Were the late 90s the best of times?

partyguinness

Faith+1 wrote: »

Hindsight is one hell of a drug. I remember the 90's very well and everyone used to say it was sh*te and the 80's were the best.

In the 80's everyone said the 70's was the b*llocks. And so on and so on.

In years to come they'll be saying the 10's were the best years of their lives.

I have to admit I don't remember anyone saying the 80s were great in the 90s. Plenty went on about the 60s and 70s but the 80s were ignored.



Think of the 80s: Catholic Church, Thatcher, Reagan, Haughey, Emigration, the 'Troubles', Phil Lynott died, famine in Ethiopia, New Romantics, the Hunger Strikes, Chernobyl, and quite frankly I do not remember much sun.



On the plus side Euro 88 and Italia 90.

Ipso

shakeitoff wrote: »

Try to imagine Eminem, Blink 182, WWF and Stone Cold, outrageous goalkeeper jerseys and My Cousin Skeeter in today's society. Remember when there was a bit of mystery about new places and things, now you can get anything in the blink of an eye. I'd opt for the former way because so far I've really noticed nothing absolutely incredible that new wave technology and communication has brought. Its cool you can speak to people who are far away instantaneously but in ordinary circumstances(no deaths or illnesses in a family) it takes away the buzz of travelling.

I try to imagine them never existing.

partyguinness

OP,


You are having what is called an existential crisis. It will pass.

Sleepy

I'd have a similar enough memory of the 80s: people (particularly my parents and their social circles who'd have been in their late 20's then) obsessing about music from the 60's rather than the 70's...

Always reminds me of the “every other decade” theory from Dazed & Confused: “The 50s were boring, the 60s rocked, the 70s obviously suck… Maybe the 80s will be radical.”

Irish Guitarist

WAAAAASSSSUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!

The late nineties were an incredible time. Scottish scientists cloned a sheep and named her after Dolly Parton. Oasis released Be Here Now. Dirty Den came back from the grave in Eastenders. Anything seemed possible.

Ipso

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

WAAAAASSSSUUUUUUP!!!!!!!!

The late nineties were an incredible time. Scottish scientists cloned a sheep and named her after Dolly Parton. Oasis released Be Here Now. Dirty Den came back from the grave in Eastenders. Anything seemed possible.

And Maniac 2000 was only a few years away.

Faith+1

partyguinness wrote: »

I have to admit I don't remember anyone saying the 80s were great in the 90s. Plenty went on about the 60s and 70s but the 80s were ignored.



Think of the 80s: Catholic Church, Thatcher, Reagan, Haughey, Emigration, the 'Troubles', Phil Lynott died, famine in Ethiopia, New Romantics, the Hunger Strikes, Chernobyl, and quite frankly I do not remember much sun.



On the plus side Euro 88 and Italia 90.

Guess my friends were idiots then! To be honest other than the music and movies there's nothing about the 80's that interest me especially all the sh*te you've listed above.

sicknotexi

Sleepy wrote: »

I did my Leaving Cert, turned 18 and started college in 1998 so yeah, I've extremely fond memories of the time.

Part-time jobs were plentiful, paid reasonably well and were easy enough to come by that you didn't have to stay anywhere you were treated badly for long...

Music was great: Radiohead, The Verve, Jeff Buckley, Massive Attack, Belle & Sebastian, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, The Prodigy and Foo Fighters were all at their height of their powers... Blur, Oasis and most of the britpop scene were moving onto their "difficult third album" phase but the radio still played their good stuff from the previous few years, U2 were still coming out with decent stuff and even Bob Dylan released his first good album in decades in '97! Big name artists were getting used to adding a Dublin show to their tours and the memories of Feile had kick started a new festival culture that would see rise to Witness/Oxygen and Electric Picnic in the early 00's.

The late 90s and early 00s were probably the best times of my life, though, to be fair, I think most people think that of their college years.

Blur's difficult third album was 'Parklife' mate.

Agricola

Agricola wrote: »

We all have a soft spot for that time when we were coming of age, but despite the fact that time was the mid to late 90's for me too, I think that time was objectively great.

