Serious- Were the 90's in America legitimately idyllic?

[GringoSalado 1,651]

Well, there were no Axe Throwing bars in the 90's.

[TexasMan 10,786]

This thread:

 

 

[HouTex 1,851]

Great thread. Born in 1962 so I basically grew up in the Don Draper/Mad Men culture. My take is that every decade has been pretty damn good to be alive. There was the upheaval of the late 60's that I experienced and I saw the country get through it. the 80's were the a great time to come of age. Early 80's at UT was awesome. Austin was a little wierd but it was a great place to go to college. 90's and 00's were raising kids and and career. I'm less than 10 years from retirement and I'm damn glad to be a Texan. I'll never live in any other state.

[Deej 76,600]

My time at UT was perfectly encapsulated by Linklater's "Slacker". Late '80s, early '90's FTW.

[NorthLoop 14,122]

2 hours ago, HouTex said:

Great thread. Born in 1962 so I basically grew up in the Don Draper/Mad Men culture. My take is that every decade has been pretty damn good to be alive. There was the upheaval of the late 60's that I experienced and I saw the country get through it. the 80's were the a great time to come of age. Early 80's at UT was awesome. Austin was a little wierd but it was a great place to go to college. 90's and 00's were raising kids and and career. I'm less than 10 years from retirement and I'm damn glad to be a Texan. I'll never live in any other state.

So when you were a toddler you were drinking Old Fashioneds and pinching your secretary's ass, and you were out protesting and hitting the bong by 3rd grade? 

[Loco 3,752]

Sorry Born in 1970...  Late 70's/80's were much better times than the 90's.   I felt like the 90's was a re-run of the late 60's early 70's at least style wise.   From 79' to 89' were fucking magical...  kids could be kids and free from constant surveillance.  I had a very good 90's but nothing could compare to the previous decade.

[utee94 15,747]

90s were all full of depressing grunge music and angry suburban whiteboy rap.   

80s much better, music was about partying and having fun.  

The End.

[TexasMan 10,786]

6 minutes ago, utee94 said:

90s were all full of depressing grunge music and angry suburban whiteboy rap.   

 

[SuingToGetAMessageBoard? 3,861]

11 minutes ago, utee94 said:

90s were all full of depressing grunge music and angry suburban whiteboy rap.   

80s much better, music was about partying and having fun.  

The End.

The music was pretty bad.  Grunge did its thing, then a grab bag of embarrassments including swing, DMB, frosty tips boy bands, Smash Mouth.  

[Loco 3,752]

1 minute ago, SuingToGetAMessageBoard? said:

The music was pretty bad.  Grunge did its thing, then a grab bag of embarrassments including swing, DMB, frosty tips boy bands, Smash Mouth.  

Don't forget the Spin Doctors... the 90's greatest band

[Buzzrock 14,880]

Don't forget the Spin Doctors... the 90's greatest band

Supplanted in the 2000’s by Linkin Park.

[Buzzrock 14,880]

You’re describing “nostalgia” and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that but think about your age at the time. I’m a decade older than you and for me, I’ll take the 80’s. But that’s my paradigm. It’s easy to romanticize your childhood and teenage years if you had a relatively good life.
 

[TexasMan 10,786]

15 minutes ago, Loco said:

Don't forget the Spin Doctors... the 90's greatest band

Are you disparaging the great name of the Spin Doctors? Well... just go ahead now.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

7 hours ago, Nueces River Rat said:

Big hair products companies loved it. I mean grocery stores went from a small section on an aisle of hair products to entire aisle or two of sprays, gels, mousse and shampoos. And the thing is they capitalized with selling that stuff to guys to because movies like Top Gun and Rocky Iv brought on the spiky short hair look and we needed gel and mousse . Yea I was in that camp. Ray ban loved it too.

well, I was talking about the girls big hair, but hey, you go girl.....

[El Diablo 4,232]

The pro wrasslin' in the 90's was pretty sweet, I'll give 'em that. 

