The 90s

[Claire903]

Anyone else feel like the 90s were just peak life? Honestly, what a laugh that decade was. You could crack a joke and no one was instantly offended, people weren’t on edge or “at work” 24/7-even though I’m posting this from my phone, which is a bit ironic, considering how we actually spoke to each other back then!

Remember when the Spice Girls ruled everything? Union Jack dresses, platform trainers, “girl power” on every magazine cover, and all of us desperately trying to decide if we were more Sporty or Baby Spice. I still remember choreographing dance routines in my mate’s living room, belting out “Wannabe” and thinking we were destined for Wembley. And the fashion! Butterfly clips, chokers, slip dresses, and those chunky shoes that could do some serious damage if you tripped over them on a night out

The weather honestly seemed better-proper summers, ice pops from the corner shop, and not a mobile phone in sight unless you count the odd Nokia 3210 (which was basically indestructible and only used for Snake anyway). No one was glued to screens; we were out knocking for each other, hanging out in the park or at the precinct, and if you missed an episode of “Byker Grove” or “Live & Kicking,” you were genuinely out of the loop until Monday at school.

TV was golden: “The Crystal Maze,” “TFI Friday,” “The Big Breakfast” with Chris Evans and Gaby Roslin, and of course, the absolute chaos of “Noel’s House Party.” And who else had a Tamagotchi that died a tragic death because you forgot to feed it for a day? Or a window full of Beanie Babies you were convinced would pay your mortgage one day (still waiting on that one)

Music was unreal-Oasis, Blur, All Saints, 5ive, and the whole “Cool Britannia” vibe. Even the football was iconic: Euro ’96, Three Lions on the radio, and everyone thinking Gazza’s dentist chair celebration was the height of comedy.

Maybe I’m just getting old, but it really felt like life was simpler, funnier, and just a bit more carefree. Anyone else wish we could go back, even just for one more night out in a dodgy club, dancing to “Spice Up Your Life” in our best crop tops and cargo pants?

Would love to hear what you all miss most!

Here here, I was a teen late 70's - 80's, it was fantastic - the 90's were great, and the early 00's not bad either, the wheels really started coming off around the time of the 2008 crash and the pandemic drove in the final nails.

I don't live in the current fashion though, my mobile is just for work and is switched off when I get home, landline bell turned off at 9.00pm and only close friends have that. Don't do YouTube or Tim Tok etc..

It's nostalgia for when you were young

My parents liked the late 90s & the teens I know today definitely don't have the same hope & excitement that I had as a teen.

The 90s was ages 8-18 for me so yes, best years ever.

But being a child meant I was shielded a lot.

Yes! and the clubbing scene was awesome!!!

clubbing/music scene was amazing. All those different genres!

The high street fashion was world leading now it's a shadow of itself.

Omg Tammy girl I completely forgot about that place

16-26 for me, an excellent decade, though I’m hard pushed to choose between the 90s and the 00s which was pretty epic too.

There was lots about the 90s that was great, and I have very fond memories for a lot of it. But I think that's partly to do with age, I was a child/teen so didn't have much to worry about.

I don't associate the Nokia 3210 with the 90s though. It was all about the 5110!

Of course this is AI. In fact I just asked Chat GPT to write a post for MN and it sounds weirdly similar

I’ve been feeling a bit nostalgic lately, and I thought I’d kick off a chat about why the 1990s in the UK were, frankly, brilliant. Especially when it comes to popular culture and technology — what a time to grow up, come of age, or even just live through.

First up: the music. We had Britpop at its peak — Blur vs Oasis was the cultural moment. Whether you were Team Blur or Team Oasis (or secretly both), the soundtrack to our lives was unbeatable. And beyond that, we had the Spice Girls bursting onto the scene with girl power, Take That making us swoon, and dance music exploding out of clubs and into the charts. Top of the Pops was unmissable Thursday night TV.

Then there was the fashion — perhaps questionable in hindsight, but we all embraced it. Scrunchies, bucket hats, Kappa poppers, adidas Gazelles, crop tops and combat trousers. And don’t get me started on the butterfly clips and glittery makeup! We thought we looked amazing (and honestly, we kind of did).

TV was another high point. We had SM:TV Live and Live & Kicking on Saturday mornings, and at night, Absolutely Fabulous, The Fast Show, Men Behaving Badly and Father Ted made us laugh like nothing else. And of course, Friends started airing on Channel 4 — it’s hard to overstate how much of a phenomenon that was.

As for technology — yes, it was all a bit chunky and slow by today’s standards, but it felt like magic at the time. Dial-up internet (the screeching modem noise still lives in my head), our first Nokia 3210s with Snake, and Encarta CD-ROM encyclopedias that made you feel like you had the world at your fingertips. Game Boys, Tamagotchis, and SEGA Mega Drives filled our spare time. And who else remembers taping the Top 40 off the radio, finger poised on the record button?

It felt like a decade where things were just right — modern enough to be exciting, but still simple enough to be carefree. No constant social media, no endless notifications, and we still made plans in person or over a landline (and turned up on time!).

Would love to hear everyone else’s best 90s memories — what stands out most for you?

No, I don't think so. In the 70's we had the 3-day week, mass unemployment, high inflation, power cuts, fuel shortages, endless strikes by coal miners & railway workers, and 'Protect and Survive'. Unless you saw it at the time, you can have no idea of the effect it had on us teenagers. The potential threat of nuclear anihilation was very real.

On the other hand, we had Slade and chopper bikes.

Right, humour me here — because I’m about to make the case that being a goth in the 1980s wasn’t just a phase, it was peak human existence. We were living art. We were poetry in motion (usually very slow, moody motion under a heavy fringe).

