Stuff you remember or had from the 80s - 90s
user4897 
@Pulse Wave
No wonder why W140 is much larger than a BMW E38
It was originally designed with massive engine inside
No wonder why W140 is much larger than a BMW E38
It was originally designed with massive engine inside
ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ 
Pomegranates :P
The Internet was an interesting place during the Age of 2000s Flash.
Adventure Quest Was Weird [Innovative Flash RPG]
Adventure Quest Was Weird [Innovative Flash RPG]
ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
Pomegranates :P
@Cyborg_pony
It’s like an early anime imitation style.
But yeah, that was what competed alongside stuff like Neopets and Runescape.
It’s like an early anime imitation style.
But yeah, that was what competed alongside stuff like Neopets and Runescape.
user4897
Remember those old days when you have to mix the fuel and engine oil each time you refill this one
user4897
@Selaphiel
Produced from the early 50s to mid 90s
In the late 90s, it evolved into this
The engine is better and quieter 4stroke, there is no need to mix the oil and fuel anymore, and lastly, no need for shifting gears. Just pull down the accelerator and the engine will do the shifting for you… How convenient is that? :) all you need is just accelerate and brake as you cruise around the streets 😊
note: the text above was written in typical 90s advertisement style
Produced from the early 50s to mid 90s
In the late 90s, it evolved into this
The engine is better and quieter 4stroke, there is no need to mix the oil and fuel anymore, and lastly, no need for shifting gears. Just pull down the accelerator and the engine will do the shifting for you… How convenient is that? :) all you need is just accelerate and brake as you cruise around the streets 😊
note: the text above was written in typical 90s advertisement style
ЅℰℒᎯℙℋℐℰℒ
Pomegranates :P
I’m not too familiar with the early 90s.
But from archived media contents and scant spotty personal accounts of the time, it really felt 80-ish.
I guess 90s didn’t really shed its 80s skin and show its true colours until 1996-2000, the N64 era.
But from archived media contents and scant spotty personal accounts of the time, it really felt 80-ish.
I guess 90s didn’t really shed its 80s skin and show its true colours until 1996-2000, the N64 era.
Background Human 
CHS, Class of 20XX
@Selaphiel
My rule of thumb is that “the ’90s” started in 1993. Bill Clinton, StarFox, Jurassic Park, Magic: The Gathering…
My rule of thumb is that “the ’90s” started in 1993. Bill Clinton, StarFox, Jurassic Park, Magic: The Gathering…
Pulse Wave
IMHO there was a transitional phase that started around 1987, 1988. The late 80s didn’t really feel like the rest of the 80s anymore, especially pop culture-wise.
Synthpop had died of no longer being a novelty and all pop music now having mostly or fully electronic backings. New Romantics and Italo disco had gone along with it. EDM came up in ‘87 when acid house was invented. Within a short period of time, all pop music that wasn’t a ballad was replaced by eurodance and house with boatloads of TR-909 and M1 piano chords or early boygroups. Traditional, hand-made electronic music would have fallen into obscurity, weren’t it for Ed Starink’s Synthesizer Greatest reviving its memory and at least keeping it as a niche in parts of Europe.
Hip hop and street style really rose in the late 80s. Hip hop was no longer a niche; instead it became the stylistic base for all kinds of non-ballad R&B and even many ballads (with Whitney Houston feeling like the only exception, also because you couldn’t really count Michael Jackson as R&B anymore ever since Bad). Gangsta rap became popular and stayed until the mid-90s: When Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. were murdered within half a year, people realised what all those violent boasts would have looked like if they had become real because they just had become real. The entire genre had become too hot to touch.
In general, music became more and more polished and overproduced and commercialised. This also mostly put an end to musical experiments. All of a sudden, it wasn’t enough anymore that you had to compete with Stock-Aitken-Waterman but also with Phil Collins who, next to his solo career, had turned Genesis into a pop rock powerhouse with 1986 Invisible Touch (they would have gone under otherwise in an era that wasn’t kind to prog rock) and was all over the charts in this transitional phase. This was also the time when soloist names such as Madonna or Prince really rose to fame.