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

I don't know if the 90s were perfect or what, but they were perfect for me.  being born in 1976 meant that the 90s covered all of high school and college for me.  I think for most people those are the most memorable and formative years, and it was no different for me.  Old enough to remember and understand much of what was happening in the world, young enough not to care too much.  My brother was at UT from 91-95 and that was my first up close experience with Austin, then when I got there in 95 it was still more or less the same.  There was plenty of stuff that happened in the 90s that was fucked up, most of which has already been covered.  One of the worst things to happen which has come back into popular culture is high waisted mom jeans. 

[ImissWallyPryor 9,045]

no

[South Austin 52,174]

7 hours ago, Patricio Swayze said:

One of the worst things to happen which has come back into popular culture is high waisted mom jeans. 

Seriously, the fuck up with that? For the past few years at ACL Music Festival, they’re all over the place. 

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

Seriously, the fuck up with that? For the past few years at ACL Music Festival, they’re all over the place. 

I blame the French.  Those jeans were all over France a couple years a go, but they were being worn by 26 year old, smoking hot, 6' tall, French chicks.

[HouTex 1,851]

So when you were a toddler you were drinking Old Fashioneds and pinching your secretary's ass, and you were out protesting and hitting the bong by 3rd grade? 

I wasn't but the adults were. Canadian Club whiskey was also heavily consumed. The home life in the first couple of seasons of MM was pretty much my experience.

[Guest Lobo]

3 hours ago, South Austin said:

Seriously, the fuck up with that? For the past few years at ACL Music Festival, they’re all over the place. 

Yeah, but the good part about the high waisted jean, was they'd cut off the legs to make jorts or just buy 'em that way, and it gave us the underbutt craze of '16-'19.  I've been a big fan.  But overall, the just high-waisted jean that's just regular jeans and not even that snug...yeah that trend can go eat a bag of shit.  

I try to tell the assman of today that he is living in a golden age.  Aside from a few bullshit micro-trends, the Ass has never had it so great.  Everything from underwear to workout shorts to jeans to dresses, to of course-our high priestess:  The Yoga Pant.  It's all been designed to accentuate/frame the ass.  And you can't walk into a pilates studio, fitness center, gym, or just group of women in park that doesn't offer a dozen classes dedicated to the Ass.  There are even diets now that promise to put more calories in your ass.  It's controversial, but the ass implants are out there for the taking.  There are sculpting creams, balms, and an otherwise optimistic vibe out there.  So that's one thing I'll take over the 1990's any day of the year.  The only way you got a good look at an ass in high school because the bikini season in Chicago lasted about 3 weeks, was if she was wearing tight black leggings with a flannel shirt over them.  And she happened to adjust her shirt.  Savage time to be alive, I tell you.  

[DaysOff 7,855]

I wasn't but the adults were. Canadian Club whiskey was also heavily consumed. The home life in the first couple of seasons of MM was pretty much my experience.

CC and sprite. Sneaking a snip from my Mother's glass when nobody was watching. 70s and 80s ruled. 90s suckes ass Derka.

[52-80 19,114]

2 hours ago, Lobo said:

Yeah, but the good part about the high waisted jean, was they'd cut off the legs to make jorts or just buy 'em that way, and it gave us the underbutt craze of '16-'19.  I've been a big fan.  But overall, the just high-waisted jean that's just regular jeans and not even that snug...yeah that trend can go eat a bag of shit.  

I try to tell the assman of today that he is living in a golden age.  Aside from a few bullshit micro-trends, the Ass has never had it so great.  Everything from underwear to workout shorts to jeans to dresses, to of course-our high priestess:  The Yoga Pant.  It's all been designed to accentuate/frame the ass.  And you can't walk into a pilates studio, fitness center, gym, or just group of women in park that doesn't offer a dozen classes dedicated to the Ass.  There are even diets now that promise to put more calories in your ass.  It's controversial, but the ass implants are out there for the taking.  There are sculpting creams, balms, and an otherwise optimistic vibe out there.  So that's one thing I'll take over the 1990's any day of the year.  The only way you got a good look at an ass in high school because the bikini season in Chicago lasted about 3 weeks, was if she was wearing tight black leggings with a flannel shirt over them.  And she happened to adjust her shirt.  Savage time to be alive, I tell you.  

