2010s VS 1990s (2010s Versus Series Part V)
Dec 19, 2019 15:31:20 GMT 10
Post by Captain Nemo on Dec 19, 2019 15:31:20 GMT 10
Greetings everyone! Welcome to the fifth, aka the second to last, part of the "2010s Versus Series", a hexology of threads where I compare the 2010s to each of the six decades preceding it (1950s-2000s).
The first four threads of this series are posted right below;
popedia.boards.net/thread/3086/2010s-1950s-series
popedia.boards.net/thread/3090/2010s-1960s-series-ii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3095/2010s-1970s-series-iii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3096/2010s-1980s-series-iv
This thread particularly should be interesting, as it will be comparing the 2010s to the 1990s, which for many users here on Popedia is the first decade they are familiar with.
A large chunk of users on this site were born in the 1990s, some even old enough remember bits of the decade itself. I myself was born at the end of 1997, so I don't remember the decade itself, but the 1990s are the first decade that feel "homely" to me, as I am old enough to remember carryovers of the 1990s aesthetic into the early 2000s, as well as when songs released in the 1990s were still rather "new" and still sounded fresh on mainstream radio stations. I'm sure for many other users on this forum, the 1990s are also the oldest decade to feel "homely" as well. The 1990s saw the collapse of the USSR, the rise of the grunge and gangsta rap movements, the bulk of Disney's Renaissance, a new era in country music with artists such as Garth Brooks and Toby Keith, as well as a comeback from Johnny Cash, video games becoming more more in-depth with the 16-bit and 3D eras of gaming, the birth of modern internet with Windows 95, and even the birth of MP3s and social media.
While 1990s nostalgia has not yet and may never topple 1980s nostalgia in terms of relevance in the mainstream, it has still for a long time been a nostalgic darling of a decade for Millennials, most of whom were still children by the end of that decade, as the shared nostalgia of superficial aspects of this decade such as the video games and cartoons has created a vocal group of youths on the internet that like to refer to themselves as "'90s Kids", and I'm sure we all know by now how much that shitshow has been blown out of proportion, especially over discussions about who qualifies as a "'90s Kid" based on arbitrary cutoff dates, but let's not get into that for the sake of this thread.
How does the 1990s compare to the 2010s, a decade succeeding it by a score of years? Were the 1990s really that much better as people say, or has nostalgia blinded us?
As always, let's compare and contrast;
Music
In my previous thread, I criticized the music scene of the 1980s for being way too commercial and way too "hip and bubbly", as opposed to the 1960s and 1970s when I feel music hit an artistic peak.
To be honest, much of those issues did carry on into the 1990s, as well as into today for that matter, but overall, the 1990s in terms of music were still, in my opinion, a major improvement from the 1980s.
In rock music, the 1990s featured the grunge movement, as well as a continuation of the acoustic movement that started at the tail end of the 1980s, which helped to revert the genre back to the more serious and sophisticated sounds reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s. Out of this movement came the mainstream breakthrough of great bands such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, and Nirvana (albeit the latter one is admittedly overrated, but I still enjoy their music), plus the self-titled "Black Album" from Metallica, which I really enjoy despite the fact that many criticize it as a point where they feel the band went "downhill", but to each his own. It was also the heyday of BritPop, as well the decade that featured a renaissance in punk music with bands such as Green Day, the Offspring, and Blink 182 hitting it big. Outside of rock music, a new era of country music began in this decade, largely popularized by Garth Brooks' self-titled and No Fences albums, both released in 1990, which featured great classic country hits such as "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)", "The Dance", "The Thunder Rolls", and "Friends In Low Places", it was also in the 1990s when hit country artists such as Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, and the Dixie Chicks got their start in. In the rap world, this is when g-funk became popular with Dr. Dre's The Chronic, as well as when gangsta rap hit its peak, especially during the 1995-96 season when the beef between 2Pac and the Notorious BIG was at its prime, it was also in this decade when Eminem got his start, becoming mainstream with the hit song "My Name Is" in 1999. Reggae-fusion was still going strong in this decade with hits such as UB40's cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love", as well as Big Mountain's cover of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way". The third wave of ska music also hit its peak in this decade with hits from groups such as Sublime and No Doubt. Even in the pop music realm, I actually think most of Michael Jackson's hits from this decade are better than his hits from the 1980s, especially the more humanitarian messages of these songs, plus i also like a lot of Mariah Carey's songs, All-4-One's "I Swear", Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply", as well as a few others, as I do appreciate the emotion put into these songs. Granted, the tail end of this decade featured the rise of the Y2K teeny-bopper garbage which I'm definitely not fond of, but that's only a small fraction of all 1990s music, just like how much of the great underground music of the 2010s is a small fraction compared to the hefty amounts of garbage that came out in that decade, and that statement segues right into the 2010s portion, which if you saw my earlier threads, you know what I'm going to say, but it's true, the 2010s music industry has became an industry of plants whom are in it for the money or for a short period of relevence. Overall, the 1990s sweeps the 2010s in this category. Let's move on.
