Review: The Nineties

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a fascinating book, at least for someone who lived through the 90s and remembers it decently (at least the second half). Obviously the 90s means different things for different people, and I did find he skipped over many things that affected me more. The discussion on Hip Hop was cursory at best, and many international events were skipped altogether (Rwandan genocide, HK handover, German unification). 

But the topics covered were very interesting, and I tend to agree with his take on how exactly the 90s mentality was different from ours, and why. 

Some of my notes:

Not knowing something (and accepting it) was the norm (I remember a scene about this on HIMYM, and just spent 5 minutes searching for it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb458ATRByc)

Keeping it real was a big thing. Not Selling out. And trying too hard often just equaled Selling out. He goes over this in detail with examples like Nirvana, Reality Bites, etc. 

Most of what we think of how the Internet changed everything in the 90s actually has to do with social media, which didn't come until later. The Internet of the 90s was full of potential, but no one was sure how it would manifest itself. 

The section about the Unabomber is fascinating. 

I had forgotten about Dolly the sheep and what a big scare cloning was at the time. Everyone was just expecting a cloned baby at any moment. 

"If you ask a semi-educated young person to define the root cause of most American problems, there's a strong possibility they will say 'capitalism'... In the 90's [...] the more likely response would have been 'commercialism'"

The author says The Sopranos was the first serious TV show, with the same prestige as a movie. I would argue it was West Wing, since that came out before The Sopranos. (Edit: I just looked it up. I was wrong. The Sopranos aired first, although they were both the same year). 

The analysis of Titanic seems a bit over the top, although I can't really negate it. The Meet Joe Black statistic (most people who bought the ticket to the movie and didn't watch it) is fascinating, as is the analysis of American Beauty, and how it was considered avant-guard in the 90s, but is now considered disgusting and elitist. Same with Reality Bites, how Siskel and Ebert would essentially agree with millennials and Gen Z, in wondering why Wynona Rider didn't want to be with Ben Stiller. That reasoning only worked for Gen Xers in the 90s. 

The Y2K and 2000 elections sections brought me back. The 90s essentially ended on September 10th, 2001. 

View all my reviews