In the meantime, the guitar returned to reconquer the music scene from the synthesiser and the arena rock. More and more new metal bands that weren’t hair metal arose in the late 80s. Also, alternative rock quickly grew out of its Morrissey/Siouxsie niche, new punk bands showed up, college rock was invented, and the slow but steady rise of grunge began.
The late 80s also had changes in the world of movies. Quite notably, especially thanks to technological improvements, elaborate SFX began to play a bigger role, paving the way for spectacular action block-busters. That said, the disaster movie died, as did the crime/detective movie (save for Disney’s comic-based Dick Tracy maybe). Terminator and the Rambo sequels inspired a wave of action flicks led by muscle-packed protagonists that mostly died again by the mid-90s when this sort of films was lampooned (Last Action Hero). The cross-country street racing film had actually been a dead horse since Cannonball Run 2 but finally went extinct.
Other genres that really came out big in the late 80s were the teenage romance/romcom, the adventure film (especially thanks to the Indiana Jones sequels) and generally films with kids or young teens as protagonists (Home Alone). Some movies even crossed these genres over (My Girl, The Goonies) or became crossovers with other genres (E.T., D.A.R.Y.L.).
Besides, this transitional era was also the big era of parody movies, usually made by either Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker or Mel Brooks. They had been around earlier (ZAZ’s Airplane!, Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, just to name a few), but it was ZAZ’s The Naked Gun and Brooks’ Spaceballs that really made this genre popular. Comedy films went big from the late 80s on in general, also because National Lampoon turned more and more of their sketches into films (or made completely new original films) and their protagonists into big movie stars.
However, in 1987 the music/dancing movie ended. It went out with a bang (Dirty Dancing), but it went out, mostly because it was impossible to top Dirty Dancing. Films like Strictly Ballroom felt like desperate attempts at squeezing some more money out of this genre.
I think there was also a shift in TV shows. The action series genre had been serious competition for crime shows but beaten to death by Glen A. Larson and whoever tried to be him, no matter how spiffy the high-tech gadgets were that were integral parts of these series (if any). The crime show kind of came back, but it wasn’t always all the same anymore. Instead of a hard-boiled plain-clothes cop or private detective, you would sometimes see a lawyer for example.
Probably the genre in TV shows that grew the fastest was the sitcom, especially that kind that was either produced in front of a live audience or, more often actually, fitted with a laughing track.
More or less classical science-fiction had been big in theatres (Star Wars trilogy, the first couple of Star Trek movies, The Black Hole etc.), but by the late 80s, it transitioned into TV again, especially when Star Trek: The Next Generation came out. The herald for this transition was probably Battlestar Galactica. That said, there wasn’t much room on TV for sci-fi shows next to the Star Trek series.
Let’s not forget TV animation. Most of what was around before the late 80s was either merchandise-driven or Hanna-Barbera, save for a few European productions and a few anime before we even knew what anime was (some of which were commissioned in Europe, by the way). And then came 1987, and with it came DuckTales and Disney’s definite start into serial animation. Just the years before, Disney had learned that quality matters in animation when their cheaply-made animated features were duped by their former animator Don Bluth who showed the world what animation could do. And now the result was an animated TV show that outshone just about everything else. Luckily, this wasn’t just a phase that ended in the mid-90s (although the Disney Afternoon did), it lasted quite a bit longer. Not only that, but in the wake of shows like DuckTales and Gummi Bears more and more studios began to produce animated TV shows, providing the childhood entertainment for the kids from the 1980s.
Busy procrastinating
I’m not too familiar with the early 90s.
But from archived media contents and scant spotty personal accounts of the time, it really felt 80-ish.
I guess 90s didn’t really shed its 80s skin and show its true colours until 1996-2000, the N64 era.
IMHO there was a transitional phase that started around 1987, 1988. The late 80s didn’t really feel like the rest of the 80s anymore, especially pop culture-wise.
Synthpop had died of no longer being a novelty and all pop music now having mostly or fully electronic backings. New Romantics and Italo disco had gone along with it. EDM came up in ‘87 when acid house was invented. Within a short period of time, all pop music that wasn’t a ballad was replaced by eurodance and house with boatloads of TR-909 and M1 piano chords or early boygroups. Traditional, hand-made electronic music would have fallen into obscurity, weren’t it for Ed Starink’s Synthesizer Greatest reviving its memory and at least keeping it as a niche in parts of Europe.
