This is how I see it.

*Music genres. The 80s having new wave, hair metal and synthpop which rapidly declined in popularity in the years 1989-93. And for the 90s EDM, alternative rock/grunge, and gangsta rap, all of which began to pop up around 1988 and became mainstream in 1989, 1991 and 1992 respectively.

*The 80s still had the Cold War and the Soviet Union, the 90s had the fallout of the Soviet breakup and the beginnings of America's war on Islam and global integration of the economy. Pretty major difference there historically speaking that trumps silly things like Nirvana outselling GnR.

*Even though computers and the Internet were around in the 80s, they became a much bigger part of life in the 90s. Most people in developed countries bought their first computer before the year 2000 but less than 1/4 of American households had their own PC in 1989. Cell phones became a common enough thing by the late 90s that the movie theaters would tell people to turn them off, though texting wasn't really common yet and there certainly weren't cameraphones. The 90s was also when CGI in movies began to be overdone.

*Fashion and style. The fundamental difference would be the 80s value system in style was 'the bigger, the better'. the 90s, and the decades since have been about 'less is more', except when it comes to the size of one's jeans.  ::)  ;D  I also think the 80s style was still primarily Modernist while the 90s and beyond has been more about trying to accommodate different cultures, world views etc. 80s fashion was about being colorful and 'out there', 90s fashion was about not giving a f*** or just trying to look casual and basically 'nice' i guess. The 80s valued squares and angles while the 90s valued curves.

*I think people were a little bit saner in the 80s and also more physically healthy. The 80s was when America slowly began to become obese, but it wasn't until the 90s that it was really obvious. The medication of unruly children with Ritalin and so on began right around 1991 as did the obsession with psychiatric drugs for every single disorder of the mind and mood. You didn't really hear about things like road rage and school shootings until the 90s either, I'm sure they existed but they didn't seem as common. The 80s had more gangs and crime than the late 90s to today but it seems like people were less prone to outbursts of anger on the whole, and there wasn't such an obsession with negativity which is probably mostly the fault of the 24-hour media.

*The obsession with self-esteem and self-help really took off in the 90s, maybe in the late 80s at the earliest.

*Big-box stores like Wal-Mart and Home Depot weren't nearly as common in the 80s, but were pretty much everywhere by the 90s. The 80s wasn't all mom and pop stores by any means but was dominated by medium-sized outlets such as K-Mart.

*Political correctness pretty much didn't start until the 90s. Maybe in Canada and in the university system it was already there in the 80s but it didn't really penetrate the rest of the Anglosphere until the early 90s.

I've been pondering this question for quite some time now and feel that the most significant difference would be that ... when written, one has an 8 in it and the other  a 9. Additionally, when spoken I tend to say the word Eighty (in 1980) and then Ninety (in 1990). I would have to test this theory in a controlled environment to see if it happens every single time ... but I'm pretty sure that it's a lock.

  ;) :)

I would have to say the different styles of clothing, the different sounds of music and the way people talked.

I'm a bit shocked that this post hasn't tripped the decadeology alarms! But as long as I'm here...
The conservative 80's: Americans could trust the government, television and music was upbeat, and most people had jobs they could go to to fulfill their dreams.

The liberal 90's: The government, while not incompetent, was a public embarrassment, the media found more and more ways to shock and/or depress their audience, and most people were either unemployed or had dead-end jobs, with little hope of fulfilling their dreams.

There's the differences in a nutshell.

Your Pal,
Doc
8)

A GREAT answer to your question, click here!

Wait, this topic does not fit with the decadeology criteria. ???

Wait, this topic does not fit with the decadeology criteria. ???

Sure it does.

Lets look at the criteria.

First
~ Decadeology is the discussion and/or comparison of two or more years or decades that have no bearing on one another. ~

Well the topic is: What are the primary things that made the 80s different from the 90s?

So, now if this topic does not directly cross the exact first threshold and criteria of decadelogy, it certainly meets it in spirit. (i.e. we’re not comparing decade to decade, but listing differences.) Same idea, different twist. Slippery-slope in effect here.

