I remember when I first noticed nostalgia for 80s pop-culture: it was watching The Wedding Singer  in 1998.

So ten years on, has 90s nostalgia arrived?

Can't say I've noticed yet, but I don't watch TV, so it may well be out there. But all the kids around the campus where I work seem firmly entrenched in 80s stuff from music and video games to fashion. Thought this wave might have died down by now, but it seems to have roared to a peak during the last 12 months.

What would a wave of 90s retro look like, anyway? Grunge, Seinfeld, those 3D pictures that make your eyes hurt...lots of obnoxious things I'm sure.

There was a pathetic attempt at an "I Love the 90s" type show on Bravo a few years ago, but it bombed horribly.

Yeah, it's weird.  It seems like the 80s thing came, went away and then all of a sudden came back with a horrible, purple vengeance.  Sorry, Dr. Rotwang! but I just can't stand it.  The girls look stupid with their big plastic glasses and shapeless shirts over leggings.  I live in a particularly hipster neighbourhood, in a fairly stylish town, so it's a bit extreme around me.

90s nostalgia?  What even happened in the 90s besides the internet?

The '90s sucked - Okay?

 The only thing that really livened it up was Bill C. and an intern popularizing a certain extracurricular activity.

The music was pretty much boring too. (Except before 1992 - some good alternative stuff in 1990-1991)

Personal "GOOD" years for me from that decade were : 1992/1993, 1996, and 1998.

Otherwise ...the '90s were just kind of BLAH.


- Ed C.

Quote from: walkerpYeah, it's weird.  It seems like the 80s thing came, went away and then all of a sudden came back with a horrible, purple vengeance.  Sorry, Dr. Rotwang! but I just can't stand it.  

Watch it, turkey!  

For me, the 90s = Grunge music, Clinton scandal, White Wolf/VtM.  Also getting older, taking on more responsibility, thinking more about my future.  

In other words, not much I'd really care to revisit.    The 80s on the other hand. . .

Pete

Quote from: KoltarThe '90s sucked - Okay?

You did them wrong.

Lets Blame it on Clinton.

The boringness of that decade.

 


I'm kidding.....


...maybe....


- Ed C.

I will, of course, deny any and all knowledge of the clothing I wore in the first three years of that decade. Then I rediscovered the jeans and teeshirt look, from which I have never returned.

A lot of us here seem to be in our thirties, so the 90s were the decade we became adults - university, first jobs, serious relationships. Lots of highs and lows, and I don't feel much nostalgia for the pop culture anymore. Maybe we gen-Xers won't create the nostalgia boom, but the born-post 1990 kids will, as has happened with the post-1980 kids fuelling the current 80s thing.

But even though it might seem unlikely now, 90s retro will come. Before 70s and 80s nostalgia hit, the idea was pretty hard to believe as well. A decade has to be scorned for a while before the wheel turns, just like architectural styles.

The nineties were the golden age of cartoons, both Japanese and American. Nickelodeon was awesome. So was some of the stuff on Cartoon Network (Dexter's Lab, etc.). The 90s animated series was the single best iteration of Batman. And the stuff Japan was putting out was not bad at all.

There was a lot of cool geekery in the 90s, IIRC.

EDIT: And how the hell did I forget the simpsons? Was South Park a 90s thing too?

QuoteSo ten years on, has 90s nostalgia arrived?

Sure. I saw the first bills for 90s parties in town. (Haddayway doing a live performance)

Quote from: The_ShadowWhat would a wave of 90s retro look like, anyway?

It's smeared out over a two-mile stretch of lonely country road.

Which is where I left it after I saw it hitchhiking.

Video gamers should also take note of the fact that the 90s where the hey-day of 16bit gaming with Nintendo's SNES and Sega's Genesis, and that many great lines as Master of Orion, Mortal Kombat or Jagged Alliance were found in this time.

It also wasn't a bad time soccer-wise. Maradona had to end his career shamefully after the cocaine scandal, but at the same time the 90s where the time of the Danish surprise at Euro '92 and of the rise of France during World Cup '98, including its various stars as Zidane or Thierry Henry.


In regards of music... A tough time. American rap jumped the shark, electronic music became crappy, and the mainstream was dominated by boybands.
German rap reached its pinnacle in this time, but that isn't of much help on the other side of the Atlantic.

Hey, electronic music as we know it (acid, techno, electronica) barely existed before the Summer of Love era, circa 1990 depending on how you count. It went to hell quickly, like everything, but it had a few great years and still manages to generate the odd awesomeness.

Also, Blumfeld.

Hip-hop, trip-hop, ecstasy and the rave scene, grunge (AKA late punk), 70s revivalism. I think you'll have to wait until after 2010 (or thereabouts).