I'd say 1990, but 1979 is more '80s musically.

I'd say DEFINITELY 1990 across the board.  Music too.  I remember because even in very early '90s in college I remember songs I loved with the same feel as 5 years before.

Only problem - damn baseball hats  >:( - backwards, no less - had come into "fashion", along with grunge  >:(, already making its appearance.  We still haven't shaken this shameful "fashion" 15 years later.

I'd say DEFINITELY 1990 across the board.  Music too.  I remember because even in very early '90s in college I remember songs I loved with the same feel as 5 years before.

Only problem - damn baseball hats  >:( - backwards, no less - had come into "fashion", along with grunge  >:(, already making its appearance.  We still haven't shaken this shameful "fashion" 15 years later.


1990 and early 1991 were very late '80s.

It's hard to say. 1979 was like the precurser of what the early '80s would be like, and 1990 was like the precurser of what the early '90s would be like...

1990. 1979 was only eighties in being post-disco (for the latter half of the year) and having new wave, honestly.

1990. 1979 was only eighties in being post-disco (for the latter half of the year) and having new wave, honestly.


Yeah, as a collective whole, 1990 had way, way more "80s" stuff, and it was alot more established then. Would you agree though, that the pieces of 1979 that were '80s were extremely "80s" ("Video Killed the Radio Star", early VCRs, etc)?

Do you think the attitude of 1990 is more '80s or '90s? It wasn't yuppie anymore, but it still had tons of cheesy things.

I'd say DEFINITELY 1990 across the board.  Music too.  I remember because even in very early '90s in college I remember songs I loved with the same feel as 5 years before.

Only problem - damn baseball hats  >:( - backwards, no less - had come into "fashion", along with grunge  >:(, already making its appearance.  We still haven't shaken this shameful "fashion" 15 years later.

Yeah, while I always thought backwards baseball hats were okay to do just for comfort, they were stupid to wear as a "tough, badass rapper guy" thing circa 1991. ;D

Yeah, as a collective whole, 1990 had way, way more "80s" stuff, and it was alot more established then. Would you agree though, that the pieces of 1979 that were '80s were extremely "80s" ("Video Killed the Radio Star", early VCRs, etc)?


There aren't many '80s standards from 1990 either, like there are from 1979.

Do you think the attitude of 1990 is more '80s or '90s? It wasn't yuppie anymore, but it still had tons of cheesy things.


It was very forward, '90s thinking for its time (I remember all the kids in 2nd Grade even, looking forward to it), but it overall had more of an '80s presence. Of course, that had something to do with how hard it shifted c. Fall 1991. If we asked someone in early 1991 if 1990 was more of which, they'd still definitely say '90s, just because it hadn't changed that much yet, other than the "worn out hair metal" feeling.

Isn't it weird how 1990 was almost treated like the millennium?  ;D

There aren't many '80s standards from 1990 either, like there are from 1979.


Yeah, there's a difference between a big hit and a "household known/standard" song. Sure, "Straight Up", "Another Day in Paradise", "Janie's Got a Gun" and "King of Wishful Thinking" were very popular, but they don't define the 80s the way "Heartbreaker", "Cruel to Be Kind" or "Video Killed the Radio Star" do.

Yeah, there's a difference between a big hit and a "household known/standard" song. Sure, "Straight Up", "Another Day in Paradise", "Janie's Got a Gun" and "King of Wishful Thinking" were very popular, but they don't define the 80s the way "Heartbreaker", "Cruel to Be Kind" or "Video Killed the Radio Star" do.


Don't you think in a way 1990 is even more '80s than 1988 and 1989?

Isn't it weird how 1990 was almost treated like the millennium?  ;D


It was, wasn't it? ;) I actually remember almost everyone being totally excited that it was "the 90s". I know alot of people said they felt time was really starting to pass once that happened - maybe because it was only 10 years from the Millenium at the time, as opposed to the "futuristic" 18 years it seemed like in 1982, or 25 years in 1975.

It was, wasn't it? ;) I actually remember almost everyone being totally excited that it was "the 90s". I know alot of people said they felt time was really starting to pass once that happened - maybe because it was only 10 years from the Millenium at the time, as opposed to the "futuristic" 18 years it seemed like in 1982, or 25 years in 1975.


