Like Britney Spears bristling at being overprotected, beloved fictional Canadian teen-pop superstar Robin Sparkles (a.k.a. Cobie Smulders in an inspiring series of flashbacks on CBS’ evidently never-ending How I Met Your Mother) wasn’t content to only sing about trips to the mall and beavers (just let it be, it’s Canadian). On last night’s episode, we learned about the time in the ’90s when Robin turned dark — literally.
Robin’s transformation into an angsty badass of Alanis Morissette-ian proportions was so historically accurate, it included a Dave Coulier cameo and a shirtless old guy in a music video. As a pissed-off teen in 1996, Robin Sparkles became Robin Daggers and inadvertently brought grunge to the Great White North. She wore flannel. In fact, she sings “I’m wearing my flannel and I’m thinking ’bout you / I lace up my boots and I’m thinking of you” on her lovelorn, pissy “PS I Love You.”
Watch the full episode here, the highly entertaining music vid above, and highlights from her Behind the Music — sorry, Underneath the Tunes — (featuring a who’s who of Canuck rockers from Rush to Barenaked Ladies) below. Enjoy the references to Reality Bites and everything else you sort of remember from 1996! (Yes, the Full House thing counts.)
