History UsefulNotes / The90s

* Having an internet connection wasn't a given. Many people didn't have a computer to begin with. Many computers were too old to connect to the internet. Even new computers with the latest operating systems didn't always support Internet connectivity out of the box -- Windows didn't until the ''second half'' of the decade. Many people who had modern computers simply didn't pay for service because it was too expensive for what was still a novelty then, and most people who ''did'' have it wouldn't go on for more than an hour at a time because doing so would tie up the phone line. Being able to afford a second phone line for the internet was a big luxury.\\

And it was always the phone line -- broadband was an option only found in a few areas and at a very high price, which meant that its use was reserved for the rich and for specialized fields (research, business, programming, servers). [[https://youtu.be/svmYyeRY11o&feature=related This sound]] came on every time you turned on your dial-up modem to hook up to the internet. If you wanted to, say, [[TheInternetIsForPorn look for sexy pictures online]], you would have to wait at least a minute for a grainy, 360x240 image of Cindy Margolis (one of the first sex symbols to become famous primarily through the internet) to slowly load on your screen. Basically, unless you had used the internet, you probably didn't even know it existed, especially early in the decade.\\

And it was always the phone line -- broadband was an option only found in a few areas and at a very high price, which meant that its use was reserved for the rich and for specialized fields (research, programming). [[https://youtu.be/svmYyeRY11o&feature=related This sound]] came on every time you turned on your dial-up modem to hook up to the internet. If you wanted to, say, [[TheInternetIsForPorn look for sexy pictures online]], you would have to wait at least a minute for a grainy, 360x240 image of Cindy Margolis (one of the first sex symbols to become famous primarily through the internet) to slowly load on your screen. Basically, unless you had used the internet, you probably didn't even know it existed, especially early in the decade.\\

In addition, you were constantly getting kicked off the 'net for little reason, especially if you had AOL. At one point, AOL aired a commercial promising that they had hired ''a hundred thousand'' new workers for the sole purpose of making sure that this didn't happen so much. There was absolutely no noticeable change in the rate of sudden instant connection death whatsoever. And if you weren't blown offline, other internet users would do you the favor of showing you the door. AOL users were ''extremely'' unwelcome on the existing internet, particularly on Website/{{Usenet}}. It was presumed that all AOL users (or AO Losers) were either immature twits or simply had no idea how to use a computer. An AOL email address was a sure way to get flamed.

* Most of what we now know as the Internet (and the word was always capitalized then) did not exist. [[https://youtu.be/yFF0oQySsh4&feature=related Here]] is a look at how crude the internet was as recently as 1995. No {{friending network}}s, very primitive search engines, no [[Website/YouTube streaming video]], and use of the words "{{blog}}" or "wiki" in casual conversation would earn you blank stares. Message boards only came into their own late in the decade -- before that, there was Website/{{Usenet}}, a huge collection of discussion groups for every topic in the universe. The main three browsers were Netscape (and its precursor, Mosaic), Internet Explorer, and America Online. Yes, AOL, or as many people came to call it, [=AOHell=]. Millions got suckered into AOL's crappy business policy and spyware-ridden software thanks to its mass mailing of [=CDs=] and its ads proclaiming that it was "so easy to use, no wonder it's #1!". AOL was instrumental in kick-starting the UsefulNotes/EternalSeptember, which is when public interest in the internet first began to surge.

* Cell phones were in the transition period between the giant bricks of the '80s and the smaller, sleeker, multimedia-enabled devices of today. While prices were coming down, they were still most definitely a luxury item, even more so than a home computer, and were predominantly the domain of businessmen and people who worked on the go. For the rest of us, there were pagers. (Remember Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}} saying "If the Apocalypse comes, beep me"? That's a pager she's talking about.) Cell phones started becoming smaller, cheaper and more common late in the decade, but even then, anything beyond the basics (sending and receiving calls and text messages) was reserved only for the most high-end models. Service was found only in more urban areas, and was still rather spotty. Text messaging was a lot more expensive than it is today, and was practically unheard of. It wasn't for nothing that most people still relied on land lines during this period, and things like pay phones and the Yellow Pages (massive {{doorstopper}} books that listed all phone numbers in a given area, which still exist today, but are notorious for being immediately thrown out due to their uselessness) were commonplace. The mobile phone boom only really took off at the ''very'' end of the decade, when all of a sudden every man and his dog suddenly seemed to have one -- even (gasp!) ''kids!'' \\