Don't you think that feel almost makes the '90s the 21st Century in a way?  People thought "it's so close to the 21st Century, we better get used to saying 2000"  ;D

Don't you think in a way 1990 is even more '80s than 1988 and 1989?


Like a last gasp? Yeah, I've actually thought that many times there tends to be a "hold on, guys! We're progressing too far! Let's savor what's left of what we've got before we totally throw it overboard" feeling with the decades. 1980/early '81 almost felt more '70s than 1979 (from what I know), and I recall 1990, especially early '90, being that way.

It was more "cheesy" and less serious than 1988/89 too. Public Enemy vs "U Can't Touch This". ;D

It was, wasn't it? ;) I actually remember almost everyone being totally excited that it was "the 90s". I know alot of people said they felt time was really starting to pass once that happened - maybe because it was only 10 years from the Millenium at the time, as opposed to the "futuristic" 18 years it seemed like in 1982, or 25 years in 1975.


Don't you think even in the 1990s the 21st Century still seemed futuristic, because of how fast-changing technology was?

Like a last gasp? Yeah, I've actually thought that many times there tends to be a "hold on, guys! We're progressing too far! Let's savor what's left of what we've got before we totally throw it overboard" feeling with the decades. 1980/early '81 almost felt more '70s than 1979 (from what I know), and I recall 1990, especially early '90, being that way.

It was more "cheesy" and less serious than 1988/89 too. Public Enemy vs "U Can't Touch This". ;D


I think 1987-1989 were partially '90s too, they seemed a bit grittier than the early and mid '80s.

Don't you think that feel almost makes the '90s the 21st Century in a way?  People thought "it's so close to the 21st Century, we better get used to saying 2000"  ;D


Yeah. We could argue as far back as 1986 too (with digital things, such as CDs having their mass breakthrough and the end of the "Miami Vice '80s").

I'm sure it's out of print now, but there was a guide/informational book to the year 2000 which I bought in '99 and still have (it's called Uncle John's Bathroom Reader's Guide to the Year 2000 - I really recommend it and I know you'd like it, try doing a search on Ebay). Anyway, there was an article about (I believe) a bank representative trying to input 2000 into a computer in '88 and only getting the "00". She tried bringing it to many people's attention but basically got laughed off until 1994/95ish.

So I guess we could say that's when it totally started entering most people's concious mind. Although that's different than pop culture, politics, or tech, which was more 1991ish.

Yeah. We could argue as far back as 1986 too (with digital things, such as CDs having their mass breakthrough and the end of the "Miami Vice '80s").

I'm sure it's out of print now, but there was a guide/informational book to the year 2000 which I bought in '99 and still have (it's called Uncle John's Bathroom Reader's Guide to the Year 2000 - I really recommend it and I know you'd like it, try doing a search on Ebay). Anyway, there was an article about (I believe) a bank representative trying to input 2000 into a computer in '88 and only getting the "00". She tried bringing it to many people's attention but basically got laughed off until 1994/95ish.

So I guess we could say that's when it totally started entering most people's concious mind. Although that's different than pop culture, politics, or tech, which was more 1991ish.


To me the '90s seemed 20th Century, because they're the only part of the century I was alive in, but if you born in the '50s or '60s they'd probably seem like a different century.

Do you think the 1990s will seem more like the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s as we go further into this century and people forget the differences? To someone born in 2010, it doesn't make much of a difference if the Internet became common in 1995 or 2000  ;D

I think 1987-1989 were partially '90s too, they seemed a bit grittier than the early and mid '80s.


Was hip hop responsible for that, do you think? Run DMC bringing more serious things, like inner city crime, poverty and anti Reagan sentiments (or various anti police brutality rap songs circa 1989) to the masses.

Hip hop is a big part of it. Cities were very ugly in the late '80s and early '90s too.  Do you think the late '80s were almost part of the hip hop age?  A lot of late '80s pop has hip hop in it.

To me the '90s seemed 20th Century, because they're the only part of the century I was alive in, but if you born in the '50s or '60s they'd probably seem like a different century.

