When did the '80s REALLY end?

[TMC]

http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=467442&page=1

« Thread Started Today at 9:05am »
Yeah, i know the obvious answer (Jan 1 1990) but when did you start a
shift in pop culture? I'd say around 91-92 which were pretty much
transition years. Around that time you saw the major label debuts of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, gangsta rap was rising in popularity, Sonic the
Hedgehog and the Super NES debuted, comics got darker than before
(image, the death of superman), and several of the major tv shows of
the 80s were leaving the air (most notably the cosby show).

« Reply #2 Today at 9:07am »
Either 1992 when the year "Grunge broke out". But the fashion was sort
of the same until about '94 or '95.

« Reply #4 Today at 9:07am »
This is actually an interesting topic. I'm not sure where I heard it
but I've heard it explained where the fashion and pop culture in
general kind of almost always overlaps into the next decade for about
two to three years. I remember in the early 90s that a lot of neon
colors were still really popular to wear.

« Reply #5 Today at 9:36am »
93. Hair metal was still trying to cling on to life. The 90s didn't
really end until 2002. The 70's were still around in 82. Decades for
pop usually end up being a two year delay as people resist change.

« Reply #7 Today at 10:17am »
I started to realize a shift in the fall of 91 when "Nevermind" broke
out, it was changing.

« Reply #8 Today at 10:33am »
About when the flannel finally replaced the neon.

« Reply #16 Today at 1:28pm »
As hard as I try to keep them alive, I'd also say it was still
breating in 1992 and long gone by the end of 1993.

I've always thought it was strange that what a lot of folks born in
the '90s consider to be "the '80s" i.e. neon colors, 'gnarly' surfer
lingo, etc. was from the "California Cool" trend that lasted from
about 1988-1992-ish. That feels much more '90s to me. When someone
mentions the '80s, I tend to think more of feathered hair, giant
eyeglasses, family sitcoms, and lots of very pastel colored clothing.

« Reply #17 Today at 2:12pm »
When I heard the opening riff to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the
radio for the first time.

« Reply #18 Today at 2:24pm »
I tried explaining this to a friend before, essentially saying the
same thing, although I said it was "truly dead by 1993". Also, the
70's weren't really over until 1981/82. Unfortunately, I never felt
that the 00's or even the 10's had enough of their own style to really
resonate the same kind of trend.

[Eighties-Seeker]

Post by TMC
http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=467442&page=1
« Thread Started Today at 9:05am »
Yeah, i know the obvious answer (Jan 1 1990) but when did you start a
shift in pop culture? I'd say around 91-92 which were pretty much
transition years. Around that time you saw the major label debuts of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, gangsta rap was rising in popularity, Sonic the
Hedgehog and the Super NES debuted, comics got darker than before
(image, the death of superman), and several of the major tv shows of
the 80s were leaving the air (most notably the cosby show).

I'd say the "last year" was 1986. After that this assembly line plastic
pop, house/acid and rap became dominant, removing early synth pop, New
Wave and what made the late 70s and early/mid 80s.

But I also say the 80s started around 1977-1979.

[William December Starr]

Post by Eighties-Seeker
I'd say the "last year" was 1986. After that this assembly line
plastic pop, house/acid and rap became dominant, removing early
synth pop, New Wave and what made the late 70s and early/mid 80s.
But I also say the 80s started around 1977-1979.

Given that the 60s didn't end until the Paris Accords in January
1973 (and indeed one might argue not until Nixon got driven out
in 1974) that doesn't leave much at all for the 70s. Some disco
and two incompetent assassination attempts on Gerald Ford, and
that's about it.

-- wds

[Dano]

Post by TMC
http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=467442&page=1
« Thread Started Today at 9:05am »
Yeah, i know the obvious answer (Jan 1 1990) but when did you start a
shift in pop culture? I'd say around 91-92 which were pretty much
transition years. Around that time you saw the major label debuts of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, gangsta rap was rising in popularity, Sonic the
Hedgehog and the Super NES debuted, comics got darker than before
(image, the death of superman), and several of the major tv shows of
the 80s were leaving the air (most notably the cosby show).

I'd say the "last year" was 1986. After that this assembly line plastic
pop, house/acid and rap became dominant, removing early synth pop, New
Wave and what made the late 70s and early/mid 80s.