* For a small, brief moment, sometime around 1990-93, groups looking for a looser, more organic break from TheEighties who did not want to join {{Grunge}}mania donned bellbottoms, lacy (or striped) shirts, [[NiceHat Dr. Seuss hats]], platform shoes and vintage music gear (Wurlitzer electric pianos to the fore!), played [[TheSeventies 1970's-inspired rock, Power Pop and funk]] and formed the "retro" movement. Music/LennyKravitz, Spin Doctors, Music/{{Jellyfish}}, Blind Melon and Music/{{The Black Crowes}} were the most famous artists from this movement, although it also provided its share of OneHitWonder alternative radio-to-pop radio crossover bands like 4 Non Blondes and School of Fish.

Speaking of arcades, {{pinball}} would see its highest ever heights and its rock-bottom within this decade. Beginning on a high note with 1990's ''Pinball/FunHouse'', in 1992, [[Creator/MidwayGames Bally]] would release ''Pinball/TheAddamsFamily'', the top-selling pinball machine of all time and arguably the only pinball machine that went mainstream. Due to ''The Addams Family'', every arcade had a few pinball games somewhere. However, by 1999, pinball would become so obscure and unpopular that every company that made them either went out of business or moved to more profitable industries, rendering pinball a dead industry for the decade's last few months.

A number of noteworthy trends took place in early-mid '90s gaming. Creator/{{Sega}}'s ''[[VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog1 Sonic the Hedgehog]]'' pioneered the MascotWithAttitude in 1991, bringing a TotallyRadical flair into gaming and spawning a legion of [[FollowTheLeader copycats]] who would often take digs at [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] and [[Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog Sonic]]. This trend went out of fashion by the end of the decade, as the Sonic franchise went through its [[UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn Saturn]]-era DorkAge and many of its copycats ran head-first into the PolygonCeiling, with 2001's ''VideoGame/ConkersBadFurDay'', a ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''-esque parody of the genre, providing the denouement. FullMotionVideo and virtual reality were also hyped up, with many people predicting that the future of gaming was in interactive movies and the ability to actually be ''in'' the game, man. After a few years of grainy, sub-VHS-quality video with [[DullSurprise production]] [[SpecialEffectFailure values]] [[NoBudget to match]], [[SensoryAbuse eye strain]], and bombs like the UsefulNotes/VirtualBoy and ''VideoGame/NightTrap'', gamers realized that, no, this was not the future.\\\

* Comedy films took a little while to reinvent themselves; through 1993 most of the successful ones were were toplined by stars from the '80s (Creator/RobinWilliams, Creator/BillyCrystal, etc.) with a few ultimately unsuccessful pushes for newer acts like Pauly Shore (a Creator/{{MTV}} host), Dana Carvey, and Andrew "Dice" Clay. The out-of-nowhere success of Creator/JimCarrey, who toplined ''three'' hit films in 1994 and became the decade's defining comic actor, led to a resurgence in broad {{Slapstick}} comedy (often with lashings of ToiletHumor), giving performers like Creator/ChrisFarley and Creator/AdamSandler inroads to movie stardom. For those looking for sweeter sentiments, the RomanticComedy genre saw a boom period, minting Creator/MegRyan and Creator/JuliaRoberts in particular as headliners.

* Pauly Shore enjoyed a few years in the spotlight as a Creator/{{MTV}} host and also the star of several comedy films such as ''Film/EncinoMan'', ''Film/SonInLaw'', and ''Film/BioDome''.

** Prior to that, alternative, proprietary standards (most notably the Apple Mac, as well as, at least outside the US, the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} and that stalwart of British schools post-UsefulNotes/BBCMicro, the UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes), were still modestly successful, and to their supporters, vastly superior to your average "PC clone". As IBM-clones rose in popularity, Apple went through a DorkAge and struggled to keep up until Steve Jobs returned and the iMac was launched, ending the preconception of computers as boring beige boxes with its iconic case design, as well as having such revolutionary things as built in USB ports and the CDR-R/RW drive replacing the floppy drive altogether. The fate of Commodore and Acorn was not so rosy: they both went out of business, although the Amiga and RISCOS platforms were still kept alive by enthusiasts, and the ARM processors found in the UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes evolved into that which power our mobile phones, tablets and Raspberry Pis today. Scientists and engineers used UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} RISC workstations from companies like Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics and HP, until they started to be displaced by Windows NT and free Linux distributions running on PC hardware; more on that below.

