Why has there been no widespread 90's revival?

i was out in town browsing charity shops and noticed a young person dressed top-to-toe like a mid-2000s hipster, pink Von Dutch trucker cap, white Kappa towelling socks etc. The look seemed very studied, but not like anything I'd seen in at least 12-15 years.

Flannel shirts have been back since 2008.

feel like 90s revival has been big for a while now, at least in terms of fashion, zoomer women dressing like their in the craft, that kind of thing, but this has sort has ebbed into "y2k aesthetic".

I'm team teaching a class this fall that has one undergrad helping out and she was trying to explain her concept of 'y2k' fashion to the rest of us - a younger millenial grad student and three gen x guys.

Something about old people (older millenials, I believe) buying modified children's clothing via instagram and how the paul frank monkey fits into some aspect of this. We were all confused and felt ancient.

oh i feel old as hell. i am an old millenial and i was hanging with a 24 year old the other day and he was dressed like a member of nsync

there’s a guy at my local dispensary that has frosted tips

For the same reason that Gen X gets overlooked any time someone writes an article about "generational conflict": we're outnumbered on either side of the divide.

NPR voices Strauss and Howe wrote various books about generational cohorts, including one about Xers called 13th Gen (as in the 13th generation in U.S. history, IIRC, and also: ominous). This generation, they explained, was savvy and cynical about branding and marketing. So how did you sell to them? (The authors ran a consulting service to help businesses market to specific generational personalities).

Perhaps the battle to win the hearts and wallets of gen X was deemed lost and, out of embarrassment, has disappeared from media commentary. Maybe Xers should see this as a victory! (Strauss and Howe noted that many in this cohort rejected the idea of corresponding to a cohesive generation at all, presumably perceiving the branding logic it supported.)

Spotify just sent me a message inviting me to "Explore how your listening makes you truly unique." Thanks, Spotify!

https://images.fastcompany.net/image/upload/w_1280,f_auto,q_auto,fl_lossy/wp-cms/uploads/2017/07/p-1-ok-soda-ok-cool.jpg

For a while now I've seen most millenial/zoomer cusps hyper-focusing on 1997-2001. I suppose the earlier parts of the 90s returned a bit here and there, but 97-01 has definitely meme'd a lot harder.

NPR voices Strauss and Howe wrote various books about generational cohorts, including one about Xers called 13th Gen (as in the 13th generation in U.S. history, IIRC, and also: ominous).

I found that at a garage sale last weekend and enjoyed the book’s presentation as an artifact of the time—the introductory premise that the book text is being uploaded to an internet message board, all the “hacker” commentary in faux-Macintosh text boxes sprinkled throughout the text, etc.

it's funny to me that when talking about Gen X's cultural legacy is we overlook, say, the Marvel Cinematic Universe

why do you peg that as Gen X?

They're mainly written by, directed and starring xers? Don't do the sic thing on me

is that unusual or distinct among Hollywood film-making rn?

(setting aside Generation X being repeatedly defined in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s to mean "current teenagers")

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jun/26/raves-from-the-grave-lost-90s-subculture-is-back-in-the-spotlight

It is perhaps one of the most ignored subcultures in modern British history, but rave music and the free party movement of the early 90s is coming back into focus.

Over the next few months, a series of films, exhibitions, memoirs and podcasts will reappraise free parties and the crackdown on them by John Major’s government, as well as their modern echoes.

irl lol at "most ignored subcultures"

Inasmuch there not having been any other subcultures that may be accurate ;-)

hanging out with my partner's (awesome) 11-year-old cousin this weekend and i can tell you that the 90s revival is bigger than you all think. Hot Topic is her favorite store and she was really stoked when we described her look as "mall-goth." she is also trying to get her mom to buy her a bucket hat. no lie.

Because deep down everyone knows the 90s sucked.

Least appealing song on "Encomium: A Tribute to Led Zeppelin"

After being confronted with a list of all the #1 hits from 1990-1999...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/jul/26/bring-it-all-back-why-naff-noughties-pop-is-suddenly-cool-again

really hated this article tbh. It handwaves away the idea that r&b was not pop at the turn of the millenium, which is absolutely not true, but that doesn't fit the flimsy narrative. Also, pop in 1997 was not the same as pop in neither 2000 nor 2003 - especially in Britain - and grouping it all together as if it is feels like lazy listening and analysis.

outside of grunge I'm not sure there was anything culturally impactful enough that happened in the 90's to revive.

I mean we had a presidential impeachment, isn't that enough

the 90s were an incredible golden age for hip hop

there's a bar I visit that's Wu-Tang themed and plays nothing but 90s hip hop.

i love every visit. and it's not just the usual songs either. wide variety.

ooh, how will I know? (don’t trust your feelings)
how will I know?
how will I know? (love can be deceiving)
how will I know?

