Kay, so everyone says that nostalgia is a 20 yr cycle so in the 90s everyone talked about the 70s, 00s everyone talked about the 80s etc... is there anyone else out there who DOESNT feel nostalgic about every 20 years gone, but will stay nostalgic forever about one particular decade? I don't think I'll ever be nostalgic about the 00s in the 20s etc I'm just nostalgic about the 90's because it was my childhood, not because it was 20 years ago. Anyone get what I mean? :)

Wait till you get older and then you will be wishing back for the 00s.

To answer your question, yes, the 90s are going to be nostalgic in the 10s.  The teens that grew up in the 90s will be in their mid-30s, and they will be the ones that will run things. 

Wait till you get older and then you will be wishing back for the 00s.

To answer your question, yes, the 90s are going to be nostalgic in the 10s.  The teens that grew up in the 90s will be in their mid-30s, and they will be the ones that will run things.  


I'd say certain things come back nostalgia in different times. I'd say the order is Video Games, music, television, movies, fashion, and finally design (interior/graphics).

10 years ago, for video games, '80s nostalgia was already mainstream. You had the Super Mario Bros. 15th anniversary, the Game and Watch series, some classic Atari reissues, and '80s gaming revived online thanks to the Internet. Nowadays, I feel that the '80s nostalgia has taken a back seat to the '90s. Sonic 4 is coming out at the end of this year, Donkey Cong Country is coming with something soon, and even Nintendo 64 is starting to enjoy a revival with more powerful computers giving better emulators.

Music, normly an early nostalgia indicator, is sort of in a confused state due to the disinterest in mainstream music and the backlash/criticism against remakes in recent years.

Movies are still fairly '80s-based with Karate Kid, Hot Tub Time Machine, and the A-Team, but Toy Story 3 hints at '90s nostalgia.
In fashion however, most retro stuff is '80s based (the non-cheesy things), but most stuff out there today is really just a watered-down 1997 with some modifications.  

I can't imagine ever being nostalgic about the anything past 2002.  The 00's were such a terrible decade in every way possible.    For me, it's all about the '60s - '90s.

So, no, I don't agree with the 20 year thing.  I've only recently became nostalgic about the '60s, and I wasn't even born until the '80s!

I can't imagine ever being nostalgic about the anything past 2002.   The 00's were such a terrible decade in every way possible.    For me, it's all about the '60s - '90s.

So, no, I don't agree with the 20 year thing.   I've only recently became nostalgic about the '60s, and I wasn't even born until the '80s!


I really need to say this.

Is that Alan Harper from "Two and the Half Men" as your avatar?  I really can't tell.

I really need to say this.

Is that Alan Harper from "Two and the Half Men" as your avatar?  I really can't tell.


No, it's Andy from The Office! 

I believe that I am already very nostalgic for the 90s. I was born in 1991 so i was a little kid during them, thats what makes me wanna relive em but as a teen instead. When i read about all the fun stuff and good music from that time it makes me wanna be there. The 00s were a bad decade, considering i grew up in them. But, people who graduated high school in the 90s are now 29-38 so they are surely historic now if nearly all high school grads from then are in their 30s now.

No, it's Andy from The Office! 


Dang, I should have known!

Karma for being an Office fan.

but do you think there will be huge 90s nostalgia this decade. if it does run in 20 year cycles than this year will be for 1990 and 2011 for 1991 and so on

but do you think there will be huge 90s nostalgia this decade. if it does run in 20 year cycles than this year will be for 1990 and 2011 for 1991 and so on


Demographics are important to determine the best "date range" for targeting nostalgia, usually focusing on their junior high-college years.. For thirtysomethings for instance, their "prime" would focus on the late '80s/early '90s era the most.

Also, it usually takes several years into the decade in most cases for it to become "mainstream popular", but it usually comes slowly at first. The development of '80s nostalgia was very graudal as you noticed, the 1999-2005 period as you noticed showed a nice hybrid of '70s and '80s nostalgia, with the '80s gradually winning over the "top retro decade". First came the Atari games and early New Wave music, followed by the rise of '80s stations, then the updated fashions and movie remakes. In the retro land, it's almost like reliving that '80s-'90s transition once again; at a baseball game last night during the game the announcer picked on how "silly" shows like Full House, Step By Step, and Family Matters were, all peaking in the early '90s; however, I still don't hear too many songs from the early-mid '90s on most radio stations. For what it's worth right now, I'd say the nostalgia is 1989-centric; still predominantly '80s, but with hints of the '90s starting to show. (Lady Gaga just went grunge at a recent event!) Nostalgia for the '70s also seems like a distant memory just like the real '70s seemed in 1989. But, I'd say the range can flucutate anywhere between 10 to as much as 40 years even (yes, the '60s will always seem to have a nostalgia for a while due to the innovateness, but it will never quite have it's '80s/'90s heyday again; the same is true for any era as there will always be people who are fond of an interest in that era, even back to "Greece's Golden Age"!)

Well if people who graduated high school from 1990 to 1999 are now pretty much between ages 29 and 38, would this be the decade of 90s nostalgia? It would seem to me that people in their 30s will surely look back on their high school and college years.