Culture of the 1990s

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The 1990s was the last decade of the 20th Century and the first decade after the Cold War. Informally, the 1990s may refer to the time period between November of 1989 with the fall of the Berlin Wall and end in 2001 with the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks, but primarily refer to the years from 1990 and 1999. Often times the 1990s are associated as a time of relative peace and economic prosperity between the major conflicts of the Cold War and the War on Terror^[1].

Contents 1 Grunge, Generation X, and the "Alternative" Decade 2 The Introduction of the Internet 3 Gangsta Rap and the rise of Hip Hop Culture 4 Beginnings of a Global Culture 5 Family and the silent rise of Generation Y 6 Media 7 Homosexuality acceptance 8 Other Cultural trends 9 Anniversaries observed 10 See also 11 References 12 External Links

[edit] Grunge, Generation X, and the "Alternative" Decade

During the 1980s, alternative rock and grunge were seen mostly in the underground music scene. By the early-1990s however, Grunge became a dominant form of music across the United States and to an extent a major portion of the Anglosphere^[2]. The big four bands that formed the basis of the grunge movement were Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, and Alice in Chains. Grunge had its roots in the DIY ideology of Punk music and therefore embraced anti-corporatism, challenging the status quo, and supported indiviualism.

Generation X, the primary generation of people born in the 1960s and 1970s (then college age) adopted the grunge culture quickly, separating the 1990s apart from the 1980s. As Generation X's media presence grew, more television shows were focused on their demographic, extreme sports such as skateboarding, rollerblading, and skydiving became more prevalent, and tatoos, piercings, flannel shirts, and ripped jeans became more trendy^{[3] [4]}. These attributes, as well as the rise of alternative music, separated the 1990s from the glam fashions of the 1980s and the later "preppy" fashions of the 2000s^[5] creating a period known by some as the "Alternative" decade. Douglas Coupland published Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture in 1991 regarding the Generation X demographic and popularizing the term.

The grunge movement faced a terrible loss with the death of singer Kurt Cobain of Nirvana fame in 1994. It is debatable if his death triggered the downfall of grunge, but at some point in the mid-1990s, alternative rock in general replaced grunge's popularity and later post-grunge^[6], nu metal^[7], indie rock^[8], pop punk^[9], and a new wave of teen pop artists would dominate music charts for the remainder of the decade.

Besides the rise and fall of grunge, Generation X also embraced environmentalism and an interest in entrepreneurship. The fond love of extreme sports lead some young people to become increasingly involved in outdoor activities that combined embracing athletics with the appreciation of nature.

[edit] The Introduction of the Internet

See also: 1990s in technology & science

Although the basic applications and guidelines that make the Internet possible had existed for almost a decade, the network did not gain a public face until the 1990s. On August 6, 1991, CERN, which straddles the border between France and Switzerland, publicized the new World Wide Web project. The Web was invented by English scientist Tim Berners-Lee in 1989.

Once the internet was made availiable for the public, it took off greatly. Its widest appeal was the ability to communicate with others around the world, some common examples would be chat rooms, forums, wikis, blogs, and of course e-mail. Not only did the Internet spark interest from the public, but businesses also saw the internet as a new alternative source of revenue and promotion eventually leading up to the makings of the dot.com boom. It wasn't long before the Intenet began to affect pop culture. The interest in the Bulletin Board System decreased heavily with the introduction of the internet^[10].

Because of the internet's tendency allowing users from around the globe to communicate with one another, a concept of online social ettiquette developted called "Netiquette"^[11]. And as a result of the internet's introduction and growth into average use, users began developing their own language of abbreviations and codes. The most widely known symbols and abbreviations used are, Emoticons such as the smiley face [:)], LOL [Laughing Out Loud], and OMG! [Oh, My God/Gosh!]. Leet, a more complicated form of internet language, also has its roots in the 1990s^[12].

There was however another side to the Internet. It's format made it easy to share information around the world fairly quickly and problems regarding privacy, piracy, pornagraphy, and copyright infringement followed the internet like a shadow. The popular peer-to-peer network Napster allowed users to illegally download MP3 files to their computers thus triggering record companies to fire back at the provider and its users in 1999 and 2000. The MP3, although not as common a music format, did not threaten the compact disc at the time; the MP3 would grow more popular in the 2000s.

A few of the websites developted in the 1990s that became widely known are Ebay, Amazon.com, Yahoo!, Craigslist, Xanga, classmates.com, Newgrounds, Something Awful, and The Best Page in the Universe.

[edit] Gangsta Rap and the rise of Hip Hop Culture

Hip hop and Rap music continued to dominate the music charts alongside grunge in the 1990s and diversified into several different styles. The most prevalent style of rap music during the decade was Gangsta Rap, hip hop that reflected the violent lifestyles of some inner-city youths^[13]. Artists carrying the sound soon found themselves put into the spotlight fairly quickly and it wasn't long before the gangsta style caught on with the youth. Gangsta rap gave rise to the fashion of sagging^[14], the wearing of very loose clothing and re-introduced the beanie into popular fashions^[15]. Other fashion marks made by the gangsta movement was the wearing a baseball cap cocked to one side rather than wearing it normally forward and the wearing of many Tommy Hilfiger products.

Due to the violent nature of the lyrical content of gangsta rap songs, many parents and political commentators thought the songs were too vulgar to be heard by children^[16]. Its popularity sparked new debates regarding music censorship as many songs were considered highly controversal for the time. Pundits and parents believed that Gangsta rap promoted homophobia, violence, profanity, promiscuity, misogyny, rape, street gangs, drive-by shootings, police brutality, vandalism, thievery, crime, drug dealing, alcohol abuse, substance abuse, racism, and materialism.

