Were the 1990's lame?

[spideyboy_1111]

I am seeing a patter that people who speak highly of the 90's always cite the cartoons, TV shows, and / or video games. I never said those were lacking in my post, though-- I was saying that it was everything else about the 90s that was pretty forgettable.

eh... the 90's went through several fashion trends... the end of the 80s which turned into grunge and acid rock, to Blossom's Hat, overalls and neon colors (all 80s fallout), which slowly morphed into the fashion of the late 90s (which didn't change too much in the 00s) which consisted of "sporty" shirts with numbers on them, american eagle/abercrombie and fitch/etc.. clothes, graphic ts, boot cut jeans, ribbed military sweaters and khaki cargo pants. Some of these trends are still around now in the 10s but some died out in the 00s.

as for hair... hair changed a bunch, pre 95 was longer more wild hair (80s fallout), bowl cuts (not sure why you say they were popular in the 00s, they weren't... its a very late 80s early 90s hair trend... just look at the movies) post 95 was more natural hair, and heavily gelled and spiky hair for men

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

We're at the 20 year mark. Isn't this where people usually start to get all retro-nostalgic? You know, the return of pastel track suits in the 00's, the semi-revival of disco in the 90's, Grease and Happy Days in the 70's, etc.

I'm nostalgic for the 90's every day. The biggest stories in the world back then was whether the dot-com bubble would burst and if the papparazzi were endangering celebrities. Nowadays I see stuff about terrorism, war, global-warming, economic collapse, heated political division, violent revolts, China and India's rapid rise coupled with America's decline and five of the largest ten earthquakes of the last century have occurred in the last five years. Not saying we didn't have issues in the 90's, but it wasn't at the forefront like everything is today. It seems like our world is in total meltdown. Everything seemed more relaxed in the 90's at least from a US standpoint. So yeah, the 90's were a helluva lot cooler than the 00's and 10's, both in popular culture and also the events that were occurring at the time.

 

[Kurosawa]

1990's video games were great, there were some fantastic movies, the music, except for grunge was bad and the comics were horrid. It was a mixed bag overall. Today's comics are much better, the music is no better-music is pretty much dead at this point. Movies are about the same. 90's TV was overall better, although the best shows of now are better than the best shows of then, IMO.

I was happier then, and the world seemed to have a brighter future.

 

[Lone]

The good thing about the 90s was definitely the grunge/alternative music for me personally. Everything else was meh-ish.

 

[Gentleman Owl]

I liked the whole style that came with grunge as well.

 

[antsman41]

Um, NOOOOOOOO!

90's ruled in;

Music
-Grunge
-Alternative
-Radio-Pop (was even good)
-Hip-Hop
-Rock
-Jam Bands
Gaming
-N64
-Arcades (their dying breath...)
TV
-Thursday (Friends -> ER)
-SNICK! and Nickelodeon Games
-After-School (BTAS -> Boy Meets World)
-Saturday (Saved By The Bell, Power Rangers, etc...)
Movies
-Kevin Smith, nuff said...

And, this is just the tip of the iceberg.

 

[Mace Dolex]

Let's see in the 90's I was the ages of 14-23 to give an idea.

FASHION - I was never into the latest trends so I dressed with regular pants and simple plain T-shirts.

TECHNOLOGY - the original Nintendo was my holdover from the 80's and I couldn't afford more games so I never bothered with newer gen consoles my spending habits went towards comic books.

ENTERTAINMENT - Still plenty of good sitcoms, music was in a downward spiral with grunge but got taken over by boy bands.

Comic book movies were treated with more dignity and CGI technology really amped up action movies.

The 90's were ok still nothing that stood out as impressive.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Let's not forget the Super-Soaker 100. I've destroyed quite a few beehives and gave red eyes to friends with that military grade water dispenser.

 

[Gentleman Owl]

Man I miss playing outside. Although I guess not nineties specific, since the 90's was the back drop for my childhood I guess it still counts as 90's nostalgia as me and my friends used to run around with our Morphers playing Power Rangers around the old factories near my old house. Awesome times.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Yeah I also miss that. It just seems today people are so worried about their kids being kidnapped or abused. I never felt threatened once as a kid.

We used to ride our bikes miles around this park that had a lake until the sun went down. We'd shoot our BB guns, play football until it was dark, buy M60's from the ice cream man, go trick or treating by ourselves until 10 at night...

I once visited my relatives in California and we climbed up the hills overlooking the Bay Area, stole almonds and apricots from somebody's backyard, and got lost on our way down. We eventually found our way back to my aunt's house around 9 or 10 at night and nobody seemed to care where we were or what we did that day.

If some relatives of mine who are now of similar age like we were tried doing something like that now, their parents would have heart attacks.

 

[antsman41]

^ditto

Brittany Spears and 9/11 ruined everything...

