your experience of the 90's

[killa-teddy]

I've been studying the culture of the youth in the US during certain decades. The thing is I have had some problems getting organized information about our last one. So I've got some questions for those of you out there that had went through highschool or college during 1990-1999. Though some might say this has little to do about politics, our culture directly affects it in many ways. You don't need to answer all of the questions though it would be appreciated.

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?
2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?
3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?
4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?
5. What movies were big hits in this decade?
6. What sport stars were really popular?
7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?
8. How was school different then today?
9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?
10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?
11. What did young people do for fun?
12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

[poxpower]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote:

Well I entered high school in 1997 so I don't know if I count. But whatever.

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

New 2 dollar coin in Canada - 1996
The internet... totally awesome
First Star Wars prequel. What a shitburger.
Mortal Kombat, the Super Nintendo, the N64....
Clinton getting his dick sucked. OJ... Ah OJ, you so crazeh.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

Ace of Base, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls....

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

I dunno, I'm french-canadian.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Reboot, Beast Wars, Batman ( and all the cool new cartoons by those same guys, like Superman ), Where in the World is Carmen San Diego... Street Sharks, Ninja Turtles, Widget... that purple piece of crap... Captain Planet... C.O.P.S. ( rad ) , Spider-Man, X-Men... so many

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

Jurassic Park = awesome
Batman Returns, Schindler's List, Titanic ( turdburger ) , Forest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Braveheart, Pulp Fiction, Toy Story
shit, just look at it for yourself: http://digitaldreamdoor.nutsie.com/pages /movie-pages/movie_90s.html

6. What sport stars were really popular?

I don't give a shit about sports but my friends were always talking about Patrick Roy, Vincent Damphouse, Mario Brother and that chick who was the first female goalee in the NHL ( maybe).

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

The internet
4ever

8. How was school different then today?

No idea

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Retarded/ fugly/ clowlike

It was like a snake trying to molt it's horrible, horrible 80's skin, trapped for decades in some in-between world of big hair, loose clothes and moderately attractive people..

Chicks are about 5 times hotter today, wearing their tiny jeans and boob-caressing tank tops. Hurray.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

Global Warming, Y2K... I think there was supposed to be a meteor at some point that would destroy the earth. A lot of shitty movies about disasters too like Twister and Armaggedon.
Still school shootings too...

11. What did young people do for fun?

We played marbles, Magic, pogs, video games, gay sports... ( all sports are gay )
I think pokemon cards were coming into fashion at the end there... maybe not.
The cool young people drank and did drugs, obviously. Which left me playing with me friends, trying to beat them at Smash Brothers and whatnot.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

From the 90s?
....Probably the ONLY thing would be the good animation style of the batman cartoons and that's still somewhat here. They've turned some cartoons into really low-budget samurai jack ripoffs ( like the newest transformers cartoon ).

All the rest is either here, but better ( the internet, video games, movies, technology in general ) or thankfully gone ( tuppac, suspenders, shitty tall hair on women, people wearing sweatpants in public ).

[ThunderboltLegion]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote:

I wasn't in highschool yet but very close so this is mostly based on the latter halp of the decade. Hope you can still use the data.

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

Y2K

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

"In the End" by Linkin Park
For some horrific reason; "oops I did it agian" by Britany Spears
For some equally horrific reason "larger than life" by n'sync

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

"Cool" and "Sweet" predominantly.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

"Star Trek" (trekie parents, it kinda rubbed off :p) and "JAG" are the only ones coming immediately to mind...

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

The Matrix and Titanic.

6. What sport stars were really popular?

I don't and did not follow sports.

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Not that it was all that new but I remember that the time when everyone was getting a cell phone and you saw them everywhere was in the 90s. Even though the concept had been around since the 70s they were really becoming popular in the 90s.

8. How was school different then today?

To my knowledge schools felt like a safer place before the massacre at comumbine in 1999.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Didn't really pay attention that much, but too much hair jell all around.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

Y2K?

...and the moral corruption of the nation due to Presedent Clintons very public affair with Monica Lewinsky.

11. What did young people do for fun?

What is the "fun" you speak of?
I don't know about anyone else but I was glued to my brothers computer playing Age of Empires when he was at work. So I guess home computer games really became widespread in the 90s resulting in much fun had by many young people. Besides that and the standard movie / bowling and just general hanging out which is equally prevelant today, I don't remember all that well.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

Age of Empires... When it was still at the cutting edge of technology and still fun to play, unlike some of the newer versions. Sad day...

Hope this helps :)

[Ericho]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote: 1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

Good economy and peace.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

Destiny's Child or Backstreet Boys perhaps?