Society
In my last thread, I mentioned that the 1980s were the first truly modern decade due to a wide assortment of technologies either coming out, becoming popular, or becoming standard in that decade. The 1990s are a continuation of this modernization. The biggest advent of the 1990s was definitely modern internet, aka Windows 95, which was released in August of 1995 and quickly brought the internet into ordinary people's homes, possibly a majority of Boomers and Xers had home internet by about 1997 or 1998. The first social media site, Six Degrees, launched in 1997, although it wasn't popular initially, but one could perhaps consider AOL to in a way be a social media site as well due to instant messaging, so there's that. It was also in the 1990s when video games truly started to become taken seriously and lose their stigma of being seen as "toys", large in part to the save feature becoming standard during the 16-bit era, as well as the advent of 3D gaming, plus first person shooters such as Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D popularizing online play for the first time, plus there's also the fact that Sony's PlayStation sold over 100 million unites. CDs became the standard format for music, and the first MP3 player was released in 1998. Cell phones also started to become popular in this decade due to the advent of 2G, which was revolutionary at the time. The world was advancing fast, as it was preparing for not only a new decade, not only a new century, but also a new millennium, an occurrence that only happens once every thousand years.
Over in Europe, the USSR collapsed early in the decade, which ended the age of Communism in that region, and many of the former Soviet blocs went on to join the EU and/or NATO, all of this setting the United States as the worlds sole superpower.
Despite all these changes, however, the 1990s socially were still as traditional of a decade as most of the rest of the second half of the 20th century, with neo-conservatism being the status quo, and liberalism being counter-culture. Sure, a Democrat was president, but Bill Clinton would be considered conservative by today's standards, as he cut welfare, was against homosexual marriage, passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, as well as being the last Dixiecrat and being the last Democratic candidate to do well with southern states during the elections. Bill Clinton was also a hawkish president who bombed countries in Eastern Europe as well as Iraq, but that's no different from the Democrats of today... The most socially infamous aspect of Bill Clinton's presidency however was the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which drew backlash nationwide, especially from conservative Christians who saw this as a demoralizing act, and he became the first president since Andrew Johnson to become impeached as a result of this.
Overall, the 1990s were rather futuristic compared to past decades, but were still traditional enough compared to this decade.
Which decade do I feel society was better in? Definitely the 1990s. I've said it before, I'll say it again, 2010s society is morally bankrupt, and the political turmoil surrounding this decade, emanating from both leftists and those on the right, has created a society where people are becoming more afraid to speak out. This is not the way a society should function, everyone should feel free to say what they feel without being in fear of censorship or being physically attacked for their beliefs.
Overall, the 1990s wins easily in this category.
Movies/TV Shows/Games
For movies, this category is mostly tied. In fact, if we're basing this on live-action movies alone, the 2010s would actually win this category due to great films such as Skyfall, Les Miserables, Grand Budapest Hotel, Kingsman, and the Revenant, but the 1990s still come close with great films such as Terminator II, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, Goldeneye, and Titanic, as well as a few others. But if we include animated movies, that alone pushes the 1990s slightly over the edge as this was the bulk of the Disney Renaissance, as well as the decade that featured the early days of Pixar with Toy Story and A Bugs Life. A lot of 2010s animated movies such as Wreck It Ralph, The Lego Movie, and Inside Out are decent as well, but no where near as good as the Disney Renaissance films. The biggest drawback of the 2010s in this category however are the abundance of mediocre superhero movies, corny dystopian movies based on popular novel series such as Hunger Games and Divergent, unnecessary live action remakes of classic Disney animated films, and the shitty Star Wars sequel trilogy. Overall though, the 1990s wins, but not in a decisive victory.
For sitcoms and other live action shows, I'm also going to say the 1990s wins, but in a more decisive victory, mostly because of Friends and That '70s Show.