Read below and replace the word similarities with differences as an example…

If one is inclined to look hard enough, I'm sure any year (or decade) x can be found to have similarities differences to year or decade y. Such decadeology topics lead absolutely nowhere, and while some topics here do not have a real purpose, decadeology's purpose is only to replicate itself ad infinitum.

Second
A secondary characteristic of decadeology: if someone can create 100 nearly identical topics from your post, it's probably decadeology.

This topic meets this criteria exactly.

I've been pondering this question for quite some time now and feel that the most significant difference would be that ... when written, one has an 8 in it and the other  a 9. Additionally, when spoken I tend to say the word Eighty (in 1980) and then Ninety (in 1990). I would have to test this theory in a controlled environment to see if it happens every single time ... but I'm pretty sure that it's a lock.

  ;) :)

Excellent!

I went back and re-read belmont's original post, and I must take issue with some of what he said:

First of all, America has declared a War On TERRORISM, NOT ISLAM! We know full well that not all Muslims are terrorists, and not all terrorists are Muslims. Some terrorists these days are more likely to target one or two schoolmates with their fists or hose down a movie theater in their hometown with a machine gun. But then, that's all most terrorists are, well-armed punks!

Second, just look nice!? What is so nice about being covered in bad tattoos and having so many body parts pierced that a date can't tell your naked body apart from a fishing lure? In truth, the grunge look was truly anti-80's in so that the idea was to look UNFASHIONABLE.

Third, try to remember that the overmedicating of America became mainstream in the 90's because the biggest pusher in the country turned from Dr. Snow(look up the name) to Dr. Phil! That's right, the addicts of the 80's were in danger of arrest because the drugs they got hooked on were illegal, and the government launched a major campaign to try and curtail the narcotics trade. This 'War On Drugs' was all but lost when a former semi-admitted pothead was elected to the White House in 1993, only as the decade progressed, pharmecutical companies now had legal and costly drugs for every little malady there is, and it's them getting rich at other's expense.

If this does not make the admins hear decadeology in this, I don't know what will! But I could be wrong.

Your Pal,
Doc
8)

No comparing, just differences....

80's you knew that people had super cool brick phones.
90's everyone you knew had cell phones.

80's Lots of people wore neon clothes.
90's Few wore neon clothes.

80's VHS
90's DVD for the millions of early adopters. (VHS was still around and popular)

80's lots of big hair.
90's lots of flat and/or greasy hair.

80's radio songs with synth keyboards,
90's radio songs with too much guitar distortion.

80's people went to arcades because the games were a lot better than what you could get at home.
90's people no longer need to go to arcades.

80's LPs and cassettes
90's CDs

80's People drove on the highway
90's People surfed on the information superhighway.

80's Eighteens year old could still legally drink.
90's Twenty-one year olds could still legally drink.

No comparing, just differences....

80's you knew that people had super cool brick phones.
90's everyone you knew had cell phones.

(...)

80's VHS
90's DVD


WTF? That sounds more like 90's vs. 00's. I know that there were DVDs available in the 90's, but who actually had a DVD player?
And the cell phone thing... that's also more 00's. Neither cell phones or DVDs were mainstream in the 90's (except for the very late part maybe).

WTF? That sounds more like 90's vs. 00's. I know that there were DVDs available in the 90's, but who actually had a DVD player?
And the cell phone thing... that's also more 00's. Neither cell phones or DVDs were mainstream in the 90's (except for the very late part maybe).


cell phones I think came out in the late 1990's then they started to get a bit smaller.

cell phones I think came out in the late 1990's then they started to get a bit smaller.


Yes late 90's, and at least in my society, it was not the case that everybody I knew had a cellphone (prior to 2000).

I may have been very young, but old enough to notice the shift from 'only very special people have cellphones' to 'my grandpa has a cellphone'

WTF?

No need to cuss, Here's WTF....

In 1995 15 million Americans had cell phones (not to mention worldwide). By the end of 1999 almost 104 million people in the US (and more than 500 million worldwide) owned a mobile phone. Fact it, in the 80's you probably knew no one with a mobile phone. (They cost $3,500) In the 90's it wasn't uncommon. (The cost $350) See how that's a difference?