Hip hop and street style really rose in the late 80s. Hip hop was no longer a niche; instead it became the stylistic base for all kinds of non-ballad R&B and even many ballads (with Whitney Houston feeling like the only exception, also because you couldn’t really count Michael Jackson as R&B anymore ever since Bad). Gangsta rap became popular and stayed until the mid-90s: When Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. were murdered within half a year, people realised what all those violent boasts would have looked like if they had become real because they just had become real. The entire genre had become too hot to touch.
In general, music became more and more polished and overproduced and commercialised. This also mostly put an end to musical experiments. All of a sudden, it wasn’t enough anymore that you had to compete with Stock-Aitken-Waterman but also with Phil Collins who, next to his solo career, had turned Genesis into a pop rock powerhouse with 1986 Invisible Touch (they would have gone under otherwise in an era that wasn’t kind to prog rock) and was all over the charts in this transitional phase. This was also the time when soloist names such as Madonna or Prince really rose to fame.
In the meantime, the guitar returned to reconquer the music scene from the synthesiser and the arena rock. More and more new metal bands that weren’t hair metal arose in the late 80s. Also, alternative rock quickly grew out of its Morrissey/Siouxsie niche, new punk bands showed up, college rock was invented, and the slow but steady rise of grunge began.
The late 80s also had changes in the world of movies. Quite notably, especially thanks to technological improvements, elaborate SFX began to play a bigger role, paving the way for spectacular action block-busters. That said, the disaster movie died, as did the crime/detective movie (save for Disney’s comic-based Dick Tracy maybe). Terminator and the Rambo sequels inspired a wave of action flicks led by muscle-packed protagonists that mostly died again by the mid-90s when this sort of films was lampooned (Last Action Hero). The cross-country street racing film had actually been a dead horse since Cannonball Run 2 but finally went extinct.
Other genres that really came out big in the late 80s were the teenage romance/romcom, the adventure film (especially thanks to the Indiana Jones sequels) and generally films with kids or young teens as protagonists (Home Alone). Some movies even crossed these genres over (My Girl, The Goonies) or became crossovers with other genres (E.T., D.A.R.Y.L.).
Besides, this transitional era was also the big era of parody movies, usually made by either Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker or Mel Brooks. They had been around earlier (ZAZ’s Airplane!, Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, just to name a few), but it was ZAZ’s The Naked Gun and Brooks’ Spaceballs that really made this genre popular. Comedy films went big from the late 80s on in general, also because National Lampoon turned more and more of their sketches into films (or made completely new original films) and their protagonists into big movie stars.
However, in 1987 the music/dancing movie ended. It went out with a bang (Dirty Dancing), but it went out, mostly because it was impossible to top Dirty Dancing. Films like Strictly Ballroom felt like desperate attempts at squeezing some more money out of this genre.
I think there was also a shift in TV shows. The action series genre had been serious competition for crime shows but beaten to death by Glen A. Larson and whoever tried to be him, no matter how spiffy the high-tech gadgets were that were integral parts of these series (if any). The crime show kind of came back, but it wasn’t always all the same anymore. Instead of a hard-boiled plain-clothes cop or private detective, you would sometimes see a lawyer for example.
Probably the genre in TV shows that grew the fastest was the sitcom, especially that kind that was either produced in front of a live audience or, more often actually, fitted with a laughing track.
More or less classical science-fiction had been big in theatres (Star Wars trilogy, the first couple of Star Trek movies, The Black Hole etc.), but by the late 80s, it transitioned into TV again, especially when Star Trek: The Next Generation came out. The herald for this transition was probably Battlestar Galactica. That said, there wasn’t much room on TV for sci-fi shows next to the Star Trek series.
