Collecting comic books and trading cards seems to have peaked in the early to mid-nineties as well. I remember it being huge around '94, with even my mom being a prospective buyer, but they don’t seem anywhere near as popular now.
Also, Power Ranger-mania around the same time.
Clueless is a great suggestion. Especially the mobile phone scene.
Aside from all that’s been mentioned, I believe it was a time where people were all trying to be ‘Politically-Correct’ with everything. Were Pokeman the 90’s?
[ul][li]Seinfeld[/li][li]Coffee shops opening on every corner[/li][li]Heyday of the comic book shop[/li][li]Achy Breaky Heart, and all the Billy Ray Cyrus-inspired mullets[/li][li]Comedy clubs everywhere[/li][li]Clunky, unreliable cell phones[/li][li]Heroin chic (remember all those skinny models sporting the junkie look?)[/li][li]Friends[/li][li](In Atlanta at least) Thai restaurants opening on every corner not already occupied by a coffee shop[/ul][/li]
And add So I Married an Axe Murderer to the self-parodying 90s movies.
Mambo Number 5
South Park’s Prehistoric Ice Man episode parodies the 90s (but just barely since the episode aired in '99) by making references to Ace of Base and all the plaid clothes that seemed all-the-rage.
Plaid is back dontchaknow?
Arguably, a major plot point of Zoolander was about the transition from the hair-gelled techno superficiality of the eighties to the grungy more-laid-back nineties.
I should have mentioned the whole dot-bomb era, including:
[ul]
[li]The Dow and NASDAQ making almost exponential gains before the big bubble burst.[/li][li]Twentysomethings with little business sense making their own startups.[/li][li]Lavish parties and promotions put on by such companies getting high on their optimistic projections that things could only keep going up.[/li][li]Dot-coms whose product or service was dubious.[/li][li]The day-trader craze when even paupers seemed to have money to invest.[/li][li]Notable dot-bomb failures (pets.com, toys.com, others).[/li][/ul]
For the real pedants, the 2000 election (Yes, 2000, because, you see, the year 2000 was still in the 90’s decade since the decade didn’t really begin until 2001 according to some). The debate over the starting year of the new millennium would be another point to parody, along with debates over what to call the coming decade, and of course, all the year 2000 merchandising.
Decades don’t follow normal rules of chronology. Take the Fifties. The 50s started in 1945 and only ended when JFK got assassinated in 1963. The 60s therefore started in 1963 and ended with Nixon waving goodbye. The 70s were a short decade and ended with the release of the Iranian hostages. The 80s ended with the liberation of Kuwait. The 90s ended on 9/11.
Oh, and there were no 40s, just WWII. And the 30s were the 1928 stock market crash til Pearl Harbor.
NOTE: decades may not apply outside of the United States.
…are all pretty much exactly how the characters in Not another Teen Movie were presented. There was a decent amount of 80s parody, but a good chunk of the 90s in there, too. (Personally, I think that movie is highly underrated, but everyone I tell that to informs me that I am wrong.)
Riot grrrrls - remember them? They were mainly ‘post feminist’ college girls who shaved their heads, had nose piercings, but wore frilly ‘girly girl’ dresses, spelled woman w-o-m-Y-n, worshipped Ani Difranco, and all trumpeted the fact that they were bisexual because they refused to have their sexuality pigeon-holed (even though the vast majority that I met in college ended up in what could only be described in their heyday as “hetero-normative” traditional marriages.)
Quentin Tarentino and the rise of ‘indie movies’ in general is mainly a 90s phenom. Yes, like Ecstasy, there were indie movies before 1990, but the zeitgeist for indie movies was the early to mid 90s.
Phish.
smart drugs.
raves.
virtual reality simulators.
Twin Peaks.
the O.J. Simpson trial (Am I really the first person to think of this?)
Monica-gate.
Gangsta rap fueds (specifically the murders of Tupac Shakur & Biggie Smalls).
the advent of super-store chains like Barnes & Noble and Wal-Mart.
the mainstreaming of gay culture.
Lolapalooza.
the ‘Manchester’ sound.
Britney Spears having a ‘growth spurt’ (located exclusively in her upper chest area.)
Newt Gingrich and the “Republican Revolution” (anybody remember the Contract with America?)
the Hale-Boppians.
David Koresh and the ill-fated standoff.
No. It’s actually a REALLY good movie. I was impressed when I saw NATM.
Not to be confused with the Mmm’Boppers. 
But yeah- for me the 90s ended on 9-11.
And, the world’s never been the same since. It’s weird being a part of a generation that isn’t the now one. =(
That is probably why That '80s Show got the mid-season chloroform. (Either that, or just because it sucked.)
I’m still waiting for That '60s Show. There’s a lot they could do with that.
It parodied 1996, specifically, and very well. I thought of that episode when I opened this thread.
It’s not a movie or a TV show, but the Old Timey 1997 Photo Booth was pretty awesome.
Pogs
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Nickelodeon
Roller Blades
JNCOs
TRL
Kris Kross
Ska(third-wave)
World Music (including “whale songs”)
SNL: Sandler, Farley, Hartman, Rock, Spade, etc… / In Living Color
“Refuse To Lose '95”(for Seattle Mariners fans)
Avalanche v Redwings
Michael Jordan
The Cowboys
MLB & NHL strikes
Jurassic Park
Forrest Gump
Titanic
Jerry Springer and all the other talk show ilk
Sega Genesis v Super Nintendo
Can’t re-edit, but I missed it was suppose to be mockable things. Take off the '95 Mariners(thought the M’s were still pretty mockable in the 90s), Avs, and Ska. Add ravers and electronica.