** Prior to that, alternative, proprietary standards (most notably the Apple Mac, as well as, at least outside the US, the UsefulNotes/{{Amiga}} and that stalwart of British schools post-UsefulNotes/BBCMicro, the UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes), were still modestly successful, and to their supporters, vastly superior to your average "PC clone". As IBM-clones rose in popularity, Apple went through a DorkAge and struggled to keep up until Steve Jobs returned and the iMac was launched, ending the preconception of computers as boring beige boxes with its iconic case design, as well as having such revolutionary things as built in USB ports and the CDR-R/RW drive replacing the floppy drive altogether. The fate of Commodore and Acorn was not so rosy: they both went out of business, although the Amiga and RISCOS platforms were still kept alive by enthusiasts, and the ARM processors found in the UsefulNotes/AcornArchimedes evolved into that which power our mobile phones, tablets and Raspberry Pis today. Scientists and engineers used UsefulNotes/{{UNIX}} RISC workstations from companies like Sun Microsystems, Silicon Graphics and HP, until they started to be displaced by free Linux distributions running on PC hardware; more on that below.

* Though they'd made an attempt on the World Trade Center in 1993 and were certainly on the public's radar, radical Muslim terrorists weren't the [[YouCanPanicNow hot-button terrorist threat]] ''du jour''. In the US at least, that was mostly homegrown [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic militia groups]], religious {{cult}}s, and other nutballs. The Unabomber, Oklahoma City, and the UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} UsefulNotes/OlympicGames are the most famous incidents, but there were many others, including a pair of high-profile abortion clinic bombings, and many feared an attack where they lived. Though domestic terrorism certainly didn't ''end'', the media focus turned to Islamic extremism late in the decade.

* As stated above, TheNineties was the era in which the MoralGuardians were always in a tizzy. While it was brewing in the '80s and early '90s (UsefulNotes/DanQuayle's complaints about ''Series/MurphyBrown'', the [[YouCanPanicNow moral panics]] over [[RockMeAsmodeus heavy metal]] and [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories Satanic cults]]), the presence of conservative Presidents UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan and UsefulNotes/GeorgeHWBush meant that the Christian Right felt itself to have a friend in the White House (regardless of how Reagan and Bush felt), and never felt truly pressured. However, the rise of UsefulNotes/BillClinton (the sax-playing, Creator/{{MTV}}-loving horndog who "[[LoopholeAbuse smoked but didn't inhale]]") in 1992 and the high profile of [[UsefulNotes/HillaryRodhamClinton his wife Hillary]] (who, during the election, gave off the image of a textbook StrawFeminist thanks to her [[DeadpanSnarker snarky quotes]] about baking cookies and "standing by my man like Tammy Wynette") set off many religious conservatives. The first real shot was fired by Patrick Buchanan in his infamous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Culture_war "culture war"]] speech at the 1992 Republican National Convention, which became a rallying point for millions on the Christian Right who made "public morality" a major issue throughout the '90s.

* {{Anime}} was just starting to gain a following in the United States. To begin with, though, whilst ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' might have proved that the medium could be taken seriously as adult entertainment, much of it was still adapted for kids. Girls had ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and the boys had ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', and... that was about it unless you wanted to really do some hardcore searching.[[note]]Which would turn up series like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/CaseClosed'', ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/InitialD'', ''Manga/OutlawStar'', ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', and of course, ''[[Anime/PokemonTheSeries Pokémon]]'' and ''Anime/YuGiOh''.[[/note]] Of course, these anime were {{Bowdlerise}}d out the wazoo, but most kids didn't know, as they had nothing to compare it to. The only way to acquire {{manga}} was through specialty stores and importers, and it was expensive and often poorly translated (if at all). In 1998, ''[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Pokémon]]'' showed up and really kick-started the anime boom, allowing it to take root in the West and become the industry it is today.