^ listen to this guy, he's pre-cum

[The University 851]

hah. fuck no. just b/c a kid figures out he can twiddle his diddle doesn't make that era idyllic. 

[F250 28,717]

20 hours ago, Deej said:

My time at UT was perfectly encapsulated by Linklater's "Slacker". Late '80s, early '90's FTW.

I was several years later and the culture was similar but things clearly changed by '97.

 

[Deej 76,600]

The Drag really is lacking, these days.

[Walden Ponderer 12,639]

[Guest Lobo]

Actually, this generation are fucking first-person shooter junkies.  They'd load up on ammo like fucking morons, not realizing you can make it through the game with 50 rounds, 100 at most.  What you need to do is keep yourself some tradable dry goods and travel equipment.  

[Deej 76,600]

The 90's. David McWilliams and John Mackovic. They sucked.

[Bullneck 19,028]

On 5/25/2019 at 7:20 AM, Goo Punch said:

I'll try and keep this short, and then open the floor to all opinions. For me, the 90's were the 50's of the latter 20th century- it was post- Cold War, pre 9/11 USA; everything was bright, and sunny, and neon, and 7th Heaven, and Tool Time, and Disney, and Nickelodeon, and Friends, and Barenaked Ladies, and so on and so forth. It was a time where the vibe of the country was positive and wholesome. Relatively speaking anyway.

For example-  our movies/TV were far more innocent and far less bloody and/or graphic; our pop music was dominated by Mickey Mouse Club alumni and was more wholesome and less overtly sexual or violent or crude; TV was dominated by family sitcoms which espoused family values and always had a happy ending; there was far less blood, and guts, and violence, and sex, and rape, and drugs than there is today, and when they did show up in media it was not so...horrifyingly accurate, let's say. In the 90's pop culture was largely more wholesome than it has been in previous/following decades. It really was a different time in my opinion.

So- what's your opinion? For me, post- Cold War, pre- 9/11 America was totally different from any other time since I've been alive. For me it was a more wholesome, innocent, idyllic, optimistic time than any other decade I've been alive. No internet, no smart phones, kids riding their bikes and being outside all day, kids having more independence to be out on their own all day, no 24/7 news cycle dominated by school shootings and police-on-minority- violence, kids and parents both having less fear of the world around them, and just an overbearing sense of security, and wholeness, if not prosperity, something that imo we see much less of today. But then again I'm only 34 years old, going on 35. I'd be interested to hear the perspective of those both older and younger than I am. And I now cede the floor to them. 

Let me put it this way: I remember the summer of 2001 watching Ivanisovic beat Patrick Rafter in the Wimbledon final and being a little late for work.  One of the sponsors -- Mercedes -- was playing a commercial using a song by Geggy Tah called "Whoever You Are."  Being late for work was the only big deal for me back then.  

In August of 2001 my fiancee and I went to the US Open.  A souvenir cup I bought on that trip sits next to me right now.  IIRC it used to say (before the dishwasher scrubbed it off) "U.S. Open 27 August to 9 September."  I think Lleyton Hewitt and Serena were the winners.  Usually they hang around a day or two and get their picture taken at the top of some building, which I think is the Top of the Rock. 

 

Yes, more peaceful days.

[South Austin 52,174]

17 hours ago, Deej said:

The Drag really is lacking, these days.

Worth posting again.

 

[Patricio Swayze 17,058]

I posted that on the old site. What a trip. Like many of y’all, I went to so many shows at Liberty Lunch.



I probably cooked a bunch of cheese steaks for y’all at texadelphia on the drag.

[South Austin 52,174]

That's ridiculous.  $5 or $7 to see a great band at Liberty Lunch.  I know it's over 20 years ago, but those prices still make my jaw drop.

[NotActuallyALonghorn 4,968]

16 hours ago, Lobo said:

Actually, this generation are fucking first-person shooter junkies.  They'd load up on ammo like fucking morons, not realizing you can make it through the game with 50 rounds, 100 at most.  What you need to do is keep yourself some tradable dry goods and travel equipment.  

