Growing up in the 90's A small look at the 1990's

The 1990's looking back I think it was a great time to be growing up. The internet was just becoming a part of our lives. Social media and smart phones did not exist yet. It was a more simple time. Things went a little slower and I'm not just talking about our computers. This was the end of a century. The end of an era. Those of us who grew up in it were looking into the future wonder what great things would come out of the new millennium on the horizon.

Music
Music becomes a part of us, a part of our memories. A song you hate at first on the radio you may like later on. Sometimes it is just because your mind will associate a song with a time period or an event. I really enjoy many types of 90's music. There are a lot of great bands that came of age in the 90's. I also started to DJ in the 90's and being in Chicago at the time I really loved house music. House music from Chicago had its own feel, its own sound. Today I still play some house music from back then.

me on the right in 1996

me in 1997

Clothes.
The clothes were insane. Cross colors, zubaz, I.O.U., Z Cavaricci, Hyper color, Jynco, just to name a few. These were expensive stylish clothes that you would rush to the mall to get. I remember the tight cuff folds people would do on their pants or the style of wearing everything 3 sizes too big. Oh also how could I forget overalls with one side left undone.

Hair styles.
Ok Ill just post a few pics of some of the 90's hair styles going on. Big hair, mullets, weird shave lines. No words needed here, just look.

Life before Social Media,
I myself have not embraced social media. I haven't had much time to do anything on Facebook but I have seen what kind of impact all of these type of sites has had on the world. In the 90's it was much more simple. Sure some people were getting pulled in by AOL chat rooms and started to spend their lives online but it was not the norm yet. We still connected outside in the real world. Being social was meeting at the park and deciding what to do for the day. Going up to the mall just to walk around and see what new things were at Spencers. Most of us didn't have cell phones yet but we all had beepers. Just like phone cases today you could choose what kind of case you wanted for your beeper. The news was complaining about kids spending too much time inside with video games but I remember seeing a lot more kids outside playing then than now. I remember coming home from school on nice spring days and couldn't wait to go outside and enjoy the fresh air. We would do anything and everything. Walk to the store just to look around. Buy and trade baseball cards. In the Winter we would play in the snow, make forts, snow men. I am sure this is part of me being older and having more responsibility but there just seemed to be much more time back then. The world now feels so rushed.

Imaging the Future
In the 1990's I use to be fascinated about what the future would bring. I loved a show called "Beyond 2000" It was a show on the discovery channel that looked at new things in development or plans for the future. I always have had a good imagination and was good at looking into the future and imaging what may be. It was so cool to see these TV shows or movies set in the future and see what awesome things we might have. We all wondered what video games would be like in the future. Being a kid in the 90's really gave you hope that when all these new cool things would come out you would still be young enough to enjoy them. The future has not let me down. There are so many new and cool gadgets and things that amaze me everyday.

Saying goodbye to the 90's
The end of the 90's was a crazy time. Y2K was making people wonder if the world would collapse at the stroke of midnight. The new millennium was about to start and that only happens once every 1000 years. It really felt like the future was about to begin. I had moved to Arizona in 1999 and decided to come back to Chicago to visit for the New Year celebration. I was 17 years old so it was not only like saying goodbye to the 90's but I was also realizing the decade in which I grew up in was ending never to come back again. At the time going from 1999 to 2000 did not feel like a change but as time went on the world left the 90's behind and everything that was common would soon become nostalgic.

I am happy to have grown up in the 90's. It was a neat and interesting time to be coming of age. We got to live in the world in a more simple time. If you would like, leave a comment of somethings you really liked or hated about the 90's.