* Banking was changed forever by digital technology. In 1990, [=ATMs=] were rare [[note]]and virtually always attached to, if not ''inside'', a bank[[/note]], by 1999, they were on every street corner. Ditto for in store debit, and the number of places that took credit cards. TheNineties became the decade where the only reason to actually talk to someone who worked at the bank was to get a loan or open an account. Until the very late 1990's it was unheard of to pay for fast food with a card.

* The mid-1990s also heralded the "rebirth" of Rhythm & Blues, though the result was much mellower and slower than the R&B of TheSixties and TheSeventies with artists like Music/{{Babyface}}, Music/RKelly, Gerald Levert, Music/BoysIIMen and En Vogue.

* Meanwhile, in the music world, it was the domain of the CD, and to a lesser extent the cassette; vinyl had been pushed into obscurity and at most was only really used by [=DJs=], collectors, audiophiles and the hopelessly backward. Cassettes were the main means of recording audio and listening to it on the move, although portable CD players existed and by the end of the decade, recordable CD formats (CD-R and CD-RW) had become affordable for consumers. A whole host of technologies had previously tried to replace the analogue audio cassette; besides a whole host of not-very-successful digital tape formats, by far the most well-known was probably Minidisc, though even that never really caught on and the players/recorders remained quite expensive compared to cheaper cassette machines. The CD had already been introduced in UsefulNotes/TheEighties, but was considered an expensive luxury for audiophiles. It was only around the turn of the decade that the format finally began to take off, thanks to dropping prices of players and discs.

* The idea of fully-equipped home theater setups began to rise in this decade, as prices fell and new technology made these kinds of setups more palatable -- 5.1 surround sound, huge [=TVs=] (typically rear-projection), and laserdiscs and/or DVDs were the marks of a home theater. The rise of electronics superstores like Best Buy and the now-defunct Circuit City (among many others) made this and other technology for the home more accessible.

* In response to the 90s extreme sports obsession. ESPN created an annual sports event called the X Games in 1995 that focused on various extreme sports such as motocross, skateboarding, and [=BMX=]. Two years later they would also launch the Winter X Games, which focused on skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobiling. Both the X Games and the Winter X Games remain popular to this day.

* The GameShow genre hit its lowest point since the quiz-show scandals during the decade, as show after show got canceled. Of the shows that debuted in syndication for the 1990-91 season (reboots of ''Series/TicTacDough'' and ''Series/TheJokersWild'', ''Quiz Kids Challenge'', ''Trump Card'' and ''Series/TheChallengers''), none survived into the next season, primarily because of the ''Series/WheelOfFortune''[=/=]''Series/{{Jeopardy}}'' combo snagging the good timeslots and destroying any other games put against it. The networks, especially NBC and ABC, had completely cleared their schedules of games by 1995, and CBS merely had ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' by that time. However, cable networks began to take over instead- the Creator/USANetwork had both originals and plenty of reruns, and what was then [[Creator/ABCFamily The Family Channel]] took a similar approach. Nickelodeon had their own shows, as did Creator/{{Lifetime}}. Creator/{{GSN}} launched in 1994, to the delight of fans of the classics. But by the end of the decade, nearly all of the original cable games had ended, with Lifetime, USA and the newly-renamed Fox Family having eliminated their games, while Nickelodeon began focusing on other programming; and the GSN originals of the time (especially the infamous ''[[Series/TheGongShow Extreme Gong]]'') weren't very good. But at the tail-end of the decade, when ABC decided to import a show from Britain called ''Series/WhoWantsToBeAMillionaire'', the genre was given new life, with new prime-time games popping up overnight- even if half the new shows were [[WhoWantsToBeWhoWantsToBeAMillionaire Millionaire clones]]. This carried over into the next decade, with mixed results.

