The nineties is a decade that can be divided into two major halves. I was born in 83 and so I remember what it was like to be a kid in the late eighties/early nineties.I think 1998 is when the decade started to go downhill. For an interesting experiment I will sum up some of the distinguishing highlights of the two disparate sections of the decade:

The Eighties' Nineties 1990-1996 (a.k.a. how I would like to remember the decade):

Television  

There was definitely an eighties influence all over the airwaves. We were lucky to be graced with new episodes of many beloved staples of the eighties such as :

Growing Pains 1985-92; Cheers 1982-93; Cosby Show 1984-92; Perfect Strangers 1986-93; Night Court 1984-92; Full House 1987-95; Empty Nest 1988-95; Golden Girls 1985-92; Designing Women 1986-93; ALF 1986-90; TMNT 1987-96; Major Dad 1989-93; Just the Ten Of Us 1988-90; Married With Children 1987-97.

The Golden Years of Nick:

Rocko's Modern Life 1993-96; Ren And Stimpy 1991-95; Clarissa Explains It All 1991-94; Hey Dude 1989-91; Salute Your Shorts 1991-92; The Adventure of Pete & Pete 1993-96; Roundhouse 1992; Guts 1992-95; Real Monsters 1994-98; Are You Afraid of the Dark 1992-96; Legends of the Hidden Temple 1993-95; What Would You Do? 1991-93; the original Doug 1991-94 (before the movie and a move to another channel).

The last great lineup of SNL:

Dana Carvey 1986-93; Chris Elliot 1994-95; Chris Farley 1990-95; Al Franken 1986-95; Phil Hartman 1986-94; Michael McKean 1994-95; Norm Macdonald 1993-98; Dennis Miller 1985-91; Jay Mohr 1993-95; Mike Myers 1989-95; Kevin Nealon 1986-95; Chris Rock 1990-93; Adam Sandler 1991-95; Rob Schneider 1990-94; David Spade 1990-96; Julia Sweeney 1990-94.

The Muppets Still Mattered:

The Muppet Christmas Carol 1992; Muppet Babies 1984-1991; Jim Henson 1936-90.

Disney was making oscar worthy animated films:

Little Mermaid 1989 Nominated for 3 Oscars and Won 2; Beauty and the Beast 1991 Nominated for 6 Oscars and Won 2; Aladdin 1992 Nominated for 5 Oscars and Won 2; the Lion King 1994 Nominated for 4 Oscars and Won 2; Pocahontas 1995 Won 2 Oscars.

Fashion:

I'm a guy, so I'm no expert on fashion. I will say this though... look at photos and yearbooks from 1990 to around 1994 or 1995. Notice how glasses frames were huge and dorky looking. People still wore lots of bright gawdy colors and those tacky colors were often mismatched, like it took people five years to learn how to color code while they were detoxing the lingering color themes of the eighties. Stripes and polkadots were all the rage, another carryover from the eighties. Very flowery dresses engulfed with an overabudance of patterns (some overdid it so much they were hard on the eyes and visually confusing). Jean jackets were still considered cool and worn by many people. Brightly colored spandex was still the normal attire for dancing, aerobics, working out, etc. Tight jeans were still worn by many girls and even some guys. Black leather pants and leopard skin pants, eyesores of the eighties that survived into the first half of the nineties.


Part two of this series, where I chronicle the many lows of the forgettable Nineties (1997-2000), is coming up soon...

I'm adding on to the first part.

Some of the films that made up my childhood (age 2 to 6 or 1985 to 89/90). Some of the films I'm about to mention are distinct for people of my age group. The old Gen Ys share these films with the Gen Xers. Kids nowadays don't have a clue about most of these films. That is what makes us different. Onto my favorite films when I was a little munchin:

Troop Beverley Hills (1989); Big Top Pee-wee (1988); Big Business (1988); Flight Of the Navigator (1986); Milo and Otis (1986); 18 Again! (1988); Big (1988); Can't Buy Me Love (1987); Short Circuit (1986); Short Circuit 2 (1988); An American Tail (1986); the Land Before Time (1988); Earth Girls Are Easy (1988); Dad (1989); Three Men and a Baby (1987); the Witches (1990); Like Father Like Son (1987); Cocoon (1985); Cocoon: The Return (1988); the Care Bears Movie (1985); Masters of the Universe (1987); Batman (1989); Beetlejuice (1988); Hello Again (1987); Oliver & Company (1988); All Dogs Go To Heaven (1989); Gremlins 2 (1990).

