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Original poster

If you could would you go back to the 90’s?

225 replies

Beaniebeemer · 15/08/2020 19:40

The more I think about it the more I would love to go back to that time. I was too young to appreciate it fully (born 83).

I think it was a great time to be a kid and I’d imagine it would have been great to be an adult too. I really hate the world my children are growing up in Sad

OP posts:
isabellerossignol · 15/08/2020 23:24

I was a teenager in the 90s and as a female I felt a lot safer then than I do now. Or more specifically I feel I was safer than my teenage daughter is now. The fashion was more forgiving (basically jeans and checked shirts for all) and no one expected me to dress and behave like a pornstar. When I was a teenager, boys weren't demanding anal sex and trying to choke girls.

I'm not saying nothing unpleasant ever happened, it did, but the demands put on girls today are terrifying in comparison.

Leafyhouse · 15/08/2020 23:24

Born in 1973, loved the 90's. Anyone remember the rushing down the video store to get a copy of Four Weddings & a Funeral? I'm pretty happy with the world as it is though, no need to go back to the 90's. I'd miss the Internet too much.

wheresmymojo · 15/08/2020 23:27

Sources for queried items:

Brixton Riot
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995Brixtonn_riot

Unemployment
Unemployment peaked at over 10% in 1992 and 1993

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/articles/anoverviewoftheuklabourmarket/2015-02-27

Inflation
Yes, inflation dropped from 1993 onwards but 1990-1992 saw continued high levels of inflation and repossessions.

In the first couple of years of the 90s inflation and interest rates were high and there was a 3 year recession which ultimately damaged the Tory party.

IRA Bombings
Yes, the Troubles wound down in the late 1990s concluding in the GFA but the IRA completed 60+ bombings in the 90's including two of the worst aimed at civilians. Omagh killed 29 civilians in 1998 and Warrington which killed 2 but injured many in a packed Saturday town.

People were pretty scared of the IRA bombings and doing bomb drills in workplaces was routine including how to deal with IRA coded messages.

Pelleas · 15/08/2020 23:28

YES.

mintyroller · 15/08/2020 23:29

I would if only to see my brother again and tell the silly bastard that I love him and not to kill himself.

In reality, they were a helluva time for me. Shit childhood, shit teen years. If I could advise myself in 1998 I'd change the Sliding Doors moment that others have mentioned. I really appreciate that nowadays I've made friendships beginning online that just were not possible then.

mintyroller · 15/08/2020 23:30

@isabellerossignol

I was a teenager in the 90s and as a female I felt a lot safer then than I do now. Or more specifically I feel I was safer than my teenage daughter is now. The fashion was more forgiving (basically jeans and checked shirts for all) and no one expected me to dress and behave like a pornstar. When I was a teenager, boys weren't demanding anal sex and trying to choke girls.

I'm not saying nothing unpleasant ever happened, it did, but the demands put on girls today are terrifying in comparison.

Completely agree with this.
isabellerossignol · 15/08/2020 23:32

People were pretty scared of the IRA bombings and doing bomb drills in workplaces was routine including how to deal with IRA coded messages.

This always amazes me. I assume this was in England? I've lived in N Ireland my whole life and was working by the mid 90s. We never did stuff like that. We just got out when there was an actual bomb!

BackforGood · 15/08/2020 23:32

Exactly @wheresmymojo

I think a pp is right in that people are wistfully remembering having fun in their teens / early adulthood. Not so much fun paying those mortgage rates, then so many being out of work, and so many people losing their homes and losing them whilst still carrying the debt of the negative equity.

The 'era' that was great is the era when you were carefree, as a rule
I guess we all look back with rose tinted glasses.

SingingSands · 15/08/2020 23:35

My DD told me she wants to go back to the 90s because it looked so cool. I agreed - it was epic. And the best thing was, I KNEW it. I remember being acutely aware of how great it felt - arguing over Blur vs Oasis, admiring Kate Moss, clubbing all night, blowing half my student loan in Topshop on a new outfit, revelling in the "Cool Britannia" vibe. I bloody loved it all.

wheresmymojo · 15/08/2020 23:38

@isabellerossignol

People were pretty scared of the IRA bombings and doing bomb drills in workplaces was routine including how to deal with IRA coded messages.

This always amazes me. I assume this was in England? I've lived in N Ireland my whole life and was working by the mid 90s. We never did stuff like that. We just got out when there was an actual bomb!

Yep, in England. If you worked in a big building or in a Town/City Centre.

They were still doing it in the early 2000's as a hangover from that time.

Alwaysinpain · 15/08/2020 23:39

ABSOLUTELY!!!!!!