Techno/house/rave/"""electronica""" too, tho I realize they all began in the 80s

Jungle, drum n bass, garage, Britpop and adjacent indie/rock, loads of hip hop, loads of metal, loads of r'n'b

Technically Grunge began in the late '80s (Deep Six comp, early Sub Pop releases etc.)

I feel like most of this stuff never really went out of style and has been omnipresent since the 90's though so it's hard to revive it. but also maybe I myself am stuck there in the 90s

I've mentioned this before, but about 12 years ago the Houston 'Modern Rock' station was running a TV ad with song/video clips that--aside from the station's frequency and the inclusion of "It's Been Awhile" by Staind*-- was exactly the same as the TV ad they ran in 1996.

*Itself around 10 years old at that point.

it's been awhile
since mumble morple
jeezy beezy boo

XP And several of the clips in the '96 ad were from '91-'94 already.

Also thinking harder about the later ad, there was also a Creed clip from '99/'00.

"culturally impactful" also suggests we could look beyond music. it seems like there were tons of major movies that a lot of people still care about, both at the blockbuster and arthouse level. I wouldn't know where to begin with say, painting and literature. but as far as what a theme restaurant would need for decor - lots of fashion trends, graphic design trends, consumer electronic design trends, infomercial product design trends, wacky short-lived fad products, a couple of key video game generations with associated aesthetics, etc.

Mass use of the internet started in the 90s.

that seems important

though up until fairly recently I've felt like we were in the "long 90s"

part of it is I recently realized that the millennials weren't the first new generation they were the last old one

https://experiencethe90s.com/

part of it is I recently realized that the millennials weren't the first new generation they were the last old one

Oof, truth hurts, especially when I felt so disconnected from gen xers in my youth, but yeah: getting the internet at 12 vs getting it at 22 is not as big of a gap as having the internet from birth vs not.

getting the internet at 12 vs getting it at 22 is not as big of a gap as having the internet from birth vs not.

I think this is definitely true and I can see it with my 13 year old son. The way he experiences movies/tv/music is so completely different from what it was for me. Going from mostly "Tuning in" to mostly "On demand" changes a lot about what you're exposed to.

I feel similar about smartphones. I’m 37 and didn’t have a mobile until my mid-20s, and didn’t have a smart phone until about a decade ago. (My Catholic high school banned them with the reasoning that only drug dealers/scorers would need them, and we could just use the cafeteria payphone to call home for a ride. Not that I knew anyone who had a mobile phone). I regularly just leave it on a desk throughout a weekend and check it once or twice, or don’t even bother to take it to a restaurant or grocery store. Whereas younger people I know consider stepping out without their phone akin to leaving your keys at home. Can’t stand reading or writing on a small phone screen either.

The way he experiences movies/tv/music is so completely different from what it was for me. Going from mostly "Tuning in" to mostly "On demand" changes a lot about what you're exposed to.

I was thinking about that when I was watching an old MST3k episode a bit back. The whole premise of “forced to watch bad movies in space" is just a comic exaggeration of bored late nights when you’d settle for watching a dumb movie because there was nothing else on—but with streaming, you can download or stream nearly any movie or show you like, so boredom like that doesn’t really exist. Ditto dull Saturday afternoons when nothing was on but golf.

yeah my pet generational divide theory is likewise based on whether or not you grew up watching reruns. I spent a decent chunk of my childhood absorbing the mass culture of the 50s-70s (leading to confusions like not realizing stuff like Happy Days was made later), which seems really different from now for better and worse

And hearing "oldies" on the radio. Some ppl age 35+ seem to not believe that younger folks haven't heard certain songs (everyone knows that one!) but if you've never had older music passively fed to you via the radio, it's very possible to miss a lot of "classics". Seems that the on-demand generations only know old music if it was on the Shrek soundtrack or whatever.

On yeah radio too; in fifth grade my bus driver played the oldies station (meaning 1950s/early 60s at that time) every morning so at 10 I knew all kinds of girl group and doo wop and early rock songs by heart. So on the one hand, I grew up on a retrospectively bizarre cultural diet suffused with other people's nostalgia, but on the other hand, I picked up a ton of tacit historical & cultural knowledge that I still find useful.

yeah my pet generational divide theory is likewise based on whether or not you grew up watching reruns. I spent a decent chunk of my childhood absorbing the mass culture of the 50s-70s (leading to confusions like not realizing stuff like Happy Days was made later), which seems really different from now for better and worse

I found this last month and it sent me into a fit of nostalgia for that precise reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXTlC_IUHKE

Seems that the on-demand generations only know old music if it was on the Shrek Grand Theft Auto soundtrack or whatever.

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Wednesday, July 28, 2021 5:15 PM (nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't know if this is entirely true. I think a lot of kids are learning about things through Spotify recommendations and stuff.

Yeah or parents/relatives. I mainly based what I said off of YouTube reaction vids.

For movie knowledge/awareness it seems to often come from memes

https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/my2pc9xvv7j.jpeg