Alex Rossiter and Danny Finerman of the Bayside Tigers play 90s pop music every Saturday night at a Manhattan nightclub. (Photo by Gabe Kahn/CNS)

Singing the chorus of the Proclaimers’ hit “500 Miles,” the Bayside Tigers, a 90s cover band, encourages the boisterous crowd to join in for the “da da lat da” part of the song. The audience, largely people in their 20s, savors the moment and hopes the next number will also remind them of their formative years.

The Bayside Tigers, whose name comes from the fictional high school team on the iconic 90s television show “Saved by the Bell,” perform at Webster Hall in Manhattan every Saturday night. The group elicits wild reactions from crowds while playing songs like “Two Princes” by the Spin Doctors, “Tubthumping (I Get Knocked Down)” by Chumbawamba and “I Want It That Way” by the Backstreet Boys.

The bandmates, Nat Esten, Alex Rossiter and Danny Finerman, all graduates of the Berklee College of Music in their mid 20s, felt that it was time to play these and other 90s hits to bring back the music of their youth.

“These songs that we grew up loving had kind of gotten washed away and we hadn’t heard them in a long time,” said Rossiter.

They’re not in bad company. Bands covering the music of the 90s are sprouting up and filling venues around the country, hoping to attract 20- and 30-somethings nostalgic for their younger years. Their success so far indicates that it’s more than just a temporary fad.

“Maybe five years ago it was cool for everybody to get together and have an 80s party,” said Alexis Babini, 24, from Manhattan, after hearing the Bayside Tigers perform on a Saturday night in April. “Now that’s like done and we’re moving on to the next thing. Nineties is now.”

The Bayside Tigers, a 90s band, gets the crowd rocking in Manhattan. (Photo by Gabe Kahn/CNS)

Despite Babini’s enthusiasm, 90s cover bands may not enjoy the success of bands playing tunes of previous generations. The music from the 90s generally has a more mellow, thought-provoking sound than its predecessors — think “Time of Your Life” by Green Day as opposed to “Holiday” by Madonna. Also, without a definitive fashion the was there was in the 50s, 60s, 70s and 80s, 90s performers can’t rouse audiences by wearing distinctive outfits.

Traditionally, the popularity of cover bands has followed a strict schedule: 20 years after the start of a decade, bands playing the music of that era become chic. Motown cover bands emerged in the early 80s, disco was big in the1990s and 80s cover bands were all the rage at the start of the millennium.

Sensing the shift, San Francisco promoter Peter Berliner put together Club 90 in 2009. Though it initially had trouble getting bookings, Club 90 now plays about eight shows a month.

“In the past six months it’s taken off like a firecracker,” said Berliner, who has worked with cover bands for 36 years. “Like a rocket ship.”

From a nostalgic standpoint, it makes sense.

“They want to hear the songs that they grew up on,” Finerman said of audiences.

Though he had his doubts that 90s bands would succeed, Los Angeles club owner Jay Siegan said at least one band has proven him wrong. He’s been particularly impressed at how well Lovefool, a group that often plays at his Red Devil Lounge, is able to engage the crowd.

“When they’re playing ‘What’s Up’ by 4 Non Blondes … they’re tearing the house apart,” he said. “My jaw was dropped watching them do that.”

However, 90s cover bands also face more hurdles than their predecessors.

Their catalog of music is more limited than bands playing the hits of previous eras, industry experts say. Whereas music from the 80s fits readily into the party atmosphere that nightclubs like, many songs from the 90s can feel dark and somber, the kind one doesn’t so much dance to as sway. Music by Radiohead and Soundgarden, for example, don’t go over very well, according to Esten and Finerman of the Bayside Tigers.

The style from the 90s isn’t helping the newest cover bands, either. Other decades have definitive styles that were distinct and easy to picture: Poodle skirts for the 50s; the hippie look in the 60s; disco in the 70s; bright colors and big hair in the 80s. It’s much tougher to pin down the fashion of the 90s, other than flannel shirts, Doc Martens and some dark Goth outfits.

“When the kids go out to the nightclubs, they really like getting dressed up in period pieces like that,” said Lovefool drummer Doug Carlson. “There’s not really one that I’ve seen so far, a definable 90s look.”

Bands acknowledge that it can be tough to come up with a winning formula of 90s music.

Lovefool had to use trial and error to figure out what worked, Carlson said.

For example, he said, if Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” is played “halfway through after you play a bunch of rap when people are all sweaty and going crazy, they love it,” he said. “You try to do it in the first set, it just falls flat.”

But these potential roadblocks haven’t stopped the Bayside Tigers from getting their audiences on their feet. On a recent night, 100 people jumped up and down during the chorus of Harvey Danger’s “Flagpole Sitta (I’m Not Sick).”

“Some of my first memories are of hearing 90s music blaring from my mom’s stereo while she was sunbathing in our pool,” said Jacqueline Shuman, 23, of Manhattan. “I care about the 90s way more than I do about any other decade. Musically.”

Email: gsk2123@columbia.edu