I ask this for many reasons, and I'll divide my argument into the generations that experienced them.

The Xers: Of course, this was the generation leading pop culture at the time, driving it away from the yuppies of the 80's and making it far more down to Earth. Pop culture was, for the most part, great in the 90's (minus the last few years). Grunge and gangsta rap were real and anti-establishment, and were the perfect music scenes to combat the 80's vibe, unintentionally setting the mood for the entire decade. Malls were all the rage, and record stores were still in business, and believe it or not, you actually had to leave your house for some good entertainment (and I kinda wish that was still the case, so more people would get out more  :-\\)...that is of course, unless you had the N64, Dreamcast (or Genesis for that matter), or the PSOne. Those systems gave video games a whole new plateau to reach; games like Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, and the like all had a certain adventurous feel to them that is largely absent in modern video games. Shows like Seinfeld and That 70's Show made their way to the limelight, and, although I don't necessarily find it entertaining, Friends certainly was a far better show than most shallow TV now. Yep, the 90's were great for young adults and teens, even if it started off with a recession (which, oddly enough, we're now facing again).

The Boomers: I don't have too much to say here, since I never really cared about these people, but they certainly had the time of their lives in the 90's. What can I say? The economy was at an all time high, and Reagan and his ignorant conservative cronies were finally out, giving America far more freedom in the process. Economic growth at this point was through the roof, thanks to the dot-com boom, and that made way for some great vibes. Also, crime was way down in comparison to the 80's, so that was something to feel good about.

And finally...

The Yers: Yep, my generation, the ones that experienced the decade as children...and I gotta say, what a time it was to be a kid. First and foremost, cartoons - be it Nicktoons, Saturday Morning Cartoons, the resurgence of old school cartoons, or the lingering 80's epic cartoons - this was the time for them all. I mean, who could forget Swat Kats? Or Freakazoid? Or ROCKO!? These were classics. They had intelligent humor that both kids and adults could find funny, and they weren't afraid to push the boundaries (one that paricularly comes to mind is Johnny Bravo). Snick was great too, with Pete and Pete, All That (not the more recent, crappy version, I mean the REAL All That), KEENAN AND KEL, and of course Salute Your Shorts. Kids game shows like Legends of the Hidden Temple and Nick Gas were so fun to watch...I remember waiting for the longest time for 'Legends...' to come on. And the end was when Dragonball Z came into the picture, the undisputed king of my elementary school years. Cartoon Network first began, and Nick hadn't been bought out by Viakill yet, so things were going well for a long time. As I said before, video games were great too, even for our age; I particularly enjoyed Banjo Kazooie and Pokemon as a kid (and still do sometimes), and just couldn't get enough of Mario Kart  ;D! School was fun, kids were still kids, pop culture hadn't seeped into my generation yet...it was all good. Unfortunately, I was too young to enjoy every aspect...and I have to deal with the 00's as a teenager. Oh well, hopefully the 2010's will be the true Yer decade  ::)(I just see this one as a 'Revenge of the Yuppies' type thing).

What are your opinions?

The last few years sucked? They were awesome!

I liked "Ren & Stimpy", "Rocko's Modern Life", "Tiny Toon Adentures", and also "Beavis & Butt-Head" 8) Also older cartoons like Mickey, Donald, Hanna Barbera, MGM and Looney Tunes were still being shown.

MTV still aired videos, though went downhill when I started getting into popular music as a young teenager towards the end of the decade with the overexposure of rap and "TRL"  :P

Though there was a time I actually liked "Power Rangers" and even "Ninja Turtles", I know it's from the '80's, but was still around in the early 1990's.

The last few years sucked? They were awesome!