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

"The bomb", man is that one dead.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

DuckTales, Rocko's Modern Life, etc.

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

Titanic, and the Pixar movies.

6. What sport stars were really popular

Michael Jordan.

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

The computer.

8. How was school different then today?

It was easier.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Uh, I really can't remember.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

El Nino.

11. What did young people do for fun?

Watch TV.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

The peace and economy.

[Tancrisism]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote: 1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

VH1, Pokemon, Starcraft, my experiences in the various towns in Massachusetts I lived (Martha's Vineyard, Otis Airforce Base, and Harwich).

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

The pop crap I used to listen to - Goo Goo Dolls, Sugar Ray, Smashmouth. I was young.

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

I used to say "wicked awesome" about everything.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Looney Tunes, Ah! Real Monsters...

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

They are all remembered historically, I'm not sure how this applies. Saving Private Ryan, Titanic, etc.

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Nomar Garciaparra was my favorite for a long time. NOMAAHHHHH

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Playstation, N64.

8. How was school different then today?

It was a completely different school system - I lived in 2 other states since then, so everything changed. Not to mention I am out of highschool, so that's a dramatic difference.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

I never paid attention to clothing or hairstyles.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

Y2K IS GOING TO SHUT DOWN THE WORLDDDD

11. What did young people do for fun?

We played pretend and shit. We were little kids. I didn't really pay attention to the older kids much, but apparently heroin was pretty cool back then.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

Heroin. Fuck ecstasy.

Nah, I dunno. I suppose I don't wish anything would return.

[fli]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote: 1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

AIDS and HIV. I'm old enough to remember mentionings during the 1980s. But during the 1990s, I remember watching a documentary about the Aids Quilt. This was in my science class during high school in 1995/1996.

The silence in that room was deafening. The massive size of that quilt and the sadness was something that made my eyes water.

Others... Columbine. I actually got to see that thing unfold while going to the computer. That was something new, to see news unfold infront of your computer.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

oh god..
Everything Nirvana, but "Come as You Are" and "Smells like Teen Spirite" were something I remember.

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

"You know." and "Yeah?" and "like?" and "Whatever..." and "anyways"

it seemed like every young person had to say "you know" after every sentence or a "yeah."
"Whatever" and "anyways" became popular with the movie Clueless. It seems that "anyways" is still part of the lexicon of people who are going into their 30s.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

I used to follow the X-Files... but I didn't really watch TV. My favorites were part of the TGIF line up on ABC where they played "Dinosaurs" "Step By Step" and "Family Matters" "Look Who's Talking" and shows like that...

I also remember loving an abscure cartoon series called "Fish Police" that was prime time.
But as a kid, i loved "A Pup Named Scooby Doo" and "The Real Ghost Busters"

As a teen... I was busy with school, after school stuff, wrestling, and things like that...

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

The re-realease of Star Wars, Clueless, the Batmans, Clerks, Pulp Fiction, Resovior Dogs, Titanic, etc...

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Michael Duane Johnson and his MAGICAL gold shoes... god... nobody would shut up about him.

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Wow... there were too many to think of...
But for kids and teens...
It was that goddamn Tamagotchi.
In high school, my friend made me "baby sit" it. It was several weeks old, if I remember... I killed it in 3 days of neglecting that thing in my bag pack.

She never forgave me after that... and we stopped talking altogether.
Stupidest thing ever...

8. How was school different then today?

I'm not sure if I could answer that quetion. i mean, I got to be back in high school to know the difference.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Retro was a big thing... guys loved to dress like they were in the 50s.
otherwise, guys and girls aren't too different from today-- except, we didn't have emo. They were goths... and mohawks were nonexistant except to the goths.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

AIDS, terrorism, and Ebola and Marburg viruses... Mad Cow Disease.
In East Side San Jose, there was fear of gang violence.

11. What did young people do for fun?

Think of it as today...

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

The promises...
It seemed all the 90s was about the booming of technology. When I graduated, i remember thinking that i would be working in a high tech job and playing with other guys...

There were companies who would do stupid things like unicycle, blow bubbles, and things like that as they worked... without ties.

It was supposed to be a new era where work was supposed to be like a playground. And all you had to do was find the perfect dot com name...

Then the dot com bubble busted...
then George Bush happened...
and then war happened...
and then the economy happened..
and then... everything else happened.

*sigh*
late 90s was an idealic time for young out-of-high-school guys. We were supposed to be kings of the world...

