The 24-hour news cycle arrives, and with it, a booming tabloid industry hungry for scandals and strife to fuel its engines. With breathless nonstop coverage fanning the flames of the biggest beefs of the decade, the '90s became famous for its high-profile divorces, fighting figure skaters, feuding rappers, battling boy bands, and the first presidential impeachment in over 100 years.
From a primetime cartoon family getting into it with the president to a show about nothing, the 1990s tore the comedy rulebook in half. The decade revitalized old icons and gave rise to bold new voices--from the young Black comedians of Phat Tuesdays to the drag queens of "To Wong Foo." The cultural landscape was shifting, and comedians were leading the charge.
A new generation of teenagers with cash to spend flips the script and molds the decade in its own image as "TRL" rules the airwaves, "Scream" redefines a genre, "House Party" kicks off a dance craze, "Dawson's Creek" gives fans all the feels, and Cher from "Clueless" reigns as queen of the catchphrase. Whatever.
From the death of the Cold War to the birth of a space station, our '90s dreams are coming true. But as Biosphere 2 blurs fact and fiction, and "The X-Files" makes us paranoid, is humanity about to lose control of its own narrative? From Furby spies and human clones to vampire battles and fight clubs, our existential fears build as we speed toward Y2K. Will we survive? Spoiler alert: Yes.
With a Beanie Babies feeding frenzy and Harry Potter changing the literary landscape, the '90s was the decade of the craze. Country artist Garth Brooks ruled the pop charts, must-see TV ruled the airwaves, and contagious catchphrases infected us all. This was the last hurrah of mass culture before the internet changed everything.
Whether it was the bromance between Beavis and Butt-Head, children and their pocket-sized electronic pets, or a little blue pill that provided millions with a new lease on sex life, the '90s was a decade that redefined love. Pedro Zamora shined a light on the experience of living with HIV, and RuPaul taught us how to love ourselves, both proving that love has no boundaries.
The 1990s saw the World Wide Web set free and humanity wrestling with its awesome power. Although few people recognized it, everything was going to change. This is what happens when a groundbreaking technology potential for creation or destruction is unleashed upon the world.
Cameras are suddenly everywhere in the '90s as "America's Funniest Home Videos" fuels our obsession with ourselves. Cameras ride along with cops while camcorders keep them in check; news choppers chase OJ while courtroom cams film his trial; a hand-held horror flick makes us question reality; "The Real World" changes our world as the groundbreaking series ushers in the age of reality TV.
In the '90s, a new generation of women came of age, taking the feminist movement on a rowdy joyride. Building upon the work their mothers had done before them, these cheeky disrupters embrace all aspects of femininity as "Girl Power" becomes the rallying cry for the decade's trailblazing pop stars, media moguls, athletes, fictional fugitives and warrior princesses.
From the boundary-pushing diversity of "In Living Color" and "Ellen," to the ruthless reality of Madonna's "Truth or Dare" and Clinton's war room, it was a period of innovation, authenticity and exploration. We revolutionized communication by making cell phones cool and mixed groundbreaking tech with timeless storytelling to create a new genre of film. Change was the only constant.