What defined the 90s?

[StarScream64]

Every decade leaves behind its mark for the history books. There were the Roaring 20's. In the 30's there was the Great Depression. The 1940's left WWII to remember it by. In the 50's there was the onset of the great musical performers. The 60's and the 70's was just....whoa. And in the 80's we had Rock 'n Roll and Mr. T, among other things.

So my question to you is, What did the 1990's leave behind in the world of Pop Culture, or even just culture in general? What sticks out in your mind about that era the most?

Was it, by any chance, a certain "Trial of the Century?" Or maybe it was an annoying dance song that just wouldn't go away (I think you know the one).

The 1990's may be over, but that doesn't mean we have to stop thinking about it. So think already! http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[Joe Mama]

The creation of Toonami and Adult Swim. It changed how people think about anime and influenced lot's of other networks, events, ect.

[Chrono1995]

Almost all the rock music from 1992-1997 defined the 90s for me. The radio just isn't nearly as good anymore.

[sandwichman]

We had Dan Quayle. :D

[PRdude]

Televison:
Power Rangers
Digimon
Power Rangers
Digimon
Beavis and Butt-head
Beverly Hills 90210
Seinfeld
Ghostwriter
South Park
Fifteen
Where In The World/Time Is Carmen Sandiego?

Video/computer games:
Super Mario Bros. 3
SNES
Street Fighter II (all versions)
Mortal Kombat
Star Fox
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
N64
Game Boy Color
NBA Jam
Super Metroid
Carmen Sandiego

Music:
Smashing Pumpkins
2 Pac and Notorious B.I.G.
Nirvana
grunge music
Stone Temple Pilots
Nine Inch Nails

Movies:
Jim Carrey
Dumb & Dumber
Batman Forever
South Park
Mortal Kombat

Miscellaneous:
O.J. Simpson
Monica Lewinsky
Bill Clinton

[Djm912]

In my opinion, the 90's left something huge on culture. Apathy.

As for pop culture, we got grunge music from the 90's.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Also, the computer explosion. The mass popularization of the internet.

[Carolina Red]

The Internet, grunge music and the OJ trial will definitely define the 1990s. Don't forget:

Culture:
The Simpsons
Half-Life
Warcraft/Starcraft
Ren and Stimpy
Doom
Day traders
Beanie Babies
The "retro-style" ballpark (Camden Yards, the Ballpark in Arlington, etc.)
Ritalin
Rap-metal (this started late in the decade, i really hope it stops soon :mad: )
Y2K fears/hysteria
I think we all know what song/dance craze you're talking about.....

News:
Internet Dot-Bombs
TWA 800 crash
Mad Cow disease fears (they still happen today, of course)
The JonBenet Ramsey murder and investigation
Various school shootings
The death of Princess Diana
Kurt Cobain's suicide
The 1994 baseball strike
NHL expansion

[JDuncan]

Billy Madison

[Bubblegum Girl]

The birth of Cartoon Network. :D (I'm not 100% sure that's true. :sweat: )

[atf487]

Pavement's "Cut Your Hair" video sums up the 90s in a few ways, especially the fashion.

[Squall]

1. The birth of the Internet (which has already changed the world, and it has only been openly and cheaply available since 1995!)

2. the fall of the Soviet Union and the end of The Cold War

3. the development of cable TV

4. the development of cell phones

5. the Persian Gulf War and its aftermath (the basing of U.S. troops in Saudi Arabia, which enraged a rich and powerful man named Osama Bin Laden and led to... well, you know the rest)

6. the breakup and civil war of Yugoslavia, which led to UN & NATO involvement, and a wave of refugees across Europe that countries like Germany, France, and Italy are still dealing with to this day

7. the establishment of NAFTA, which became the largest free trade zone in the world (Canada-U.S.-Mexico)

8. the rise of video games as a form of entertainment; in 1990, video games were just a child's toy -- by 2000, video games were considered a mature form of entertainment

I think that covers the major historical events of the 1990's. :D

[randomguy]

Flannel shirts and apathy.


