People say the '90s were the decade of cynicism--Why so?
I mean the '00s even with the tragedies of that decade weren't that cynical, and the '80s seem to have been the decade of optimism despite the nation just suffering through Vietnam and it's after effects, Watergate, Jimmy Carter's Malaise, the rebirth of the Cold War under Carter/Reagan, and the economic dispartiy caused by Reagan's "Trickle-Down" economics.

You'd think the '90s would've been a period of optimism--The Cold War was finally over and thus the threat of nuclear war seemed pretty much finished, a new generation was in power, there was economic prosperity...So why the cynicism?

The music was a lot darker and edgier, particularly in the early/mid '90s, so I guess the general attitude reflected off of that. As soon as bubblegum pop arrived on the scene in the late '90s, the general demeanor seemed to change to reflect that.

It was also probably a deliberate backlash against the bubbliness of the '80s.

People say the '90s were the decade of cynicism--Why so?
I mean the '00s even with the tragedies of that decade weren't that cynical, and the '80s seem to have been the decade of optimism despite the nation just suffering through Vietnam and it's after effects, Watergate, Jimmy Carter's Malaise, the rebirth of the Cold War under Carter/Reagan, and the economic dispartiy caused by Reagan's "Trickle-Down" economics.

You'd think the '90s would've been a period of optimism--The Cold War was finally over and thus the threat of nuclear war seemed pretty much finished, a new generation was in power, there was economic prosperity...So why the cynicism?



It is the backlash from the 80s. 

The music was a lot darker and edgier, particularly in the early/mid '90s, so I guess the general attitude reflected off of that. As soon as bubblegum pop arrived on the scene in the late '90s, the general demeanor seemed to change to reflect that.

It was also probably a deliberate backlash against the bubbliness of the '80s.


Interestingly enough, while the mood changed in the late 90s, there was a sudden spurt of movies in the late 90s that dealt with identity crises, world as an illusion, etc. 

- The Truman Show (1998)
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
- Fight Club (1999)
- The Matrix (1999)

This was a trend that has rarely surfaced since then, Inception being a notable exception.  On the whole though, the late 90s was a very happy, optimistic time period.  I'd say the most cynical period was 1991-1993 - it was those years that saw Grunge and Gangsta Rap enter the mainstream.

I'd also like to mention that there was an economic recession in the early '90s, so that may have influenced the cynical attitude amongst people.

The more upbeat attitude that dominated the late '90s was probably influenced by the booming economy (I believe there was a budget surplus at that time), along with the rapid technological advancements.

People say the '90s were the decade of cynicism--Why so?
I mean the '00s even with the tragedies of that decade weren't that cynical, and the '80s seem to have been the decade of optimism despite the nation just suffering through Vietnam and it's after effects, Watergate, Jimmy Carter's Malaise, the rebirth of the Cold War under Carter/Reagan, and the economic dispartiy caused by Reagan's "Trickle-Down" economics.

You'd think the '90s would've been a period of optimism--The Cold War was finally over and thus the threat of nuclear war seemed pretty much finished, a new generation was in power, there was economic prosperity...So why the cynicism?


What the hamster said.

"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: singing about the fall of the Berlin Wall, and not anticipating how ironic that line would sound in Post-9/11 America.

The recession of 1991-2 took the edge off the optimism of the 80s.  (The Cold War never went away under Carter - Reagan got the credit for ending it, but nobody believed it until the Soviet republics started to implode.  The decade did indeed end in the blink of an eye.)

"I was alive and I waited, waited... I was alive and I waited for this.
Right here, right now, watching the world wake up from history"
  - Jesus Jones, Right Here, Right Now: capturing the optimisim of 1991 and in so doing, having unwittingly penned the most depressing song of the 1990s.

There was a brief period during which we actually thought that the savings from no longer having to outspend the Russians on defense would actually trickle down.  And in a way, they did - all that capital had to go somewhere, and it wound up in the dot-com boom that made the late 90s such a kickass time.  Free communications, free markets, an ever-upspiraling economics of awesomeness and technology until we finally colonized the stars.  And then 19 asshats prompted our leaders to act on their fears, not their hopes.  Fukuyama was wrong, and that was the end of that. 

The 80s/90s were a fun couple of decades, though.

Interestingly enough, while the mood changed in the late 90s, there was a sudden spurt of movies in the late 90s that dealt with identity crises, world as an illusion, etc. 

- The Truman Show (1998)
- Being John Malkovich (1999)
- Fight Club (1999)
- The Matrix (1999)

This was a trend that has rarely surfaced since then, Inception being a notable exception.  On the whole though, the late 90s was a very happy, optimistic time period.  I'd say the most cynical period was 1991-1993 - it was those years that saw Grunge and Gangsta Rap enter the mainstream.


I thought the world was an illusion so they took me to the mental clinic.

