What do the 90s mean to you?

[Bacchante]

The topic is pretty self-explanatory I guess. I thought I'd try to get people to say why the 90s were special to them, IF they were What makes the 90s different? Obviously it's hard to put things like the mood and atmosphere of a decade in words, but maybe we can try?

I'm going to start this off, but I must note that I was basically a kid during the 90s-- things would have been different had I been a teen for most of them. This might be why I'm so into the 90s-- I never got to really experience them, so my loss that they're over is even greater... or something

Part of the lyrics to this Matchbox 20 song I just posted made me realize something that definitely makes the 90s stand out for me: "Baby, it's 3am, I must be lonely." I'm not sure this is going to make sense, but to me, the 90s were a time when it was ok to admit that you're weak and lonely, and a time for such things to be said in a warm and quiet way, unlike the emo stuff of the current and previous decade. Songs when people talked about being lonely seemed a lot more... sincere? (Here's one song that I have in mind, Nutshell by Alice in Chains: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1t18suYTiGA). Emotions just seemed real, and deep, and meaningful. I'm sure this is true of many songs from each decade, but this is just one thing that the 90s symbolize in my head-- clearly this is subjective. And of course this depth is evident in certain TV shows from the 90s as well, such as MSCL.

I guess people were less scared to talk and make art about things that are deep, beautiful, and just as painful as they are beautiful... in other words, the things that "really matter", whatever that means. Two of the symbols of the 90s for me (other than MSCL ) were Kurt Cobain and Layne Staley (of Alice in Chains). I think the reason why they died is not just cause of drugs, but because they were true artists, ones who looked deep into the abyss, and couldn't go back. Again, artists like that lived in other decades too (Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd is an excellent and tragic example), but this is just what the 90s are *for me*.

I'd like to hear what other people have to share about their associations and experiences

[emmie]

wow, this certainly will open a can of worms. give me some time to think on it and I'll come back, great topic! newly into my 30s, I've been reminiscing a lot lately, so it's definitely a time in my life that I have been thinking about.

[RCBS]

Good music!

[fapolito]

I was 20 in 1990, and I look back fondly on my "college days," coming of age before grunge music. I was really into the whole "alternative" music scene, but also enjoyed groups like The Sundays and Charlatans UK.

I'm a writer, and I'm actually in the process of looking for a publisher for a novel I've written that is set in-part in 1994. (A 17 year-old kid from 2012 travels back to 1994 and he meets his parents who are now his same age, on the weekend of Kurt Cobain's suicide.) Almost every editor has rejected the novel on the grounds that "kids today" won't get it/care about the '90s... Do you think that's true?

I know that TeenNick is now airing reruns of popular '90s shows... Why would they, if "kids today" wouldn't want to watch?

Thoughts?

[Bacchante]

Do you think that's true?

I think kids today DO care about the 90s. I often see comments from teens under videos of 90s bands (e.g. Pearl Jam) about how jealous they are that the other comments grew up with these bands, while today's teens have to grow up with crappy music.

Keep trying to publish your novel! Good luck!