When it comes to decade nostalgia, the ’90s have been unfairly overshadowed by the three decades preceding them. The ’80s were all about “bigger is better,” the ’70s were all about acting and dressing crazy, and the ’60s were all about youth and freedom. But the ’90s (and here I mean the first half of the decade, the later dotcom period was essentially a rerun of the ’80s) were all about introspection and detachment – not exactly the stuff cool theme parties are made of. Dig beneath the surface a little, however, and you will find the ’90s were actually a time of creativity and social change more deserving of nostalgia than anything involving big hair, wide collars or phony Eastern spiritualism.
The Triumph of the Individual
One of the key reasons the 90s are tougher (but no less worthy) than earlier decades to get all warm and fuzzy about is that at its heart, the 90s aesthetic was all about the individual. People who came of age in the era got dismissed as “slackers,” but the reality was much more complicated than that.
For example, the “grunge” music which came to define the decade included both Nirvana, a stripped-down trio playing minimalist pop-punk, and Pearl Jam, a full quintet playing complex arrangements that owed more to Led Zeppelin than to the Sex Pistols. Yet because they both came out of Seattle, wore flannel and didn’t sound like Motley Crue, they were lumped together in the popular imagination. Similarly, filmmakers Quentin Tarentino and Kevin Smith had little in common other than a fondness for profrane, witty dialogue and plots you wouldn’t find in a typical Julia Roberts movie, but were seen as members of the same “alternative” school of film.
What these artists, and “Gen Xers” (for lack of a better term, as someone born in the time period that has been designated Gen X I have never described myself with that term and neither have any of my peers) in general, had in common was a dedication to finding their own vision and setting their own goals, rather than simply following what was popular in the mainstream or chasing a career. Doing this required a bit of self-reflection and unplugging from everyday society, which led to the stereotype of the navel-gazing slacker.
The 90s Are Victimized by Their Own Success
In addition to being harder to cohesively pin down than earlier decades, the other major obstacle to a flowering of ’90s nostalgia (and all the twentysomethings who are devouring repeats of their favorite childhood Nickelodeon shows don’t count) is that the 90s are still very much with us. Beyond superficial remnants of the era, like goatees and plaid button-down shirts, society as a whole has co-opted “doing your own thing” to the point it’s an assumption, and mainstream thought basically centers on avoiding the mainstream.
Don’t believe me? The Internet, which started becoming a mass consumer product in the early 90s with bulletin boards and forums, is nothing but an endless collection of individualized interests. On the off-chance your personal obsession is so obscure you cannot find a ready-made web community built around it, you can create your own within minutes. Media as a whole is segmented into every conceivable demographic – race, religion, political belief, etc.
And beyond consumption of entertainment and information, society has become much more open to people following their own bliss. Walk down any city block and you will see hippies, punk rockers, preppies, nerds, jocks and representatives of a dozen other subcultures mingled together with no obvious animosity or friction. Ideas like gay marriage and marijuana legalization, fringe issues as recently as 10-15 years ago, are part of daily civic debate. Thanks to lovable lug Bill Clinton, the perfect president for his times, even conservative Republicans can have known issues like adultery and youthful drug experimentation in their past and still be considered viable candidates.
So let’s all raise a can of OK soda (note the ironically hip reference) and toast to the memory of the ’90s, the decade that in many ways still defines who we are today. Or find another means of honoring the ’90s, or don’t honor them at all. Whatever. It’s cool.