DVD were launched to the public in 1997. By 2003 they overtook the VHS format. In 1999 lot of people including myself (I was 28) could afford and had a DVD player. In 1989 no one owned a DVD player because they didn't exist. It's simply a difference between the two decades.

No need to cuss, Here's WTF....

In 1995 15 million Americans had cell phones (not to mention worldwide). By the end of 1999 almost 104 million people in the US (and more than 500 million worldwide) owned a mobile phone. Fact it, in the 80's you probably knew no one with a mobile phone. (They cost $3,500) In the 90's it wasn't uncommon. (The cost $350) See how that's a difference?

DVD were launched to the public in 1997. By 2003 they overtook the VHS format. In 1999 lot of people including myself (I was 28) could afford and had a DVD player. In 1989 no one owned a DVD player because they didn't exist. It's simply a difference between the two decades.


That's true. But still 1990-97 was more or less comparable to the 80s. I mean, 15 million cell phones in America sounds like a lot, but it only works out to 6 percent of the population. And out of that 6 percent, the percent who were teenagers was pretty small. The 90s, even 1999 lacked the 'cell phone culture' that began circa 2001 and in a big way by 2003-04.

I think DVD was big in 1999, but not prior to that. Just like 1989 was the first year CDs were really mainstream even though cassettes outsold them until at least late 1990.

No need to cuss, Here's WTF....

In 1995 15 million Americans had cell phones (not to mention worldwide). By the end of 1999 almost 104 million people in the US (and more than 500 million worldwide) owned a mobile phone. Fact it, in the 80's you probably knew no one with a mobile phone. (They cost $3,500) In the 90's it wasn't uncommon. (The cost $350) See how that's a difference?

DVD were launched to the public in 1997. By 2003 they overtook the VHS format. In 1999 lot of people including myself (I was 28) could afford and had a DVD player. In 1989 no one owned a DVD player because they didn't exist. It's simply a difference between the two decades.


Cell phones were common in the U.S. in the late 1990s but not quite a household item just yet

http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0933563.html

DVDs didn't overtake VHS until about 2001 or 2002, so the '90s were very VHS dominant just like the '80s.

80's people went to arcades because the games were a lot better than what you could get at home.
90's people no longer need to go to arcades.

You got that right Moycon, today kids can play arcades on the computer or you can just go to a website where they have free arcades and play them.

I remember cell phones in the '90s, I had one by 1998 actually even at my young age then. They were not as common as today, but quite a few had them at least by the late '90s. Moycon is right about DVD being pretty big by '99, that was the year it really took off and the transition was complete by about 2002. Technology did not begin in the late '90s or in the year 2000 lol.  ;D It's progressive, like now DVDs are also out of date, iPods have been replaced by smartphones, this is all part of the continual progress. In the 1960s color TV and transistor radios were high tech. Granted technology is becoming more and more a part of our everyday lives but this is just progress and has been gradually happening since the beginning of time really.

Cell phones were common in the U.S. in the late 1990s but not quite a household item just yet

DVDs didn't overtake VHS until about 2001 or 2002, so the '90s were very VHS dominant just like the '80s.


Yep you just reiterated what I posted. Thank you for that. Keep in mind this wasn't a topic of when technologies were first introduced, became a standard or even a household item.

The topic was to list things a person considered different.

In the 80s you didn't have a cell phone. No one except the VERY rich had one towards the end of the 80's. (My guess is no one on this forum had one for personal use) If you went to the mall and wanted to make a call, you used a pay phone.  At the end of the 90's hundereds of millions of people had cell phones. If you were at a mall, and needed to make a phone call you used your own cell phone or easily found someone you knew that had one. (My guess is the majority of people on the forum had one) See how thatcould be considered a difference between the decades?