* Kids book series really began to turn themselves into franchises, mainly thanks to their shared publisher, Scholastic. ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'' was an anthology of horror books by R.L. Stine which had kids confronting lots of creepy stuff - it spawned a [[Series/{{Goosebumps}} TV show]] on Creator/FoxKids. ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' revolved around a group of kids forced to save the Earth from an invasion of [[PuppeteerParasite Puppeteer Parasites]] with the power to change into different animals, and the horrors of war were taking their toll on the group. It also spawned a [[Series/{{Animorphs}} TV show]] on Nickelodeon, albeit a mediocre one. On the educational side of things, ''WesternAnimation/TheMagicSchoolBus'' took off on PBS (although the books began first), and was so popular it even aired on Fox Kids alongside ''Goosebumps'' (though it aired on weekday afternoons)! And ''Literature/HarryPotter'' also arrived on the scene, but didn't really take off until the next decade. ''Literature/CaptainUnderpants'' also appeared late in the decade, challenging adults who thought the series was "vulgar" and helping kids to get into reading. It hasn't really spawned much, although it has grown a dedicated fandom and got [[WesternAnimation/CaptainUnderpantsTheFirstEpicMovie a film adaptation in 2017]] (with an animated series soon to follow).

* The drink most synonymous with the '90s was [[MustHaveCaffeine coffee]]. Whereas in the past, coffee was what mom and dad drank in the mornings while reading the newspaper, in the '90s coffee became a trendy, must-have beverage, often ordered with a ton of modifiers (tall half-caf, no sugar, whipped cream, two shots of espresso, flavored syrup, etc). This was the point where Starbucks began to pick up in popularity and the franchise is still going strong. The fact that coffee was associated with the "hip" cultural center of UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} was probably not a coincidence.

** Beer was still very much a working-class beverage - however, some "local" beers and microbrews had more of a classy connotation. Toward the end of the decade, foreign brews such as Ireland's Guinness Draft Stout acquired a surprisingly upscale image in the United States, with the British/Irish pub subculture beginning to gain popularity on the other side of the Atlantic.

* Until the early 1990's, despite thousands of science fiction books, movies and TV shows, the only solar system astronomy had any solid evidence whatsoever for was the one we obviously lived in. Even in the late 1980's there were people wondering if our own solar system was a fluke - the planets being theoretically caused by gasses pulled from the sun by a passing star. Scientists were fairly certain there were other solar systems, but the mid 1990's is when the proof came in by measuring parent stars for gravitational wobbles.

* No one saw it coming, but the 1990's were the last decade of the record[=/=]CD[=/=]cassette store. Some malls would even have two or three of them. There would be music playing on the sound system - and some stores even had several CD players with headphones so you could sample a CD before you bought it. Stores would sell T-shirts and other merchandise, too. Working in a music store was some good cred for a young adult, and definitely brag-worthy. The door was slammed shut on them in 2000 practically on the nose with the rise of Napster. You can still buy music on CD in a store now, but nothing like back in the 1990's. What few stores remain today adapted by expanding to selling movies and sometimes video games along with music, or with places geographically close to performers and record labels, live off of their reputations and the musicians themselves coming in to visit.

* Professional UsefulNotes/{{basketball}} exploded in popularity, thanks in no small part to UsefulNotes/MichaelJordan, the man often called basketball's version of [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Babe Ruth]] or [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball Pele]]. It's no coincidence that the most watched basketball game of all time was in 1998. Also, thanks to a rules change the 1992 Olympics marked the debut of [[DreamTeam "The Dream Team"]] - a US men's national basketball team composed almost entirely of NBA superstars who beat their opponents by an average of 43.8 points per game on their way to the gold medal.

* This was the decade when personal computers really transitioned from the hi-tech novelty of TheEighties to being an essential part of everyday life, in the home as well as workplaces and schools. Improving technology expanded the scope of what computers were for - multimedia, desktop publishing, and of course the internet - making them worthwhile for more people to get, whilst the rise of graphical user interfaces that had began in the mid-'80s made them more user-friendly than the old text-based/command line driven systems impenetrable to non-specialists and "whiz-kids".

* The internet was discussed in florid terms that have since fallen out of disuse. It was extremely common to hear the mainstream media, in all formats, refer to such things as "cyberspace", the "information superhighway", or refer to "surfing the web" as an activity or even hobby engaged in by young people. The internet was sometimes compared with virtual reality, and was occasionally portrayed as some kind of alternate reality while simultaneously derided as "not real life". This was also the first decade in which online interactions by regular people sometimes led to real life actions, whether that was business transactions or personal relationships - and both sometimes carried a mild stigma during this decade, as either a shady avenue of business, or a questionable way to meet people. Nevertheless, young people especially began shopping, hanging out, and dating online, eventually forcing all of the above well into the mainstream by the next decade.