But I also say the 80s started around 1977-1979.

[Eighties-Seeker]

Post by Dano
Hmmm...so when did the 70's end

May be 1981. Yes, because 70s mixes in part with the 80s. Disco was
"invented" in the 70s abut still survived 1980 and influenced some music
there. Although "the day when disco died" was in the 70s.

[Remysun]

Post by Eighties-Seeker
I'd say the "last year" was 1986. After that this assembly line plastic
pop, house/acid and rap became dominant, removing early synth pop, New
Wave and what made the late 70s and early/mid 80s.
But I also say the 80s started around 1977-1979.

The 80's ended with the collapse of the Berlin Wall, and David
Hasselhoff singing at the Brandenburg Gate. No more Cold War and the
propping up of anti-Commie dictators came to an end.

[Stuff]

When MTV started showing non-music related content (i.e. reality TV
crap like The Real World)

[Remysun]

Post by Stuff
When MTV started showing non-music related content (i.e. reality TV
crap like The Real World)

YES.

[t***@gmail.com]

Post by TMC
http://officialfan.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=offtopic&action=display&thread=467442&page=1
« Thread Started Today at 9:05am »
Yeah, i know the obvious answer (Jan 1 1990) but when did you start a
shift in pop culture? I'd say around 91-92 which were pretty much
transition years. Around that time you saw the major label debuts of
Nirvana and Pearl Jam, gangsta rap was rising in popularity, Sonic the
Hedgehog and the Super NES debuted, comics got darker than before
(image, the death of superman), and several of the major tv shows of
the 80s were leaving the air (most notably the cosby show).
« Reply #2 Today at 9:07am »
Either 1992 when the year "Grunge broke out". But the fashion was sort
of the same until about '94 or '95.
« Reply #4 Today at 9:07am »
This is actually an interesting topic. I'm not sure where I heard it
but I've heard it explained where the fashion and pop culture in
general kind of almost always overlaps into the next decade for about
two to three years. I remember in the early 90s that a lot of neon
colors were still really popular to wear.
« Reply #5 Today at 9:36am »
93. Hair metal was still trying to cling on to life. The 90s didn't
really end until 2002. The 70's were still around in 82. Decades for
pop usually end up being a two year delay as people resist change.
« Reply #7 Today at 10:17am »
I started to realize a shift in the fall of 91 when "Nevermind" broke
out, it was changing.
« Reply #8 Today at 10:33am »
About when the flannel finally replaced the neon.
« Reply #16 Today at 1:28pm »
As hard as I try to keep them alive, I'd also say it was still
breating in 1992 and long gone by the end of 1993.
I've always thought it was strange that what a lot of folks born in
the '90s consider to be "the '80s" i.e. neon colors, 'gnarly' surfer
lingo, etc. was from the "California Cool" trend that lasted from
about 1988-1992-ish. That feels much more '90s to me. When someone
mentions the '80s, I tend to think more of feathered hair, giant
eyeglasses, family sitcoms, and lots of very pastel colored clothing.
« Reply #17 Today at 2:12pm »
When I heard the opening riff to "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the
radio for the first time.
« Reply #18 Today at 2:24pm »
I tried explaining this to a friend before, essentially saying the
same thing, although I said it was "truly dead by 1993". Also, the
70's weren't really over until 1981/82. Unfortunately, I never felt
that the 00's or even the 10's had enough of their own style to really
resonate the same kind of trend.

When did the '90s really begin?

http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/303943?page=1

Of course, chronologically it started on January 1, 1990.

From my perspective, growing up then and looking back now, it didn't really feel like it until around late 1993/early 1994.

1990 and 1991 - no different than the 80s.
1992 - 80s culture still strong, 90s just starting to surface
1993 - transitional, about 50/50
1994 - first real 90s cultural year

What do you think?

http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/303943?page=2

May 30, 2010 at 6:36pm Post by Yami on May 30, 2010 at 6:36pm
Of course it took some time for the '90s to surface due to the '80s culture still going strong.

I'll echo what others have said when Smells Like Teen Spirit hit the airwaves. That was like the official launch theme of the '90s and every rebellious teenager's anthem.

