Do you think the recession that started in the summer of 1990 is what caused the excesses of the 80s to die off over the next couple of years? I wonder if it's also why the early 90s had a somewhat more somber tone than the late 80s. Hell when you think about it our economy never truly recovered from the early 90s recession because many of the jobs lost then never came back.

Do you think the recession that started in the summer of 1990 is what caused the excesses of the 80s to die off over the next couple of years? I wonder if it's also why the early 90s had a somewhat more somber tone than the late 80s. Hell when you think about it our economy never truly recovered from the early 90s recession because many of the jobs lost then never came back.


http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-kJnKd3ejD3w/ThtcLixoQ6I/AAAAAAAAAWY/x9vCDnodcyM/s1600/socalsurf.jpg

https://bestofthe80s.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/solo_skidz_smaller.jpg

http://www.thehotsawce.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/enhanced-buzz-9611-1375371739-2.jpg

The early 90s? Somber tone? Really? I didn't notice it.

The recession killed off yuppie culture, but not the 80s. The early 90s were just an extension to the late 80s. The real 90s didn't start until 1993 when Clinton got in and Starbucks was gaining popularity.

The recession killed off yuppie culture, but not the 80s. The early 90s were just an extension to the late 80s. The real 90s didn't start until 1993 when Clinton got in and Starbucks was gaining popularity.


Hmmm, I don't think yuppies ever died. They came back with a vengeance in the late 90s. Starbucks is the epitome of yuppiedom actually.

Do you think the recession that started in the summer of 1990 is what caused the excesses of the 80s to die off over the next couple of years? I wonder if it's also why the early 90s had a somewhat more somber tone than the late 80s. Hell when you think about it our economy never truly recovered from the early 90s recession because many of the jobs lost then never came back.


The '80s lingered through the summer of 1993.  In my opinion the election of Bill Clinton was one of the big events that marked the transition to the '90s.  That and the transition to the digital era.

I believe it did since much of the culture that was created had to do with a much less glitzy image and more of a down-to-earth message. First, I feel that the Wall Street Crash of 1987 was the end of the "peak '80s", and began a gradual transition that intensified with the recession. This transition ends when Czechoslovakia splits and Bill Clinton gets inaugurated in January 1993, meaning that 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992 are all years that bridge the two decades with each successive year more '90s and less '80s than the previous, with 1991 the first year that's '90s leaning being the height of that recession. If you watch compilations of songs from those five years (along with 1987 and 1993), you'll clearly see the shift in culture.

That said, this article from 1991 (the week after Nirvana's Nevermind is released appropriately) is headlined "Say 'Ciao' to Yuppie Materialism":

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2199&dat=19910915&id=qcEzAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a-YFAAAAIBAJ&pg=6797,4348373