 

[Gentleman Owl]

I'm surprised we didn't die playing in those old factories with all the broken glass and jagged spikes of rusty metal. I certainly know I bloody hurt myself a few times. But nothing was as funny as when Joe got stuck inside an old washing machine, that means nothing to you guys, but that's some hardcore nostalgia for me. We used to go through the old train tunnels and down the muddumps and stuff But my Mum'd just say 'be careful and don't stay out to late and let me know where you are' not 'You can't go out or you'll get butt****ed!' like it appears nowadays.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

1990's video games were great, there were some fantastic movies, the music, except for grunge was bad and the comics were horrid. It was a mixed bag overall. Today's comics are much better, the music is no better-music is pretty much dead at this point. Movies are about the same. 90's TV was overall better, although the best shows of now are better than the best shows of then, IMO.

I was happier then, and the world seemed to have a brighter future.

I actually preferred Marvel comics back then. That was the last decade they had this thing called 'continuity'. Now they just hire the newest flash-in-the-pan writer who writes what he wants, refusing to build on anything established by previous scribes. This not only shuts out continuity, but severely limits character development.

If you're talking about less mainstream comics (Vertigo series such as DMZ, Fables, Y: The Last Man, etc) then I agree that today's comics are pretty kickass, but we still had Preacher, Sandman and Transmet in the 90's.

Everything else you said I pretty much agreed with (except for TV shows being better back then. HBO, AMC, FX and Showtime revolutionized TV... plus 'Lost').

 

[JP]

Did anyone mention TGIF yet? Cause that is certainly worth mentioning.

 

[The Squirrel]

I was just about to do that. The entire line up of TGIF brought good times.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

I'm nostalgic for the 90's every day. The biggest stories in the world back then was whether the dot-com bubble would burst and if the papparazzi were endangering celebrities. Nowadays I see stuff about terrorism, war, global-warming, economic collapse, heated political division, violent revolts, China and India's rapid rise coupled with America's decline and five of the largest ten earthquakes of the last century have occurred in the last five years. Not saying we didn't have issues in the 90's, but it wasn't at the forefront like everything is today. It seems like our world is in total meltdown. Everything seemed more relaxed in the 90's at least from a US standpoint. So yeah, the 90's were a helluva lot cooler than the 00's and 10's, both in popular culture and also the events that were occurring at the time.

The only disaster that comes to mind for me in the 90's was El Niño..and by El Niño, I mean Chris Farley in spandex.

 

[WalkingDeadMike]

The only disaster that comes to mind for me in the 90's was El Niño..and by El Niño, I mean Chris Farley in spandex.

That skit was hilarious, come on.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

Oh I know, but for some reason the only thing about El Niño I remember is this SNL skit.

 

[Ponyboy]

The 80's sucked. Well, not really, but it certainly doesn't live up to the praise you 80's kids give it.

As someone who was born in 1990, yeah, I enjoyed the 90's. Because I was a kid. And if you were a kid, you are in no position to judge, because you'll be heavily biased.

You saying the 80s sucked has no validity if you weren't even alive during them.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

The 90's ****in' rocked.

The music was better. The movies were better. The tv shows were better. The cartoons were better. The comics were better.

 

[PyroChamber]

The 90's were awesome, if anything I'd say the first couple of years in the 2000's sucked.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

The 90's were awesome, if anything I'd say the first couple of years in the 2000's sucked.

Pretty much every year since 2000 has sucked. Behold...

2000- The Supreme Court gives George Bush the Presidency. Dot-com bubble bursts.

2001- 9/11, recession and war in Afghanistan

2002- DC Sniper and suicide bombings happen about every day in Israel

2003- Iraq war and the Columbia shuttle blows up

2004- The Indian Ocean tsunami wipes out hundreds of thousands of people

2005- Hurricane Katrina, London bombings

2006- Israel's war with Lebanon

2007- Virginia Tech massacre

2008- Global economic meltdown

2009- Justin Bieber is discovered

2010- Haitian earthquake kills hundreds of thousands

2011- Gaddaffi, Mubarak and other Middle East dictators slaughter their own people amid protests, NZ earthquake, Japanese earthquake-tsunami-meltdown triple threat and now 'Operation: Odyssey Dawn'.

Bad things happened in the 90's, but I look at this partial list I cobbled together just from memory and I have to believe this has been a much crappier decade plus. Not to mention all the ongoing situations like continued unemployment, genocide in Sudan, several wars that are still ongoing, climate change and the fact Glenn Beck is still on TV instead of in an asylum.

 

[spideyboy_1111]

Columbine, Oklahoma City bonding, Unabomber, Y2k fears, Mother Theressa's death, and the death of Princess Diana were all pretty horrible 90s stuff... hell Columbine and Y2K in 1999 were just a horrible precursor of what was yet to come in the 00s

 

[E-Man]

Oh yeah. I forgot about this guy:

Then also was this show:

 

[Paroxysm]

For me it was all about the Pumps and Starter jackets.