Why was the 90s so dark?

[Deleted]

It seems that everything in the media in the 90s besides shows that catered towards kids(even then you had Gargoyles and Batman) had a dark and gritty side to them. What made things worse was comic books ended up being ruined by some sort of contrived storyline to keep it edgy, like Spider-Man and the clone saga.

Everyone was so cynical, and it even caught up with me and my friends when we were around 11 years old. On top of that, there was at least 8 school shootings that happened in the decade, including Columbine.

I never understood it, because the economy was doing great a few years after the Cold War ended.

What made the 90s so dark and abysmal?

[forgottensinpwf]

I think Generation X, and a far more interest in all things Extreme were two of the culprits.

[pegasuswarrior]

Generation X is the correct answer.

[celticjobber]

The dark/cynical nature of tv, music, and people in general are a big part of why I miss the 90's so much. And I don't see any connection with the Columbine or other school shootings (there's always going to be crazy people doing horrible things).

Everything in pop culture this decade has been way too bright, cheery, and manufactured.

[Banjo Is Broken]

Eddie Vedder because he's so darn dysfunctional and Generation Xy.

[Drillbit Taylor]

To me, the darkest year was 1995. Everytime I look back 95 seems dark culturally for some reason.

[Tom Turkey]

Generation X = Generation EXTREME!!!

[erisi236]

I guess the 90's where the final dark end of the deconstruction of everything that came from the 50's that had started deconstructing since the 60's.

[nate5054]

The most obvious answer to me, a GenXer, (and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet) is that it was a bit of a rebellion against the 80s, which were seen as loud, colorful, glamorous, flashy, "everybody let's go have a good time", etc.

[celticjobber]

Sept 20, 2010 0:20:46 GMT -5 nate5054 said:

The most obvious answer to me, a GenXer, (and I'm surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet) is that it was a bit of a rebellion against the 80s, which were seen as loud, colorful, glamorous, flashy, "everybody let's go have a good time", etc.

That's a great answer. I hope there's a similar backlash eventually in this decade after the lame-ness that defined the 2000's.

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2010 0:06:45 GMT -5 celticjobber said:

The dark/cynical nature of tv, music, and people in general are a big part of why I miss the 90's so much. And I don't see any connection with the Columbine or other school shootings (there's always going to be crazy people doing horrible things).

Everything in pop culture this decade has been way too bright, cheery, and manufactured.

Like the 80s? No wonder people are so nostalgic about that decade.

[Das Einhorn]

A lot of it, IMO, has to do with the "coolness" of counter-culture that led to the explosion of bands like Nirvana and Pearl Jam, etc. who, as it was already stated were really deconstructing earlier time-frames like the '80s. Which led to the sort of backlash we saw through the late '90s against "corporate" rock and things to that nature.
Then the '00s rolled around and suddenly it's all this (IMHO uber-generic) "pop" stuff blowing up, which seemed to say, "Yea we're happy and bubbly and you'll buy it anyways!"
All this will hopefully come full circle again in the '10s, because I was always more of a fan of the darker side of things.
While you don't necessarily have to be dark to be deep, I petition that 98% of real life is darker than anything you'll hear on the radio.

[Glitch]

I would only the early 90's was dark. During that time period you had beavis & butthead(along with liquid television),the whole Seattle music scene(buzz melvin said they hate the name "grunge"), gangster rap, ren & stimpy, terminator 2, the death of superman(along with Image comics forming),and very short lived mainstreaming of thrash metal.(at least that's how interpret Metallica's release of the black album along with megadeth having some success in sales with countdown to extinction)

Then you look at the later half of the 90's. We got boy bands,britney spears, american pie, a short lived resurgence of ska, and Limp Bizkit.

[CMWaters]

The 90s were the bizarro version of the 60s.

The 60s were nice, bright, colorful.

The 90s had to be dark in contrast.

[Orange]

I don't remember that much about the early 90's, but going off looking back alone I'd have to say what others have said, it was the whole rebellion against culture thing.

[s l i k]

Why was it so dark? I have no idea

...but I liked it.

[Glitch]

Sept 20, 2010 1:52:49 GMT -5 s l i k said:

Why was it so dark? I have no idea

It's because the 80's forgot to pay the electrical bill before they left.

[Deleted]

I think it was a reaction to how bright and colorful the 80's were in every aspect. In the 80's people were more optomistic, more about having a good time, and the music was ridiculously over produced and polished sounding.

The 90's was basically a baclash to that. People started to realize that life sucks, and pretty much everything is meaningless.

Nowadays, things have gotten too "real" with the war and the economy, so people are creating "happier" entertainment and fashion again to escape from it.

[Baixo Astral]

The 90s seriously blew, like, painfully. So did the 80s, but at least they were basically an optimistic time, despite a lot of bad crap going down that didn't happen in the 90s as much. Give me the basic brightness and shininess of the 00s anytime.

[Malcolm]

Sept 20, 2010 0:06:45 GMT -5 celticjobber said:

The dark/cynical nature of tv, music, and people in general are a big part of why I miss the 90's so much. And I don't see any connection with the Columbine or other school shootings (there's always going to be crazy people doing horrible things).

Everything in pop culture this decade has been way too bright, cheery, and manufactured.

Really? 'Cause I coulda sworn this decade was pretty dark in itself.