Why was the 90s so dark?

[BorneAgain]

Sept 20, 2010 3:36:51 GMT -5 Malcolm said:

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.

Its an inverted relationship really. 90s was an era of applying doubtful cynicism to a world so unrealistically positive (economic boom, the Cold War's end, rapid technological growth).

The last ten years have been trying to put a happy face on a world beset by loads of problems (economic recessions, global wars, societal divides).

Believe you me, I've been quite nostalgic for the innocent days of 90s.

[biafra]

80's = cocaine.

90's = Heroin.

[Paco]

Teen 1: Oh, here comes that cannonball guy. He's cool.
Teen 2: Are you being sarcastic, dude?
Teen 1: I don't even know anymore.

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2010 1:07:10 GMT -5 Glitch said:

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.

Not really. The only people that bought the boyband crap where pre-teens. While Limp Bizkit was a little pop, the genre itself was very dark. The late 90s also had Marilyn Manson, Jerry Springer, Fight Club, American History X, etc...hardly innocent and poppy.

[willywonka666]

s***ty economy. Someone once said "The 80's were the party & the 90's were the hangover" and that's exactly what it was.

The 90's were bitter toward the good time 80's, and while we have some bright stuff now, it still seems pretty dark to me.

Now, 96-part of 98 was fun, then it all went to hell again.

[Jay Peas 42]

Just because Generation Xers chose to spend the best years of their lives being depressed, it has to mean something? 90s were a great time. The Cold War was over, the economy was roaring. You have to remember, youths are always going to be like that, because what a youth really wants to do is either violence or sex. Instead they have to sit in high school. It's like keeping a hunting dog in a cage.

[domrep]

I haven't fully appreciated the 90s until this decade. Just a complete 180 in terms of lifestyle, and just the general attitude of people. We were a friendlier bunch in the 90s. I think 9/11 had a lot to do with it

[Deleted]

Sept 20, 2010 3:46:05 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Sept 20, 2010 3:36:51 GMT -5 Malcolm said:

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

Its an inverted relationship really. 90s was an era of applying doubtful cynicism to a world so unrealistically positive (economic boom, the Cold War's end, rapid technological growth).

The last ten years have been trying to put a happy face on a world beset by loads of problems (economic recessions, global wars, societal divides).

Believe you me, I've been quite nostalgic for the innocent days of 90s.

Good point. The 70s was pretty dark in aspects of politics and life, but the media was all about funk and disco for the most part.

[tigermaskxxxvii]

The 80's wasn't all sunshine and lollipops. The 80's saw the release of The Watchmen and The Dark Knight Returns, Robocop, the birth of the American hardcore punk movement (even though the bands in that scene weren't exactly household names). And of course the 90's had a bit of cheerfulness. You had pre-rock opera Green Day, Lollapalooza (although you had a lot of the shoe gazing alternative rockers and the cynical young attendees as seen in "Homerpalooza" from what I've seen the shows looked very festive). Then there's the aforementioned ska revival. Plus, even though Grunge, Gangsta Rap (and to a lesser extent "Neo-Punk") dominated a majority of the 90's. You also had C&C Music Factory and Boys to Men on the pop charts around the same time as Nirvana.

[Jay Peas 42]

Yeah, as a whole optimism waned in the West in the 1960s. But let's remember, people had real things to worry about in the '00s, and needed something to cheer them up.

[Deleted]

Because they were brutal!

[wildojinx]

Actually, the comic book industry started their "dark and gritty" move in the mid-80s. Besides Watchmen and DKR, you also had kravens last hunt. the fall of the mutants, inferno, legends, and most notably marvel's relaunch of What If?, which was full of gory alternate worlds (the x-men losing inferno universe for example included a charming scene of a demonic wolverine eating a baby, and believe it or not, this WAS code-approved IIRC),

[GaTechGrad]

The 90's were the best. That decade had the Super NES, great music, great wrestling, and the Internet was still the "wild west".

The 80's were meh, but it did give us the NES. I would also say that the 80's sitcoms were better than anything on television to this day.

The 00's were the worst. The whole Reality-everything pretty much killed that decade for me. Wrestling went in the crapper for most of the decade. Video games didn't start getting good again until the XBox360/PS3 console cycle. Almost all music turned to either rap or whiny emo crap. The only thing the 00's will be remembered for is WoW.

[SEAN CARLESS]

Sept 20, 2010 0:23:56 GMT -5 @coolio1234 said:

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.

Funny, I actually see the 2000's being more of a modern day reinterpretation of the 50's - that being, faux morality & censorship; people buying into everything the media & government tells them; jingoistic paranoia; a reemergence of brainless manufactured & milquetoast entertainment featuring singing & dancing; everything being sterilized and homogenized and edited for your protection. The only difference is, the kids in the 50's weren't as nauseatingly pandered to and celebrated as they seem to be nowadays. (seeing little girls w/ t-shirts that say, “I love ME!” on them? Bleh.).

[Futureraven: Beelzebruv]

Sept 20, 2010 11:12:17 GMT -5 @coolio1234 said:

Sept 20, 2010 3:46:05 GMT -5 BorneAgain said:

Its an inverted relationship really. 90s was an era of applying doubtful cynicism to a world so unrealistically positive (economic boom, the Cold War's end, rapid technological growth).

The last ten years have been trying to put a happy face on a world beset by loads of problems (economic recessions, global wars, societal divides).

Believe you me, I've been quite nostalgic for the innocent days of 90s.

Good point. The 70s was pretty dark in aspects of politics and life, but the media was all about funk and disco for the most part.

Well there was punk, and sitcoms dealing with some pretty dark social issues too, it was a mixture, like always, it's just how it skews a little.

The split point seems to be in the middle of the decade, the early 70s were happy enough, but around 75-85 you had the aforementioned punk and social issues, also crack and the discovery of AIDS putting a bit of a downer on sex.