It's probably got something to do with Irish society still being "old Ireland" - The time before the ostentatious wealth of the tiger years changed us forever. The times when people still holidayed in a caravan in wexford and drove older cars. When kids spent their summers making their own fun outdoors. When people went to Feile in baggy jumpers and jeans and just lived in the moment at a concert. No hipsters gurning into camera phones for the perfect social media selfie every 3 minutes.

I'm not knocking cheap flights, new cars, and people having disposable income but there was something to be said for those innocent days.

Brilliant post, totally agree.

I'd say back in the late 90s everything felt more intense than things feel nowadays. We've all been spoilt by pleasurable stuff for our whole lives so we are accustomed to it but back then music, visual entertainment, hot showers, whatever food we want to eat, warm houses etc. wasn't as readily available. People were less conscious of their image, hence why unibrows were still seen on men (never seen nowadays), people wore ill-fitting baggy clothes and every second person wasn't a bodybuilder sporting a self-indulgent fade haircut that requires regular maintainance and consciously-maintained stubble. Kid's didnt have access to the internet. People were more innocent in general. We were't living in a state of constant low-level stress without knowing it due to use being distracted by our smartphones. We weren't consantly contactable by whatsapp. We didnt have the answers to everything available at our fingertips, which meant life was slower and there was a premium on knowing stuff.

Sleepy

sicknotexi wrote: »

Blur's difficult third album was 'Parklife' mate.

I knew I'd get pulled up on that...

Sephiroth_dude

Ireland had a great underground electronic music scene late 90's early 00's, Dublin and Cork were at the fore front of it, its all gone now though.

SEPT 23 1989

Sleepy wrote: »

I did my Leaving Cert, turned 18 and started college in 1998 so yeah, I've extremely fond memories of the time.

Part-time jobs were plentiful, paid reasonably well and were easy enough to come by that you didn't have to stay anywhere you were treated badly for long...

Music was great: Radiohead, The Verve, Jeff Buckley, Massive Attack, Belle & Sebastian, Pulp, Manic Street Preachers, The Prodigy and Foo Fighters were all at their height of their powers... Blur, Oasis and most of the britpop scene were moving onto their "difficult third album" phase but the radio still played their good stuff from the previous few years, U2 were still coming out with decent stuff and even Bob Dylan released his first good album in decades in '97! Big name artists were getting used to adding a Dublin show to their tours and the memories of Feile had kick started a new festival culture that would see rise to Witness/Oxygen and Electric Picnic in the early 00's.

The late 90s and early 00s were probably the best times of my life, though, to be fair, I think most people think that of their college years.

you could also afford to leave the family home as a student working a part time job

Sunny Disposition

Some things were worse but it seems to me that a lot of things were improving around then.
Peace in the north, a stronger economy that there had been for over 20 years, little internet accessibility but it was coming, Cold War was over and global politics were v stable up until 2001.
The 2000s until 2007 were good too, then we had the recession. Now that’s over with there are a lot of global issues like Trump, Brexit etc, but things generally better now than four years ago. But there is also a feeling now that the big internet companies like Google and Facebook have way too much power.
There was a much greater feeling of stability in the late 90s I think.

DoozerT6

Looking back with the benefit of maturity and hindsight, the late 90's weren't great for me. I had just left college and things were....difficult... for me professionally and personally. I had spent three years at college, and have to date never worked a day in what I qualified in. At the time, as a young adult, I had the zest and zeal etc to plough through, believe the lies I was being told about jobs that were supposedly coming up (spoiler: they weren't), and move around from shared house to shared house without a second thought. I had no money, but sure I had enough for a bag of chips and a phonecard. I was floundering, and I didn't even know it because living away from home and being somewhat independent was only great, wasn't it??...........?

So while I have some good memories, and certain songs from the era will always make me smile, it was actually a pretty bleak time for me and I haven't really recovered from it, personally or professionally.

Sorry for the downer post, but it was just my experience.

On with the Feile memories!!!

super_furry

Blur or Oasis?