(Born 1984)

gigglybiz · 15/08/2020 23:41

I don't think looking back & saying you enjoyed the 90s dismisses the bad things that happened. I definitely had optimism & hope

RaininSummer · 15/08/2020 23:43

The 90s kind of passed me by as I was mum to two littlies throughout and didn't get out much etc. It was the loneliest period of my life. I would go back to around early 1980s even though it was when unemployment was kicking off and lots of unrest. They were the fun years for young me.

wombledown · 15/08/2020 23:45

People were pretty scared of the IRA bombings and doing bomb drills in workplaces was routine including how to deal with IRA coded messages.

Personally as a London teen I never thought much about the IRA, it was nothing compared to visiting family in Belfast & Dublin. Was definitely nervous about using the tube 2 days after the transport bombing though.

wombledown · 15/08/2020 23:47

I'm not saying nothing unpleasant ever happened, it did, but the demands put on girls today are terrifying in comparison

I work in a school & agree.

Oliversmumsarmy · 15/08/2020 23:49

I think a pp is right in that people are wistfully remembering having fun in their teens / early adulthood. Not so much fun paying those mortgage rates, then so many being out of work, and so many people losing their homes and losing them whilst still carrying the debt of the negative equity

I had a really shit time in the 90s. If I could go back I would do so just to warn myself of a sliding doors moment and to tell my younger self to let everything go and not fight to keep everything going as it all went anyway and to go out and have a great time.

isabellerossignol · 15/08/2020 23:49

I must admit I do find it strange when people in England say they were scared of the IRA. If that's the case I think they'd have been totally terrified if they'd visited old style Belfast.

Bumply · 15/08/2020 23:51

the 90s at the time was a good part of my life but I'm feeling anxious at the thought of the early noughties where relationship went to pot ending in depression and single motherhood.

Also from nostalgia point of view I'm more of an 80s gal.

PenguinIce · 15/08/2020 23:52

Oh yes, I would be there with my white ‘rave’ gloves and hipster trousers in a heartbeat!

wombledown · 15/08/2020 23:52

In the first couple of years of the 90s inflation and interest rates were high and there was a 3 year recession which ultimately damaged the Tory party.

I remember this because my dad lost his job & took him a while to find a new one. The interest rates were high but their house cost about 60k in the 80s & they could afford it out of savings as mum didn't work. They sold it for 2m about 5 yrs ago so not all bad. I loved the 90s!

TheKarenWhoKnocks · 15/08/2020 23:52

Lol there's been clashes in Brixton pretty recently too. The riots that people there commemorate are the ones from the 80s because they were the massive ones that were actually pretty pivotal. Interest rates were at their height in the 70s - that's when we had stagflation etc. And I don't remember any bomb drills at all although like @isabellerossignol we did get out of buildings/tubes etc when there was an actual bomb or a scare. And none, not a one of them, was on a scale even remotely like the 7/7 bombings. We hadn't seen the twin towers come down and felt the massive repercussions of all that. There was a recession in the early part of the 90s and a minority of home owners went into negative equity (although any I knew who did and had to sell got it written off) but again nothing like entire industries being demolished and coppers charging striking workers as in the 80s, or people queuing at Northern Rock 12 years ago.

Yes no decade is ever perfect but out of the five I've lived through the 90s was relatively peaceful and relatively prosperous in England, especially in the last few years of it.

Thegreymethod · 15/08/2020 23:53

@Hippofrog

Yes if only for Impulse o2
The memories that's just brought back! I swear I can smell it! Absolutely loved the 90's I was a teenager and it just seemed so much simpler which is weird because you'd think life would be easier now with all the gadgets we have! I remember arranging a night out with a friend but not totally confirming and having to walk half an hour to a phone box to ring her...... only for her not to be in and we went backwards and forwards all day just to arrange a meeting time! Imagine that now it'd take less than a minute to sort out!
wombledown · 15/08/2020 23:55

@isabellerossignol I'm kinda of with you there. I get it as my dad worked in Bishopgate & I myself was evacuated a few times but it was another world in NI.

Thegreymethod · 15/08/2020 23:58

Speaking of phones did anyone else's teachers, when complaining to them about having to manually work out maths, say it's ok being able to work it out on a calculator but you won't carry a calculator around on you for the rest of your life....... and now almost everyone does!

isabellerossignol · 16/08/2020 00:00

Yes, I do understand that individual events were of course terrifying for anyone caught up in them. And that yes, there were some casualties in England, and that was tragic for those concerned. But I'm always surprised by how this seemed to impact people in terms of fear, when it was actually very rare.