Nah, you gotta have enough ammo to do this.

imgur

[Deej 76,600]

And the old Austin Opera House...

[Armybrat 40,755]

23 hours ago, HouTex said:

I wasn't but the adults were. Canadian Club whiskey was also heavily consumed. The home life in the first couple of seasons of MM was pretty much my experience.

While matriculating in my college years, I would periodically sell a pint to the Austin blood bank for $5 on a Friday afternoon. That would buy a fifth of Four Roses ($3.99) and a gallon glass jug of Coca-cola (.99) for the weekend.  Good times.

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

2 hours ago, South Austin said:

That's ridiculous.  $5 or $7 to see a great band at Liberty Lunch.  I know it's over 20 years ago, but those prices still make my jaw drop.

Jade Bird opened for Hozier at ACL Live back in March. Tickets were like $100 right off the bat. Now I love Jade Bird and I think Hozier, while not my cup of tea, is a fantastically talented dude. And, I get that seating @ Moody is limited.

But that price struck me as astronomical given the profile of those artists and given what it cost to see up and coming artists when I was 20. 

[HouTex 1,851]

57 minutes ago, Armybrat said:

While matriculating in my college years, I would periodically sell a pint to the Austin blood bank for $5 on a Friday afternoon. That would buy a fifth of Four Roses ($3.99) and a gallon glass jug of Coca-cola (.99) for the weekend.  Good times.

In the early 80's the beer barns/C-stores around west campus would sell a case of Pearl beer for something like $3.99.  It was packaged in a sturdy cardboard suitcase-like container.  Just about every day that there wasn't a keg on tap, some guy would show up at the house carrying his suitcase of Pearl.

[Jiggy-Z 3,432]

On 5/25/2019 at 9:08 AM, Nueces River Rat said:

I graduated from high school in 90 and undergrad in 95.   Yea I farted around and changed majors and all the shit for a year and we didn't have all the advanced/dual credit shit kids have today.   I guess I got a good view on both the 80's and 90's vs some who might have graduated from high school later in the decade who might have been a little immature to make good observations about the 80's.  Of course I think the 80's were great because no one really gave a shit about your politics or anything else.  You could agree to disagree and still be friends.  Thanks Facebook and Twitter for helping to totally fuck that up today.  

Anyhow I guess the 90's look like good times now.   The Soviet Union was gone.   The now internet/computer thing was kicking into high gear later in in the decade.   The GOP gained strength on local through Federal offices, but compared to the cluster fuck in DC now, both parties worked together and got some significant stuff done.   On the downside, the seeds for tabloid style Journalism began to sprout thanks to the TV trials noted above, etc.   

BUT I will say the 90's were sort of like the roaring 20's and the Ike years of the 50's where we all thought things were humming along and then boom shit hit the fan the next decade.   The 20's the mojo was a rising stock market,  isolationism because we just fought a bloody war in Europe and everything was good until the meltdown on Wall Street which helped start the Great Depression which really didn't end until WWII.   The 50's we were all on the same page and were beginning to face and try to reconcile some Civil Rights issues and it was carrying over into the 60's.  Then JFK got shot and Vietnam occurred and those baby boomer who were going through their teens during the 50's and early 60's went ape shit and the mid to the late 60's into the 70's were total chaos with Watergate as icing on the cake.  I mean people talk about chaos now, talk to your parents or grandparents about that era and you might think today is just a walk in the park.

The 90's, the seeds of 9/11 were being planted starting with the first attempt at bombing the WTC and a few other things we deferred on dealing with OBL and his organization.   Same thing with what led to the financial crisis in 2008.   Bank regulations were changed to allow pretty much anyone who could sign their name to borrow for a new home and a few other things in the investment side which came back to bite (see Bears Stearns).  

Funny thing now looking back after writing this is seems like when we feel like things are a total mess, we actually were OK and look back at those time being better.   Everyone thought during the 80's we were going to blow up the world with the Soviet Union.  Now my kids think the decade I grew up in was pretty bad ass.  Go figure but I kind of agree.  I think one thing they like is we grew up without the instant communication thing.