Floppybits

Ah the 90's what a decade, started it as a pimply 16 year old virgin and finished it as a pimply 26 year old virgin.  I think any decade were you are ending your teens and heading into your 20's is mainly going to be your favorite decade. 
The start of the 90's wasn't great, the world cup in 1990 helped brighten the mood of the country. I remember leaving school in 92 and there were 3 options, College, the dole or emigrate. By 95 things had started to turn, the big turning point was the reduction on corporation tax in my opinion. Then you started to see the jobs coming mostly foreign companies looking at a European base but there seemed to be a great buzz around, before things started getting really out of hand in the 2000's

SharpshooterTom

Floppybits wrote: »

Ah the 90's what a decade, started it as a pimply 16 year old virgin and finished it as a pimply 26 year old virgin.  I think any decade were you are ending your teens and heading into your 20's is mainly going to be your favorite decade. 
The start of the 90's wasn't great, the world cup in 1990 helped brighten the mood of the country. I remember leaving school in 92 and there were 3 options, College, the dole or emigrate. By 95 things had started to turn, the big turning point was the reduction on corporation tax in my opinion. Then you started to see the jobs coming mostly foreign companies looking at a European base but there seemed to be a great buzz around, before things started getting really out of hand in the 2000's

Are you still one now?

firstlight

Best era for electronic dance music
All the best trance music anyway
Life wasn't as hectic to me as it is now

I would love a time of no mobile phones again
Don't know what that has to do with 90s but anyway ha

spodoinkle

Mitsubishis back to back, I'll never forget the late 90's

jcorr

ThomasFlynn wrote: »

Also before 2000 most western societies lack diversity, certainly a lot less than it is now.
.

I remember this. Going to Dublin and seeing mostly Irish people and you would see a handful of tourists.

I used to enjoy visiting Dublin in those times. It really has gone to the dogs since then. Now I detest going to Dublin.

Grandeeod

I hit my 20s at the start of the 90s. They were as grim as the 80s in a lot of ways up to 97 onwards. I was a teenager in the 80s and have great memories of the decade. Lived in Dublin and part time jobs were plentiful, despite the decrepit state of the place. I always had a part time job from the age of 14.

The late 90s were cool too. Bought my first car and then first house with only a €100 deposit! The first time buyers grant was some swindle.:D Got hooked up to the internet in late 1998 and you had to be computer literate to access it unlike these days when any eejit can do it on a phone. It was a better place before the phone. So yeah, I'd agree the late 90s were up there with the best of times, but for other reasons the 15 year period before it wasn't all that bad.

Star Bingo

I used to like going to booterstown nature reserve back then. Unique little habitat with no meddling or interference which visitors could sample for themselves with a good pair of binoculars

A delicate but untainted ecosystem.. the dart would rattle alongside trafficking people but the marsh remained unspoilt as it just breezed on by.

monkeysnapper

I was born in 70s . Can't remember much of them years .

80s were fab growing up . Loved the music .

90s were about growing up and had a good upbringing traveling .

00s were about settling in Ireland, really happy years, getting married .

10s bringing up our kids and getting into cycling and running .

Fecking great life!!!!!

chopperbyrne

jcorr wrote: »

I remember this. Going to Dublin and seeing mostly Irish people and you would see a handful of tourists.

I used to enjoy visiting Dublin in those times. It really has gone to the dogs since then. Now I detest going to Dublin.

How's that racism working out for you?

Bowlardo

Definitely for movies loads of great movies
Pulp fiction
Trainspotting
Seven
Momento
Shawshank
Leon
Green mile
Matrix
Toy story
Fight club
12 monkeys
American history x

Music
there seemed to be a load more genres of music back then and the where all at the top of their game dance techno, rap was great back then, rock was actually rocking . Pop artist actually had really good music back then too.
Everything now is auto tune and really quite bland, over produced with no real identity.
Bands made proper money so could behave like rockstars and put in mammoth shows. Now we have ed sheerhan

Pubs/clubs
No smoking ban so there was great atmosphere in pubs and clubs. Don’t miss the smell of smoke but when the brought it in the crowd was split in two and we lost something.