Yeah, they did. You could tell where pop culture was headed to unfortunately.  :-X

90s = suckage

The Yers: Yep, my generation, the ones that experienced the decade as children...and I gotta say, what a time it was to be a kid. First and foremost, cartoons - be it Nicktoons, Saturday Morning Cartoons, the resurgence of old school cartoons, or the lingering 80's epic cartoons - this was the time for them all. I mean, who could forget Swat Kats? Or Freakazoid? Or ROCKO!? These were classics. They had intelligent humor that both kids and adults could find funny, and they weren't afraid to push the boundaries (one that paricularly comes to mind is Johnny Bravo). Snick was great too, with Pete and Pete, All That (not the more recent, crappy version, I mean the REAL All That), KEENAN AND KEL, and of course Salute Your Shorts. Kids game shows like Legends of the Hidden Temple and Nick Gas were so fun to watch...I remember waiting for the longest time for 'Legends...' to come on. And the end was when Dragonball Z came into the picture, the undisputed king of my elementary school years. Cartoon Network first began, and Nick hadn't been bought out by Viakill yet, so things were going well for a long time. As I said before, video games were great too, even for our age; I particularly enjoyed Banjo Kazooie and Pokemon as a kid (and still do sometimes), and just couldn't get enough of Mario Kart  ;D! School was fun, kids were still kids, pop culture hadn't seeped into my generation yet...it was all good. Unfortunately, I was too young to enjoy every aspect...and I have to deal with the 00's as a teenager. Oh well, hopefully the 2010's will be the true Yer decade  ::)(I just see this one as a 'Revenge of the Yuppies' type thing).

What are your opinions?



I kinda think that it is all relative to the person. As someone who was a kid in the 70's and a teenager in the 80's, I know I feel about those decades the way you feel about the 90's. I think when we are kids we don't pay attention to the "adult" world (ie, politics, gas prices), but I definitely remember there being "pop culture" in the 70's and 80's. The 70' saw the debut of PEOPLE magazine, which was the ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY of it's day. The phenomenon's around Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars were nothing short of amazing. And the "Disco Blow Up" at Comisky Park was all that was talked about around Chicago for months.

I'm sure if we all asked our parents (given the ages) most would say the 50's or 60's were the best decades.  :D

The Yers: Yep, my generation, the ones that experienced the decade as children...and I gotta say, what a time it was to be a kid. First and foremost, cartoons - be it Nicktoons, Saturday Morning Cartoons, the resurgence of old school cartoons, or the lingering 80's epic cartoons - this was the time for them all. I mean, who could forget Swat Kats? Or Freakazoid? Or ROCKO!? These were classics. They had intelligent humor that both kids and adults could find funny, and they weren't afraid to push the boundaries (one that paricularly comes to mind is Johnny Bravo). Snick was great too, with Pete and Pete, All That (not the more recent, crappy version, I mean the REAL All That), KEENAN AND KEL, and of course Salute Your Shorts. Kids game shows like Legends of the Hidden Temple and Nick Gas were so fun to watch...I remember waiting for the longest time for 'Legends...' to come on. And the end was when Dragonball Z came into the picture, the undisputed king of my elementary school years. Cartoon Network first began, and Nick hadn't been bought out by Viakill yet, so things were going well for a long time. As I said before, video games were great too, even for our age; I particularly enjoyed Banjo Kazooie and Pokemon as a kid (and still do sometimes), and just couldn't get enough of Mario Kart  ;D! School was fun, kids were still kids, pop culture hadn't seeped into my generation yet...it was all good. Unfortunately, I was too young to enjoy every aspect...and I have to deal with the 00's as a teenager. Oh well, hopefully the 2010's will be the true Yer decade  ::)(I just see this one as a 'Revenge of the Yuppies' type thing).

What are your opinions?



I was still pretty young throughout most of the '90s (almost 13 by the end of 1999) and I have got to agree with you.

Cartoons were awesome across the board in the '90s. Disney and Nickelodeon were still great, Saturday morning cartoons were still a huge deal, and there were plenty of great shows from the late '80s that carried over, and had success in, the '90s like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ducktales, Garfield and Friends, etc.

