# What typified the decades of the 1980's and 1990's? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 3, 2012, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696 "2012-04-03T15:40:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 9:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/41 "2012-04-04T09:49:45Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > That is true, but it’s probably just that well known effect called “getting older”. People made the exact same observations about the 90s vs 80 output of _Metallica_, _Guns 'n Roses_ and Bruce Springsteen and _The Goo Goo Dolls._ As artists age, their tastes tend to mellow. The smart ones realise that they can’t go on pretending to be angry young men and they start producing honest music that is more mellow. Others, like the _Stones_, become parodies of themselves. Only a tiny number of rock acts manage to sustain the same output. YMMV. Well, besides mellowing though, there’s a lot more “slickness” I guess I’ll call it, and softness to the music of the 80’s that just wasn’t there in the 70’s. That goes for new and established acts alike. Also, one thing you’ll hear in interviews of 70’s bands is how they were mostly allowed to do their own thing. In the 80’s record companies took a more hands on approach to try and milk their bands for all the money they could. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 9:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/42 "2012-04-04T09:52:58Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > Bad haircuts pretty much sums up \*any \*decade, with the possible exception of the 1950s. With the benefit of 15+ years of perspective, the fashion trends of any era will look absolutely awful. > > Do you really think the “spiky rat’s nest” men’s hairstyles of the past few years will look anything but utterly ridiculous in 15 years time? Or that time will be kind to the current emo mop top? Nah, any fashionable hair style will look stupid in retrospect. > > The 50s were exceptional in being so conservative that the haircuts were either crewcut or short-back-and-sides for men and “shoulder length and wavy for women”. Kinda hard to find fault with styles that are so bland. Specifically the 80’s had big hair and mullets. In the 90’s big hair died down and mullets became mocked for some reason. The only trend I remember not liking in the 90’s was rattails. And I usually only saw them on 8 to 10 year old boys. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2012, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/43 "2012-04-04T13:52:56Z")
Alt vs Grunge: People listening to the music knew the score. People who merely HEARD it will think the two terms are synonymous. And the Grunge Look (ratty hair, torn jeans, shirts out, etc…) was everywhere, it seemed. IMHO, a sitcom that typified the 80s, or what the 80s wanted to be, was the Cosby Show. Black family Brady Bunch (minus certain details). Everybody was smart, cool, successful, pretty, well dressed, etc… Thursday was Sitcom night. NBC was the Thursday night sitcom champ for quite a while (even into the 90s with Seinfeld and others). Four 30 minute sitcoms, and then a one hour drama is how I remember it. VCRs and video clubs were also a big thing in my version of the 80s. Remember having to pay membership dues for the privilege of renting Beverly Hills Cop? ---
**Author:** ![Moonchild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@Moonchild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moonchild)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/44 "2012-04-05T01:43:12Z")
The 80’s as I recall: Max Headroom and Michael Jackson… promoting soft drinks. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/45 "2012-04-05T02:07:47Z")
80’s the decade where pop music destroyed the term metal…replacing it with butt rock e.g. Whitesnake and EnufzEnuf 90’s the decade where pop music destroyed the term alt rock…replacing it with golf rock e.g. Hootie and the blowfish or the Wallflowers Grunge is just a subgenre of alternative rock. Alt rock is a useless term anymore. I think the early 80’s was a glorious time for music, purely because MTV was desperate for videos so several forms of music that would never have been nationally played otherwise got broad exposure. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/46 "2012-04-05T02:09:18Z")
> [@Moonchild](#): > > The 80’s as I recall: Max Headroom and Michael Jackson… promoting soft drinks. Max only sparked though, no open flames. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/47 "2012-04-05T02:27:44Z")