As a film buff (like myself), that is a person who is really into films, by the end of the 90's you had a DVD player. Plain and simple. Even people who didn't make a lot of $$ could afford a player 2 years after DVD players launched, it caught on very quickly. It doesn't matter that other people who weren't as into movies as a film buff were still using VHS, million had upgraded to DVD. In the 80's as a film buff (like myself) I couldn't use a DVD player. They didn't exist. You couldn't upgrade. To me that another valid difference. If you see it otherwise,  We can agree to disagree I guess .  :)

Yep you just reiterated what I posted. Thank you for that. Keep in mind this wasn't a topic of when technologies were first introduced, became a standard or even a household item.

The topic was to list things a person considered different.

In the 80s you didn't have a cell phone. No one except the VERY rich had one towards the end of the 80's. (My guess is no one on this forum had one for personal use) If you went to the mall and wanted to make a call, you used a pay phone.  At the end of the 90's hundereds of millions of people had cell phones. If you were at a mall, and needed to make a phone call you used your own cell phone or easily found someone you knew that had one. (My guess is the majority of people on the forum had one) See how thatcould be considered a difference between the decades?

As a film buff (like myself), that is a person who is really into films, by the end of the 90's you had a DVD player. Plain and simple. Even people who didn't make a lot of $$ could afford a player 2 years after DVD players launched, it caught on very quickly. It doesn't matter that other people who weren't as into movies as a film buff were still using VHS, million had upgraded to DVD. In the 80's as a film buff (like myself) I couldn't use a DVD player. They didn't exist. You couldn't upgrade. To me that another valid difference. If you see it otherwise,  We can agree to disagree I guess .  :)


Even as film buffs my family and I didn't get a DVD player until the end of 2002. Seems like we were a little late but not that much later than most of my friends, who got their's between 2000 and 2002. I don't recall knowing anyone who actually had a DVD player in 1999 but I knew they were floating around by that point.

I guess I just think of DVDs as being definitive of the 00s rather than the 90s. At the very least most of us still used to rent tapes and videotape TV programs even in the early 2000s.

The topic was to list things a person considered different.


I accept your opinion and it also not wrong of course what you have mentioned. It's just that your listing sounded like as if it was typical 90's to see cell phones at any street corner and DVDs in the shops - it just was not the case. If you simply did a 'comparison' between 1989 and 1999, you are certainly right. It was just a misunderstanding then.

I remember cell phones in the '90s, I had one by 1998 actually even at my young age then.


Wow, yeah, I remember that you have mentioned that somewhere else. How much did it cost back then?

I think in my familly that would have been out of the question to get one at that age (in that year) - especially since cell phones were not that common back then and extremely expensive. Maybe not the device itself, but the price per minute was usually something between 0.75 USD and 1.00 USD. Even my parents didn't get one before late 2002.

The 90s is not today, unfortunatley. Also, how many school age people do you really think played free arcades on the internet in the 90s? More likely they were playing Playstation or Sega Genesis.


Yeah barely, those weren't invented at the time the computer internet came into fruition. Kids were playing with Playstation or Sega Genesis.

http://www.lifelounge.com/resources/IMGTHUMB/Cell-clutch.jpg

Cell Phones Of The 80's^

http://ccit300-f06.wikispaces.com/file/view/cell_phone.jpg/30277716/cell_phone.jpg

Cell Phones of today^

http://ccit300-f06.wikispaces.com/file/view/cell_phone.jpg/30277716/cell_phone.jpg

Cell Phones of today^


I'd say that is more representitive of the 2000s decade and not today, as feature (or "dumbphones") are rapidly being replaced by Smartphones; I don't think I've seen a commercial advertising a regular cellphone since 2008 or 2009.

But with regards to '80s vs. '90s, this has been discussed to death since the late '90s itself via the equivalents page of inthe80s.com:
http://www.inthe80s.com/equiv.shtml

Granted, the best comparisons are near the bottom of the page as Lady Gaga is obviously an '00s thing, Bell Bottoms are a '70s thing that had a '90s revival, and Nintendo was around in the '80s with Atari.