In all seriousness, I don't think any single event dominated the 90's... a lot of things happen in a decade, and hundreds of these will have long-lasting effects. That being said, I think some are especially memorable:

-The Rodney King verdict (and ensuing LA riots)
-The collapse of Communism
-The rise of the internet, and proliferation of computers in general
-The evolution of videogames into a huge form of mass entertainment (mainly attributed to Sony's success)
-The beginning of the fall of the dot-coms
-The Columbine shootings
-The OJ Simpson trial
-The establishment of NAFTA
-The Oklahoma City bombing
-The World Trade Center bombing
-The first Persian Gulf war
-Yugoslavia's civil war
-The rise of hip-hop and rap
-The Seattle grunge explosion and collapse
-FOX
-The expanded role of Cable News in journalism
-The Clinton and Lewinsky affair
-The Death of Superman. Okay, just kidding on that one.

That pretty much sums it up as far as I'm concerned. Outside of the internet and the collapse of Communism, I'm not convinced that any of those is as significant as 9/11.

[Boy Wonder]

For me:

1. President change
2. President scandals
3. Dawn of the crappy sequels for Disney
4. WWF at its peak
5. Pokemon
6. NASCAR
7. MLB Strike
8. Bills winning a few straight Super Bowls
9. Jets having a chance in 1998
10. Silence of the Lambs
11. Make I Love the 90s

[DianaGohan]

The creation of Toonami and Adult Swim. It changed how people think about anime and influenced lot's of other networks, events, ect.

That's nice, except Adult Swim came out in 2001, and we're talking about the 1990's. I was going to say something else, but most of the events have already been said, so I'll just back away quietly.

[Tienshin]

8. Bills winning a few straight Super Bowls


The Bills didnt win a single one of those Super Bowls they went 0 for 4... :eek:

End of Cold War
End of Apartheid
Baseball Strike in 94
NBA lockout
Grudge music
Simpsons
Seinfeld
The internet
The Tech Boom
Gulf War
Disentegration of YugoSlavia
OJ
Rodney
Toonami
graduating high school and starting college
93 WTC bombing
Oklahoma bombing

[Joe Mama]

That's nice, except Adult Swim came out in 2001, and we're talking about the 1990's. I was going to say something else, but most of the events have already been said, so I'll just back away quietly.Oh yeah your right http://forums.toonzone.net/images/smilies/rosey.gif

[Dark Spider]

VH1 should do "I love the 90s"...that would be an interesting special that we could all relate too...

Simpsons
Seinfeld
Oklahoma City Bombing
TWA Flight 800
Gulf War
Internet Boom
Various One hit wonders and their songs
Y2k
Cable Boom (1990- A lot of channels... 2000- Channels for every conceivable topic)

I know there are zillions more. Hey, why don't we each add something new to this thread and see if we can define the 90s together. Its better than one person trying to define it by themselves...

[Eddy]

The Simpsons, South Park, Pokemon, Cartoon Network, Toonami, Dragonball Z, Beanie Babies, Sonic the Hedgehog, Super Mario, Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, Sega Genesis, PlayStation, president scandals, rap music :shrug:, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, internet...

I hope they make a "I Love the 90s." Than make a "I Love the Early Thousands...?"

[Carolina Red]

Here's some more:
1996 Olympic bombing
The rise in popularity of the SUV
One of the most critically-panned books in history, "Dutch"
The Onion
Pokemon :shrug: (and its' many imitators...worth another :shrug: )
Cell phones become smaller and more affordable
Deep Blue beats Gary Kasparov in chess
The IRL-CART split and the following rise in popularity of Nascar
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa race for the home run record

[Bryangst]

Defining the 90's:
BILL CLINTON!
Rock Music
The Internet
O.J. Simpson
Power Rangers
Beavis & Butthead
Video Gaming (Big Definition here)
WWF
Columbine

OMG, there is so much more too.

[Avery]

I could name a thousand little events, but I think the three things that the 90's boils down to are the Globalization of *everything*- this includes the internet, as well as world trade; And two very opposing schools of thought- apathy and fear. I could never have a imagined a generation more consumed by apathy than our own. We've become the children of insta-tainment. Our parents, and the generations above us, are becomeing more and more afraid of our world, the world of technology, that it's staining everything that we do- the sudden increase in places like Tranquility Bay, the increased lockdown in schools, fear of this, fear of that. By technology, I don't neccesarily mean the site of a laptop sends them into connipitions- but the apathy that comes along with the increased use of technology for everything does.

[jeffrey 228]

The only thing I can think of in the 90's in the would be the beggining of Anime being shown on TV, and the CPU hits to 1 Ghz, but I was not sure if that was true or not , but I can also say that File Swappers and the MP3s were somthing back in those days as well, but that is the only things I can think of at this time regarding most of thing things said on this topic were already said big time.