For cartoons, the 1990s wins this category easily, it's really no wonder that '90s Kids regard TV shows such as Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Aah Real Monsters, and Angry Beavers in such high regard, as they are great cartoons that are even enjoyable for adults as much as they are for kids, and speaking of adults, who could forget the advent of TV shows such as King of the Hill, South Park, Family Guy, the days of Beavis of Butthead, and the heyday of the Simpsons?
For televised sports, the 1990s also wins due to Michael Jordan being in his prime, Tony Hawk popularizing X-Games, as well as being the decade of phenomenal rivalries such as Cowboys-49ers in the NFL, Knicks-Bulls in the NBA, and Avs-Wings in the NHL. I'm going to be biased in saying this, but the 1990s was especially a special time for Denver sports teams due to the Colorado Avalanche winning their first cup in 1996 after relocating from Quebec, and the Denver Broncos winning back to back Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999, plus even the Denver Nuggets had the pleasure of knocking off the 1st seed while being an 8th seed in the playoffs.
For video games, the 1990s wins easily. The standardization of the save feature allowed games to become more in-depth in the 16-bit era, which led to the creation of many phenomenal platformers and RPGs that were meant to be beaten in a full setting, and the advent of 3D gaming further expanded this potential, and unlike games from the 2010s, games from the 1990s were not plagued with DLC, you got everything you needed in the full package, at the very most you would may need expansions for PC games, but that's it. Plus, I don't care what anyone says, local multiplayer is far better than online multiplayer.
Aesthetic
For this category, I'm going to say both decades are tied.
To be honest, I'm not fond at all of the aesthetic of either of these decades.
In fact, compared to the four preceding decades, the 1990s really doesn't have much of an aesthetic, much of the clothing styles from this decade are very casual, and this casual trend carried on into the next couple of decades following it. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's own aesthetic, but its aesthetic is not as obvious as the aesthetic for the 1950s-1980s.
Some may even argue that the 1980s were the last decade to truly have its own aesthetic, and I can certainly see where they are coming from, even though I don't necessarily agree with them.
Overall Conclusion
I don't mean to agree with these so-called '90s Kids, but I do think that the 1990s overall was a better decade than the 2010s, both for the superficial aspects such as the movies, shows, video games, and music, as well as the societal aspects.
It was a decade that was futuristic enough from previous decades, yet still traditional enough to where the political climate was no where near as divisive as it is now.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know down below.
The first four threads of this series are posted right below;
popedia.boards.net/thread/3086/2010s-1950s-series
popedia.boards.net/thread/3090/2010s-1960s-series-ii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3095/2010s-1970s-series-iii
popedia.boards.net/thread/3096/2010s-1980s-series-iv
This thread particularly should be interesting, as it will be comparing the 2010s to the 1990s, which for many users here on Popedia is the first decade they are familiar with.
A large chunk of users on this site were born in the 1990s, some even old enough remember bits of the decade itself. I myself was born at the end of 1997, so I don't remember the decade itself, but the 1990s are the first decade that feel "homely" to me, as I am old enough to remember carryovers of the 1990s aesthetic into the early 2000s, as well as when songs released in the 1990s were still rather "new" and still sounded fresh on mainstream radio stations. I'm sure for many other users on this forum, the 1990s are also the oldest decade to feel "homely" as well. The 1990s saw the collapse of the USSR, the rise of the grunge and gangsta rap movements, the bulk of Disney's Renaissance, a new era in country music with artists such as Garth Brooks and Toby Keith, as well as a comeback from Johnny Cash, video games becoming more more in-depth with the 16-bit and 3D eras of gaming, the birth of modern internet with Windows 95, and even the birth of MP3s and social media.
While 1990s nostalgia has not yet and may never topple 1980s nostalgia in terms of relevance in the mainstream, it has still for a long time been a nostalgic darling of a decade for Millennials, most of whom were still children by the end of that decade, as the shared nostalgia of superficial aspects of this decade such as the video games and cartoons has created a vocal group of youths on the internet that like to refer to themselves as "'90s Kids", and I'm sure we all know by now how much that shitshow has been blown out of proportion, especially over discussions about who qualifies as a "'90s Kid" based on arbitrary cutoff dates, but let's not get into that for the sake of this thread.
How does the 1990s compare to the 2010s, a decade succeeding it by a score of years? Were the 1990s really that much better as people say, or has nostalgia blinded us?
As always, let's compare and contrast;
Music
In my previous thread, I criticized the music scene of the 1980s for being way too commercial and way too "hip and bubbly", as opposed to the 1960s and 1970s when I feel music hit an artistic peak.
To be honest, much of those issues did carry on into the 1990s, as well as into today for that matter, but overall, the 1990s in terms of music were still, in my opinion, a major improvement from the 1980s.
