What were some aspects of life in the 1990s that felt mundane too you that now make you think wow I never thought that would change ?

Many people here call everything post 2000 mundane and boring but that’s because many of them are young and just recently lived it.

For my older members who lived the 90s what were some things that surprised you that has changed drastically from that decade that was so ordinary and everyday that now is viewed as retro nowadays by everyone. Did you ever while your were living it think too yourself that the peak of human technological advancement has been achieved only to be surprised later ?

For example VHS was the go to for watching movies in the 90s and everyday entertainment but now that’s considered old school and people who still invest into that activity are seen as living in the past.

I mainly aim this question for people who don’t have a flowered colored view of the decade and remember it fully but anyone who lived it are welcome.

Oh Absolutely.

Compared to the other decades I have lived through (60s, 70s, 80s), the 1990s were the most mundane decade ever.  If the 60s and 70s can be described as shining stars, the 90s were a black hole.  Music died in the 80s and had never come back. The TV shows (compared to decades previous) were just awful in the 90s.  I cancelled cable TV early that decade.
There was a huge drop off in qualify of films. 
I no longer had any interest in pop culture, it just seemed that entertainment in general just died off somewhere in the 1980s. 

I know this is just my opinion, but the 90s seemed to be an actual lethal injection to music, TV shows and films, even cars (they all started looking the same).  Maybe I felt this because I was older (in my 30s during the 90s) and many of my peers the same age feel the same as I do.

Also, when I was a kid, all men wore suits and hats and the woman wore pretty dresses. By the 90s the adults were all wearing t-shirts and baseball caps, or so it seemed to me.

Oh Absolutely.

Compared to the other decades I have lived through (60s, 70s, 80s), the 1990s were the most mundane decade ever.  If the 60s and 70s can be described as shining stars, the 90s were a black hole.  Music died in the 80s and had never come back. The TV shows (compared to decades previous) were just awful in the 90s.  I cancelled cable TV early that decade.
There was a huge drop off in qualify of films. 
I no longer had any interest in pop culture, it just seemed that entertainment in general just died off somewhere in the 1980s. 

I know this is just my opinion, but the 90s seemed to be an actual lethal injection to music, TV shows and films, even cars (they all started looking the same).  Maybe I felt this because I was older (in my 30s during the 90s) and many of my peers the same age feel the same as I do.

Also, when I was a kid, all men wore suits and hats and the woman wore pretty dresses. By the 90s the adults were all wearing t-shirts and baseball caps, or so it seemed to me.


Ah okay so you were a fully grown adult at the beginning and end of the decade. The 90s to you are what the 2010s felt like to most people. There’s another post that mentions the feeling, like living in a simulation. It sounds like the 90s were like that for you. Your life in that decade sounds pretty mundane and everyday work up and get to work lifestyle.

I think the vibe what I’m looking for is like the movie American beauty or office space we’re the characters are just living they’re everyday lives and have no attitude like they’re in the best decade ever and it’s just another day to them.

It seems to me this sentiment did exist in the decade but it’s long gone now in 2021

As a fully grown adult, the 90s were a relief to me because the dreaded 80s were so clearly over.  Finally. To my tastes, things "settled down" again. Things of the 60s and 70s, such as musical artists, that had been been floundering and held in scorn in the 80s, entered their new phase of appreciation as "timeless". (Let me make clear, this is NOT the same as "nostalgia" as often used here). Things became more 'earthy" again. Things didn't seem so shallow and "ditzy" as they had in the 80s.

As for things I perhaps took for granted that I thought would always be around...although I was not a huge fan of grunge, little did I know it would be the last hurrah of rock music as the dominant musical culture. I simply thought it would always be around. Remember, our rallying cry had always been "rock and roll is here to stay".

As for your question about thinking I was living  "in the peak of human technological advancement", that occurred for me in the 70s. I thought my beloved albums were IT, that we were at the "crown of creation" as Jefferson Airplane had sung. Little did i know those devious little CDs were just around the corner.  Of course, in time they too met their demise. And so it goes.

