When Did The 90s End Culturally?
I’m really interested in people’s individual perceptions of how they would define a decade, to see if there’s a commonality amongst the different opinions or if they vary.
Obviously, the actual dawn of a new decade doesn't magically wipe the slate clean; there's always going to be some overhang from the previous decade before the culture shift begins and settles in. 1990 may have been the literal beginning of the 90s, but the presence of the late 80s was still very much there. It takes a little while for the crossover period to play out.
Then there’s the end of the decade, which I feel was made more contentious than it usually would be because of one ‘little’ thing: Millennium. It wasn't just a new decade, it was the turn of the century; a once in a lifetime event. I remember what a massive deal the millennium was, the whole Y2K thing, the push for all things hi-tech and futuristic and digital in the media, fashion, etc. The ‘prepping’ for it was well underway through ’99, I recall, and I feel like it ended up kind of creating its own little mini-era that eclipsed the aforementioned end of decade overhang to some extent, but didn’t truly kick off the 00s either.
I've noticed that a fair few people feel that 9/11 was the key event that brought a rather abrupt end to the 90s, because of the ripple effect it had around the whole world, and destroyed a general societal attitude that had grown through the ’90s, among other things. I was too young at the time to be aware of the larger effects of it, but I can absolutely see where that point of view is coming from.
Personally, I’ve always felt that 2002 was the year when the 00s era really began to take shape, and by ’03 the transition was more or less complete. ’01 still very much had that end of ’90s/millennium vibe in pretty much all respects (the millennium ‘mini-era’), but during ’02 I felt a palpable shift forward.
What about you guys?
What Y’all Got?
What Y’all Think?