In rock music, the 1990s featured the grunge movement, as well as a continuation of the acoustic movement that started at the tail end of the 1980s, which helped to revert the genre back to the more serious and sophisticated sounds reminiscent of the 1960s and 1970s. Out of this movement came the mainstream breakthrough of great bands such as Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Stone Temple Pilots, Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, and Nirvana (albeit the latter one is admittedly overrated, but I still enjoy their music), plus the self-titled "Black Album" from Metallica, which I really enjoy despite the fact that many criticize it as a point where they feel the band went "downhill", but to each his own. It was also the heyday of BritPop, as well the decade that featured a renaissance in punk music with bands such as Green Day, the Offspring, and Blink 182 hitting it big. Outside of rock music, a new era of country music began in this decade, largely popularized by Garth Brooks' self-titled and No Fences albums, both released in 1990, which featured great classic country hits such as "Much Too Young (To Feel This Damn Old)", "The Dance", "The Thunder Rolls", and "Friends In Low Places", it was also in the 1990s when hit country artists such as Toby Keith, Tim McGraw, Shania Twain, and the Dixie Chicks got their start in. In the rap world, this is when g-funk became popular with Dr. Dre's The Chronic, as well as when gangsta rap hit its peak, especially during the 1995-96 season when the beef between 2Pac and the Notorious BIG was at its prime, it was also in this decade when Eminem got his start, becoming mainstream with the hit song "My Name Is" in 1999. Reggae-fusion was still going strong in this decade with hits such as UB40's cover of Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling in Love", as well as Big Mountain's cover of Peter Frampton's "Baby, I Love Your Way". The third wave of ska music also hit its peak in this decade with hits from groups such as Sublime and No Doubt. Even in the pop music realm, I actually think most of Michael Jackson's hits from this decade are better than his hits from the 1980s, especially the more humanitarian messages of these songs, plus i also like a lot of Mariah Carey's songs, All-4-One's "I Swear", Savage Garden's "Truly Madly Deeply", as well as a few others, as I do appreciate the emotion put into these songs. Granted, the tail end of this decade featured the rise of the Y2K teeny-bopper garbage which I'm definitely not fond of, but that's only a small fraction of all 1990s music, just like how much of the great underground music of the 2010s is a small fraction compared to the hefty amounts of garbage that came out in that decade, and that statement segues right into the 2010s portion, which if you saw my earlier threads, you know what I'm going to say, but it's true, the 2010s music industry has became an industry of plants whom are in it for the money or for a short period of relevence. Overall, the 1990s sweeps the 2010s in this category. Let's move on.
Society
In my last thread, I mentioned that the 1980s were the first truly modern decade due to a wide assortment of technologies either coming out, becoming popular, or becoming standard in that decade. The 1990s are a continuation of this modernization. The biggest advent of the 1990s was definitely modern internet, aka Windows 95, which was released in August of 1995 and quickly brought the internet into ordinary people's homes, possibly a majority of Boomers and Xers had home internet by about 1997 or 1998. The first social media site, Six Degrees, launched in 1997, although it wasn't popular initially, but one could perhaps consider AOL to in a way be a social media site as well due to instant messaging, so there's that. It was also in the 1990s when video games truly started to become taken seriously and lose their stigma of being seen as "toys", large in part to the save feature becoming standard during the 16-bit era, as well as the advent of 3D gaming, plus first person shooters such as Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D popularizing online play for the first time, plus there's also the fact that Sony's PlayStation sold over 100 million unites. CDs became the standard format for music, and the first MP3 player was released in 1998. Cell phones also started to become popular in this decade due to the advent of 2G, which was revolutionary at the time. The world was advancing fast, as it was preparing for not only a new decade, not only a new century, but also a new millennium, an occurrence that only happens once every thousand years.
Over in Europe, the USSR collapsed early in the decade, which ended the age of Communism in that region, and many of the former Soviet blocs went on to join the EU and/or NATO, all of this setting the United States as the worlds sole superpower.
Despite all these changes, however, the 1990s socially were still as traditional of a decade as most of the rest of the second half of the 20th century, with neo-conservatism being the status quo, and liberalism being counter-culture. Sure, a Democrat was president, but Bill Clinton would be considered conservative by today's standards, as he cut welfare, was against homosexual marriage, passed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, as well as being the last Dixiecrat and being the last Democratic candidate to do well with southern states during the elections. Bill Clinton was also a hawkish president who bombed countries in Eastern Europe as well as Iraq, but that's no different from the Democrats of today... The most socially infamous aspect of Bill Clinton's presidency however was the Monica Lewinsky scandal, which drew backlash nationwide, especially from conservative Christians who saw this as a demoralizing act, and he became the first president since Andrew Johnson to become impeached as a result of this.