Sport
You could still identify with players and they could socialize with people . Everything is so serious now

I think will will look back and there will be a clear descent in quality of culture (for want of a better word)with the beginning of Facebook/iPhone

Schindlers Pissed

The 90's hold the best memories ever for me.....was a first year apprentice in 1990, qualified in '94. We had a group of really great buddies, male and female, some shifted each other and nobody gave a ****e. No camera phones, so no evidence! None of us did drugs but we all drank our absolute faces off....drinking all weekend, every weekend. 90's dance music....just to hear a song can bring me back to an exact place and time for me.....the 90's will hold a special place in my heart forever....my first everything.....holiday, ride, car....etc etc....

https://youtu.be/TlxVglOBUPM

Lackey

griffin100 wrote: »

It wasn't till people were at home in the evening that you could actually call them. Remember calling shared payphones in student flats and asking to speak to the lad in Flat No. 6 when someone answered?

Pftttt….we used to call, let the phone ring twice, hang up and call again...unless you heard that then no need to head down to the phone

Lorelli!

You were able to bunk the train. Obviously I never did that but I liked having the option

dasdog

Agree it's very much got to do with a coming of age. But the early to mid 90's were special. In 1991 heroin was seen as old school, cocaine 80's so LSD and Ecstasy were embraced. And electro music went on a mad run. Aggression stopped and it was a nice earth to be a part of for a few years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tx-2_JcKkSk

LETHAL LADY

I knew it was going to be a good time when this came out on the cusp of my teenager years ��
You could smell the boom coming.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXCN1DhHTZA

The Crowman

Try_harder wrote: »

Everything seemed better then. Things were on the up, positivity reigned and little doomsday talk

Terrible music for the most part. The beginnings of Louis Walsh's boy/girlband cloning factory.

Mongfinder General

The Crowman wrote: »

Terrible music for the most part. The beginnings of Louis Walsh's boy/girlband cloning factory.

Music was ****e for the most part

Owl.

Like any era there was of course ****e music but there was also a hell of a lot of brilliant music too. ****e music is easy enough to avoid.

branie2

I went on a holiday abroad twice in the late 90s

_Whimsical_

The Crowman wrote: »

Terrible music for the most part. The beginnings of Louis Walsh's boy/girlband cloning factory.

It really was a dreadful decade for music. Sure there was some good stuff in the mid 90s but my predominant memory of late 90s music was trailing after my mum around Tesco while we filled the trolley to "What's She Going To Look Like With Chimney On Her" blaring on repeat.
Then it was on in the newsagent after and it inevitably popped up on the radio on the way home.
The existance and popularity of that song is definitive proof of what poor pickings there were at that time in history.

Some of what passed for music those years surely went onto to be part of the professional torturers arsenal.

The J Stands for Jay

facehugger99 wrote: »

we were all going direct to Tripod

I miss Tripod

The J Stands for Jay

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RazvzLL5ZH0

Edgware

Star Bingo wrote: »

I used to like going to booterstown nature reserve back then. Unique little habitat with no meddling or interference which visitors could sample for themselves with a good pair of binoculars

A delicate but untainted ecosystem.. the dart would rattle alongside trafficking people but the marsh remained unspoilt as it just breezed on by.

So you were the man the girls on the Dart called " the perv in the grass"

dogbert27

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

It really was a dreadful decade for music. Sure there was some good stuff in the mid 90s but my predominant memory of late 90s music was trailing after my mum around Tesco while we filled the trolley to "What's She Going To Look Like With Chimney On Her" blaring on repeat.
Then it was on in the newsagent after and it inevitably popped up on the radio on the way home.
The existance and popularity of that song is definitive proof of what poor pickings there were at that time in history.

Some of what passed for music those years surely went onto to be part of the professional torturers arsenal.

Can't agree with this. It was fantastic up to about 98. After that you're right with music going the way of that good awful song you talk about and Nu Metal, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Blink 182, etc. coming through.

David Grey's White Ladder was the beginning of the bland Ed Sheerhan, Damien Rice stuff we have.