Let’s not forget TV animation. Most of what was around before the late 80s was either merchandise-driven or Hanna-Barbera, save for a few European productions and a few anime before we even knew what anime was (some of which were commissioned in Europe, by the way). And then came 1987, and with it came DuckTales and Disney’s definite start into serial animation. Just the years before, Disney had learned that quality matters in animation when their cheaply-made animated features were duped by their former animator Don Bluth who showed the world what animation could do. And now the result was an animated TV show that outshone just about everything else. Luckily, this wasn’t just a phase that ended in the mid-90s (although the Disney Afternoon did), it lasted quite a bit longer. Not only that, but in the wake of shows like DuckTales and Gummi Bears more and more studios began to produce animated TV shows, providing the childhood entertainment for the kids from the 1980s.
user4897
@Pulse Wave
I love that M1 Piano <3
Also, the legendary and “sparkling” Yamaha DX7 electric piano is just lovely for all kinds of music. It was made popular by Whitney Houston and then Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
I love that M1 Piano <3
Also, the legendary and “sparkling” Yamaha DX7 electric piano is just lovely for all kinds of music. It was made popular by Whitney Houston and then Disney’s Beauty and the Beast
pixel 
@Background Human
B-b-but muh grunge.
Yes, I know it started in the 80s but with three of the “big four” coming out with genre-defining albums in ‘91 (Pearl Jam’s debut Ten, Soundgarden’s first album with their then-new lineup with Ben Shepherd on bass, Badmotorfinger, and, of course, Nirvana’s Nevermind) and Alice in Chains following with their most famous album a year later (Dirt), the early 90s is the time period most people associate with the genre.
B-b-but muh grunge.
Yes, I know it started in the 80s but with three of the “big four” coming out with genre-defining albums in ‘91 (Pearl Jam’s debut Ten, Soundgarden’s first album with their then-new lineup with Ben Shepherd on bass, Badmotorfinger, and, of course, Nirvana’s Nevermind) and Alice in Chains following with their most famous album a year later (Dirt), the early 90s is the time period most people associate with the genre.
.44caliberloveletter
Alexis the Queer Witch
@Pulse Wave
“In general, music became more and more polished and overproduced and commercialised. This also mostly put an end to musical experiments.”
wut.
“college rock was invented”
eeeeh not exactly, most of the College Rock bands formed in the early 80s (REM, Husker Du, The Replacements, Mission of Burma, Sonic Youth etc.). Unless youre talkung about the term being invented in which case I guess that might be true. You are 100% right though with the rise of Grunge starting up in the late 80s with bands like the Melvins, Soundgarden, and Nirvana releasing their earliest stuff in that time.
“In general, music became more and more polished and overproduced and commercialised. This also mostly put an end to musical experiments.”
wut.
“college rock was invented”
eeeeh not exactly, most of the College Rock bands formed in the early 80s (REM, Husker Du, The Replacements, Mission of Burma, Sonic Youth etc.). Unless youre talkung about the term being invented in which case I guess that might be true. You are 100% right though with the rise of Grunge starting up in the late 80s with bands like the Melvins, Soundgarden, and Nirvana releasing their earliest stuff in that time.
Pulse Wave
There were still experiments. Acid house came out of one.
But you couldn’t make music as you pleased and hope to make it big anymore. Look at the first big hits from synthpop groups such as OMD, Soft Cell or Eurythmics. This level of experimenting didn’t sell anymore in the late 80s. You either were a big name already in which case you could do as you pleased because your records sold only for your name on them, or you had to make formulaic, streamlined music (prime examples were Modern Talking who started in ‘84 already — everything that Dieter Bohlen made sounded the same — and Stock-Aitken-Waterman), or you had to hope for a hype. Otherwise there was no way out of the underground.
And the underground was tough in those days. It was often formulaic itself, partly also due to growing hatred against the electronic instruments that largely displaced guitar rock in mainstream music. Indie labels only accepted this or that genre, and before the rise of acid house and techno, this was mostly guitar rock. Self-publishing was next to impossible in times before online streaming and digital downloads. So if you couldn’t find a label that was willing to publish your music and have it put on vinyl, all you could do is copy your music on cassette tapes (tedious procedure that took as long per tape as the music on the tapes actually was) and try to sell these yourself.
Busy procrastinating
@Pulse Wave
“In general, music became more and more polished and overproduced and commercialised. This also mostly put an end to musical experiments.”wut.