Do you think the 1990s will seem more like the '50s, '60s, '70s, and '80s as we go further into this century and people forget the differences? To someone born in 2010, it doesn't make much of a difference if the Internet became common in 1995 or 2000  ;D


I think people will always see the '50s and 60s as being drastically different from them, but perhaps, stuff like the '70s and '80s will be lumped in as time goes on. Heck, a 12 year old watching a That 70s Show rerun in 2025 might not even realize it was a revivalization of that stuff for 1998. ;D

Hip hop is a big part of it. Cities were very ugly in the late '80s and early '90s too.  Do you think the late '80s were almost part of the hip hop age?  A lot of late '80s pop has hip hop in it.


To be broad as possible, we could say the hip hop era started in 1987 (perhaps late '86 too), even if it didn't get true "gangsta" until 1992 and didn't overtake pop until closer to 1995.

I agree, 1990 was arguably more '80s than 1988 or 1989. 1990 saw the return of Depeche Mode, Duran Duran, etc. and the rise of cheesy trends like Vanilla Ice, whereas 1988 and 1989 were a little bit more serious, and had alot of important alternative rock albums by the Pixies and Sonic Youth, and important rap by Public Enemy.

To me, the '80s were part of the hip-hop age from about late 1986 or so on. I see a big turning point as being "West End Girls", where Tennant and Lowe were inspired by the style of Grandmaster Flash. It was one of the first really huge '80s pop hits that was hip-hop influenced in any way, and then came along stuff like "Looking for a New Love", which was almost a predecessor to house music, which had hip-hop influence but was not hip-hop, per se.

Part of the whole "social commentary" '80s coming in, to me, was the echo boom that peaked 1986-1990 or so, with the absolute most babies being born in 1990 (such as moi) since 1959, or something. Suddenly, all the baby boomers were busy raising families and not snorting cocaine. People c. 1989 were both looking to revitalize cities (you know, the whole yuppie thing of buying a loft in the worst part of town), and to leave them for the 'burbs because of high crime rates, prompting a move towards suburbanization. Maybe boomer capital shifted towards the 'burbs as they moved out there with their new families in the second half of the '80s and the early '90s. For example, my parents moved out of the Upper East Side of NYC (yuppie centrlal, though they were never really yuppies) in 1987 to New Jersey.

1990.

Don't you think that feel almost makes the '90s the 21st Century in a way?  People thought "it's so close to the 21st Century, we better get used to saying 2000"  ;D

It depends on how fast the the place where you lived was changing.  Did you ever see Napoleon Dynamite? Exactly. For instance, by 1986 the Farrah Fawcet feathered-hair was relegated to relic, but some townies still had 'em!
http://www.inthe00s.com/smile/07/mrt.gif

I wouldn't go so far as to say 88 and 89 are 'more 90s' than 1991  ;D. Though as Marty said, people wanted to hang onto the 80s, and there was a very small revival in radio-friendly synthpop in 1990. Part of the reason 88 and 89 seem very vaguely 90s is Gangsta rap like early Ice-T, the emergence of 90s-esque roots rap like Cyprus Hill, and of course, those forerunners of Grunge, the Pixies and Sonic Youth. Come to think, the late 80s were a rather creative time in music and society (there was a recession at the time, as well as rising birth rates) with the emergence of MTV.etc. Things stailled a bit in 1990 - the 'calm before the storm' before Grunge culture.

I'd say 1990.

Yeah, as a collective whole, 1990 had way, way more "80s" stuff, and it was alot more established then. Would you agree though, that the pieces of 1979 that were '80s were extremely "80s" ("Video Killed the Radio Star", early VCRs, etc)?



VKTRS wasn't a hit, so it doesn't count (I didn't know what the heck this song was until my now-husband played it for me the other year).  VCRs hardly existed; we had big laser-disc players at best.

Of course some things were like the '80s, because it would lead to that.  If you believe in the "big hair" phenom (which wasn't that "big" a deal in my region - we liked short, but very well-sculpted, hair), it was preceded by the Farrah-Fawcett long wavy hair thing which was much more prominent in the late '70s than "big hair" was in the '80s (IMO).  "Big hair" was just Fawcett wavy hair poofed out a bit.

It's not 1979, but 1 thing I like to point out about music is 1980's "Funkytown" as the perfect synthesis of '70s and '80s pop music in the "pivotal" year itself.

I'd have to think some more, but I'm sure there are other things in 1979 that fit well with the '80s persona.