First off — the music. We had THE soundtrack. The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Bauhaus, Sisters of Mercy, The Cult — even the Smiths if you fancied a softer sulk. The basslines were deep, the lyrics were tortured, and everything sounded best echoing off the walls of some dingy indie club full of dry ice and existential dread. Try telling me modern playlists can compete.

Then there was the style. Honestly? Immaculate. All black everything, but with flair: lace, velvet, leather, fishnets. Crimped hair, backcombed to the heavens (RIP to all the combs we destroyed). Panda-eyes eyeliner that took an hour to apply and three days to remove. We practically invented the smoky eye before beauty influencers got hold of it. We were androgynous, dramatic and unapologetically theatrical — the Victorian mourning aesthetic reimagined for Thatcher’s Britain.

And let’s not forget — there was a philosophy to it. We read Sylvia Plath, Oscar Wilde and Anne Rice for fun. We haunted independent record shops and secondhand bookshops, not TikTok. We weren’t afraid of big ideas or big feelings. Being misunderstood was practically the goal.

Technology was lowkey perfect for it too. No smartphones snapping unflattering pub shots. No fast fashion pushing neon micro-trends. Just painstaking hours assembling your outfit from charity shops, Kensington Market or flipping through copies of Smash Hits and Melody Maker for inspo. And if you were really committed, you knew your way around a darkroom as well as the dance floor.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom either — despite the moody exteriors, the goth crowd had a wicked sense of humour and a deep camaraderie. We were, in many ways, one of the warmest and most inclusive scenes of the era (as long as you didn’t turn up in a fluorescent shell suit).

In short: we looked cooler, we danced cooler (who remembers the slow, hypnotic arm movements?), and we cared deeply about music and meaning.

Your turn — were you a fellow goth? Or did you secretly want to be? Let’s swap stories and see who had the tallest hair.

I was literally saying all this to my partner the other night,we reminisce alot on the 90s i was in my early teens then it was the best

Yeah. Guess I didn't enjoy it that much though because I was a really anxious teen and Claudia Schiffer was unattainably thin, and it was ok for builders to walk past a 15 year old girl and say "yeah I'd come on your tits any time". But I was young so of course in hindsight it seems great and I had friends back then so I wasn't socially awkward.

Honestly, I just had to say it — how cool is it that here in 2025, we don’t even have to write our own posts anymore? I just gave a vague idea to the AI (“write me something about why the 90s were great” / “remind everyone how fabulous we goths were”) and hey presto — out pops a fully-formed, witty, well-written thread starter that sounds like I put far more effort into it than I actually did.

Gone are the days of sitting there staring blankly at the keyboard, trying to make your words sound clever or funny while simultaneously making sure you haven’t made a glaring typo in front of the Mumsnet masses. Now I can sip my tea and let the AI do all the heavy lifting.

And let’s be honest — how many of us have half-written posts sitting in drafts because we couldn’t be bothered to finish the thought? Or have typed something out, deleted it three times, and ended up not bothering? AI just takes that off our plates.

It’s like having a very eager friend who loves doing your homework for you, except they don’t expect a lift to IKEA in return.

Yes, yes — I know there are hand-wringers muttering about creativity and originality, but frankly, I think outsourcing the graft so I can get to the good bit (chatting, debating, swapping stories) is peak convenience. I still get the fun of the conversation — I just don’t have to faff with the intro.

Anyway, just felt like giving a shout-out to 2025 tech. We might not have hoverboards (I’m still bitter, not going to lie), but we do have AI that can bash out a forum post quicker than I can make a cup of tea — and that’s almost as good.

Anyone else secretly loving the laziness of it? Or am I the only one happily letting the robots do the wordy bits

And who else remembers taping the Top 40 off the radio, finger poised on the record button?

I have no idea why I did this as I don't think I listened to the tapes!

The 80s were better still 😎

And deffo right with the weather we seemed to have long endless summers with no breaks sometimes to hot we were kicked out to play all day in summer hols by parents with 50p that seemed to stretch for miles😂

My husband says I'm stuck in the 90s because I love finding films and TV shows from that era and forcing the kids to watch them. Just brings back fond memories of a simpler way of life 😊

You forgot raving, dancing til dawn in a field with strangers and fabulous drugs (and speed 😂😱).
And when you could climb into Glastonbury or buy a ticket 3 weeks after they went on sale at a record shop.

Can't say I miss interest rates at nearly 15% though or the casual sexism or the groping. I don't miss being frotted on a night out either. At least it wasn't filmed, so there's that.

The sexism is much more invidious now though. There does seem to be more malice in it. That might just be because I'm older and see it more, but I don't think so.

I loved the 90s. I did my GCSEs and A Levels then and look back on the study leaves and summers with such fondness. Life was easy and fun. Music was peak. Great times!

I do think the 90s was a great decade, both in terms of music and finding myself, but I wasn't independent then - I still lived at home and didn't have to worry about money. I was still a teen at the end of the 90s. The noughties brought me nothing but misery. Both my parents died and I turned to drugs and alcohol to ease my pain. Can't even remember 2010 to 2020. Now, days are good again and I still love Oasis, Blur and Steps 😁

Pre-mobile phones and internet. It's all gone pear shaped since (as I type this on my mobile phone on the internet, oh the irony).

100%

Mixed for me. Spent three years at Uni in Sheffield and remember seeing lots of bands and going to festivals etc. Met dh and had some great times. Left to live abroad in 1997 so did not spend the last few years in the Uk. Also had some of the most stressful years of working life though and would not want to go through that again.