That said, the '90s brought rounded cars that continue to this day, something that the '80s lacked with their angular/boxy styles. Also, if you wanted to send a letter, you did it either handwritten, typewritten, or used a dox-matrix printer and then mailed it as e-mail wasn't commonplace yet. Finally, in the '80s, the inner city and even downtown was still seen as a wasteland in many places, as the trend toward gentrification began in the '90s, and thus suburbia grew like there was no end; nowadays, suburban development is much more regulated.

I think the oval-y car design, the edgier music TV and video games, the internet, the Clinton presidency and the minimalist fashion were the big differences between the 90s and the 80s.

Also, if you wanted to send a letter, you did it either handwritten, typewritten, or used a dox-matrix printer and then mailed it as e-mail wasn't commonplace yet.


Good one! Yes that was a MAJOR difference.  :)

Yep you just reiterated what I posted. Thank you for that. Keep in mind this wasn't a topic of when technologies were first introduced, became a standard or even a household item.

The topic was to list things a person considered different.

In the 80s you didn't have a cell phone. No one except the VERY rich had one towards the end of the 80's. (My guess is no one on this forum had one for personal use) If you went to the mall and wanted to make a call, you used a pay phone.  At the end of the 90's hundereds of millions of people had cell phones. If you were at a mall, and needed to make a phone call you used your own cell phone or easily found someone you knew that had one. (My guess is the majority of people on the forum had one) See how thatcould be considered a difference between the decades?

As a film buff (like myself), that is a person who is really into films, by the end of the 90's you had a DVD player. Plain and simple. Even people who didn't make a lot of $$ could afford a player 2 years after DVD players launched, it caught on very quickly. It doesn't matter that other people who weren't as into movies as a film buff were still using VHS, million had upgraded to DVD. In the 80's as a film buff (like myself) I couldn't use a DVD player. They didn't exist. You couldn't upgrade. To me that another valid difference. If you see it otherwise,  We can agree to disagree I guess .  :)

I agree.  I also I remember 1995 being the year I really noticed more people having cellphones, and by 1997-1998 it was common where I was from.  I also remember DVD players in the late 90's since that's when I had one. 

I agree.  I also I remember 1995 being the year I really noticed more people having cellphones, and by 1997-1998 it was common where I was from.  I also remember DVD players in the late 90's since that's when I had one.


Then smaller phones came out a couple of years later.

It's weird how certain things are associated with the 90s (the "quintessential 90s") that are really from the very late 90s or even early 2000s. Examples would be Furbies and Pokemon. Pokemon was at the height of its popularity during the '99-'00 school year when I was in 3rd grade, and I actually tend to associate it more with 2000 than 1999, and yet everyone else seems to group it in with TMNT and Power Rangers as a "very 90s" thing. Furbies were pretty much all the rage in 1999 which I don't consider classic 90s (I'm not saying 1999 is not 90s culture at all, however). Even though DVD came out in the late 90s, they weren't a necessity until well after the 90s actually ended. I'd definitely categorize them as a 2000s thing. And just my two cents, but I didn't really notice a significant amount of the population having cellphones in the late 90s. Maybe '01/'02 is when I started noticing them more, but it could be because I was still a kid in the late 90s.

It's weird how certain things are associated with the 90s (the "quintessential 90s") that are really from the very late 90s or even early 2000s. Examples would be Furbies and Pokemon. Pokemon was at the height of its popularity during the '99-'00 school year when I was in 3rd grade, and I actually tend to associate it more with 2000 than 1999, and yet everyone else seems to group it in with TMNT and Power Rangers as a "very 90s" thing. Furbies were pretty much all the rage in 1999 which I don't consider classic 90s (I'm not saying 1999 is not 90s culture at all, however). Even though DVD came out in the late 90s, they weren't a necessity until well after the 90s actually ended. I'd definitely categorize them as a 2000s thing. And just my two cents, but I didn't really notice a significant amount of the population having cellphones in the late 90s. Maybe '01/'02 is when I started noticing them more, but it could be because I was still a kid in the late 90s.

No, those were all still 90's things.  Maybe it's a generational because I remember people having cell phones in the 90's regularly.  TMNT was a late 80's early 90's thing.  I think its inaccurate to think they were not, because I think I would remember that clearly than someone born in the 90s  ::).  And it's true because you were only a little kid then you probably noticed it less.