> [@gamerunknown](#): > > [80’s] The advent of the personal computer. As expressed by _Time_ as the [Man of The Year.](http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830103,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/48 "2012-04-05T02:39:32Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > As expressed by _Time_ as the [Man of The Year.](http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19830103,00.html) It should be noted that the “IBM PC” was introduced in the 80’s the “personal computer” had been around, but not as popular or within reach for most of the 70’s ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/49 "2012-04-05T02:57:18Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > It should be noted that the “IBM PC” was introduced in the 80’s the “personal computer” had been around, but not as popular or within reach for most of the 70’s I think _Time_ decided it had come of age by 1983, and crossed over from hobby/geek to business/family use. By today’s standards, it seems incredibly early to call it a household item. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/51 "2012-04-05T04:01:05Z")
The thing about “grunge” is that it brought alternative music to the forefront. Prior to that, it was only played on more college radio stations. Now all of sudden, everyone was listening to alternative. And Pearl Jam and the Chili Peppers were two of my favorite bands when I was in high school. Yes, I also listened to pop crap, so did everyone else. But when people say “grunge”, basically it was really alternative music in general that became really popular. (Besides, most of us were still taping all of our favorite songs off of the radio back then) ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/52 "2012-04-05T04:23:56Z")
**1980’s** [ul] [li]Home PCs took off.[/li][li]The CD was introduced to the public.[/li][li]Boomboxes were popular.[/li][li]We had parachute pants, [muscle pants](http://www.google.com/search?num=20&hl=en&safe=off&complete=0&q=80s%20muscle%20pants&revid=9804957&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=Uhd9T5enIamqiQKsnJTeDQ&biw=1600&bih=743&sei=Vxd9T_ixJumfiQKs8bXcDQ), and women wore leg warmers.[/li][li]Here in America, “Latchkey kids” and “Yuppies” were common terms.[/li][li]Being a melting pot as encouraged and celebrated.[/li][/ul] **1990’s** [ul] [li]The Internet took off.[/li][li]The DVD was introduced.[/li][li]Boomboxes were still around.[/li][li]Cell phones took off.[/li][li]Cultural diversity was encouraged and celebrated.[/li][/ul] ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 9:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/53 "2012-04-05T09:47:20Z")
Materialism unbounded, & style over substance. But such style! ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/54 "2012-04-05T21:11:21Z")
> [@curioushat](#): > > [Turn of the Millennium](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TurnOfTheMillennium) > > Me, being born in 1992, had the 2000s as the formative years of my childhood/adolescence. I’ve always thought that I had a horrible childhood compared with others a decade or so older. > > That article reaffirmed that 2000s were a very, very crappy decade. Not much culture. Just excessive spending with McMansions and a War on Terror. > > Consumerism and war. Sums up the 2000s nicely. You’re entirely right. Practically any decade back to the '60s was a better time to be young. But, at least you grew up with more and better computer games than any generation before! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/55 "2012-04-05T21:13:25Z")
> [@Mosier](#): > > 80s = metal, optimism, celebration > 90s = grunge, introspection, cynicism Despite all that, the '90s were actually pretty optimistic and celebratory, much more so than the '80s. The Cold War had ended with America triumphant, it looked like world peace might be at hand at long last, and the American economy was booming. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2012, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/56 "2012-04-05T21:34:27Z")
> [@rat\_avatar](#): > > 80’s the decade where pop music destroyed the term metal…replacing it with butt rock e.g. Whitesnake and EnufzEnuf. Now THAT is what I think of when people talk about “hair bands”: Poison, Ratt, Quiet Riot, Warrant, Winger, Nelson, Skid Row, etc. And remember the “power ballad”? **Blake** , I can think of a number of grunge bands beyond Pearl Jam and Nirvana, that I and some of my friends listened to: Stone Temple Pilots, Alice in Chains, L7, Hole, Candlebox and Soundgarden. And “grunge” wasn’t just music – more people were going around wearing flannel shirts (I used to steal my dad’s) and holey jeans, and Doc Martens. (And I think rat tails were an 80s thing, IIRC. My cousin had one when we were kids.) ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2012, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/57 "2012-04-06T09:00:54Z")
80s? The final struggle against apartheid. And Depeche Mode. 90s? Learning to be a democracy. And Pearl Jam. ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/58 "2012-04-07T15:51:57Z")
If you’re talking about music in the 80s, you have to talk about MTV. I could be wrong, but it seems like they drove the massive influx of synth-pop in rock music. Pat Benatar went from “Heartbreaker” to “Love is a Battlefield,” and Van Halen from “Jamie’s Crying” to “Jump.” Every band seemed to be looking for a way to integrate the synthesizer and a dance beat into their music, even if they were just dancing in the dark. Also, **Blake** is right about sitcoms in the 90s. There were plenty of them in the 80s, but aside from _Cheers_, no one admitted liking them. Television was still something you did because you had nothing else to do, for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![elbravoiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@elbravoiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbravoiv)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/59 "2012-04-07T15:56:50Z")
