Why do people miss the '90s when 2012 is so similar still?

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Bleached boyband hair parted in the middle, Diesel sweatshirts with large logos on the chest, spice girls, cars with soft, rounded edges, living rooms with green, red or pink wallpapers, crop tops, pogs, violent children's cartoons like Swat Kats, adventure games from Sierra On-Line, i.e. A lot of stuff not popular today.











Also bear in mind that a lot of the artists in the 80's (eg. Suzanne Vega, The Highwaymen, Nik Kershaw, and other artists with a timeless feel) could also be popular if today if they had started in the 2000's.

Last edited by Kurgan on 09 May 2012, 8:50 am, edited 1 time in total.

(Double post)

I kind of miss the 90s but it's probably because I was young then. My late teens and early 20s were in the 90s.

I think it's less that people are nostalgic for the pop culture of the time than nostalgia for being young and the specific way pop culture moves us at that time in our lives.

i have never been involved with any fashions or fads or trends, and i do not know how 2012 differs from the 1990's. i do not "miss" things. i do not have the capacity for nostalgia. i would never wish to relive any day in my life in the past, and all that is important to me is now and the future.

Actually, many of the songs we hate from the 90's (Barbie Girl, Everybody (Backstreet Boys), Crazy Little Party Girl, Spice up your Life) were much more popular than the songs hailed as great classics (The Unforgiven, Thunder Underground, Ordinary World, One of Us) on the charts, so there's more to it.

Many film better left in the past (eg. Batman and Robin or Wild, Wild West, or any derpy action movie with inappropriate effects and a toy commercial feel) also did better at the box office than many modern classics (eg. American History X, True Crime, Man ont the Moon etc.).

That's certainly on opinion on those pop culture artifacts.
I would still say the surge has more to do with children of the 90's coming of age and becoming creators themselves considering similar culture cycling has been seen in the past (50's nostalgia in the 70's, 60's nostalgia in to 80's, 70's nostalgia in the 90's) just like in fashion there is a cycle.
Some media stands the test of time, some doesn't. There is still sense memory associated with especially the music we hear growing up.

I partially agree with you. There's still a reason why Spice Girls is less popular than Metallica today, though, even though it was the other way around 15 years ago.

Media that was original for it's time tend to age well, media who was just a rip-off of something else does not. People tend to only remember the good things about nostalgia; they've forgotten the straight, bleached hair parted in the center, the thin, awful, multi-colored hip-hop pants, the bubblegum eurodance, the plastic pop and the boring, mundane design of cars and hifi products.

I wisht I lived in the 90's. Well I did, but only for 3 years of it. I wish I grew up then, when rock bands I like to listen to today were popular.

Pop music is more "of the moment" by it's very definition.
I don't disagree that there are rose colored glasses involved here. Nostalgia is about liking things because you have memories with them, not because they are objectively good.
That said, you play "Wannabe" at a social gathering with a significant number of women in the right age range there will be a strong positive reaction.
I don't particularly enjoy britney spear or greenday, but hearing them brings me back to very specific moments of my past.

I don't think half the things from the 90's wouldn't be allowed in the politically correct mess that is today.
Baa baa sheep should be black damn it ! ! Music videos should be allowed to contain a countries flag, I should be able to call someone from France French, and someone from Pakistan Pakistani. Without some do gooder looming in the shadows.

So I think I would of missed the freedom of the 90's if I wasn't a kid

Onto something I know about, there's the cartoons. The stuff that gets force fed into preschoolers nowadays is a joke, I remember when preschool TV was actually educational, instead of the "Jip Jip Joo Joo Bop can't find his bingle bangle, so he can't shingle shangle the dallywhacker". (no wonder pre-school kids are dumb and teenage pregnancy is forever on the rise)

And what happened to the violent cartoons/programs that were not only fun to watch but taught kids how s***e it was out in the real world, how you had to work for stuff you wanted. Instead you get the live action rubbish that basically tells kids to get as much money as you can off your parents and if you're not up to date with fashion, other kids will crucify you.

As for the music I reckon artists of today wouldn't of last 10 minutes in a time where there was a diverse range of music in the charts rather then just auto tuned tripe.

Last edited by DogOfJudah on 09 May 2012, 2:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

We miss the 90s cause

[img][800:768]http://images.picturesdepot.com/photo/n/nirvana_band-208348.jpg[/img]

I've been watching that lately and have every episode on dvd.

There was a lot less of what I'll call the nosy neighbor mentality in the politics and culture of the 90s. We weren't so much in each other's business. That's one thing I've noticed, and I think it may have to do with cell phones, email, the Internet (it was already there, but in the 90s we saw the emergence of the World Wide Web), the first social networks, and just being so connected now in general. There are a lot of changes since then, the way I see it. The economy was a little better too. It was not a perfect era by any means, but I think there were some significant differences that would stand out for you if you were an adult then and if you really think about it.

There are pros and cons to every technological development. Even the most amazing, positive technology comes with social changes that take a kind of evolution within us to accustom ourselves to. The adjustments come a lot more slowly than the technology, and that lag time is widening all the time.

I would say TV programmes, music, cartoons were a lot better in the 90s where as now its absolutely rubbish.

What bothers me is what's so popular among the mainstream people these days. I eard a lot of teenage girls want to get pregnant just so they can be on TV. I mean, come on! It's so ridiculous.

And the "music" being churned out these days, along with the unoriginality of new movies coming out? I guess people miss the 90's because it actually had a tangible originality.