This may be very subjective style question especially on when you were born or if you may have some bias toward a part of the decade!

I enjoyed every minute of the 1990s!

I enjoyed every minute of the 1990s!

So did I! (Of course, there were some not-so-good moments in my life, but overall the ten-year span was enjoyable for me!)

Personally, the late 90's was most exciting for me.  Why?  Because in 1998 I got married!  :-*

Seriously the 90's decade was overall good for me.  I spent the entire decade as a 30-something...

I miss the 1990s!

The entire decade was good.

As a 1988 born: 1992-1995. But 1997-1999 were good for me, too.
The late 90s toys were worse than the early 90s toys though: Furby, Tamagotchi, etc.
Surprisingly, it's those toys that are now mostly remembered. 8-P

I say the early 90s.

Pop music..... I enjoyed the very early 90s, which was like a holdover from the 80s but a lighter feel.  Eurodance was mainstream too.  Then suddenly alternative got big and music got dark.  Nirvana, Oasis, Green Day, 3rd Eye Blind, Goo Goo Dolls... to me it sort of lightened up through the decade but just still sounded dark and to me mostly sounded the same.  The 80s sounded mostly the same too but more upbeat.

TV.... The early 90s still had quite a few good 80s family shows.  But I think Seinfeld and Friends pretty much dominated the 90s, paving the way for the future.  I still don't like most of what's on TV.

Country music.... this is what I enjoyed most about the 90s.  It got very upbeat and some amazing musicians were flexing their muscles.  Garth Brooks and a few others started in 1989, along with similar acts that took over, and the change happened very quickly.

As a 1988 born: 1992-1995. But 1997-1999 were good for me, too.
The late 90s toys were worse than the early 90s toys though: Furby, Tamagotchi, etc.
Surprisingly, it's those toys that are now mostly remembered. 8-P


I agree that toys in the late '90s feel cheaper than those of the '80s/early '90s, likely because more were made in the PRC as opposed to Japan, Taiwan, or Hong Kong. And a 1985er here certainly agrees having witnessed the decade's childhood trends firsthand from the beginning with TMNT and the Game Boy to the end with Pokemon and Digimon.

But I'd agree with wagonman that the Bush 41 years were the most interesting part of the decade. In addition to the culture, you still had the Cold War effect coming to an end, while to offline world was still king since the Internet wasn't yet mainstream. I even agree that the country music was the best since the '50s/'60s. Don't forget rock's hair bands were still around, and although we had a short war in the Gulf and a brief recession, it was gone by the end of 1992. Movies still had that cheesy, fun vibe too, and video games, while simple, were really fun and addictive with some fondly remembered Mario (SMB3 and SMW) and Sonic the Hedgehog games that remain classics today. And I agree with the TV as that's my favorite part of the decade; you still had Johnny Carson (at least until May 1992), MTV still focused on music, Nickelodeon had its best variety (more than just the first three Nicktoons that so many think that's all early '90s Nick was and not shows like Hey Dude, Fifteen, Welcome Freshman, Salute Your Shorts, Roundhouse, Clarissa Explains It All, and all those game shows), and daytime TV had talk shows that weren't trashy and more soap operas. 

^This! Clarissa looks typical of the first half of the 1990s. The vibes of Clarissa are totally different than the ones in Sabrina, also staring MJH, so it's easy to compare the two. The early 90's had the crazier fashion, while things got more somber and darker circa 1994-5. Still, in Europe, even 1994 was quite "neon". It was like the crazyness of the 80s meets the 70s hippy era (peace signs were huge!), to create a brand new era.

The early 90's as I remember them were somewhat similar to the 80s in the crazy colors and neon. Not as OTT neon clothes as usually portrayed in the media as those were big, but mostly with celebrities. Pedestrian versions were more toned down. Although I remember that sneakers with flashing lights were big for a while.  :) Also – triangles or lightning bolts everywhere! Even books and all kinds of brochures had triangles, bolts or/and something in neon green/purple. This combo was big. I remember two parts of accounting type books, one had a bright green bar in the top cover, the other was purple. Other combos were purple + yellow or orange. Also mauve + yellow or orange; etc.

Many subcompact cars in Europe had splash graphics, triangles, lines and the likes. ;) Those were very common, apparently starting somewhere in 1989 but disappeared circa 1995. Since 1996, you deffinitely no longer saw them on special/limited editions:
http://www.auto-pub.net/ASL/photos_Citroen/MAJ_fev_2010/AX_Salsa_1.jpg

Even the Germans did it: http://www.auto-pub.net/ASL/photos_VW/MAJ_aout_10/VW_Polo_Solo_2.jpg

There were lots of neon signs and lights everywhere still, similar to the 80’s. Except in the early 1990’s neon signs were mostly purple, green or pink. I remember most bars here had them in those colors, while their windows were usually smoked black. It seems that in the 80’s neon signs were more often red, blue or, less commonly, pink. Purple was not that big, maybe it started getting bigger in the very late 80’s like 1989. Looking back, the first half of the 90s seems more colorful to me, despite the lack of teen pop.

1998-99. Lived in London. My friend had a flat in Notting Hill. I loved it.

I feel like the late 90s are something similar to what we all wanted from the very start of the 90s. So, I’m going to go with the late 90s.

1998-99. Lived in London. My friend had a flat in Notting Hill. I loved it.
I was around then that the movie "Notting Hill" was being shot on location, did you catch any of it?

Like the OP was saying this is a subjective style question.

Some of the older and younger Generation Xers would say there were no exciting parts of the 1990s. Other older and younger Generation Xers might like the early 90s over the periods that came after them. Different strokes for different folks. It depends on our experiences from the 90s.

I’ll take the early 90s over today anytime because all of the things that I loved from the 80s was still within my reach.

Millennials born in the late 80s might prefer the mid and late 90s to the early 90s because those are the periods that are not so fuzzy to them when they look back on the 90s.

I selected the late 90s because the late 90s what most Americans wanted from the start of the 90s.

1995-1998

1995 to 1998, with the peak at late 1997 to the first 2/3 of 1998.

the late 90s because together with the early 90s it stood out the most however contra to the early 90s its styles werent ugly or silly and its styles looked cooler and aged better

it was also an exciting time due to the explosion of the internet and 3D gaming (yes playstation had been around since 95 but it didnt become big until the late 90s and even then it was overshadowed by the Nintendo 64)

now of course older people would claim that the early 90s was more exciting due to the fall of communism, personally i feel the most connected the mid 90s the most because its from that era that i cherish my best childhood memories

everything except for the mid 90s obviously

Many subcompact cars in Europe had splash graphics, triangles, lines and the likes. ;) Those were very common, apparently starting somewhere in 1989 but disappeared circa 1995. Since 1996, you deffinitely no longer saw them on special/limited editions:


I have a 91 Geo Tracker which is white with the pink splash graphics too.

I only really remember 1999 so imma have to go with that :P

The late 90s (1997-1999)

1990 - 1995. Although 1999 was a good year too, but mostly 'cause I was excited for the whole turn of the century thing. I remember jamming to Prince's 1999 on 31st December.

Late 90s people were happy and optimistic about the year 2000!