I was born in 1989. Just old enough to have a taste, but just young enough to miss out on all the fun. Oh, the ’90s, you just seem so cool. Remember when kids’ shows (like Boy Meets World and My So-Called Life) weren’t about kids who were famous or wanted to be famous, they were about simple life lessons and growing pains? I sort of do. Remember Riot Grrrl bands like Bikini Kill and Hole? I can listen to them now, but how did they sound then–when nothing else sounded like that ever before? Remember beepers? LOL, what’s a beeper?
Here’s my list of all that could have been: 10 things I didn’t get to experience in the ’90s cause I was just too damn young.
Sassy Magazine
Where do I begin with Sassy. I’d talk about its epic greatness, but I’ve never known the pleasure. Sassy was a teen magazine for alternative and indie girls which ran from 1988-1994. Great music, feminism, and fashion all in one place for young girls? Without us being sold weird standards of beauty and ways to please men? Where is this magazine? Why isn’t there anything like it (beside Gurl, of course)?
Riot Grrrl/MTV Unplugged: Hole
I’ll never know the Riot Grrrl movement the way it really happened. A ton of smart chicks who realized guitars aren’t just for boys and started a national movement! Bikini Kill, Hole, Sleater-Kinney, L7 and so many more bad ass women who had the “balls” to sing about sexism, rape, domestic violence, female sexuality and empowerment changed music as we know it. These ladies are legends today, and at one point they were playing shows that I could go see? What? Yeah, I can hear the songs now, but imagine seeing the performances when they were brand new? When you didn’t think it was possible that anything like it could exist.
So they called this little box you carried around? Their number would show up on the screen? Then you would call them back? Why couldn’t they just leave a message? Oh right . . . no voice mail. Answering machines? That’s hilarious.
Sex and The City
I watched this in college and it was a guilty pleasure because it is so melodramatic. On the flip side, when the show came out it was the first of its kind: Women owning their sex lives and running their own lives. It would be silly to think it hasn’t influenced every girl who has seen it.
8-Bit Video Games
My big bro had a bunch of these plastic, square-thingies around the house. By the time I was old enough to see any merit in video games, kids had PlayStations with three dimensional graphics and cgi. There’s no way jumping on mushrooms isn’t going to seem outdated and boring now, but back then it was hours of fun. Sorry I never played with you, bro.
People would listen to the radio and record songs onto these plastic rectangles called “cassette tapes”. I heard that if you put two tapes into a radio you can put music from one tape onto another and make a mixtape. I heard that it was really hard to fast forward and rewind? Some people were really attached to their cassettes, like they were parts of them, almost like how my iPod is evidence of who I am. They may seem a bit silly, but there’s something about owning or giving someone something physical. If you had to make a mixtape it took a WHILE, so when you gave one to someone it was, like, really cool . . .
LOL! WTF? There was a time, when I was alive, that everyone in the country didn’t have high speed internet. It was something like the smell of fresh air, I barely remember it. It’s amazing to think that people functioned without Google, Twitter, and Amazon.com–but they did. I guess they had to open newspapers to find jobs, rely on word of mouth to know where it was cool to hang out, and call for directions to get there. Insanity.
But then . . . what if you got lost? Pay phones? As if. What if you were meeting someone and you went to the wrong place? What? WHAT? No really, how did you all do it? I’d like to know.
Third Wave Feminism
Credit: WENN.com
1992 was called the “Year of the Woman”! How many of those have we had since? Eh? Four women became senators, totaling nine female senators in congress. The second woman ever was inducted into the Supreme Court. The first female United States Attorney General and Secretary of State were inducted. Hilary Clinton made a political name for herself, the first First Lady to do so. Riot Grrrl, Sassy and DIY Zine culture spread the movement of women’s issues and feminism to young girls everywhere. Women were loud and proud and in business.
This might sound a bit cheesy, but I went to the World Trade Center on a school trip in 4th grade. I am pretty sure I was bored the whole time because it was, “Just two buildings.” Then I was terrified of heights so I wouldn’t even open my eyes once I got on top. Three years later, 9/11 happened, the world changed forever and they were gone. We certainly lost way more in that tragedy than my silly opportunity to not be a brat and conquer my fear of heights, but because I was so young I took everything for granted, and now I’ll never get to stand on top and open my eyes.
What do you miss most from the ’90s? Let us know in the comments!