* Cell phones were in the transition period between the giant bricks of the '80s and the smaller, sleeker, multimedia-enabled devices of today. While prices were coming down, they were still most definitely a luxury item, even more so than a home computer, and were predominantly the domain of businessmen and people who worked on the go. For the rest of us, there were pagers. (Remember Series/{{Buffy|TheVampireSlayer}} saying "If the Apocalypse comes, beep me"? That's a pager she's talking about.) Cell phones started becoming smaller, cheaper and more common late in the decade, but even then, anything beyond the basics (sending and receiving calls and text messages) was reserved only for the most high-end models. Service was found only in more urban areas, and was still rather spotty. Text messaging was a lot more expensive than it is today, and was practically unheard of. It wasn't for nothing that most people still relied on land lines during this period, and things like pay phones and the Yellow Pages (massive {{doorstopper}} books that listed all phone numbers in a given area, which still exist today, but are notorious for being immediately thrown out due to their uselessness) were commonplace. The mobile phone boom only really took off at the ''very'' end of the decade, when all of a sudden every man and his dog suddenly seemed to have one - even (gasp!) ''kids!'' \\

** [=CDs=] briefly created a widespread issue with "skipping", the phenomenon where a jostled disc player can repeat or go silent as the laser loses track of its position on the disc. No other medium has this issue - records are played on large players that should not be moved under normal circumstances, and cassettes and [=mp3=] players are immune to the problem as a result of not using sensitive lasers. This meant that while a cassette Walkman could be used while cycling down a bumpy trail, a CD player might fail to play correctly even in a car if you hit a particularly nasty pothole. It wasn't until "skip proof" or "sports" disc players came out (with dramatically shorter battery life) that portable CD players didn't have to be babied while walking.

** Preceding Napster was the now less well-remembered [=mp3.com=], which, starting in 1997, provided a forum for indie artists to share music digitally for free. (Yes, both free ''and'' legal, not that you would think it possible given the controversy surrounding [=MP3=] downloading in the early days.) Early in the following decade it would itself run into controversy after it tried to allow users to upload music ripped from their [=CDs=] and stream it anywhere, which the record companies didn't like at all- they successfully sued.

* .wav files were hot stuff. These were sound files much bigger than [=mp3s=], so they were only really good for short sound bytes, not full songs. Sites popped up with all sorts of wav files from movies, etc - all ready to download and assign to different events on your computer. These sites stayed up for years until traffic costs and lawsuits threatened them.[[note]]Which isn't to say there aren't still a bunch of them...[[/note]]

* Professional UsefulNotes/{{basketball}} exploded in popularity, thanks in no small part to Michael Jordan, the man often called basketball's version of [[UsefulNotes/{{Baseball}} Babe Ruth]] or [[UsefulNotes/AssociationFootball Pele]]. It's no coincidence that the most watched basketball game of all time was in 1998. Also, thanks to a rules change the 1992 Olympics marked the debut of [[DreamTeam "The Dream Team"]] - a US men's national basketball team composed almost entirely of NBA superstars who beat their opponents by an average of 43.8 points per game on their way to the gold medal.

* {{Anime}} was just starting to gain a following in the United States. To begin with, though, whilst ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' might have proved that the medium could be taken seriously as adult entertainment, much of it was still adapted for kids. Girls had ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and the boys had ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', and... that was about it unless you wanted to really do some hardcore searching.[[note]]Which would turn up series like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/CaseClosed'', ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/InitialD'', ''Manga/OutlawStar'', ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', and of course, ''[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Pokémon]]'' and ''Anime/YuGiOh''.[[/note]] Of course, these anime were {{Bowdlerise}}d out the wazoo, but most kids didn't know, as they had nothing to compare it to. The only way to acquire {{manga}} was through specialty stores and importers, and it was expensive and often poorly translated (if at all). In 1998, ''[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Pokémon]]'' showed up and really kick-started the anime boom, allowing it to take root in the West and become the industry it is today.