But up to 98! Pearl Jam (10, Versus, Vitalogy, No Code), Nirvana, Oasis, Pulp, Blur, Ocean Colour Scene, Radiohead, Guns N Roses (Use Your Illusion 1 and 2), Green Day, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Foo Fighters, Sound Garden, Smashing Pumpkins, REM, Stone Temple Pilots, Metallica, Beck, Supergrass, The Cure, Depeche Mode, Garbage, The Pixies, Lenny Kravitz, Janes Addiction, Sonic Youth, The Verve, The Black Crowes, The Prodigy, The Presidents of the United States of America, Moby, The Flaming Lips, Fatboy Slim, Blind Melon, Violent Femmes, PJ Harvey, Dinosaur Junior, Jamiroquai, Temple of the Dog, Jeff Buckley, The Stone Roses, The Lemonheads, Manic Street Preachers, Everything But The Girl, Eels, Travis, Belle and Sebastian, The Happy Mondays, Primal Scream, Suede, The Charlatans, Teenage Fan Club, Paul Weller, Ash, Gomez, The Cranberries, Whipping Boy, Therapy?, Kerbdog, U2, The Fat Lady Sings, Frank & Walters, An Emotional Fish, A House, Rollerskate Skinny, The Divine Comedy, The Frames, Stereophonics, My Bloody Valentine, The Pale.

A lot of music up to the late 90's that got actual air play on the radio instead of the candy floss rubbish that you hear today.

Sephiroth_dude

McGaggs wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RazvzLL5ZH0

I have that on vinyl somewhere, picked it up in a second record store.

Beta Ray Bill

I was still to young to enjoy it (born in 83) but the 90's were the best time to be in your late 20's/early 30's.
Why? Because you didn't need to stupidly rich to have an nice lifestyle.
Point in question.. 90's Japanese sports cars.

Evos, STIs, Twin Cams, MR2's, Supra's, Type-R's, Celica's etc, etc
All amazing cars in terms of performance were basically available to anyone with A decent job.

They didn't cost the price of the European equivalent and you were able to tax/insure them easy enough.

I bought a 98 Evo V in the mid 00's, best car I've ever owned.

Also house prices weren't the stupid prices they are now and neither was rent, one person with a good job could rent or buy on their own.... a nearly impossible task in Dublin now.

There was no social media sh*t

Beer was cheap, even in templebar!

90's music was great regardless of what you were into.

etc etc

LordBasil

The 90s were amazing. Such a positive era for Ireland- Italia 90, USA 94, Clinton in the White House, Homosexuality Decriminalised, Divorce Introduced, Catholic Church Exposed, 4 Eurovision Wins, Economic Growth, Riverdance, Good Friday Agreement etc. A great decade to be a kid as well as Music, TV & Films were fantastic.

Sure bad stuff happened but I'll always remember the 90s with great fondness. I've heard the 90s described as a 'Vacation from History', the period between the end of the Cold War and 9/11

Try_harder

LordBasil wrote: »

The 90s were amazing. Such a positive era for Ireland- Italia 90, USA 94, Clinton in the White House, Homosexuality Decriminalised, Divorce Introduced, Catholic Church Exposed, 4 Eurovision Wins, Economic Growth, Riverdance, Good Friday Agreement etc. A great decade to be a kid as well as Music, TV & Films were fantastic.

Sure bad stuff happened but I'll always remember the 90s with great fondness. I've heard the 90s described as a 'Vacation from History', the period between the end of the Cold War and 9/11

Unless you lived in Yugoslavia or Somalia

Star Bingo

McGaggs wrote: »

I miss Tripod

Now that was a club/venue. I remember one afternoon back in ‘99 I think it was when Ian Brown and his crew walk into the chocolate bar and he comes over asking where’s the stage. I says through the ‘magic curtain’ over there (by the door like) and he leads them back outside....

was back in moments later laughing and pointing at the drapes. Disappeared behind them fairly sharpish too

The J Stands for Jay

LordBasil wrote: »

. I've heard the 90s described as a 'Vacation from History', the period between the end of the Cold War and 9/11

You might enjoy a bit of this: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transition_(novel)