicians." Bless those innocent times.

The initial campaign didn't simply feature a ton of sexy celebrities. It was also deeply weird, kinda hot, subtly queer, and sometimes *gasp* funny.

Take the most famous advertisement to come out of the campaign, starring Madonna draped in an American flag next to two male models wearing stonewashed denim short shorts.

"If you don't vote, you're gonna get a spanking," the artist warns.

I'm also a fan of Megadeth's staid approach:

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Lenny Kravitz, meanwhile, starred in his own delightfully melodramatic, sexy Rock The Vote ad. Voting, he contends, is a form of self-expression and a right – "It ain't illegal, yet."

Have you ever seen something so Generation X? It's so earnest and moody.

Deee-Lite (of "Groove Is in the Heart" fame) made a similar pitch: Voting is self-expression for cool kids. The '90s were all about "self-expression," whatever that means.

(To watch the full ad, fast forward 34 seconds.)

Democrats are going to need millennials to turn out in greater numbers than they have before if they have any chance of taking back the House this November. There are now dozens of Get Out The Vote campaigns out there, some of them led by Parkland student activists, and many with quirky, celebrity-led campaigns. Yet all could stand to benefit from the 1990 Rock the Vote angst aesthetic.

Look at Anthony Kiedis, lead singer of the Red Hot Chili Peppers rocking the shirtless overalls lewk while mobilizing young people to vote. Kiedis had nipple power, man:

"What I consider the most beautiful and powerful ingredient in this democracy we call America is freedom," Kiedis says with the full emotional force of a college admissions essay.

Come on. The early '90s were way cooler than we give them credit for. Watch this other Red Hot Chili Peppers Rock the Vote ad. It's way hotter than any cornball GOTV video Macklemore could come up with:

There's really no explanation for this Michael Penn pitch (besides the conventional "school is conformist" take) but I love it:

Ozzy Osbourne's ad follows a similar format, but with a more dire message: If young people don't vote, he warns, they won't be able to read "the books they want."

Remember when American youth worried about things like "artistic censorship," and not the likelihood that World War III will break out after the president calls the leader of North Korea fat on Twitter? Oh, the good ol' days:

It's not that Rock the Vote isn't doing great work now. Major celebrities like Kendall Jenner and Miley Cyrus have starred in ads for the campaign in the past few years, and in 2016 Rock the Vote even partnered with Tinder to produce "Swipe the Vote." Research has shown that young voter turnout improves in areas where the ads are shown.

I simply miss the original punk-lite spirit of early '90s Rock the Vote. We xennials know it was was a better time. Just compare President George Bush Sr. to President Donald Trump, or Madonna to Post Malone.

If only we had rocked the vote harder, we might not be where we are today.

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