There were still experiments. Acid house came out of one.
But you couldn’t make music as you pleased and hope to make it big anymore. Look at the first big hits from synthpop groups such as OMD, Soft Cell or Eurythmics. This level of experimenting didn’t sell anymore in the late 80s. You either were a big name already in which case you could do as you pleased because your records sold only for your name on them, or you had to make formulaic, streamlined music (prime examples were Modern Talking who started in ‘84 already — everything that Dieter Bohlen made sounded the same — and Stock-Aitken-Waterman), or you had to hope for a hype. Otherwise there was no way out of the underground.
And the underground was tough in those days. It was often formulaic itself, partly also due to growing hatred against the electronic instruments that largely displaced guitar rock in mainstream music. Indie labels only accepted this or that genre, and before the rise of acid house and techno, this was mostly guitar rock. Self-publishing was next to impossible in times before online streaming and digital downloads. So if you couldn’t find a label that was willing to publish your music and have it put on vinyl, all you could do is copy your music on cassette tapes (tedious procedure that took as long per tape as the music on the tapes actually was) and try to sell these yourself.
.44caliberloveletter
Every decade has had its fair share of artists and bands who experiment and push the envelope in their own ways whether or not it was front and center. Arguing that experimentation had mostly been gone during any era of music is just an incredibly pointless venture.
Alexis the Queer Witch
@Pulse Wave
“But you couldn’t make music as you pleased and hope to make it big anymore. Look at the first big hits from synthpop groups such as OMD, Soft Cell or Eurythmics. This level of experimenting didn’t sell anymore in the late 80s.”
I highly doubt that those were examples of the most experimental that early 80s but that might be due to me not knowing a whole lot of their stuff. Also so what? Just because experimentation wasnt selling doesnt mean it mostly ended and that doesnt prove that music became more polished and overproduced unless you only think about top 40 pop hits.
“And the underground was tough in those days. It was often formulaic itself, partly also due to growing hatred against the electronic instruments that largely displaced guitar rock in mainstream music.”
There was always hatred towards Synthpop and New Wave styled Rock bands (No Wave), I mean it grew sure, but its always been a mentality and it grew out of the typical hatred towards established trends that helps musical progression. Its also not like guitar oriented Rock is inherently less experimental. Your point about Rock hating electronic instruments really doesnt hold up when the late 80s was the start of the slow rise of peak relevance for Industrial Rock/Metal as well.
“Indie labels only accepted this or that genre, and before the rise of acid house and techno, this was mostly guitar rock.”
There was almost always favoritism being played by labels. And again “guitar rock” isnt inherently less experimental than “synth rock”.
“But you couldn’t make music as you pleased and hope to make it big anymore. Look at the first big hits from synthpop groups such as OMD, Soft Cell or Eurythmics. This level of experimenting didn’t sell anymore in the late 80s.”
I highly doubt that those were examples of the most experimental that early 80s but that might be due to me not knowing a whole lot of their stuff. Also so what? Just because experimentation wasnt selling doesnt mean it mostly ended and that doesnt prove that music became more polished and overproduced unless you only think about top 40 pop hits.
“And the underground was tough in those days. It was often formulaic itself, partly also due to growing hatred against the electronic instruments that largely displaced guitar rock in mainstream music.”
There was always hatred towards Synthpop and New Wave styled Rock bands (No Wave), I mean it grew sure, but its always been a mentality and it grew out of the typical hatred towards established trends that helps musical progression. Its also not like guitar oriented Rock is inherently less experimental. Your point about Rock hating electronic instruments really doesnt hold up when the late 80s was the start of the slow rise of peak relevance for Industrial Rock/Metal as well.
“Indie labels only accepted this or that genre, and before the rise of acid house and techno, this was mostly guitar rock.”
There was almost always favoritism being played by labels. And again “guitar rock” isnt inherently less experimental than “synth rock”.
Every decade has had its fair share of artists and bands who experiment and push the envelope in their own ways whether or not it was front and center. Arguing that experimentation had mostly been gone during any era of music is just an incredibly pointless venture.
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