May 30, 2010 at 8:52pm Post by Milkman Norm on May 30, 2010 at 8:52pm
I wrote some long speel about the 90's and the change from the 80's until I realised I could pinpoint the moment the 90's began culturally with one simple thing:

Mtv's shortly lived show You Wrote It, You Watch It. Why would I pick a barely remembered show from 1992 over something people actually remember or still use like Nevermind or Super Nintendo? Because YWIYWI is something that could have only existed in the early 90's. The premise of the show was that people would send in story's from their lives that they written in sketch forum. The show was hosted by a leather jacket wearing comedian from New Jersey and some Mtv interns got their NYU theater buddies involved in shooting and performing in some of the creations. Shockingly the show bombed. It turns out that having watched SNL for 15 or so years didn't make you a good writer. But at the time Mtv took a chance that Gen Xers, raised by television, would have absorbed enough pop culture to be creative by default.Clearly it wasn't true but it was a mindset that to me represents what made the 90's different from the 80's.

btw the NYU grads who worked on YWIYWI, whose theater group was called The State, got their own show on Mtv months after YWIYWI ended and the host, Jon Stewart, things ended working out pretty good for him too.

May 30, 2010 at 8:57pm Post by Guest on May 30, 2010 at 8:57pm

May 30, 2010 at 5:40pm @forgottensinpwf said:


When this hit the airwaves.


I'd say...kind of.

Nevermind came out in the fall of '91, but it took another year or so for the whole grunge phenomenon to really saturate the country. So...early '93 is probably when that shift had really started to take hold. By late '93/early 94, the 80's were totally dead. Actually, in some ways Cobain's death may be the bigger marker than Nevermind itself. The shift had already happened by that point, but you could argue that it was the first defining pop culture moment of the era.

May 30, 2010 at 9:02pm Post by Guest on May 30, 2010 at 9:02pm
Me personally, it began when the popularity of the Ninja Turtles died and the film Clueless hit theaters because that's the only flick that really captured the zeitgeist of the 90s in my opinion. My sister watched that godforsaken movie so many times I knew all the words and lyrics to all the songs that played during the scenes.
And the Ninja Turtles were just so huge and they just seemed to die out mysteriously. Maybe it was the Power Rangers that killed them off.

May 30, 2010 at 10:00pm Post by Kris Kobain on May 30, 2010 at 10:00pm
1991 With Smells Like Teen Spirit

That song alone defined the '90s.

http://officialfan.proboards.com/thread/303943?page=3

May 31, 2010 at 4:30pm Post by wildojinx on May 31, 2010 at 4:30pm
Don't forget the release of Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" in 1993. Though Gangsta rap had been around since the mid-80s, this album was the final death knell for "good time" rap and led to a harsher sound in the rap community that's still being felt (for better or for worse).

Jun 1, 2010 at 6:49am Post by Guest on Jun 1, 2010 at 6:49am
Nirvana is an excellent choice. I think I'll go with them and the fact that music videos and MTV became what it is today during that time. Television became more sexual and explicit and family values were pretty much dead. But if it weren't for those things we wouldn't have South Park and the Attitude Era.

Jun 2, 2010 at 6:39am Post by AriadosMan on Jun 2, 2010 at 6:39am
90s culture as we remember it today actually started in the late 80s when NWA started to become popular. Rap/hip-hop was the defining music of the 90s in the way that hair metal was in the 80s, It just took a significant amount of time for it to "register".

Nirvana, as influential as they were, I consider more to be "the last rock band" than "the first". Grunge as a movement didn't even last the entire 90s.

Its similar to how 2010s culture (so far) started to take shape with the Lady Gaga/Glee stuff from 2009.

Alternately, since so much of the 90s was the glory days of 16-bit games, you could say it started with the debut of the Genesis/Mega Drive in 1988 in Japan and 1989 in the US.

Nirvana wasn't really the framework that most of the decade was built on so much as it was a transient movement that was magnified by Kurt's untimely death.

Jun 2, 2010 at 7:44am Post by Jim Schrute on Jun 2, 2010 at 7:44am
I have to say when the USSR collapsed. I was 6 years old at the time, but the media, fashion, and music were way different before the collapse.