Overall, the 1990s were rather futuristic compared to past decades, but were still traditional enough compared to this decade.
Which decade do I feel society was better in? Definitely the 1990s. I've said it before, I'll say it again, 2010s society is morally bankrupt, and the political turmoil surrounding this decade, emanating from both leftists and those on the right, has created a society where people are becoming more afraid to speak out. This is not the way a society should function, everyone should feel free to say what they feel without being in fear of censorship or being physically attacked for their beliefs.
Overall, the 1990s wins easily in this category.
Movies/TV Shows/Games
For movies, this category is mostly tied. In fact, if we're basing this on live-action movies alone, the 2010s would actually win this category due to great films such as Skyfall, Les Miserables, Grand Budapest Hotel, Kingsman, and the Revenant, but the 1990s still come close with great films such as Terminator II, Groundhog Day, Jurassic Park, The Mask, Dumb & Dumber, Goldeneye, and Titanic, as well as a few others. But if we include animated movies, that alone pushes the 1990s slightly over the edge as this was the bulk of the Disney Renaissance, as well as the decade that featured the early days of Pixar with Toy Story and A Bugs Life. A lot of 2010s animated movies such as Wreck It Ralph, The Lego Movie, and Inside Out are decent as well, but no where near as good as the Disney Renaissance films. The biggest drawback of the 2010s in this category however are the abundance of mediocre superhero movies, corny dystopian movies based on popular novel series such as Hunger Games and Divergent, unnecessary live action remakes of classic Disney animated films, and the shitty Star Wars sequel trilogy. Overall though, the 1990s wins, but not in a decisive victory.
For sitcoms and other live action shows, I'm also going to say the 1990s wins, but in a more decisive victory, mostly because of Friends and That '70s Show.
For cartoons, the 1990s wins this category easily, it's really no wonder that '90s Kids regard TV shows such as Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life, Aah Real Monsters, and Angry Beavers in such high regard, as they are great cartoons that are even enjoyable for adults as much as they are for kids, and speaking of adults, who could forget the advent of TV shows such as King of the Hill, South Park, Family Guy, the days of Beavis of Butthead, and the heyday of the Simpsons?
For televised sports, the 1990s also wins due to Michael Jordan being in his prime, Tony Hawk popularizing X-Games, as well as being the decade of phenomenal rivalries such as Cowboys-49ers in the NFL, Knicks-Bulls in the NBA, and Avs-Wings in the NHL. I'm going to be biased in saying this, but the 1990s was especially a special time for Denver sports teams due to the Colorado Avalanche winning their first cup in 1996 after relocating from Quebec, and the Denver Broncos winning back to back Super Bowls in 1998 and 1999, plus even the Denver Nuggets had the pleasure of knocking off the 1st seed while being an 8th seed in the playoffs.
For video games, the 1990s wins easily. The standardization of the save feature allowed games to become more in-depth in the 16-bit era, which led to the creation of many phenomenal platformers and RPGs that were meant to be beaten in a full setting, and the advent of 3D gaming further expanded this potential, and unlike games from the 2010s, games from the 1990s were not plagued with DLC, you got everything you needed in the full package, at the very most you would may need expansions for PC games, but that's it. Plus, I don't care what anyone says, local multiplayer is far better than online multiplayer.
Aesthetic
For this category, I'm going to say both decades are tied.
To be honest, I'm not fond at all of the aesthetic of either of these decades.
In fact, compared to the four preceding decades, the 1990s really doesn't have much of an aesthetic, much of the clothing styles from this decade are very casual, and this casual trend carried on into the next couple of decades following it. I'm not saying it doesn't have it's own aesthetic, but its aesthetic is not as obvious as the aesthetic for the 1950s-1980s.
Some may even argue that the 1980s were the last decade to truly have its own aesthetic, and I can certainly see where they are coming from, even though I don't necessarily agree with them.
Overall Conclusion
I don't mean to agree with these so-called '90s Kids, but I do think that the 1990s overall was a better decade than the 2010s, both for the superficial aspects such as the movies, shows, video games, and music, as well as the societal aspects.
It was a decade that was futuristic enough from previous decades, yet still traditional enough to where the political climate was no where near as divisive as it is now.
What are your thoughts on this topic? Let me know down below.
