To Think the 90's Were The Best Decade We've Had?

[A4710Rider]

Certainly from a personal point of view;

Real music with guitars and drums and everything.

The emergence of dance music.

Mobile phones hit the market place (it made it so much easier to meet people you met previously - instead of having to ring their house number and speak to their Dad)

We were even allowed to choose our own email address. [email protected]!

TV was great, as were the Films

The 80's were just depressing and the 00's were a non event.

I loved listening to Atlantic 252 and different genres of music, proper bands. The pop stations all sound the same now.

There were great scenes, Camden was alternative. There was a sense of optimism.

Things are too serious, corporate, soulless, managed, expensive, divided, capitalist and competitive now. This country is run by the rich for the rich. Education and housing is largely unaffordable. There are few pockets of alternative London now.

I'll join you Pickling, it's broken now. {flowers}

Anyone used to watch T4 on a Sunday hungover?

Anyone remember when some male oasis fans would dress and act like Liam, doing that stupid walk?

Yes I loved the series As If on T4 about young people in London.

Yep, the last great decade for British music IMO. I was 21 in 1992, when free party/ rave culture was at a turning point, I started off going to parties in fields all over the south of England, experiencing music that was unlike anything I'd known before (with the help of some superb drugs), met some wonderful people, hung out with anarchists, crusty
Travellers and trustafarians, and some of the founding members of Spiral Tribe. Didn't think much about work or a career.. almost the entire decade was one long party for me. Highlights have to be the last few Glastonburys before the authorities turned in to the sanitised Hunter wellies and fedora wearing wankfest it is today, but my happiest memory will always be standing in front of a 40k rig in a field in Chipping Sodbury, off my tits on MDMA and acid dancing to happy hardcore. I am happily married now with a DD who I love more than I would have thought possible, but it does hurt to know I will never experience the times I had in my 20s ever again.

Does anyone have any terrible tattoos from the 90's?

I'm 47, in a fairly seriously job, I have a 4 year old.

I also have an acid smiley face tattoo on my right upper arm..........

I’m a 40 something owner of a manufacturing company and I have a toadstool on my bottom.

No. The 80s were better than the 90s. But I actually think if you said 1985-1995, I'd agree.

YES. The 90s were the best. I'm 36, was obsessed with Britpop and then grunge/rock, and the 90s extended until 2003 when I left uni (and even a year or so past that, while I still had no real responsibilities and spent every weekend at indie discos).

There was hope. People were becoming more tolerant, society felt cooler and more open-minded than in the 80s. Women could do and wear what they wanted, fashion was much more casual and 'anything goes', pub culture was still alive and well and we spent every weekend hanging out with friends. The music was, undoubtedly, the best we've ever had - influenced by the world-changing 60s and 70s but improved upon by time and technology.

I'd give anything to go back to a summer Friday evening in the mid-90s, drinking cider in the park with 50+ fellow grungers. No camera phones to take evidence of the silly things we got up to. No social media to dread the next morning. No way to be tracked down by parents once we left the house - we were free.

^ that. The freedom.

The clothes were good too. Sergio Tacchini, Chipie, Replay, Ocean Pacific etc. Sergio Tacchini seems to be making a reappearance in Urban Outfitters at the minute.

I've still got a fleecy Sergio Tacchini sweatshirt from the 80s in my wardrobe.

Sports labels became popular for the first time in the early 80s. I remember the first ever school trip I was involved in as a teacher. We took a group of south London boys to Venice and the first thing they did on arrival was to go on a massive shop-lifting spree in a sports shop opposite the hotel. The lure of the big brands was just too great!
Luckily I was the only Italian-speaker present as I managed to intervene and avert a diplomatic incident (all goods returned or paid for by the culprits).
As for the 90s, I was a mother of two during that decade, so my memories of the broader cultural scene are limited. The 70s as a teenager were great for me, and later living in Brighton in my 20s was a good time.

@WeAllHaveWings - I'm with you on the 85-95 best years. It's all about when your partying starts I suppose. Started going to warehouse parties in London mid-80s, soul hip hip and rare groove, then in 88 acid house happened and whoosh the rest is history..!
But yeah everything felt more optimistic, London was brilliant, house sharing with friends didn't cost the fortune it would cost today. There was so much going on, so much music clubs and parties. So much undercover good times.

This is making me so nostalgic.

It was the best decade for me to. Lots of bad stuff happened personally but there was hope in society.

The 90s were certainly the best decade overall. That doesn't mean the best of everything coincided with the 90s, but overall it was undoubtedly the best.

Great music, some great films, and the improvements in technology are obvious (the decade where mobiles became affordable, the internet became affordable, DVDs became available, videogames moved from being solely for children to being adult orientated too).

Even politics was actually interesting, before Blair dumbed everything down and "spin" became more important than fact. Still, he helped with bringing peace to Northern Ireland, long before he started becoming a warmonger.

The early years of the decade were tough but by 1994 there was an emerging sense of optimism which lasted until the 9/11 attacks.

The 90s were the peak - we've certainly been on a downward spiral since then.

I posted before but I've re-read the entire thread and I'm feeling nostalgic.

I have a great memory of being in my then boyfriends car at the embankment and it was a glorious warm evening, the traffic was heavy and every car was blaring out house music and everyone seemed happy. A perfect moment really.

You could be who you wanted as a young woman, glamorous, grungy whatever.

Remember the expression weekend hippies? We worked all week then partied all weekend as our free spirited alter egos.

Hard to believe now that this country really was so cool. A handsome young prime minister who hung out with pop stars. It was like we really had a stake in society and it was all there for the taking. The best music, fashion, restaurants, clubs - travel was cheap with the under 26 euro rail card. A month of train travel anywhere in europe for 200 quid or thereabouts.

This Life ! Miles, Anna, Egg, Milly and Warren ❤️

Oh my goodness - I can't believe I've only just found this thread.

YA so NBU!

Also came of age in the 90s - started them finishing high school, and ended them in London, footloose and fancy free, clubbing and having the time of my life! 🎵🖤

Not to be depressing, but looking back, for me, it was the end of taking feel safe for granted.

9/11 2001, and everything started to change.

Yes the 90s lasted until 9/11.

Uni was free and you could walk out and buy a nice wee starter flat within months of your first job.

Food was cheap, fuel was cheap, drinks out for £1.

A scrunchie and some body sho lip gloss was all you needed to leave the house.

There was poverty but there was an escape- if you were a single mum you’d get a Council house with low rent that you could buy once you got a job.

There were loads of big films that only cost £3 to see in the cinema.

Peace in NI was on its way and you didn’t have to worry about getting blown up at a gig.

Loved the 90s. Meeting in convoys to find a rave, a sense of everyone coming together, getting to wear trainers not stupid high heels, festivals and a sense of freedom.
I don't remember waiting around for people though this makes me fear I was probably just the one that was late