# How long before '90s nostalgia hits the scene? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 17, 2011, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315 "2011-07-17T03:01:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![KellyCriterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b3f665/32.png) [@KellyCriterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyCriterion)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/61 "2011-07-19T05:06:28Z")
Ray William Johnson and DeStorm take you [Back to the 90s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xrU5BxaPWo). ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/62 "2011-07-19T10:34:42Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The 1990s was also when the environmentalist movement really got going. Looked at one way, an instance of gloom-and-doom – but of a form people believed they could **do** something about. That, wise or foolish, is optimism. I would argue it was in the '80s that that happened, maybe even earlier. It seems to me there was, if anything, a bit of a lull in environmentalism during the '90s. CFCs, Chernobyl etc all brought environmentalism to the fore in the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/63 "2011-07-19T13:24:33Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I agree with that, but I do think that the music to actually get played on the top-ten radio stations was better in the '90s than the stuff in the '00s. Yeah, that’s the difference. Most of the time you have to seek out good music, and 99% of the stuff being foisted onto the public on the radio doesn’t qualify. But occasionally good music bubbles up from the bottom and forces its way onto the airwaves almost in spite of corporate goons. And that happened in a big way in the early 90s. By the late 90s that was all over and we were back to corporate crap. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/64 "2011-07-19T13:29:52Z")
> [@An\_Gadai](#): > > I would argue it was in the '80s that that happened, maybe even earlier. It seems to me there was, if anything, a bit of a lull in environmentalism during the '90s. CFCs, Chernobyl etc all brought environmentalism to the fore in the '80s. No, I think BG is right. I particularly remember [Earth Day 1990](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day#Earth_Day_20_and_Earth_Day_1990) (the 20th anniversary of the original) really giving a kick start to recycling efforts: > [@](#): > > Mobilizing 200 million people in 141 countries and lifting the status of environmental issues onto the world stage, Earth Day activities in 1990 gave a huge boost to recycling efforts worldwide and helped pave the way for the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. Unlike the first Earth Day in 1970, this 20th Anniversary was waged with stronger marketing tools, greater access to television and radio, and multimillion-dollar budgets. After that, you began to see large scale recycling of paper and glass particularly, where that hadn’t been the norm before. (At least in the US.) ---
**Author:** ![Staggerlee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/staggerlee/32/3134_2.png) [@Staggerlee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Staggerlee)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/65 "2011-07-19T14:12:22Z")
> [@Sparky812](#): > > …But on the other hand, 70’s music seemed to return to the forefront. There was the resurgence of country music, a folk/hippy revival, a disco revival, and a punk revival, a ska revival, and a metal revival by the end of the decade. > Not to mention, retro-fashion or movies such as Austin Powers, Dazed and Confused or That 70s Show. > The 90s were arguably a nostalgic echo of the 70s… This is the weird thing about nostalgia - from '95 to '98 I was at university, and convinced that the rate at which nostalgia was catching up with contemporary culture meant that at some point in the near future the two would collide! In the UK they had 70s-theme clubs called ‘Flares’ in the 90s, which I believe were converted into 80s-theme clubs called ‘Reflex’ in the 00s. And while the 90s had new cultural stuff to offer - dance music, ‘Indie’, grunge - the fact that the nostalgia bandwagon was already rolling means that any echo of the 90s will always be somewhat ‘an echo of an echo’. With any luck, discovery of viable nuclear fusion techniques and the naotechnology revolution will mean we can embrace a shiny new future, and stop this never-ending trip down memory lane. Or would that just be 50s nostalgia? ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/66 "2011-07-19T14:40:52Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > No, I think BG is right. I particularly remember [Earth Day 1990](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day#Earth_Day_20_and_Earth_Day_1990) (the 20th anniversary of the original) really giving a kick start to recycling efforts: And it wouldn’t have happened if environmental issues weren’t already on the agenda prior to that, in the 1980’s. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/67 "2011-07-19T16:46:47Z")
