Reading Time: 11 minutes Smells Like 90s Spirit: Things From 1990s That We Will Always Remember
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The 1990s were a fun and unique time that brought major changes to culture and technology. This decade saw the rise of the internet and alternative music, while globalization became a big deal.
With the rapid pace of change, many things that were hugely popular then have faded into obscurity since. While these things feel outdated now, they felt like the coolest things ever back then.
Let’s take a stroll down memory lane and look back at some iconic 90s items that no longer exist today.
Table of Contents
CDs Changed How We Listened to Music
Compact discs brought much better audio quality and longer playtime than cassette tapes. CDs completely transformed music listening and distribution. Having a CD player was the ultimate dream!
Making custom mix CDs by carefully burning songs was also a beloved pastime for sharing favorite tunes. Those shiny discs seemed so high-tech at the time compared to scratchy vinyl records or snagged tapes.
DVDs Made Movie Nights Amazing
Just when we thought VHS tapes were as good as it got for watching movies at home, DVDs took things to another level. With crisp video and surround sound, having a DVD player in the living room felt like having a personal movie theater!
I remember when I bought my first DVD player. It was 1996 and a part of a Compaq desktop computer.
Bulky CRT Monitors Showed Us the Digital World
Enormous cathode ray tube computer monitors were a total space hog before flat screens. But these clunky displays gave us a window into the exciting new digital age back then, despite their flickering screens.
Working or playing games on those chunky monitors that weighed a ton was just part of normal life at home and school. We had no idea how dated they’d soon become!
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Camcorders Captured Our Memories
Before smartphones made video recording super easy, camcorders were revolutionary for homemade videos. These handheld cameras let us preserve special moments and memories on VHS tapes. Watching those grainy but priceless home movies now is a memorable trip!
Kids’ birthday parties and holidays to cheesy family music videos, we caught it all on cam. Hauling around those bulky video cameras and endless tapes was a hassle, but so worth it.
The Patient Process of Burning CDs
Making the perfect custom music CD meant spending forever burning songs onto a disc one-by-one from different CDs. It took so much effort, but having that personalized playlist made it worth it.
We’d meticulously pick out tracks, create custom cover art, and proudly gift or trade the fruits of our labor with friends. Today’s streaming playlists just aren’t quite the same craft project.
Portable MP3 Players Freed Our Music
MP3 players like the Rio blew our minds by letting us store hundreds of songs on a tiny device to jam out on-the-go. We could finally break free from CDs and cassettes! Having your entire music collection in your pocket felt like the future was finally here.
Managing playlists and downloading new songs was a labor of love for tunes back then.
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Boomboxes Brought the Party
Thumping boomboxes playing your favorite cassette tapes or CDs were a must for any hangout. Those huge portable stereos may have been a literal backbreaker, but they let you blast your jams everywhere you went.
Having an all-powerful sound system to rock parks, beaches, and basements made you the ultimate party starter.
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Pay Phones Were Public Lifelines
It’s crazy to imagine now, but pay phones seemed to be everywhere back then in case you urgently needed to make a call while out. Having enough change to use those germ-riddled public phone booths was vital!
If you got stuck somewhere or just wanted to check in with mom and dad, those coin-operated phones were literal life savers in sticky situations.
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Floppy Disks Saved Our Stuff
These flexible magnetic disks were the go-to way to transfer computer files between machines before cloud storage. Yes, they could be temperamental, but floppy disks let you conveniently cart around important data.
Lugging around boxes of those floppy disks that held precious school projects, writing, or code was a nightmare though. One bad bend and poof everything was gone!
Blockbuster Was a Weekend Hotspot
Finding the perfect movie to rent at Blockbuster video stores used to be a beloved weekend ritual before streaming killed them off. Roaming those aisles of VHS tapes for a hidden gem felt so exciting.
Spending hours scouring the cases and negotiating with friends over what to rent next. Those late fees were brutal though!
Fun fact, I remember telling my Blockbuster about DVDs and how they were going to replace VHS because there was no need to rewind them, they were cheaper to burn, and they took up less space. But they laughed at me each time and said DVD’s were a fad. They went bankrupt shortly thereafter.
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VHS Tapes Meant Movie Night
Those bulky videotapes may seem prehistoric now, but watching movies by popping a VHS into the player was just how we did movie nights throughout the 90s. The rewind before returning was a ritual.
Perfecting all sorts of nifty tricks too like gently tapping the VCR to make it playback or meticulously trying to unravel a tape that got chewed up and tangled.
Now we have NetFlix.
Instant Polaroid Prints
Long before digital cameras and selfies, Polaroid instant cameras produced physical printed photos through what felt like sheer magic.