I was born in Novemer of 1998, so I obviously didn’t remember much! I mean, I’d just turned 1 on New Year’s Eve 2000! How could I have remembered anything? I have a pretty fancy Samsung, so beepers sound like a cruel joke 2 me! However, I wish I could have been old enough 2 have even payed attention 2 the Riot Grrrl movement. It actually sounds kinda cool!
yeah, being born in 1996 and all those things on facebook and stuff that say like 90′s baby with no baby and only 90′s kids will remember this annoy me. i have no idea what those are and i defs dont have a kid. im 16 for crying out loud.
I was born in 1996 and I absolutely hate when the kids my age say “We’re 90s kids because I remember the old TV shows.” and I get yelled at when I say, “No, you remember reruns, we grew up in the 00′s”
Courtney Love HATED riot grrrl and wrote a column for a UK magazine trashing riot grrrl and Bikini Kill. Sleater-Kinney was post-riot grrrl, but Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein were both in riot grrrl bands (Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, respectively). L7 didn’t consider themselves part of the movement.
But I LOVE that this article is encouraging readers to give riot grrrl bands a listen! Especially when in another article is saying Pink should go in the Rock Hall of Fame…??? Blecccccch.
i was born in 1998 but i love old things. just last year i asked my cousin(born in ’93) for her gameboy and i got it. i play lizzie mcguire video games. i watch blossom and daria all the time.
I was born in 1995 and I remember this stuff. My brother was born in 1992 and remembers this stuff. I think it has more to do with the stuff your parents let you be around than what you were aware existed.
I dont understand y everyone is saying the 90s was better than now. In the 90s, did you HAVE a computer to even MAKE gurl.com? I don’t think so. and did u HAVE iPhones? Nope. So, I suggest you live in the 21st Century gURLfriends
uhm the 90′s were better because unlike you who is obviously obsessed with the computer i had a childhood. Computers and cell phones weren’t a necessity back then. Kids would actually go outside and have real friends and communicate with them in person instead of texting them and tweeting them. Yes lifes much easier with all this technology now a days but nothing beats having a real child hood!!
Boards
I was born in Novemer of 1998, so I obviously didn’t remember much! I mean, I’d just turned 1 on New Year’s Eve 2000! How could I have remembered anything? I have a pretty fancy Samsung, so beepers sound like a cruel joke 2 me! However, I wish I could have been old enough 2 have even payed attention 2 the Riot Grrrl movement. It actually sounds kinda cool!
I know hat you mean! I was born in ’93 though, but another thing all the 90s kids missed was the best sitcom ever:Friends!
Born in 1991! I know of an online magazine like Sassy- look up Rookie Mag! As for riot grrrl, I’ve gotten into it in the past year.
yeah, being born in 1996 and all those things on facebook and stuff that say like 90′s baby with no baby and only 90′s kids will remember this annoy me. i have no idea what those are and i defs dont have a kid. im 16 for crying out loud.
i miss the 90′s cartoons!! </3
I was born in 1996 and I absolutely hate when the kids my age say “We’re 90s kids because I remember the old TV shows.” and I get yelled at when I say, “No, you remember reruns, we grew up in the 00′s”
That’s exactly what I say. My sister was born in 99 and when she sees those pictures on Facebook she’s like, “I didn’t even know that that existed.”
Courtney Love HATED riot grrrl and wrote a column for a UK magazine trashing riot grrrl and Bikini Kill. Sleater-Kinney was post-riot grrrl, but Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein were both in riot grrrl bands (Heavens to Betsy and Excuse 17, respectively). L7 didn’t consider themselves part of the movement.
But I LOVE that this article is encouraging readers to give riot grrrl bands a listen! Especially when in another article is saying Pink should go in the Rock Hall of Fame…??? Blecccccch.
i was born in 1998 but i love old things. just last year i asked my cousin(born in ’93) for her gameboy and i got it. i play lizzie mcguire video games. i watch blossom and daria all the time.
I was born in 1995 and I remember this stuff. My brother was born in 1992 and remembers this stuff. I think it has more to do with the stuff your parents let you be around than what you were aware existed.
I was thinking this the entire time I was reading.
I dont understand y everyone is saying the 90s was better than now. In the 90s, did you HAVE a computer to even MAKE gurl.com? I don’t think so. and did u HAVE iPhones? Nope. So, I suggest you live in the 21st Century gURLfriends
uhm the 90′s were better because unlike you who is obviously obsessed with the computer i had a childhood. Computers and cell phones weren’t a necessity back then. Kids would actually go outside and have real friends and communicate with them in person instead of texting them and tweeting them. Yes lifes much easier with all this technology now a days but nothing beats having a real child hood!!
Jaja, well, I was born in 1997, so I missed all of that stuff. I just can´t imagine our lives with no Internet, jaja!
Same here >.<