> [@Staggerlee](#): > > This is the weird thing about nostalgia - from '95 to '98 I was at university, and convinced that the rate at which nostalgia was catching up with contemporary culture meant that at some point in the near future the two would collide! In the UK they had 70s-theme clubs called ‘Flares’ in the 90s, which I believe were converted into 80s-theme clubs called ‘Reflex’ in the 00s. > > And while the 90s had new cultural stuff to offer - dance music, ‘Indie’, grunge - the fact that the nostalgia bandwagon was already rolling means that any echo of the 90s will always be somewhat ‘an echo of an echo’. That’s nothing new. 50s nostalgia was big in the 70s. Hence we got [Happy Days](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Happy_Days). Nostalgia seems to peak 20 years or so after the decade being remembered. So the 90s are due. ---
**Author:** ![Rodgers01](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b19c9b/32.png) [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/68 "2011-07-20T03:55:41Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > Amen. I was born in 1983 - the Cold War was over before I even noticed there’d been one. My generation was the first in a long time that grew up without the fear of global nuclear war - that’s no small thing. > > Besides which, the _world_ was an optimistic place. It really looked like Rabin and Arafat would make peace happen, much of the former Soviet bloc seemed to be demcratizing - hell, even _Russia_ seemed to be on the right path. Think “Arab Spring without Twitter.” And a lot of it even stuck - look at the Baltic states, Poland, and German unification. (The Central Asian states were more dismal, and Georgia and Ukraine fall somewhere in the middle, but still). > > Finally - the first war that kids of my generation were ever really aware of wasn’t some godawful mess in Asia. It was the first Gulf War - an unalloyed American victory, a resounding triumph for American military might. _That’s_ how we grew up thinking of the American military. > > There were horrors, of course - the Balkans, Rwanda, Congo. But for the rich bits of the West, life was good. Still is, actually - terrorism is unpleasant, but I’ll take the risk of a suicide bomb over nuclear annihilation any day of the week and twice on Sundays. Ditto. And not only that, but crime started to fall and the economy surged. It was a good time to be a kid/teen. I suspect with more time it will be remembered as a kind of replay of the '50s. ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/69 "2011-07-20T04:02:56Z")
[This song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rThblvAJ_Z4&feature=player_detailpage#t=93s) was on heavy rotation on B97, the number one top-ten hit station here in my town, in 1997. I heard this song literally every night when I listened to the radio. This is _far_ from the best song of the '90s or even the best song of 1997, although I still like it a lot. But could you imagine a song like this getting played on the top-ten teenager hit radio station today? All B97 plays today is Gaga, Katy Perry, and horrible autotuned overproduced wannabe hip-hop and rap. ---
**Author:** ![marshmallow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@marshmallow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marshmallow)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/70 "2011-07-20T07:19:58Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > I can’t figure out what defines “the 90s.” [Things 90s Kids Realize](http://things90skidsrealize.com/) I think it started awhile back. Nintendo has basically been remaking Pokemon, Mario 64, and Ocarina of Time for 15 years. Doom, Quake, HL1, Diablo 1-2, and Counter-Strike set the stage for modern PC gaming. The NBA has been trying to find a new Michael Jordan since '98. ---
**Author:** ![Student\_Driver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3da27b/32.png) [@Student\_Driver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Student_Driver)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/71 "2011-07-20T11:45:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > And what ever **did** happen to the rave scene? Here in Tampa, it went away because local authorities cracked down on it, but I don’t know whether that happened nationwide. “Peace, pot, and microdot!” A great age! 🙂 > > If retro-“rave” clubs ever emerge, I assume they will stay open no later than 2am and search everyone for drugs at the door. ☹ Just like a retro-disco club is likely to have a far lower cocaine content than Studio 54. Rave culture is kinda still around as a dance music culture, though the term “rave” is rarely used, and it’s less candy-raver/happy house/etc. than it used to be. More underground, more likely to be 21+ instead of all-ages (though there are still big all-ages bashes-- witness the hullabaloo over the recent under-21 deaths at a Texas electronic music festival). Once you’re in the scene, it’s easy to find parties every weekend in and around most major cities, but it’s not like the old days of dropping in to a local music shop and finding a psychedelic flyer by the door. It’s also dropped a lot of the neon magic-mushroom shit that used to make old rave culture feel like a continuation of hippie culture… but still a lot of rolling and tripping going on. I’m hitting [this touring electronic music festival](http://idfestival.com/) this summer, and it promises to be pretty fun. The cool thing is that I’m already in on an afterparty to the festival when it comes in through my town that promises to be like the old days; all-ages, goes 'til the sun comes up, chill-out rooms, multiple dance floors… ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/72 "2011-07-20T13:03:33Z")
> [@Rodgers01](#): > > I suspect with more time it will be remembered as a kind of replay of the '50s. Wouldn’t that be now, with the whole Rockabilly/Pin-Up/Retro-/_Mad Men_ thing? Said as someone who is very fond of all of those things, to be fair. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/73 "2011-07-20T14:46:39Z")