I have a feeling even if the economy gets better, the economic world will be much more "share" than "own" from an American perspective as the economy is much more multipolar today than it was in the '90s. But even during the early-mid '90s, there was some upbeat music too such as Eurodance, some House/Techno, and there was a lot of love songs then as well. Oldies radio was more popular than ever listening to "good time oldies" songs that most radio stations then were promoting. It was really just a subculture. Late 1990-mid 1993 was the only real cynical part of the '90s, as even 1994 and 1995 and not necessarily the late '90s already had an upbeat economy at the time. The TV shows were also funny and many were entertaining and less cynical than the reality shows of the '00s.

A culture of violence characterized the late '90s. 

I was in middle school in the late '90s and I remember everybody being scared about school shootings.  Goth style was in, Marilyn Manson was all the rage, meth was becoming an issue even for middle school students, nearly every video game dealt with demonic forces, the school had to be evacuated almost monthly because of a bomb scare.  People had a strange eff-actuation with all things dark and violent at that time.  After 9/11 things really changed as the culture seemed to move in a more conservative direction (in relation to violence).  I graduated in 2004 and high school post 9/11 was considerably less violent than it was before.

I think there was so much optimism because of the booming economy that people needed some 'darkness' to balance it all out. Lol.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vabnZ9-ex7o

I think the 90s and 00s were about equal cynically. Things were starting to get very upbeat again in the late 90s and beginning of the 00s, but then 9/11 happened.

Because it was trendy.

It's easy to look back on the 90s and instantly think of peace and prosperity, but that would be like looking back on the 2000 or 2001 and thinking of the Election of Barack Obama. The economy for most of the 80s was quite strong, but around 1990-1991, I think some time around the Gulf War, the US entered a recession, and though not nearly as bad as the one we just had, was obviously still quite hard. Generation X was coming of age and entering the workforce around this time, so it's not hard to see that after spending their childhood and teen years in the prosperous 80s, looking for a job and attempting to get by by yourself in a much weaker economy put a much bleaker outlook on things. As pop culture is mostly defined by what the 20 somethings are doing, this downer mentality quickly spread.

It was also, I suppose, a reaction to the 80s, though mostly in terms of music. We all know the story about how grunge wiped out hair metal, and the dark, moody tones of Seattle grunge and alternative rock appropriately complemented the Generation X mindset at the time.

So lets say this outlook was most prevalent in, say, 1992. With all this came the flannel look, and eventually the general personality that we are discussing right now. Like everything else, MTV caught on and decided that they could make money off of it. After a while, people weren't really being cynical anymore because of economic circumstances, but simply because it was just the way things were at the time. By 1995 or so the economy was really starting to pick up anyway, and that time could still be characterized as the "grunge era", albeit the end of it.

The whole cynicism thing was pretty much dead by 1998 or so, but by then it was a completely different world from 1991.

The whole cynicism thing was pretty much dead by 1998 or so, but by then it was a completely different world from 1991.


The late '90s were still dark and cynical if you were a teenager.  It seems like violence was more glorified in that era.  It may have been more upbeat for the 20-somethings.  I didn't notice a true change until around 9/11.

The late '90s were still dark and cynical if you were a teenager.  It seems like violence was more glorified in that era.  It may have been more upbeat for the 20-somethings.  I didn't notice a true change until around 9/11.


Yeah, the late '90s were pretty bad in that regard. Columbine, anyone? All the moral panic over it.
I was only in like 2nd or 3rd grade when Columbine happened, so it wasn't a blip on my radar, but I'd imagine it scared the hell out of High Schoolers across the nation. And of course the 30+ aged people all pointed fingers at various forces they deemed responsible (music, video games, TV, etc) for it in shock.

I think the 90s and 00s were about equal cynically. Things were starting to get very upbeat again in the late 90s and beginning of the 00s, but then 9/11 happened.
I think like late 2000(because the tech bubble burst)-2003 was cynical and than crunk hit and it was like the fun 80's again up to like early or mid 2007.

I like Grunge, but that's just because it's my own personal preference. It definitely was part of the 90's cynicism. It doesn't take away that the 90's was a good decade overall.

I think the 90s and 00s were about equal cynically. Things were starting to get very upbeat again in the late 90s and beginning of the 00s, but then 9/11 happened.


The late-90s in politics were all about Monica Lewinsky and the culture wars.  The Lewinsky scandal topped with increased violence among youth in schools sent this nation into a moral panic.  This set the stage for George W. Bush to be elected.  Despite all the good economic indicators, many Americans were disturbed by the direction of the culture and were longing for the more innocent days of the Reagan/Bush era.  Without the combined effect of both of those factors, Al Gore would have handily won the 2000 election.

People in hindsight associate the '90s with the relative peace and prosperity and forget the bigger picture.