It's weird how certain things are associated with the 90s (the "quintessential 90s") that are really from the very late 90s or even early 2000s. Examples would be Furbies and Pokemon. Pokemon was at the height of its popularity during the '99-'00 school year when I was in 3rd grade, and I actually tend to associate it more with 2000 than 1999, and yet everyone else seems to group it in with TMNT and Power Rangers as a "very 90s" thing. Furbies were pretty much all the rage in 1999 which I don't consider classic 90s (I'm not saying 1999 is not 90s culture at all, however). Even though DVD came out in the late 90s, they weren't a necessity until well after the 90s actually ended. I'd definitely categorize them as a 2000s thing. And just my two cents, but I didn't really notice a significant amount of the population having cellphones in the late 90s. Maybe '01/'02 is when I started noticing them more, but it could be because I was still a kid in the late 90s.


That's exactly what I think and you are not wrong. It also has nothing to do with the fact that you were a kid. Cell phones got really popular in the time you mentioned (early 2000's). I am a few years older and noticed the same. If people think that 'cell phones for everybody' defined the 90's, they are free to do so. That's just not the 90's I have experienced. Not ONE member of my family/relatives had a cell phone before 1999 - and we are middle-upper class.

No, those were all still 90's things.  Maybe it's a generational because I remember people having cell phones in the 90's regularly.  TMNT was a late 80's early 90's thing.  I think its inaccurate to think they were not, because I think I would remember that clearly than someone born in the 90s  ::).  And it's true because you were only a little kid then you probably noticed it less.


::) And what year were you born? 1988? 1989?

lol I was born in 1990...I hardly think that makes me different from someone born in the late 80s (not saying you were, I mean in general). We're both still Gen Y. Those things may be still be technically 90s (especially Furbies) but I think you'd be hard-pressed to convince anyone, regardless of age, that cellphones or DVDs were a bigger part of the 90s than the 2000s.

And I knew TMNT started in the 80s, but people usually list it as a 90s thing with Power Rangers an Pokemon. I think it's fair to say that TMNT was a bridge between the 80s and 90s and Pokemon between the 90s and 2000s (with Power Rangers being core 90s). However, I lend TMNT more to the 90s and Pokemon more to the 2000s because they were still only gaining momentum in the early stages of their popularity before hitting their peak at the turn of the decade.

::) And what year were you born? 1988? 1989?

lol I was born in 1990...I hardly think that makes me different from someone born in the late 80s (not saying you were, I mean in general). We're both still Gen Y. Those things may be still be technically 90s (especially Furbies) but I think you'd be hard-pressed to convince anyone, regardless of age, that cellphones or DVDs were a bigger part of the 90s than the 2000s.

And I knew TMNT started in the 80s, but people usually list it as a 90s thing with Power Rangers an Pokemon. I think it's fair to say that TMNT was a bridge between the 80s and 90s and Pokemon between the 90s and 2000s (with Power Rangers being core 90s). However, I lend TMNT more to the 90s and Pokemon more to the 2000s because they were still only gaining momentum in the early stages of their popularity before hitting their peak at the turn of the decade.


I was born in 1982 and worked in a mall during the late 90's. I also grew up in LA area and saw people with cellphones maybe more than where you were from.  I remember TMNT being a really popular around 1989-1990 - around the time you were born.  I'm also a Y or an XY, or a young X or an old Y. Lol

I was born in 1982 and worked in a mall during the late 90's. I also grew up in LA area and saw people with cellphones maybe more than where you were from.  I remember TMNT being a really popular around 1989-1990 - around the time you were born.  I'm also a Y or an XY, or a young X or an old Y. Lol


I'm from the Chicago area, so 3rd largest metropolitan in the US after New York and LA. But yeah I would imagine LA being a place that would be on the cutting edge. Still, I would imagine it was mostly working adults who had them then and maybe some teenagers. The second half of the '00s is when literally everyone including elementary school kids started having them.