[Proteas]

At 5/26/09 09:09 PM, killa-teddy wrote: 1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

- The L.A. Riots. I don't remember all of it (I was 6 at the time), but I vividly remember watching Reginald Denney get pull from his truck and beaten.
- The Oklahoma City Bombing; my dad was a driver for Ryder at the time, and was just outside the city limits when the bombs when off. We thought for sure he was dead.
- Heaven's Gate; nothing like barbiturates and vodka to make for a good time! Although I could have sworn they downed that mix as a grape-jello shooter, I don't know... maybe I'm thinking of Jonestown.
- Monica Lewinsky scandal; I had no idea what oral sex was until that point.
- The Columbine Massacre; I had no idea how much public school SUCKED, and was thankful to be homeschooled.
- Operation: Desert Fox; I thought for sure there would be a draft after that.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

"Achey Breakey Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus, and "The Macarena."

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

"Yo!"

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Anything on TGIF from 1990-1997, plus Saturday Morning cartoons from about that time period.

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

Titanic.

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Never much was into sports...

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

The re-writeable disc drive, ZIP drives... Windows 3.1...

8. How was school different then today?
9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

In my home school group, we pretty much wore the same type of clothes and hairstyles that were fashionable at the time; khaki pants or denim jeans, logo t-shirts, plain haircuts. I preferred denim pants with a black or red shirt and a denim button-up shirt over top of it, or one of my two flannel shirts (either red or green) with a white shirt.

But we did have the punks and goths, believe it or not. And Hot Topic was home for them. ;-D

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

I can't speak for everyone else, but for my family, it was the constant threat (for the first few years anyway) that my parents would be arrested for homeschooling us. Truant officers and all that. But we were registered with Gateway Christian Academy out of Memphis, Tennessee, and they helped us out legally. So it was all good.

11. What did young people do for fun?

For me? Hang out with the kids from my homeschool group.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

The innocence we had prior 9-11, when everything wasn't so damn scary.

[TheMason]

Okay, I'm old. I graduated HS in 1993.

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

* High School
* College
* First loves, first heartbreaks
* Marriage
* Having a child
* Foot soldier in the 1994 'Republican Revolution'. (Hint: the Democrats were broken in terms of cash and message. Conventional wisdom held that they were going to be irrelevent for a generation.)
* Clinton's impeachment.
* Euphoria: 1) The Soviet Union crashed & burned...the Berlin Wall fell and prominent political scientists proclaimed "the End of History". 2) We kicked Saddam's ass with very little pain. 3) The economy began picking-up steam mid-decade.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

Smells like teen spirit. This may sound crazy, but when I heard Nirvanna for the first time I thought it was the end of Rock. In many ways it was. We saw the rise of commercial music like 'boy bands', jail-bait pop 'Divas' and 'bling' hip-hop shortly afterwards. I know correlation does not mean causation...but I just felt in my gut that grunge was both Rock's last gasp and death knell.

Other music I remember is Motley Crue's Dr Feelgood which was an abulmn of nothing but sex, drugs and rock 'n roll.

I also liked 911 is a Joke, Gangsta's Paradise, Winds of Change and Right here, right now. I pretty much stopped paying attention until bands like Linkin Park and Godsmack brought guitar driving riffs back.

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

Not really slang words but "Generation X" and "Generation Y". "X" also became big. While the X in the generation means lost identity or unknown...it mostly came to be associated with extreme.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Definitely The X-Files. Yes it's SciFi, but it lasted almost the entire decade. You watch the technology in Season Nine and then Season One and you can see just how far we came in those ten years.

You also have In Living Color which launched the careers of Jim Carrey and the Wayans Brothers.

The Simpsons came out in the 89-90 season and is now starting its twentith season. This is another defining characteristic 90s show.

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

Well you have Star Wars: Episode One The Phantom Menace which, although a horrible SW movie, was still big.

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Steroids aside, the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa home run record race was something. I still remember the Cubs were in St. Louis when Mark hit 63. It was incredible. The Cards/Cubs intense St. Louis/Chicago rivalry aside...it was incredible to see McGwire's main rival running in from the outfield to congratulate him.

That was sportsmanship.

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Ummm...the internet! (Al Gore invented the series of tubes sometime in this decade.)
Cell phones.

8. How was school different then today?

In my school we could bring a gun to school during deer season (as long it was left in our car or truck). We had drugs but we were not paranoid about school shootings.

Cell phones. As a graduate teaching assistant...God I hate students having cell phones in the classroom.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Loud colors. Baggy. Post-'80s perm.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

AIDS was big. We had censorship in that Broward County in Florida had banned Two Live Crew from holding concerts there.

11. What did young people do for fun?

Tipped cattle. (j/k)

Same thing young people do today:
* Party.
* Put substances into their body that are illegal either because they are too young or the substance itself is illegal.
* Drive too fast, some dying too young.
* Thinking every time they piss off their parents it is in a way that is new, exciting or otherwise untried. (Hint: it's not.)