* {{Anime}} was just starting to gain a following in the United States. To begin with, though, whilst ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' might have proved that the medium could be taken seriously as adult entertainment, much of it was still adapted for kids. Girls had ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and the boys had ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', and... that was about it unless you wanted to really do some hardcore searching.[[note]]Which would turn up series like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/CaseClosed'', ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/InitialD'', ''Manga/OutlawStar'', ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', and of course, ''[[Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries Pokémon]]'' and ''Anime/YuGiOh''.[[/note]] Of course, these anime were {{Bowdlerise}}d out the wazoo, but most kids didn't know, as they had nothing to compare it to. The only way to acquire {{manga}} was through specialty stores and importers, and it was expensive and often poorly translated (if at all). In 1998, ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' showed up and really kick-started the anime boom, allowing it to take root in the West and become the industry it is today.

* {{Anime}} was just starting to gain a following in the United States. To begin with, though, whilst ''Manga/{{Akira}}'' might have proved that the medium could be taken seriously as adult entertainment, much of it was still adapted for kids. Girls had ''Anime/SailorMoon'' and the boys had ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', and... that was about it unless you wanted to really do some hardcore searching.[[note]]Which would turn up series like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', ''Manga/CaseClosed'', ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', ''Manga/AhMyGoddess'', ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'', ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'', ''Manga/InitialD'', ''Manga/OutlawStar'', ''Manga/{{Trigun}}'', and of course, ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' and ''Anime/YuGiOh''.[[/note]] Of course, these anime were {{Bowdlerise}}d out the wazoo, but most kids didn't know, as they had nothing to compare it to. The only way to acquire {{manga}} was through specialty stores and importers, and it was expensive and often poorly translated (if at all). In 1998, ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'' showed up and really kick-started the anime boom, allowing it to take root in the West and become the industry it is today.

** Disney fans frequently cherish the decade as the studio's second GoldenAge, an era known as the "Disney Renaissance". After a brief DorkAge in TheEighties, the Mouse Factory came roaring back with a string of hits in ''WesternAnimation/{{The Little Mermaid|1989}}'', ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'', and ''WesternAnimation/ToyStory''. As a child growing up in TheNineties, you were ostracized if you had not seen ''WesternAnimation/{{The Lion King|1994}}'' yet.

* The 90s era is referred to as the main time period of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, in which comic books took an increasingly DarkerAndEdgier turn, often featuring [[NinetiesAntiHero gritty, violent anti-heroes with large weaponry]]. In 1992, Creator/ImageComics was formed and would go on to create many popular comics of the era, such as ''Franchise/{{Spawn}}'', ''ComicBook/TheSavageDragon'', and ''ComicBook/TheMaxx''. Other notable comics of the era include ''ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}, ''ComicBook/{{Cable}}'', ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', ''ComicBook/SinCity'', ''ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse'', and ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman''. The era is often considered to have ended with 1996's release of ''ComicBook/KingdomCome'', which served to deconstruct the tropes of the area. In hindsight, the era is a point of contention, with critical views of the era's excess.

* The 90s era is referred to as the main time period of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, in which comic books took an increasingly DarkerAndEdgier turn, often featuring [[NinetiesAntiHero gritty, violent anti-heroes with large weaponry]]. In 1992, Creator/ImageComics was formed and would go on to create many popular comics of the era, such as ''[[Franchise/Spawn]]'', ''[[ComicBook/TheSavageDragon]]'', and ''[[ComicBook/TheMaxx]]''. Other notable comics of the era include ''[[ComicBook/{{Hellboy}}]], ''[[ComicBook/{{Cable}}]]'', ''[[ComicBook/TheSandman]]'', ''[[ComicBook/SinCity]]'', ''[[ComicBook/AgeOfApocalypse]]'', and ''[[ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman]]''. The era is often considered to have ended with 1996's release of ''[[ComicBook/KingdomCome]]'', which served to deconstruct the tropes of the area. In hindsight, the era is a point of contention, with critical views of the era's excess.

* The 90s era is referred to as the main time period of UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks, in which comic books took an increasingly DarkerAndEdgier turn, often featuring [[NinetiesAntiHero gritty, violent anti-heroes with large weaponry]]. In 1992, Creator/ImageComics was formed and would go on to create many popular comics of the era, such as ''[[Franchise/Spawn]]'', ''[[ComicBook/TheSavageDragon]]'', and ''[[ComicBook/TheMaxx]]''