As a fully grown adult, the 90s were a relief to me because the dreaded 80s were so clearly over.  Finally. To my tastes, things "settled down" again. Things of the 60s and 70s, such as musical artists, that had been been floundering and held in scorn in the 80s, entered their new phase of appreciation as "timeless". (Let me make clear, this is NOT the same as "nostalgia" as often used here). Things became more 'earthy" again. Things didn't seem so shallow and "ditzy" as they had in the 80s.

As for things I perhaps took for granted that I thought would always be around...although I was not a huge fan of grunge, little did I know it would be the last hurrah of rock music as the dominant musical culture. I simply thought it would always be around. Remember, our rallying cry had always been "rock and roll is here to stay".

As for your question about thinking I was living  "in the peak of human technological advancement", that occurred for me in the 70s. I thought my beloved albums were IT, that we were at the "crown of creation" as Jefferson Airplane had sung. Little did i know those devious little CDs were just around the corner.  Of course, in time they too met their demise. And so it goes.


It seems like that’s a sentiment that happens to everyone at some point in they’re life which makes me think, human technological advancement might not be dead as some people on this forum make it out to be

Aside from the obvious pop culture fondness, life can be described just as mundane back then right ? At least for 90s standards

It seems like that’s a sentiment that happens to everyone at some point in they’re life which makes me think, human technological advancement might not be dead as some people on this forum make it out to be


Oh, technology is not dead. Far from it. In fact it's the only thing that IS advancing right now. All the little socially impeded dudebros in Silicon Valley need something to do to earn their salaries and feed their little fascinations. Hence, we have technology for technology's sake, which is never a good thing.

What APPEARS to be dead is any cultural innovation, be it musically, the arts, etc. If people are to be believed here, culture is stuck in an endless loop of things happening, going away, and then coming back as "nostalgia". In fact, people here seem to anticipate and ENJOY these odd cycles.  Unlike the 20th Century, there is no foreword thrust into the new and unexplored.


Aside from the obvious pop culture fondness, life can be described just as mundane back then right ? At least for 90s standards


I'm not sure what you're asking here.

Oh, technology is not dead. Far from it. In fact it's the only thing that IS advancing right now. All the little socially impeded dudebros in Silicon Valley need something to do to earn their salaries and feed their little fascinations. Hence, we have technology for technology's sake, which is never a good thing.

What APPEARS to be dead is any cultural innovation, be it musically, the arts, etc. If people are to be believed here, culture is stuck in an endless loop of things happening, going away, and then coming back as "nostalgia". In fact, people here seem to anticipate and ENJOY these odd cycles.  Unlike the 20th Century, there is no foreword thrust into the new and unexplored.

I'm not sure what you're asking here.


Not sure if I agree with the cultural innovation, music today doesn’t sound it did 20 years ago, music videos definitely  don’t. Besides isn’t more culture just repacked nostalgia under a new name and some modifications here and there. I mean the inspiration for grunge music and 90s hip hop/RnB bad to come from somewhere aswell as the fashion. Rock music in the traditional form not being popular anymore is a sign of cultural progression, Mumble Rap incorporated stuff from grunge and post grunge into its artistry. Artists like XXXtentacion and 6ix9ine are the Marylyn Mansons and Kurt Cobains of this era

What I meant was, was everything in 90s as exciting as some people make it out to be with no existence of mundanity. People on here seem to act like living in the 90s was something out of a movie

Not sure if I agree with the cultural innovation, music today doesn’t sound it did 20 years ago, music videos definitely  don’t. Besides isn’t more culture just repacked nostalgia under a new name and some modifications here and there. I mean the inspiration for grunge music and 90s hip hop/RnB bad to come from somewhere aswell as the fashion.

