Here are the 3 I came up with, representing change in 3 areas: Technological, cultural, and political...

August 6, 1991 (technological) The world wide web makes its public debut (although it would take a few years to really take off).
September 24, 1991 (cultural) Nirvana's Nevermind released, forever changing the tide of mainstream music.
December 25, 1991 (political) The Soviet Union is officially dissolved, transforming Europe and the world.

November 9, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall spells the end of communism in Eastern Europe. Germany unites the following year and USSR collapses in 1991.

August 6, 1991: World Wide Web officially debuts.

January 20, 1993: Bill Clinton is inaugurated. The George HW Bush years feel like the bridge between the 80s and 90s, with the Reagan era representing the core 80s and the Clinton era representing the core 90s.

August 6, 1991 (technological) The world wide web makes its public debut (although it would take a few years to really take off).


An event that probably had a lot more impact on the society and the way of life was CDs finally replacing records. That may have started within the 80's but LPs and 7"s were still quite common until around 1990.

An event that probably had a lot more impact on the society and the way of life was CDs finally replacing records. That may have started within the 80's but LPs and 7"s were still quite common until around 1990.


I remember that transistion, It was a big change in technology.

An event that probably had a lot more impact on the society and the way of life was CDs finally replacing records. That may have started within the 80's but LPs and 7"s were still quite common until around 1990.


I disagree, music format is in many ways a pretty superficial thing. I see the complete digitalization of music into Mp3 players and computer files as being an even bigger change than vinyl to CDs, since a CD is still a physical record, and while smaller and not as romantic it still has a tangibility totally lost in downloaded music.

I would say the major technological difference between the 80s and 90s is probably more to do with the design of technology than anything else. The Internet was only mainstream for the second half of the 90s so it couldn't really be considered what makes the 90s different from the 80s in that category, not to mention 1) the Internet did exist in the 80s and 2) the Internet wasn't really that big a part of life even in 1999. In the eighties you had very angular boxy shapes to everything, cars, radios, steroes, in the nineties it tended to be a bit rounded on the edges and black plastic took over grey-blue metal and wood grain.

I disagree, music format is in many ways a pretty superficial thing. I see the complete digitalization of music into Mp3 players and computer files as being an even bigger change than vinyl to CDs, since a CD is still a physical record, and while smaller and not as romantic it still has a tangibility totally lost in downloaded music.

I would say the major technological difference between the 80s and 90s is probably more to do with the design of technology than anything else. The Internet was only mainstream for the second half of the 90s so it couldn't really be considered what makes the 90s different from the 80s in that category, not to mention 1) the Internet did exist in the 80s and 2) the Internet wasn't really that big a part of life even in 1999. In the eighties you had very angular boxy shapes to everything, cars, radios, steroes, in the nineties it tended to be a bit rounded on the edges and black plastic took over grey-blue metal and wood grain.


I disagree about the internet not being big in 1999. It had also become very big internationally in 1998, and then it grew rapidly in every year from 1994 to 1997. Granted that's only two years of the decade that the internet was anything like it is now, but it's still a big part of what makes the 90s distinctive from the 80s.

I disagree about the internet not being big in 1999. It had also become very big internationally in 1998, and then it grew rapidly in every year from 1994 to 1997. Granted that's only two years of the decade that the internet was anything like it is now, but it's still a big part of what makes the 90s distinctive from the 80s.


It was big, but compared to today, it was small. Not to mention it was dial up, you couldn't take it with you wherever you want, you couldn't even use it if you were on the phone unless you had another line! But yes, the presence of it is something that divides the later 90s from the 80s and the earlier 90s.

It was big, but compared to today, it was small. Not to mention it was dial up, you couldn't take it with you wherever you want, you couldn't even use it if you were on the phone unless you had another line! But yes, the presence of it is something that divides the later 90s from the 80s and the earlier 90s.


I agree that the internet was kind of big in the late 90's, but it was definetly not a must-have like it is now. Statistics show how few people actually used it compared to now. It was still a special thing and nobody expected you to have it - unlike today when you can't study without it. It's not a coincidence that I didn't have it before 2000 and still had a nice life before without it - because it was just not uncommon not to have it. Even in the first half of the 00's, no teacher really expected us to 'google' something. That's a thing that came-up more in the second half.

I disagree, music format is in many ways a pretty superficial thing. I see the complete digitalization of music into Mp3 players and computer files as being an even bigger change than vinyl to CDs, since a CD is still a physical record, and while smaller and not as romantic it still has a tangibility totally lost in downloaded music.


Yes, that's true, but in my opinion that transition from vinyl-cds is a thing that the society actually could see in the time you mentioned (80's-90's transition). Who cared about the WWW in 1991? 1992-1994? At least not the normal family. I guess I was about 10 when I first heard people talking about it and I was really interested in technology when I was a kid.

