I'm not saying that late 1992 or the actual period (1992-1993) as a whole is the start or mostly connected the latter 90s but rather a few aspects. I think it is the earliest period to have a decent amount of starting points related to things associated with then, again not a as whole. As a whole I think the closest would be late 94.
Oh of course its early 90s year, I have fond memories of that period and I don't underestimate the early 90sness of it, but ultimately it has some foreign elements which make it hard to be considered a pure early 90s period even if it was still quite an early 90s year and even if certain trends were in the midst of peaking. I was simply mentioning it as the earliest period to have enough starting points of certain things that peaked or stayed in 1997 to 2002 or so.
I see it more like a transitional early 90s period along with 1993 to mid 1994 and it definitely is looking more and more like the mid 1990s with clear mid/core 90s incoming elements that can't be ignored, you can even stretch it to the second half of 1992. The first half of 1992 feels more like extension of 1991.
The more I think about it late 1992 to summer of 1994 is kind of an era of its own.
There used to be trend on here stating that 1993 is the start of it this, but it my opinion its late 1992
Grunge was peaking but you also had alt metal and the other musc which peaked in the mid to late 90s/early 2000s that first had degree of proper air time, attention and early start in late 1992 : Rage against the Machine, Tool, helmet etc. Early pop punk - NOFX had a few singles in 1992 aired on MTV I think then bad religion signed to a major in mid 1993 and more more pop friendly alternative artists around late 1992 ex the 4 non blondes and also artists like Jamiroquai . Even by late 1992 many dedicated hard rock fans found grunge a bit too commercialized, when it reached the point that it was adopted by big fashion designers and so on even Kurt cobain wore a shirt saying grunge is dead photographed in late 1992... this is contrast to year like 1990-91.
a lot of rapper fashion in late 1992 doesn't give off pure early 90s vibes - you start to see more and more big chunky pants, untied timbaland shoes, army camo, super basic hair or shaved heads, super long white shirts, earthy colors that would pass at any point in 1995 to 1998-9 or so.
A lot of the basic repetitive techno you heard in 1999-2001 really sounded exact the same in late 1992-93 where it seems to be eariest point where that sound was the closest, back then it was played in nightclubs and was just one genre next to hardcore, rave, eurodance, jungle, acid house etc as opposed to the soundtrack to everything like the early 2000s and to some extent y2k era.
Also a lot of skateboarders by late 1992 were dressing closer to Y2K era limp bizkit clones ten year before, you wouldn't even think it was the early 90s. It lost its colorful pure early 90s vibe in 1992 and went something sort of resembling cartoony full on mid to late 90s white boy hip hop style.
I would say some of the futuristic style was just starting to shape but would solidify more by 1994-1995.
I think prodigy was becoming more popular in general before aol and compuserve in universities and businesses was not an obscure thing, there were quite a number of people using them, also 92 is noted for being the first time photos are uploaded to the internet and I'm sure there a more websites than 1991, which isn't much, but yeah it was in the dark ages and not making a significant enough impact until a few years later.
For sure, 3d games were not a thing as whole but this is the first period with few genre defining pc games that have 3d graphics that mark a new standard and act as a building block and gateway towards later. You also had a lot of 3d flight sims by then
You have a few more arcade games: Virtua Racing and also Starblade gets more popular among others which also pave the way for the genre and the namco style 3d arcade games a few years later which become more of thing throughout the mid and late 90s. Also starfox will be released a few months later at this time.