What I meant was, was everything in 90s as exciting as some people make it out to be with no existence of mundanity. People on here seem to act like living in the 90s was something out of a movie


That is not MY definition. But it seems to be the NEW definition of people who did not live through the innovation and foreword thrust of the 20th Century. I mean, by your definition, we COULD say that "the Beatles were just trying to be their heroes Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, etc". But LOOK what they did with it. The very DEFINITION of "innovation".  They did things that had NEVER been done before, that had NO precedent. Likewise with Bob Dylan, who used the influence of his hero Woody Guthrie plus old blues forms of music (such as the 12 bar) into something COMPLETELY new, that had, in fact, NEVER been done before and that people are STILL writing books about and trying to explain. The Jefferson Airplane sang "we're doing things that haven't got a name yet". And that was true. I feel sad for young people now who think that the definition of "new" is  a modified retrofitting of things that have come before. I lived through a time when new things were without precedent. "We're doing things that haven't got a name yet". So new that it scared some people. Big deal if music videos don't look the same as they did 20 years ago. That's innovation? Sounds like fashion and style to me. They're still music videos. I don't know why anybody even bothers with them. They're old hat no matter what they look like. They're not a new thing.


What I meant was, was everything in 90s as exciting as some people make it out to be with no existence of mundanity. People on here seem to act like living in the 90s was something out of a movie



I don't recall the 90s being particularly "exciting". But that's not a particularly negative thing. There was a return to earthiness and introspection, and I for one was glad to have that after the brain-dead ditziness of the 80s.

That is not MY definition. But it seems to be the NEW definition of people who did not live through the innovation and foreword thrust of the 20th Century. I mean, by your definition, we COULD say that "the Beatles were just trying to be their heroes Elvis Presley, Chuck Berry, etc". But LOOK what they did with it. The very DEFINITION of "innovation".  They did things that had NEVER been done before, that had NO precedent. Likewise with Bob Dylan, who used the influence of his hero Woody Guthrie plus old blues forms of music (such as the 12 bar) into something COMPLETELY new, that had, in fact, NEVER been done before and that people are STILL writing books about and trying to explain. The Jefferson Airplane sang "we're doing things that haven't got a name yet". And that was true. I feel sad for young people now who think that the definition of "new" is  a modified retrofitting of things that have come before. I lived through a time when new things were without precedent. "We're doing things that haven't got a name yet". So new that it scared some people. Big deal if music videos don't look the same as they did 20 years ago. That's innovation? Sounds like fashion and style to me. They're still music videos. I don't know why anybody even bothers with them. They're old hat no matter what they look like. They're not a new thing.


I don't recall the 90s being particularly "exciting". But that's not a particularly negative thing. There was a return to earthiness and introspection, and I for one was glad to have that after the brain-dead ditziness of the 80s.


I mean they definitely have the old rap heads angry and there’s been a ton of backlash towards that music genre from adults everywhere if that what you’re looking for. Some have even questioned the state of rap because of it since going from lyrical to well this or in other words mumble.

I was fully grown throughout the 1990s - it was my "30-something" decade.  As I may have indicated on another post, I hated pop culture then but loved my life.  In the 1990s people still interacted on an in-person basis.  I sincerely miss that.  I was still single for most of the decade (got married in '98) but had a very rich and active social circle.  Plus my career had "taken off" and I was in a good place there, not to mention my finances were in good shape at last.  Life was good.

I'll re-emphasize though - I hated 90s pop culture.  TV shows seemed brazen and stupid.  IMO 90's music was mostly pathetic - 80s music, while not my favorite overall, was far more palatable.  (I did enjoy CCM in the 90s.)  There were some good 90s movies, but I preferred 80s movies (my favorite movie decade).  I wasn't into video games or arcade games so don't ask me about them.  That's about it.

What I meant was, was everything in 90s as exciting as some people make it out to be with no existence of mundanity. People on here seem to act like living in the 90s was something out of a movie

The 90 were mundane, dull, talentless. That hasnt changed in 30 years. Yes, the 90s was like something out of a movie...a very dull and boring movie where you fell asleep after 10 minutes or left the movie theater.  ;D ;D  None of my friends that lived through some 50s, the 60s and the 70s found 90s music/popculture/TV shows/movies interesting.  The only fun thing in the 90s was watching my son grow up.