Actually, I believe the 90s, like every decade, has 3 parts:  the first 2 or 3 years that were still similar to the previous decade(the 80s), and the last 2 or 3 that would build the pathway towards the next decade(the 2000s).  And btw, when I was in 9th grade(1995), more people were still lingering in the grunge look, and even slowly started looking like today.

I remember the grunge look being cool with a lot of people up till as late as early 1997.  But I basically agree with Joel Welden-Smith that there were at least 2 very different types of 90s.  The late 80s had a definate presence on the first half of the 90s.  The pop culture we live in now really started in the late 90s, it exploded in 1999 but it started around '97 or '98. 

It was the same way with the 80s.  You can see the late 70s influence all over the 80s up till about 1985.  There are a lot of movies that I think come from around the late 70s, but then I will see the year it was made it and says something like 1981 or 1982, sometimes even 1984.

I think that the movie Sideways has set the trends for adults for the middle of the 2000s much like Sex and the City did for adult single women in the period of 1998-2004.
It's okay to be yourself (No matter how normal or dumpy), drinking wine is a cool hobby and crosswords and literature are trendy hobbies to pick up.

On my 21st birthday, I'd like to have a Sideways party and learn how to wine taste and find the oak flavor and nutty edham (?) cheese in it that Miles talks so much about. ::)

The Golden Years of Nick:

Rocko's Modern Life 1993-96; Ren And Stimpy 1991-95; Clarissa Explains It All 1991-94; Hey Dude 1989-91; Salute Your Shorts 1991-92; The Adventure of Pete & Pete 1993-96; Roundhouse 1992; Guts 1992-95; Real Monsters 1994-98; Are You Afraid of the Dark 1992-96; Legends of the Hidden Temple 1993-95; What Would You Do? 1991-93; the original Doug 1991-94 (before the movie and a move to another channel).




I would call this era the "Silver" years rather than "Golden."  The Golden Years would be the beginning:  Pinwheel, You Can't Do That On Television, Calliope, Danger Mouse, Today's Special. . .

SNL had a great period at that time with Chris Rock, Phil Hartman, Adam Sandler, Kevin Nealon, Dennis Miller, Norm McDonald, Mike Myers, Dana Carvey and Chris Farrley. Things went downhill after they left.

People will look back on the 00s and say the late 90s had an influence on the first part of the decade.  The same as the 70s-80s and 80s-90s.

There did seem to be a distinct period between late 88-early 91 that was almost it's own decade. Some of the things in this period included Arsenio, Morten Downy Jr, Cops, Paula Abdul, Bartmania, The fallen and I can't get up commerical, ect. 

The full end of one decade and the very beginning of another generally overlap a bit. Even though the 80's died a pretty quick death, this was the case too.

In other words, I'd say the very end of the "80s" 90's was 1992, maybe '93 even. The movies still had a certain lighthearted 80's feel (Weekend at Bernie's II came out in 1993) and power ballads were still on the charts in '92.

Whereas the beginning of the "90s" 90's can be traced to the middle of 1991.

I've been pretty firm in my thinking of 1992-96 as the pure 90's. But now that I think about it, 1997 and '98 are close enough to include too. Seinfeld and Family Matters were still on the air, the pop songs had that melodic 90's pop feel, and it still felt removed from the 1999 pop culture explosion.

There are different 90s, I agree just like I agreed in my post from earlier this year.

During the "core years" of the 90s, the 1980s were thought of as a very recent time.  Outdated and old school, but still very recent.

1990 and 1991 were very much like the 80's, cause many of the songs were written in 1989 and many of the bands formed in the late 80's

The early 80's was all about power ballads, rhythm and blues and cheesy pop groups.  The mid 90's was all about grunge, though here in Canada, it was sort of a tie between grunge and dance music.  I'm not sure about the late 90's, but it seemed like it was the era of female vocalists with terrible songs that got over played  ;D

Whenever I describe the 90's, this is what I say. Someone put the 1980's and the 2000's in a blender and created the decade of the 1990's. I actually remember around maybe 1993-1994 that a lot of stores like K-mart and off the wall stores were still playing 80's music over the PA.