Is there a “whole thing” now? Rockabilly has been “revived” a bunch of times. We’re farther now from “Stray Cat Strut” than it was from “Blue Suede Shoes.” Burlesque style’s period of rediscovery is pretty long now too, within my personal knowledge going back to, yes, the '90s. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/74 "2011-07-20T15:06:45Z")
> [@Martini\_Enfield](#): > > Wouldn’t that be now, with the whole Rockabilly/Pin-Up/Retro-/_Mad Men_ thing? Said as someone who is very fond of all of those things, to be fair. 😃 There was a brief swing / ska / rockabilly revival in the mid to late 90s. Movies like Swingers, bands like Mighty Mighty Boss Tones, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies popularized the style for like 18 months.. ---
**Author:** ![Clawdio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d07c76/32.png) [@Clawdio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clawdio)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/75 "2011-07-20T15:45:07Z")
Someone be sure to let me know when it does hit, so I don’t have to be so secretive about rocking out to November Rain. ---
**Author:** ![FlikTheBlue](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fliktheblue/32/10972_2.png) [@FlikTheBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlikTheBlue)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/76 "2011-07-20T16:18:18Z")
I remember the 90s Somewhat conflictedly. I’m 33, so the 90s should be what I remember with nostalgia. I actually remember the 80s with more nostalgia than the 90s. I think this is mostly because of the music. The 80s pop music all seemed so happy, with Debbie Gibson, Tiffany, Rick Astley, etc. In the 90s Michael Jackson and Madonna started making sadder music. We also had Alanis Morisette and similar artists that made what seems like depressing music to me. And I’m not sure why that happened with music, since as a nation everything was going well, a good economy, peacetime, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/77 "2011-07-20T16:45:04Z")
I just noticed [this](http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/19/arts/television/teennicks-90s-nostalgia-fest.html?src=ISMR_AP_LO_MST_FB). > [@Brian Stelter / NYT](#): > > Are 18- to 34-year-olds too young to be nostalgic? > > Evidently not. > > Starting next Monday, TeenNick, part of the Nickelodeon family of cable channels for children, will start rebroadcasting old series from the 1990s that are considered classics by young adults. That’s right: classics from the 1990s. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/78 "2011-07-20T16:49:02Z")
> [@msmith537](#): > > There was a brief swing / ska / rockabilly revival in the mid to late 90s. Movies like Swingers, bands like Mighty Mighty Boss Tones, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Brian Setzer Orchestra, Cherry Poppin’ Daddies popularized the style for like 18 months.. Just 18 months? Man, people who remember that revival fondly are laaaame. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/79 "2011-07-20T17:15:40Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > Just 18 months? Man, people who remember that revival fondly are laaaame. That’s a full 14 months longer than electroclash lasted. ---
**Author:** ![SirRay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@SirRay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SirRay)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2011, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315/80 "2011-07-20T17:38:46Z")
I am proud to announce that I started 1990s nostalgia - no, wait, I mean ridicule and mockery of the 1990s - in the mid-1990s. I went to the 1995 (I think, may have been 1994) Malibu Nightclub Halloween party (Malibu Nightclub, Lido Blvd, Lido Beach, NY - home of Malibu Sue and the Mighty Maximizer, Punks & Guidos together - alas, it closed in 1996) dressed as a Grunge rocker - long hair, flannel shirt, stupid logo t-shirt, torn jeans, work boots, (fake) ear-ring, and an ugly inflatable plastic guitar. Alas, the parody was lost on many in the crowd, as most of the guys not wearing costumes were dressed that way in real life (guess they didn’t get the memo that grunge was dead, long live **MODERN ROCK** , dammit!), and so I looked pretty much the same as them except carrying a stupid plastic guitar. The irony was simply lost to the world, but I did try. (My friend wore skis - yes, full size skis - to the rather crowded event - this did not turn out well). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-before-90s-nostalgia-hits-the-scene/589315.md?page=5)