I agree that the internet was kind of big in the late 90's, but it was definetly not a must-have like it is now. Statistics show how few people actually used it compared to now. It was still a special thing and nobody expected you to have it - unlike today when you can't study without it. It's not a coincidence that I didn't have it before 2000 and still had a nice life before without it - because it was just not uncommon not to have it. Even in the first half of the 00's, no teacher really expected us to 'google' something. That's a thing that came-up more in the second half.


My age may be speaking for me, but that's kinda the point. I finished my schooling and worked through the 90s, which was the period in which "internet" went from "something you might have had access to in university" to "something your employer provided if they were in the tech field" to "something you could finally afford at home and at work."

By the late 90s it was available to almost everyone, and practically required at every technology firm. Mobile internet access was an important change that came a few years later, but nowhere near as important as having it at your desktop both at home and at work.

20 years later, my age may also be speaking for me, but there's a reason I'm sitting in a chair looking at a 21/24/27" monitor and typing this reply on a real keyboard, rather than peeking through a 4-5" phone or a 7-10" tablet and pecking on a virtual keyboard. Mobile is important, revolutionary even, and I love it, but it's not yet as revolutionary a change as "not having access the internet" vs. "having access to the internet" was 20 years ago.

By the late 90s it was available to almost everyone, and practically required at every technology firm. Mobile internet access was an important change that came a few years later, but nowhere near as important as having it at your desktop both at home and at work.


Yes, it was available and maybe required in special firms, but it was just not necessary to have it for school or at home if you had a 'normal' job. And that's the big difference I wanted to point out. There must also be a big difference comparing Germany with the United States. Internet was considered very expensive over here in the late 90's which is also a reason that it was not too widely used.

Yes, it was available and maybe required in special firms, but it was just not necessary to have it for school or at home if you had a 'normal' job. And that's the big difference I wanted to point out. There must also be a big difference comparing Germany with the United States. Internet was considered very expensive over here in the late 90's which is also a reason that it was not too widely used.


Now there's an interesting question -- I was in the US at the time all this went down. When did the Internet become commonplace at work (and/or at home, and those probably aren't the same years) in Europe?

Now there's an interesting question -- I was in the US at the time all this went down. When did the Internet become commonplace at work (and/or at home, and those probably aren't the same years) in Europe?


Commonplace at work probably in the early 2000s; maybe circa 1999. I haven't worked during that time, but I have noticed that a lot of firms began to get an eMail-address around that time. (I am really talking only about local firms - not big companies which probably had internet access all over the 90's). It's also difficult to find (local) pre-1998 brochures which mention the internet or contain web-/email addresses.

At home: I'd also say that it became household over here around 97/98 however it was just not the case that everybody have it. In 2000 it were maybe 50 % in my class who had it (including me). Between 2000-02 it was still pretty normal that people came to me to look something up for them on the internet. I'd say only from the mid-00's on it was really the case that internet was as common as a telephone line over here. I also remember installing dial-up internet for a friend in late 2004 ;)

You see that the necessity couldn't have been that big at any time in the 90's - at least not for the generality.

It was big, but compared to today, it was small. Not to mention it was dial up, you couldn't take it with you wherever you want, you couldn't even use it if you were on the phone unless you had another line! But yes, the presence of it is something that divides the later 90s from the 80s and the earlier 90s.


But back then you couldn't even get on the damn computer unless someone had to be off the phone. ::)

But back then you couldn't even get on the damn computer unless someone had to be off the phone. ::)


eh? How short were your cables?  ;D

eh? How short were your cables?  ;D


we had a phone line that everytime I was on the computer I could hear someone through my speakers and that was one of my family members on the phone.

The George HW Bush years feel like the bridge between the 80s and 90s, with the Reagan era representing the core 80s and the Clinton era representing the core 90s.


That's a good point, never thought of that until now.

The internet (or World Wide Web) may have debuted in the early 90s, but most people didn't even know what it was until the mid 90s, and it didn't really take off until the late 90s.  The "dot-com boom" was more of a 90s-00s transition thing.  For technology, I'd go with either CD's gaining popularity or the release of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.  Politically would have to be the fall of the Berlin Wall (or the George HW Bush presidency in general).  Culturally I'd say either the rise of grunge/death of hair metal, or the rise of hip hop in the mainstream, with "Ice Ice Baby" becoming the first rap song to reach #1.

That's a good point, never thought of that until now.

The internet (or World Wide Web) may have debuted in the early 90s, but most people didn't even know what it was until the mid 90s, and it didn't really take off until the late 90s.  The "dot-com boom" was more of a 90s-00s transition thing.  For technology, I'd go with either CD's gaining popularity or the release of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.  Politically would have to be the fall of the Berlin Wall (or the George HW Bush presidency in general).  Culturally I'd say either the rise of grunge/death of hair metal, or the rise of hip hop in the mainstream, with "Ice Ice Baby" becoming the first rap song to reach #1.

