There are a number of things ranging from music to video games to current events that point to late 1991 as the true start of the '90s.  Looking back, in the fall of 1991 a numer of things were happening in the culture and world at large that point o this time period as the period when the '90s as a decade truly started to come together and what was left of the '80s fade.  Here are just a few of the momentous events from the latter half of that year that make it stand out:

- "Smell's Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana released in September; Seattle grunge music explodes into mainstream while hair bands and other '80s styles begin to fade.
- Sonic the Hedgehog and 16-bit Super NES released during holiday season; 16-bit systems replace 8-bit.
- Nicktoons The Ren & Stimpy Show, Doug, and Rugrats premiere in August.
- Soviet Union dissolves in December, Cold War officially over.
- Bill Clinton enters presidential race in November.

Well the "1" year was where the big changes that differentiated one decade from another occurred for the past few decades.

1981:
- MTV debuts, significantly impacting the music industry forever
- Reagan becomes president
- Disco largely dies out by the end of the year, though a few holdouts score a few hits in 1982 (like how, say, Def Leppard did in 1992)

1991:
You mentioned it already

2001:
- George W. Bush becomes president
- 9/11 happens
- Boy bands start to die out, Hip-Hop and R&B start increasing in popularity by the end of the year
- Gamecube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance come out.  Combined with the PS2 in 2000 and the death of the Dreamcast in early 2001, a new video game era starts.
- The "Wrestling War" between WWF and WCW ends with WWF victory.  Wrestling goes from extremely high popularity in late 90s and 2000 to declining ratings.
- After Survivor and Big Brother debut in late 2000, reality tv really starts to take off in 2001.

Decades are really supposed to start with the "1" year anyway due to there being no Year 0 in the Gregorian Calendar, so 1971-1980, 1981-1990, 1991-2000, etc. Society just finds it easier to group decades according to the "70s", "80s", "90s", etc. instead, which is understandable.

Also, don't forget perhaps the most important thing of all from 1991: The World Wide Web made its debut on August 6, 1991.

Late 1991 is brought up and nobody brings up the Magic Johnson HIV announcement? Thats what I remember mostly about late 1991 was that. Magic actually did the announcement on the day that happened to be my birthday.

Late 1991 is brought up and nobody brings up the Magic Johnson HIV announcement? Thats what I remember mostly about late 1991 was that. Magic actually did the announcement on the day that happened to be my birthday.


Was that really a turning point in culture though?...I guess maybe it changed public perception of HIV...

And one more I would add: The release of Beauty and the Beast in November that year. Even though the "Disney Renaissance" starts with The Little Mermaid in 1989, I think B&tB really catapulted that era. It doubled TLM's box office gross and was even the first animated movie to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. I'd say it had better animation too (While a great film, TLM still had the look and feel of an 80s Disney movie).

Decades are really supposed to start with the "1" year anyway due to there being no Year 0 in the Gregorian Calendar, so 1971-1980, 1981-1990, 1991-2000, etc.


This is true, that is how I read the decades/years usually. I think I mentioned this on another topic. It's like counting to ten and then starting all over again.

This is true, that is how I read the decades/years usually. I think I mentioned this on another topic. It's like counting to ten and then starting all over again.


That's correct for the definition of a 'decade' but it's not true for terms like "1970's", "1980's" and so on. 1980 does not belong to the 1970's and 1990 does not belong to the 1980's. Well on the other hand, 1990 is part of the 9th decade while 1991 is part of the 10th decade of the 20th century.

However remember that these are really just numbers. If the real start of a decade matches with some influential events, that's just coincidence. You all might have found some stuff "which changed the world" in the 1-year, but I could easily give you examples for any other year.

That's correct for the definition of a 'decade' but it's not true for terms like "1970's", "1980's" and so on. 1980 does not belong to the 1970's and 1990 does not belong to the 1980's. Well on the other hand, 1990 is part of the 9th decade while 1991 is part of the 10th decade of the 20th century.

However remember that these are really just numbers. If the real start of a decade matches with some influential events, that's just coincidence. You all might have found some stuff "which changed the world" in the 1-year, but I could easily give you examples for any other year.