Television was still top notch then, and the '90s is usually considered right up there with the '70s as one of the top decades for sitcoms. The video games were also amazing. The early 3D systems like the PS1 and N64 had plenty of great games like you mentioned, but don't forget about the 16-bit systems from the early '90s like the SNES and Sega Genesis. They had awesome games like Super Mario World, the original Sonic the Hedgehog games, Tecmo Super Bowl, Chrono Trigger, etc.

It's debateable as to whether or not the '90s is the best all around decade. I'm sure others will say that some older decades are better, but in the '90s, television was good, the economy was good for the most part, and we were still in (relative) peace. Maybe it wasn't a perfect decade, but it was certainly better than today.

I kinda think that it is all relative to the person. As someone who was a kid in the 70's and a teenager in the 80's, I know I feel about those decades the way you feel about the 90's. I think when we are kids we don't pay attention to the "adult" world (ie, politics, gas prices), but I definitely remember there being "pop culture" in the 70's and 80's. The 70' saw the debut of PEOPLE magazine, which was the ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY of it's day. The phenomenon's around Grease, Saturday Night Fever and Star Wars were nothing short of amazing. And the "Disco Blow Up" at Comisky Park was all that was talked about around Chicago for months.

I'm sure if we all asked our parents (given the ages) most would say the 50's or 60's were the best decades.  :D


Yeah, I see where you're getting at. My friends mom, who was born in the 50's, always tells me how safe and carefree that time was (though, from a minorities standpoint, it was probably one of the worst decades of all time; and she failed to even mention the Cold War and the Red Scare). I'll agree that I probably have a bias toward the 90's just because it was the first decade I experienced, but I'm looking at it from multiple standpoints, and that's where my argument was coming from. And despite the way I feel about the decade, I definitely think the 70's had better music overall, or at least more variety, but the two decades were both very down to Earth and share a lot of similarities. Everything was, for the most part, fun in the 90's and you didn't have to worry about the consequences because the idea of fun was far more real and innocent than it is today. I just hope the 2010's will have the same feel, with a (hopefully) Democratic president, an ending recession, and the emergence of new and more independent media. And besides, 90's nostalgia (especially among my age group - at least regarding old school games and Nickelodeon) is already well underway.

I hope the next decade is better than this one. Right now we have a mash-up of bad music, dumb fads, and all the stupid ideas from the 70s through the 90s, with none of their redeeming qualities. It sucks being in high school now. At least it'll be 2011 when I graduate.

I was discussing with a friend last year that we probably grew up in the safest, most stable times of the 20th century, as far as world events go anyway:

1910s - WWI
1920s - Great Depression
1930s-40s - WWII
1940s-80s - Cold War

Also

60s-70s - Vietnam
70s - World oil crisis. In Britain we had the 3-day week, power cuts, strikes and IRA bombings.
80s - Thatcher, unemployment, miners' strike, race riots.

90s - The only serious trouble that springs to mind is Gulf War I. Communism ended and for the first time in nearly 50 years a generation grew up without the threat of nuclear war. The Troubles in Northern Ireland pretty much came to an end. The economy was good (apart from the recession at the beginning of the decade) and there was an exciting sense of change as the Internet grew. Children seemed to play outside a lot more still, although probably not as much as the 80's, and the 80's not as much as the 70's etc.

September 2001- Terrorism

So I'd say it was a pretty safe, contented time to grow up. I think if I was a child of the 00s I'd be all too aware of terrorism  :\'(

Although pop-culturally I think my favourite decade would be the 60s, although I do love the fresh, optimistic sound of Britpop from the mid-90s. It seems to match the better summers we had in that decade!

Yep, the 90's were great for young adults and teens, even if it started off with a recession (which, oddly enough, we're now facing again).






Any coincidence that in both cases we had a president in the White House from the same family?  ::)

Even though my favorite decades are the 70s and 80s that I grew up in I have good memories of the 90s too - as far as television goes I remember being totally addicted to 90210 and Melrose Place and my favorite 90s thing to collect were Beanie Babies.  :)

Some innovative screenwriters and filmmakers emerged in the 90s too like Quentin Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction and Wes Anderson with Bottle Rocket and Rushmore.

