The 90s
For those readers very young in the 1990s it must have seemed like a strange time. The way late baby boomers and Generation X viewed the 1960s, a time of great national prosperity (at least for some in the 60s) but too young to remember. For those of us in young adulthood in the 90s that was a very special time.
We started the decade with a recession although a far, far cry from what we experience today. A college degree was still affordable and landed you on the road to a good career. Suddenly up and coming youth was all the rage evidenced by shows like Melrose Place and Beverly Hills 90210. We yearned for someone more modern than RR or George Bush. Someone that seemed “Y2K ready.”
Along came Bill Clinton in 1992. Young, really cool, he played a mean sax. I lived in Maryland at the time and remember attending numerous (and fun) inaugural parties thinking the future would be beyond anything I could hope to imagine. Like many my age I returned to obtain my MBA, all the rage at the time and the key to the really good life (at least it was back in the 90s.)
However, the first couple of years Clinton stumbled, the economy remained sluggish and conservatives took over the House in 1994.
Clinton the ultimate pragmatic man realized he had to negotiate and work with the devil, which he did. By 1995 the economy began to go into overdrive.
Suddenly technology was becoming hipper and hipper. Cell phones replaced pagers and expensive car phones. Everyone was abuzz about AOL (the original term to describe the Internet). Now you could see what movies were playing and when from your home computer. Or you could call your friend from the beach in Miami and tell him what he was missing as he was at his desk working on a cold New York winter day. Suddenly you could hook up from the privacy of your own home.
Almost overnight making six figures became the norm. I didn’t even ask, I was bumped up to six figures because my company assumed I would leave if I wasn’t. The club scene in major cities burst wide open with young people having pockets stuffed with cash.
New cool bands (90s was definitely the decade of cool) like REM, U2, Gin Blossoms, and The Smashing Pumpkins dot the new Satellite Radio station(although we were still buying CDs.) Gone were the cheesy sounding bands of the 1980s and the FM radio they were played on.
Technology was not yet obtrusive. Sites like Facebook couldn’t invade your privacy or annoy you with banal notifications. The Internet hadn’t yet become overbearing.
I really do miss the 90s. It was a time of everything new and refreshing. Plenty of good professionals jobs to choose from. The days of $1.15 a gallon gas, sultry new television shows on cable, clubs that held 3,000 attendees, and alternative rock. The decade of the big party funded by the big paycheck.
