The clothes. The vibe. The hair. The music everyone was listening to.

Help me imagine say, what spending a week in 1991 would be like as opposed to today. What I could expect to see, hear, etc. What was on the stereos? Playing in city night clubs? Bars? What would the people have looked like?

I remember being at an anti-war rally because of Operation Desert Storm. I also went to a Neil Young concert a few days after Operation Desert Storm and he had giant peace signs projected on the stage and played a blaring electric guitar distorted instrumental version of "Blowin In the Wind" a la Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner". An obvious, but unspoken reference to Desert Storm. So, suffice to say, the Gulf War was certainly coloring things.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out and the video was all over MTV (1991 was still the monoculture, and MTV the gatekeepers/curators). I didn't see what everybody was so ga-ga about. Nirvana sounded to me like a thousand average bar bands I had seen over the years.

The Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings were all over TV, presided over by a certain Senator Joe Biden who was particularly aggressive to Thomas  regarding accusations of sexual misconduct from Anita Hill.

I remember being at an anti-war rally because of Operation Desert Storm. I also went to a Neil Young concert a few days after Operation Desert Storm and he had giant peace signs projected on the stage and played a blaring electric guitar distorted instrumental version of "Blowin In the Wind" a la Hendrix's "Star Spangled Banner". An obvious, but unspoken reference to Desert Storm. So, suffice to say, the Gulf War was certainly coloring things.

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" came out and the video was all over MTV (1991 was still the monoculture, and MTV the gatekeepers/curators). I didn't see what everybody was so ga-ga about. Nirvana sounded to me like a thousand average bar bands I had seen over the years.

The Clarence Thomas Supreme Court hearings were all over TV, presided over by a certain Senator Joe Biden who was particularly aggressive to Thomas  regarding accusations of sexual misconduct from Anita Hill.


My father (b. 1954) reported he cried when the Gulf War started as he thought it would become another Vietnam.

GHW Bush was boring as all hell

I love the early 90s looks. The layered teased hair women wore.

Also, there was a music called Freestyle in the clubs here in NYC. Very popular among ethnic teens and 20 something’s but massive in the clubs circa 89-93 ish. My ex’s mom was a big club girl in that era and that’s what they played in the clubs she went to

You also had the hair metal scene pretty alive. My sister basically lived at L’Amour, the rock club, and hair was still big; she saw GNR and Metallica in 1992.

I feel a lot of what popular memory tends to remember as “the 90s” doesn’t really start until 1993. The same way the 60s as we call them didn’t really start until JFK died. For me 90-92 are a period of time where there was massive change but, the grungey looks of 1992 would’ve been utterly out of place by say 1999. And that people tend to think more to 95-99 when they think “the 90s.”

My father (b. 1954) reported he cried when the Gulf War started as he thought it would become another Vietnam.

GHW Bush was boring as all hell

I love the early 90s looks. The layered teased hair women wore.

Also, there was a music called Freestyle in the clubs here in NYC. Very popular among ethnic teens and 20 something’s but massive in the clubs circa 89-93 ish. My ex’s mom was a big club girl in that era and that’s what they played in the clubs she went to

You also had the hair metal scene pretty alive. My sister basically lived at L’Amour, the rock club, and hair was still big; she saw GNR and Metallica in 1992.

I feel a lot of what popular memory tends to remember as “the 90s” doesn’t really start until 1993. The same way the 60s as we call them didn’t really start until JFK died. For me 90-92 are a period of time where there was massive change but, the grungey looks of 1992 would’ve been utterly out of place by say 1999. And that people tend to think more to 95-99 when they think “the 90s.”


And if you're talking about NYC, don't forget the early 90s were they heyday of the bizarre "Club Kids", spearheaded by the psychotic (and now deceased) Michael Alig.

The group was notable for its members' flamboyant behavior and outrageous costumes...writer Michael Musto wrote about the Club Kids' "cult of crazy fashion and petulance": "They ... are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers."

The group was also recognized as an artistic and fashion-conscious youth culture. They were a definitive force in New York City's underground club culture at the time. Several Club Kids have made long-lasting contributions to mainstream art and fashion. According to former Club Kid Waltpaper, "The nightclub for me was like a laboratory, a place where you were encouraged and rewarded for experimentation."
-Wikipedia

The above Wikipedia excerpt almost makes it sound like they were an early version of today's internet "influencers", but that's not really the case. Their reach did not go very far. They were basically just a bunch of unstable drug addicts.

Their reign of terror came crashing down in the mid-90s after Alig was arrested for the killing and dismembering of his roommate and fellow club kid Andre "Angel" Melendez.

And if you're talking about NYC, don't forget the early 90s were they heyday of the bizarre "Club Kids", spearheaded by the psychotic (and now deceased) Michael Alig.

The group was notable for its members' flamboyant behavior and outrageous costumes...writer Michael Musto wrote about the Club Kids' "cult of crazy fashion and petulance": "They ... are terminally superficial, have dubious aesthetic values, and are master manipulators, exploiters, and, thank God, partiers."

The group was also recognized as an artistic and fashion-conscious youth culture. They were a definitive force in New York City's underground club culture at the time. Several Club Kids have made long-lasting contributions to mainstream art and fashion. According to former Club Kid Waltpaper, "The nightclub for me was like a laboratory, a place where you were encouraged and rewarded for experimentation."
-Wikipedia

The above Wikipedia excerpt almost makes it sound like they were an early version of today's internet "influencers", but that's not really the case. Their reach did not go very far. They were basically just a bunch of unstable drug addicts.

Their reign of terror came crashing down in the mid-90s after Alig was arrested for the killing and dismembering of his roommate and fellow club kid Andre "Angel" Melendez.


My now deceased ex actually did an interview with him after he got out. Interesting scene.

I really don't know what was going on in 1991. I got out of the service at the end of 1989 after being overseas for about 9 months away from most news/t.v. and moved on a mountain in 1990. I basically have half a channel up there so again, I was away from news/t.v. I guess I could have bought a newspaper. I did have subscriptions to some magazines (like Time) so I got some news that way.

It was during this time that I started collecting VHS movies. (When you don't have t.v...)

It wasn't until 1992 where I moved off the mountain, got cable t.v. and I felt like I was moving back into civilization after being away for a few years.


Cat

I was in the US Army stationed in Germany in 1991.

I was (technically) a preteen. (I turned 11 that year.)

1991 was a good and very dynamic year for music. It was the de facto birth of grunge with Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, but there was a lot more to it. There was a lot of new jack swing, R&B like Boyz II Men, gangsta rap, dance/house like C+C Music Factory, even some metal, monster ballads, and pop like Color Me Badd.

1991 was a good and very dynamic year for music. It was the de facto birth of grunge with Nirvana's "Nevermind" album, but there was a lot more to it. There was a lot of new jack swing, R&B like Boyz II Men, gangsta rap, dance/house like C+C Music Factory, even some metal, monster ballads, and pop like Color Me Badd.



Then you also have the Iraqi War.

Then you also have the Iraqi War.


True, and also a recession, though nothing like the Late 2000's one. 1991 was a year that started off depressing but got better in the later part. As I mentioned in the 1990 thread, my 6th grade year was tough, which was second half of 1990-first half of 1991.