I was discussing with a friend last year that we probably grew up in the safest, most stable times of the 20th century, as far as world events go anyway:

1910s - WWI
1920s - Great Depression
1930s-40s - WWII
1940s-80s - Cold War

Also

60s-70s - Vietnam
70s - World oil crisis. In Britain we had the 3-day week, power cuts, strikes and IRA bombings.
80s - Thatcher, unemployment, miners' strike, race riots.

90s - The only serious trouble that springs to mind is Gulf War I. Communism ended and for the first time in nearly 50 years a generation grew up without the threat of nuclear war. The Troubles in Northern Ireland pretty much came to an end. The economy was good (apart from the recession at the beginning of the decade) and there was an exciting sense of change as the Internet grew. Children seemed to play outside a lot more still, although probably not as much as the 80's, and the 80's not as much as the 70's etc.

September 2001- Terrorism

So I'd say it was a pretty safe, contented time to grow up. I think if I was a child of the 00s I'd be all too aware of terrorism  :\'(

Although pop-culturally I think my favourite decade would be the 60s, although I do love the fresh, optimistic sound of Britpop from the mid-90s. It seems to match the better summers we had in that decade!

The Depression started in '29, so it's not a 20's thing. But I agree, the 90's was the first time sence WW2 that the U.S. had peace.

Sonic and Mario. Best decade all around is debatable.

90s - The only serious trouble that springs to mind is Gulf War I. Communism ended and for the first time in nearly 50 years a generation grew up without the threat of nuclear war. The Troubles in Northern Ireland pretty much came to an end. The economy was good (apart from the recession at the beginning of the decade) and there was an exciting sense of change as the Internet grew.


Everyone from serious historians to pop musicians had prolcaimed the end of history.

"A woman on the radio talks about revolution, when it's already passed her by.
Bob Dylan didnt have this to sing about; you know it feels good to be alive.

I was alive and I waited, waited.
I was alive and I waited for this.
Right here, right now.  There is no other place in the world I want to be.
Right here, right now.  Watching the world wake up from history.

I saw the decade end when it seemed the world could change in the blink of an eye,
And if anything, then there's your sign of the times."
  - Jesus Jones, Right Here, Right Now, 1991

What was the most triumphant ode to the apparent victory of freedom over totalitarianism - triumphs of the civil rights movement at home in the 70s, the end of overregulation leading to the booming stock markets of the 80s, and it all culminated in that incredible period when the Communist dictatorships fell bloodlessly, one or two a month, to hordes of peaceful protestors.  Statues of Lenin were pulled down like dominoes.  Armed guards from both sides stood silently, grateful for orders that never came, as armies of unarmed civilians attacked the Berlin wall with picks and shovels.

If you're too young to understand just how mind-bogglingly improbable that was, imagine if the Iraqis had welcomed us with flowers and gumdrops in 2003, and that next month, the Syrians and the Iranians did the same thing, and that the next month, everyone else did too, and by 2004, even the Saudis (and Osama himself) had all laid down their arms and said "Sorry about all the suicide bombings.  This 'bacon' stuff is awesome, and this 'beer' stuff you drink goes great with falafel.  Make sure the Israeli ambassador brings bagels and lox to the next round of peace talks.  We gotta try that stuff too."


September 2001- Terrorism


Well, it didn't work out that way.

It was a good ten years, though.  We're still figuring out whether the ten years from 2001-2011 will have only taken us back to 1958, or whether it's 1938, and things are only beginning to get ugly.

I was alive but I didn't want this.
I was alive but I didn't want this.
Right here, right now.  Anywhere else is where I want to be.
Right here, right now.  Watching the world repeat its history.

But try as I might, I can't come up with a parody more bitter than the one I can make in my mind by simply listening to the original song, unchanged in all its glory, and reflecting on the vast ironic gulf between reality and what could (and what should) have been. 

Right Here, Right Now is arguably the saddest song ever penned.