Tupac Shakur of Death Row Records and The Notorious BIG of Bad Boy Records, wage a cultural war in the hip hop music scene, leading to the murder of both Shakur in 1996 and BIG in 1997.

By 1999, Hip hop and rap overtook alternative rock's popularity among the youth, the famous Detroit rapper Eminem is often creditted as popularizing the genre amongst all of the youth demographic^[17].

[edit] Beginnings of a Global Culture

After the Cold War, world trade increased and the rise of the internet promoted the sharing of different cultures. World trading blocs and free trade agreements can also be said to promote the sharing of ideals and cultures. The European Union was set up and NATO expanded in the 1990s. Some politicians and political pundits fear that it promotes too much globilization^[18] and argue it will ultimately lead to one world government, assimilation, or the dumping of cultures altogether^[19].

In Europe a popular form of artistic independent film known as Dogme 95 began to get widespread attention by many in the indie film scene. It was considered by many in the film industry as 'unprofessional', as many of the cameras were handheld and no elements of special effects were used as per the dogme rules^[20], but it would later inspire directors all over the world to implement some techniques of dogme into their films.

During the 1990s, there grew an increasing interest in japanese animé and manga. The interest in animé was fueled by animated character's surreal yet realistic appearances and great graphics provided by their artists. Popular animé's of the 1990s that gained a worldwide fanbase included Pokémon (1996), Dragonball Z (1989), and Sailor Moon (1992).

Media consolidation leads to increased segmentation in styles of music.

[edit] Family and the silent rise of Generation Y

The 1990s were considered a prosperous time for families. In the United States, the divorce rate began to stabalize, however early in the decade the number of teenage girls giving birth increased^[21] and the number of single parent households also increased^[22]. The early 1990s marked the latter half of the Echo Boom and the late-Generation Yers being born. Over 80 million GenYers were born between 1982 and 1995^[23] giving them enormous spending power.

As Generation Y grew, their parents and the media began to catter to them while they were young. Mothers of Generation Yers became known as soccer moms as soccer became a phenomenon among this generation. They were being nurtured to become multitaskers and teamplayers^[24]. And as the soccer mom prevalence in US culture grew, so too did the rise of the Sport Utility Vehicle throughout the world^[25], replacing the station wagon and minivan as the stereotypical family vehicle.

[edit] Media

See also: 1990s in television and 1990s in music

In the 1990s, television becomes more violent and provacative than in previous decades. In response to complants, a parental rating system was introduced in 1997 known as the V-chip.

The beginning of the Gulf War begins the era of 24-hour CNN news coverage. Later on in 1996, Fox News would debut, also formatted as a 24-hour news service. The introduction of 24-hour news brought people an increase of awareness and coverage of world events and Infotainment programs. Al Jazeera begins broadcasting in 1996, subsidised by a grant from the emir of Qatar and expanded their programming range across the Arabic-speaking world.

After the success of The Simpsons with adults, networks begin premiering more animated shows targetted towards the Generation X and older demographics.

MTV shifts away from music videos throughout the decade, focusing more on original programming and reality television^[26]. Reality TV would become more prevalent in the 2000s. The music network also tried with limited success with the record industry to try and force Electronica and Euro-pop music into the United States in the late-1990s^[27]. Electronica in the United States however still existed in the underground and within the rave culture. Eurodance, Techno, and electronic music did continue to dominate discotheques and had numerous major mainstream hits on European radio. Besides alternative rock and electronic music, R&B, and an increasing number of Christian rock artists grew to mainstream success.

The sports of NASCAR and Professional wrestling experience a huge rise in popularity during the 1990s^{[28] [29]}.

Satellite television becomes more affodable in the 1990s with the introduction of Dish Network, British Satellite Broadcasting, and DirecTV exposing viewers to hundreds of more channels and also global networks.

[edit] Homosexuality acceptance

Following the 1980s media counter-culture lead by tabloid talk shows popularized by Oprah Winfrey in 1986, which provided high-impact media visibility for gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, and transgender people ^[30] the 1990s saw a further increase in gay visibility in the mainstream media.

In 1990, the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from its list of diseases.

Movies and televison programs with gay characters saw mainstream success, and celebrities spoke openly about their sexuality.

U.S. President Bill Clinton generally held a pro-gay rights viewpoint, however the "Don't ask, don't tell" policy he implemented into allowing gays into the military became quite controversal among both the right-wing and left-wing sides of the political spectrum.

[edit] Other Cultural trends

Extended alcohol sales are implemented in the US to reduce alcohol abuse.

The exploitation of the collectability of comic books results in a trend of "gimmick" packaging and storylines (most notably The Death of Superman). The comic book industry collapses as interest in print comics decreases among younger generations and casual readers. Comic books disappear as a familiar sight at the newsstands. As comics, including Japanese manga and other graphic novels become more available in bookstore chains, the role of the comic book store as a source for comics and social gathering wanes. The domination by industry giants Marvel Comics and DC Comics ends as various independents produce popular titles. The era of comic book collecting for speculative investment ends. Webcomics by amateur cartoonists become popular.

Conversion to Block scheduling became a trendy initiative for United States schools.

[edit] Anniversaries observed

• The 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus' discovery of America in 1992 was popularly observed, despite controversy and protests against Columbus' expeditions victimization of Native Americans. The holiday was labeled by some as racist, in view of Native American experiences of colonialism, slavery, genocide and cultural destruction.

[edit] See also

• 1990s in fashion
• Generation X

[edit] References

[edit] External Links

• Kingwood College Library: American Cultural History 1990-1999
• Retrojunk