 

I will also add this about the 1920's:  Of course we all know the Great Depression did not really begin with the October stock market crash-there had to have been over speculation  for it to have occurred in the first place. But putting that aside, there was really no break for many Americans going all the way back to WWI.  Following the war much of the midwest and other parts of the country were already in severe drought.  Farmers did what Wall Street did and over financed and doubled down on dubious agricultural practices that depleted their land at an even faster rate in the absence of normal rainfall.  By the time of the 1929 crash, many had been in a depression for at least 7 years.  And let us not forget that pesky Spanish Flu that hit right after the war and before the drought.

[hayden_horn 11,360]

yeah, i came of age in the 90s and it was legit great, but i had successful parents, good schools, and got into texas the last year before they went top 10%. had i graduated a year later, it would have been community college and who knows what the fuck. 

it was a different time, for sure.

we went from shitty hair metal to pantera and metallica ruling. we had grunge with pearl jam and nirvana. 

i graduated in 2000, my dad died that year during spring break of my senior year,  the dotcom bubble burst, so i entered a fucking shitty job environment, got laid off on 9-10-01, and the next day was 9-11, of course and everything changed. 

[RDCanecutter 26,343]

The 90s were the last great decade of getting hired on a handshake. Now it's like a fucking parole board meeting with wanna-be gurus asking things like "If you were a character in a work of fiction, who would it be and why?"

(I'd be a guy in a book I'm writing where they look at his portfolio, say "hey he's pretty good at this job," then they hire him on a handshake without this CYA HR ritual.)

One fond memory of the 90s was going to Mexico right after they changed to the New Peso, 3 to a dollar. I saved my money so I could travel halfway decent for two weeks. So I get to the border, and it's not 3 to a dollar, it's 7. The New Peso had tanked but prices hadn't caught up. I was rich. It was actually hard to spend it all.  It must have been devastating for the 100 million people who lived there, but on the other hand, I personally had a good time.

[next2naus 436]

On 5/25/2019 at 7:20 AM, Goo Punch said:

For example-  our movies/TV were far more innocent and far less bloody and/or graphic; our pop music was dominated by Mickey Mouse Club alumni and was more wholesome and less overtly sexual or violent or crude; TV was dominated by family sitcoms which espoused family values and always had a happy ending; there was far less blood, and guts, and violence, and sex, and rape, and drugs than there is today, and when they did show up in media it was not so.

You're suffering from nostalgia

Examples to oppose your comments.

"Date Rape" by Sublime released 1992

"In Living Color" on Fox, hardly wholesome rans from 90-94

"Reservoir Dogs" 1992

Mickey Mouse Club & Nick alums were hardly wholesome or hardly stayed that way. I'm looking at you Britney and Aaron Carter

[Jiggy-Z 3,432]

I was born in 1967, so by the time the 80's arrived, I could not really claim to have been a child of the 80's with play and all of that running around type of kid stuff.  The 70's were great for that.

But I entered Jr. High in 1979 and finished up the decade with a Masters from UT in 1990.  Even in the early 80's I got the impression that the 80's wanted nothing to do with the 60s or 70s.  Almost overnight, bell bottoms and long unkept hair were gone.  Gone also were the cause folk songs with flute, mandolin, and other unusual instrumentation.  Rock with a driving beat was in.

Economically, I think we were all tired of social experiments that had not worked and were worn by the vulnerability that multiple gas shortages revealed.  Everyone wanted to just concentrate on themselves.

Of course, this was coming from the top end of the working class, not from some teenager like me.  But I got the signal loud and clear.  The 80s got pretty stale for me in a hurry.  By 1986 I was growing my hair long and living the dream until I knocked up my girlfriend and became a dad at 21-so then it was right back to being 80's man.