Capturing a moment by clicking the shutter and then impatiently watching the image slowly develop within the classic white frame borders was such a thrill.
Gently shaking it per the instructions may not have actually helped make it develop faster, but we loved doing it anyway.
The Subtle Summon of a Beeper
Before smartphones became an omnipresent accessory, beepers were a discreet way to let someone know you needed to get in touch. That little vibration and flashing light felt so thrilling, like you were being called for a secret mission.
Decoding those number combinations from friends was like cracking a secret code. Of course, they probably just wanted to know if you were free to hang out later.
Cordless Phone Freedom
While it may seem laughably basic now, cordless landline phones that let you roam around the house while chatting were a game-changer back then. No more being tethered to walls or getting twisted up in piping-hot receiver cords for hours on end.
That untethered mobility felt so freeing and high-tech at the time. The 900 MhZ phone provided so much freedom. Little did we know that a decade later we would all have phones that were not constrained to just our house.
Game Boy Sparked Mobile Gaming
Nintendo’s original Game Boy system gave the world its first real taste of handheld gaming goodness. Classics like Tetris and Mario made those road trips go by way faster.
Swapping game paks and battle scores while crammed in the backseat for hours, those green-tinted screens forever burned into our retinas. Charging those AA batteries up was a constant mission.
Arcade Games Were King
Hunting for quarters in mall arcades and 7-Elevens to feed into classics like Pac-Man, Street Fighter, and pinball machines once epitomized gaming excitement before home consoles took over.
Slapping that joystick around and mashing buttons for dear life with friends crowded behind you egging you on was like hitting a competitive high score for adrenaline.
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Sock Puppets Were a Crafty Pastime
Taking a plain old sock and drawing goofy faces on them with fabric markers let imaginations run wild as you could create entire puppet shows and characters. A cherished tactile creative outlet before iPads.
With just some basic art supplies, an old sock could transform into a hilarious new personality.
Rollerblades Were a Smooth Ride
Strapping on a pair of Rollerblades and gliding around the neighborhood felt so effortlessly cool back then. These inline skates gave us the freedom to cruise easily without the hassle of bulky quad roller skates.
Mastering tricks and carving through hills made you feel like a total pro, even if you occasionally took a tumble.
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Grunge Fashion Rebelled Against Norms
Grungy styles like flannel shirts, ripped jeans, and tattered shoes symbolized the anti-fashion, anti-establishment attitude of bands like Nirvana. This effortlessly disheveled look rejected societal norms.
Looking too “put together” was definitely not the vibe we were going for back then. Smudged eyeliner and ratty hoodies conveyed that devil-may-care angst perfectly.
Hip-Hop Street Style Went Mainstream
On the flip side, baggy pants, oversized jerseys, and bold sneakers were the hallmarks of hip-hop’s fresh urban street styles that grabbed mainstream appeal thanks to rap stars like Tupac.
Sideways hats, chains, and a confident strut defined this swaggering aesthetic. Clothing companies quickly caught on to kids’ fascination with looking fly and trying to emulate their favorite artists on and off stage.
Towering Platform Shoes Made a Statement
For an instant attitude (and height) boost, funky platform shoes became a must-have look. Stars like the Spice Girls rocked these chunky heels to exaggerated proportions. Teetering around in those towering platforms made you feel like a total trendsetter and risk-taker.
They were definitely not made for any sort of athletic activities though! One missed step and you were going down hard.
Wallet Chains Were Bold Accessories
Letting a long wallet chain dangle from your pants was a signature punk rock and rebellious fashion move in the 90s. Those chunky chains added some serious edge and attitude to any outfit.
What felt edgy and anti-authority back then just looks laughably impractical today.
Over-Plucking Eyebrows
Unfortunately, the 90s saw a disturbing trend of over-plucking eyebrows down to insanely thin lines. Rock stars and models rocked this eccentric look that had everyone going tweezer-crazy, sometimes overcorrecting into permanent brow mishaps.
Thick brows eventually made a comeback, thankfully.
Final Thoughts On 90s Nostalgia
With the constant evolution of technology, it’s both hilarious and incredibly nostalgic to revisit these 90s trends that completely fell out of favor just a couple decades later. While they seemed revolutionary at the time, most of these objects and cultural obsessions are pretty obsolete today.
Even if some things were less impressive than we thought, they captured an exciting, more innocent era before today’s tech-driven world.
We may cringe at our former selves, but the 90s will always hold a special place in our hearts.
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AI was used for light editing, formatting, and readability. But a human (me!) wrote and edited this.