Debatable. You may be right regarding the USA, although some might argue that Blondie's Rapture was also a rap song. But internationally you're definitely wrong: Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight had already hit #1 in 1979 in The Netherlands. That's 12 years earlier!

In the world of animation, I'd say the release of the Little Mermaid triggering the Disney Renissance that lasted through the decade, the Simpsons as its own series and not just a Tracy Ullman short making cartoons enjoyable in primetime once again, and the premiere of Tiny Toon Adventures that started Warner Brothers' Silver Age. The '80s that was filled with merchandise driven cartoons and weak feature films was finally being put to bed at that point, though some of the toy-driven fluff carried over early into the '90s.

That's a good point, never thought of that until now.

The internet (or World Wide Web) may have debuted in the early 90s, but most people didn't even know what it was until the mid 90s, and it didn't really take off until the late 90s.  The "dot-com boom" was more of a 90s-00s transition thing.  For technology, I'd go with either CD's gaining popularity or the release of the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis.  Politically would have to be the fall of the Berlin Wall (or the George HW Bush presidency in general).  Culturally I'd say either the rise of grunge/death of hair metal, or the rise of hip hop in the mainstream, with "Ice Ice Baby" becoming the first rap song to reach #1.


Interestingly, "Ice Ice Baby" hit #1 the week after I was born.

Re: What 3 events best represent the 80s-90s transition?

Me: Changing my calendar from 1989 to 1990 on my kitchen wall
Me: Changing my calendar at work from 1989 to 1990 a few days later
Me: Wishing someone a happy new year 1990 just after the ball fell on times square, NY...seconds after Dec 31 1989, 11:59:59pm

Now if I could just remember who I was with on Dec 31, 1989...I know that's gonna keep me up all night until I figure it out.  :(

Debatable. You may be right regarding the USA, although some might argue that Blondie's Rapture was also a rap song. But internationally you're definitely wrong: Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight had already hit #1 in 1979 in The Netherlands. That's 12 years earlier!


Rapper's Delight also was a #1 hit in Canada in January of 1980, making it the first rap song to reach #1 in North America.

With just the United States alone (as Rappers Delight only made #36 on the US Hot 100), the first song featuring rap to top the US chart was Rapture by Blondie in 1981. 

1990? ???


Yes

Debatable. You may be right regarding the USA, although some might argue that Blondie's Rapture was also a rap song. But internationally you're definitely wrong: Sugar Hill Gang's Rapper's Delight had already hit #1 in 1979 in The Netherlands. That's 12 years earlier!


Should have been more clear, I was talking about the Billboard chart in the US.

I would say Clinton's inauguration.

It was around that time that euro-dance started to hit big in the US, big hair started to fade along with classic rock and new wave.  It was also around that time that hip-hop and r&b really started to move more into the mainstream and influence mainstream artists like Madonna.  If you listen to Madonna's '80s stuff and then her '90s stuff it almost doesn't even sound like the same artist.

Clinton's inauguration also marked a moral shift in our nation.  Homosexuality became a dinner-table topic and primetime TV really pushed the envelope with swear words and sex talk, something not seen as much in the '80s.  Same path with music as much darker rock and gangsta hip-hop came in and really pushed the envelope for profanity.  Violence also began to be more glorified in movies and video games.  This cultural shift was one of the things that make the '90s the '90s.

I would say Clinton's inauguration.

It was around that time that euro-dance started to hit big in the US, big hair started to fade along with classic rock and new wave.  It was also around that time that hip-hop and r&b really started to move more into the mainstream and influence mainstream artists like Madonna.  If you listen to Madonna's '80s stuff and then her '90s stuff it almost doesn't even sound like the same artist.

Clinton's inauguration also marked a moral shift in our nation.  Homosexuality became a dinner-table topic and primetime TV really pushed the envelope with swear words and sex talk, something not seen as much in the '80s.  Same path with music as much darker rock and gangsta hip-hop came in and really pushed the envelope for profanity.  Violence also began to be more glorified in movies and video games.  This cultural shift was one of the things that make the '90s the '90s.


Yeah the 90s had pretty violent cartoons. Lots of blood n guts. Which wasn't really present in the 80s except indie toons hardly anyone saw and Japanese anime.

Interestingly, "Ice Ice Baby" hit #1 the week after I was born.



1990? ???



Yes


Really Howard... wouldn't you think the "1990" in his username was a giveaway?  ???

Yeah the 90s had pretty violent cartoons. Lots of blood n guts. Which wasn't really present in the 80s except indie toons hardly anyone saw and Japanese anime.


The 80's had more softcore cartoons.

The 80's had more softcore cartoons.


Yeah lots of violent 80s cartoons actually they just rarely depicted blood. The only true 80s American animated gore fest I can think of is Heavy Metal.

Yeah lots of violent 80s cartoons actually they just rarely depicted blood. The only true 80s American animated gore fest I can think of is Heavy Metal.


and back then cartoons were aimed at kids and families.