for me, i didn’t live in the 80s… but since i’m a finance guy, definitely a cut throat business culture highlighted by corporate raiders and fat-cat mortgage brokers like in liar’s poker… “trading on the spread” pretty much sums it up the 90s to me: good music, happy times, a renaissance in terms of education and technology, liberal times highlighted by clinton, the last decade of the USA being a model society, temporary loss of racism (after 94) which has returned, peace (in general)… to sum it up, loving life and everyone else ---
**Author:** ![split\_p\_j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@split\_p\_j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/split_p_j)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/60 "2012-04-07T16:44:20Z")
> [@Blake](#): > > I’m not sure if these posts were made by people who were actually6 alive in these decades, but they don’t match reality. > > Yes, there were popular sitcoms in the 80s, just as there had been for the preceding 30 years, but nothing on a scale that would match the success and social influence of “Friends”, “The Simpsons” or “Seinfeld”. All you have to do is flip through some issue sof “People” or the entertainment pages of the newspapers to see that the 90s was the decade that was \*defined \*by Sitcoms. In contrast, 80s sitcoms were just TV, they weren’t the defining social phenomena that the 90s shows became. > > As far as music, almost nobody listened to metal of any sort until the late 80s. The likes of _Motley Crue_ and\* AC/DC\* had small cult followings throughout most of the 80s, but 99% of the population had only ever heard one of their songs. The first “Metal” act of the 80s didn’t manage to chart until _Bon Jovi_ in 1987. That was followed by a wave of hair metal acts like _Warrant_ and \*Guns 'n Roses \*that steadily increased in popularity well into the 90s. So metal was in fact much more of a 90s musical style than it was an 80s style. > > Actual 80s music was predominantly characterised by adult contemporary such as Billy Joel or _Genesis_, dance tracks such as 99% of Madonna’s output or straight rock such as Springsteen. There was some pop rock in their, but it was far \*less \*than in the 70s or 90s. > > The idea that the 90s was \*characterised \*by grunge is just bizarre. I honestly have no idea where this idea gained traction. > > If you look at the actual charts, the early 90s up to about 94, are dominated by three classes of music: “Veteran” acts such as Madonna, Michael Jackson, Guns 'n Roses Cher etc, Rap acts and a distinctive early 90s funk/folk/soul/rap style that I have never seen named. This latter style is typified by the Red Hot Chilli peppers at the “rock” end of the spectrum, Counting Crows or Arrested Development as the “typifiers”. The mid to late 90s were utterly dominated by rap, girl “soul” singers like Mariah Cary or Beyonce, and boy bands. There were a smattering of grunge acts in the late 90s lineup, but far fewer than the number of adult pop acts like Savage Garden or Shania Twain. > > As someone who was at university in the 90s and at least moderately musically conversant, I have always been mystified by this notion that Grunge in the 90s was “huge”. It’s a notion that seems to have sprung up after the 90s were over and that doesn’t reflect sales, airplay or cultural influence. The real 90s that most people were living in were actually typified by rap, boy bands and girl soul singers. Grunge was about as “typical” of the 90s as reggae was of the 80s, ie a handful of breakout acts, a handful of chart hits but much less than 10% of actual sales or airplay. Great points, you really nailed it. I’m 40 and this is exactly how I remember things. ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696/61 "2012-04-08T00:51:47Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The ever increasing power (and worship) of the wealthy and the religious fanatics, continuing until the present day. What universe are you from? The wealthy are _despised_ in America and the Religious Right peaked in the '80s and early '90s-whatever their rhetoric the Bush Administration failed to enact any socially conservative policy, gay marriage has been legalized in several states, DADT has been repealed, and more Americans are irreligious than ever before. Anyways the '80s to me are a rather gritty and cynical decade with sky-rocketing crime and drugs, bizarre fads, heavy-metal music, threats of nuclear war and yuppies. The '90s on the other hand is to me a sort of “breathing space” between the Cold War and the War on Terror-a new “Gay Nineties”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-typified-the-decades-of-the-1980s-and-1990s/617696.md?page=4)