Yeah I agree, there's no one turning point really. I think you could just as easily point to 1989 as the "start of the 90s", a lot of memorable stuff happened that year and 89 is the first year that feels pretty well removed from the 80s cultural peak between 83-86. But it was all apart of a gradual process.

Well the "1" year was where the big changes that differentiated one decade from another occurred for the past few decades.

2001:
- George W. Bush becomes president
- 9/11 happens
- Boy bands start to die out, Hip-Hop and R&B start increasing in popularity by the end of the year
- Gamecube, Xbox, and Game Boy Advance come out.  Combined with the PS2 in 2000 and the death of the Dreamcast in early 2001, a new video game era starts.
- The "Wrestling War" between WWF and WCW ends with WWF victory.  Wrestling goes from extremely high popularity in late 90s and 2000 to declining ratings.
- After Survivor and Big Brother debut in late 2000, reality tv really starts to take off in 2001.


I think Windows XP needs a honorable mention in the 2001 list as it is the MS OS with the longest shelf live. 2001-2006 It's still considered as one of the best Microsoft releases ever. Also, Mac OS X was very different than Mac OS before.

Also, don't forget perhaps the most important thing of all from 1991: The World Wide Web made its debut on August 6, 1991.


Was this the start of Windows?  ???

Michael Jackson came out with his Dangerous CD in 1991.

Was this the start of Windows?  ???


Windows was released in 1985. Its first versions weren't very popular though. I think Windows 3.0 was the first Windows that was really successful (1990), or maybe Windows 3.1 (1993).

Some TV ads from that time period...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80V5QRhvIp8

It was also the end of "Pee-wee's Playhouse" after his visit to the adult theater, lol.

It was also the end of "Pee-wee's Playhouse" after his visit to the adult theater, lol.


he was caught playing with his Pee Wee.  ::)

And one more I would add: The release of Beauty and the Beast in November that year. Even though the "Disney Renaissance" starts with The Little Mermaid in 1989, I think B&tB really catapulted that era. It doubled TLM's box office gross and was even the first animated movie to be nominated for best picture at the Academy Awards. I'd say it had better animation too (While a great film, TLM still had the look and feel of an 80s Disney movie).


That's because it used the CAPS digital ink. Rescuers Down Under came out in 1990 and also used it, and so did one scene in TLM, but RDU really wasn't that popular. I also read that the fact it used digital ink wasn't a part of its promotion campaign, but I think when Beauty and the Beast came out they did refer to how it was partially digital.

Fall of 1991 is probably a good ending. I have heard people say that in the 1990-91 school year, it was still cool to listen to the hair bands but by 1991-92, everyone was turned on to grunge.

Most importantly like was said, the fall of communism was complete with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the World Wide Web was released to the public, so the death of two 20th century institutions, namely the Cold War/communism and the pre-Internet media was sealed.

Both of those events had their seeds in 1989 and earlier. 1989 was when the WWW was conceived of and also when the Berlin Wall was breached and the Baltic Way protest took place. Go back about ten years more and you had the proto-Internet of the eighties in formation, the WWW is not the beginning of the Internet itself just of its modern framework. The Internet very much existed in the eighties its population was just much smaller.

And the Soviet Union's collapse is generally dated back to at least 1985 which was when they started to introduce elements of capitalism. Chernobyl was also a large blow to the Soviet regime.

With that said the vibe present from about September 1989 - August 1991 isn't completely eighties, though I'd say it feels more 80s than 90s given a choice. That period had a unique feel, it was still cheesy and bubbly and the early-90s recession gloom hadn't become apparent yet but it was also very hip hop influenced and new wave beats were starting to become replaced with breakbeats.

Hair metal didn't completely die off until late 1993 or so. Def Leppard, Firehouse, Guns N Roses, Mr. Big, Damn Yankees etc. all still were big in the 1992-93 period. Grunge's ascension was still somewhat gradual even after the massive success of Nevermind in early 1992 but by late 1993 grunge was the "it" style.

With hair rock, Firehouse and Def Leppard even somehow scored hits in 1995, long after grunge had begun to get popular.

New England was raked by the No Name Storm, or as it is now known as The Perfect Storm.

Hell, before that we contended with a hurricane named Bob in August of '91.

My family started to fall apart by late 91 after the death of my sister, but divorce wasn't until 1993.