To me the 90's were very cool.  I have mentioned my disdain for the boomer culture on many posts before.  I had no idea what "boomer culture" was back in 1990 but I could see it as young workforce employee.  Practices were stale, institutions were worn out from squeezing out high volume, and I could tell things needed to change.  The 90s to me were when we threw off a lot of dead weight from 50's-80s and finally got around to reevaluating everything based not on past practices but on what would work or not based on its own merit.

[Onboard 2.0 9,083]

11 minutes ago, Jiggy-Z said:

I was born in 1967, so by the time the 80's arrived, I could not really claim to have been a child of the 80's with play and all of that running around type of kid stuff.  The 70's were great for that.

But I entered Jr. High in 1979 and finished up the decade with a Masters from UT in 1990.  Even in the early 80's I got the impression that the 80's wanted nothing to do with the 60s or 70s.  Almost overnight, bell bottoms and long unkept hair were gone.  Gone also were the cause folk songs with flute, mandolin, and other unusual instrumentation.  Rock with a driving beat was in.

Economically, I think we were all tired of social experiments that had not worked and were worn by the vulnerability that multiple gas shortages revealed.  Everyone wanted to just concentrate on themselves.

Of course, this was coming from the top end of the working class, not from some teenager like me.  But I got the signal loud and clear.  The 80s got pretty stale for me in a hurry.  By 1986 I was growing my hair long and living the dream until I knocked up my girlfriend and became a dad at 21-so then it was right back to being 80's man.

To me the 90's were very cool.  I have mentioned my disdain for the boomer culture on many posts before.  I had no idea what "boomer culture" was back in 1990 but I could see it as young workforce employee.  Practices were stale, institutions were worn out from squeezing out high volume, and I could tell things needed to change.  The 90s to me were when we threw off a lot of dead weight from 50's-80s and finally got around to reevaluating everything based not on past practices but on what would work or not based on its own merit.

Well the interweb helped that movement, making the world a bit smaller.  It was time for a shift in society by the 90's.. and it's come with a vengeance.

 

Good synopsis..

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

<nah that's too rabbit hole>

 

Edited May 29, 2019 by SwanderedTalent

[CHEF DIESEL 126]

In the mid-90s six packs of Keystone light tallboys were $3.25 including tax, kegs of Natty Light were $35 out the door and gas was about a dollar a gallon. I remember alumni weekends and the old guys from the 70s-80s always talked about how beer was even cheaper and flowed like water.

I'm sure 20 years from now these current days will be viewed as the salad days too. Ultra low unemployment, strong economy and fairly low cost of living here in Texas compared to elsewhere. I was just in West Texas and the Panhandle this past weekend and seems like all the small towns out there are doing well in the oil patch. I'm sure that will bust down the road but everyone seems to be on their high horse at the moment.

[High Plains Drifter 10,984]

Late 70s to early 80's were my golden years. Lived in a mobile home out in Hudson Bend on a ten acre piece of land my step dad bought when he retired from the military. Most of it was uncleared cedar and oak scrub. Walked down to the lake everyday for swimming and fishing. Dogs would tag along.

There were no jet skis, no party barges, none of that shit on the lake back then. Just a huge lake with hardly anybody on it and it seemed like we had it all to ourselves. After HS (early 80's), parents sold the land for a huge payday , and bought a house with an actual foundation in S. Austin. (They later sold that house for another huge payday and bought land in Kyle. Whenever she wants, my mother will be able to sell that for a huge yet another huge payday.)

Looking back, it was redneck hell, but to a kid/teen it was awesome. Now its probably a different kind of hell.

[JimmyHoffa 1,188]

In the 90's women wore baggy jeans and flannels. Today they wear yoga pants. Advantage today. 

[SwanderedTalent 5,761]

4 minutes ago, JimmyHoffa said:

In the 90's women wore baggy jeans and flannels. Today they wear yoga pants. Advantage today. 

I went to grad school @ McCombs almost a decade after I graduated, so this would have been 2004-2006. Could not fucking believe how much differently the girls dressed than when I was an undergrad. It was amazing. 

[Goofyboy 3,234]

In the 90's women wore baggy jeans and flannels. Today they wear yoga pants. Advantage today. 

They also wore baby doll dresses and doc martins.