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

Some of the innocence. I wish I could send my kid to school without metal detectors and permanently assigned police officers.

[Mad-Mardigan]

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

Explosion of technology

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

Late 90's Pop

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

the bomb

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Anything on Nickelodeon, Simpsons, South Park, WCW

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

What everyone else said

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Mark Mcguire, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Micheal Jordan

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Internet, cell phones

8. How was school different then today?

They try to be more politically correct now and more laid back

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

some were into grunge

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

The Clinton scandal is the only one that comes to mind

11. What did young people do for fun?

Same as now

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

Everything before 9/11

[Ranger2]

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

Mainly my young childhood. I was born in August 1992, but I have my share of memories.

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

Mainly Clinton, good economy, my childhood, and CD's.

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

None really, but I think "stunk on ice" was around during then.

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

I didn't watch a lot of TV, but I did watch Magic School Bus and Barney as a little kid, and Pokemon.

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

In general, or ones I saw? I mostly saw the Pokemon movie in '98/'99 and Disney movies as a kid. Plus, Titanic.

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Michael Jordan, definitely, but I didn't watch a lot of sports.

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

The Internet, definitely, since it was taking off.

8. How was school different then today?

I was in preschool-1st grade during the 90s. It was just ok times, people were more optimistic.

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Hmm, probably the same as today, maybe a bit more traditional than now.

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

Well, there was a lot of domestic violence in the US.

11. What did young people do for fun?

Same stuff we do today-hang out at the mall, play sports, etc.

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

VHS tapes. Those things are much more convienient than DVDs. And the good economy. And peace.

[SouthParkFan92]

1. What do you remember most about the decade of the 90's?

South Park, Spawn, Pokemon, Barney, Kindergarden Class and a few movies that came out

2. What songs come to mind when you think about the 90's?

2pac, Ace Of Base, House Of Pain to name a few

3. What slang words do you remember using or hearing during the decade?

I don't

4. What television shows do you remember watching? What were your favorites?

Pokemon, Barney, South Park, Spawn, Stickin Around, Duckman, Spicy City, Dragonball Z, Arthur, Uh Oh, Donkey Kong Country and a few others

5. What movies were big hits in this decade?

There were a fuckload of good movies in this decade, too many to list. You can check IMDB for this imfo. I know Titanic(1997) was the highest grossing movie of all time

6. What sport stars were really popular?

Michael Jordan, SHAQ(Not a big fan of sports, know them because of the movies Space Jam and Kaazam respectively)

7. What new inventions or ideas were popular?

Nintendo 64, POGS, Pokemon, Game Boy, SEGA Genesis

8. How was school different then today?

Much easier(though this is more of a grade thing), no school shooting/columbine worries

9. How would you describe some of the clothing and hairstyles worn by guys and girls?

Can't remember

10. What were some of the common fears or social problems of the 90's?

Can't remember

11. What did young people do for fun?

Played video games, hung out, watched movies/TV...basically the same as in the 2000's

12. From these questions, what do you wish would return today?

I dont really know

Now keep in mind I was born in 1992, therefore my remembering of the 90's is a bit limited, but I do remember some great thigns about it!

[SouthParkFan92]

Oh wait, some other great TV shows were Batman Animated series, Spiderman animated series, fresh prince of bel air, family matters, simpsons, family guy(came out in '99). There were a shitload of great shows in the 90's!

[D2Kvirus]

1.) All I remember about the 1990s (at least in the UK) is that the decade didn't have an identity of its own: it was too busy have a 60's, 70's and 80's revival, then suddenly realised they had to have that bloody Prince song on heavy rotation for two weeks befor eit wans't the 90s anymore.

2. RATM - Killing in the Name, Ministry - Jesus Built My Hotrod, Faitrh No More - Midlife Crisis, Metallica - Enter Sandman, Jurassic 5 - Concrete Schoolyar, VAST - Here

3. "Schwing!"

4. Twin Peaks, The Day Today, Brass Eye, Spaced (albeit half of it was in 2001), Fist of Fun

5. Titanic, unfortunatly...

6. Eric Canton, unfortunatly...

7. The internet.

8. Creationism wasn't on the syllabus.

9. I spent half the bloody decade in schoo uniform! Anyway, shell suits for the scallies, jeans and t-shirt for most of the people I hung out with.

10. Limp Bizkit would turn your son into a date rapist. Also, Childs Play 3 would make your kid commit murder.

11. Not drink alcopops, contrary to what the Daily Mail said.

12. The second season of Twin Peaks isn't available on DVD, so that.