When the 1990s began, hardly anyone in America was online. When it ended, nearly everyone was.
In between, a lot happened: Nirvana, “Seinfeld,” “Friends,” the Clinton presidency, “The Matrix,” Tupac, Beanie Babies, “Titanic,” The Spice Girls, the Columbine shootings, compact discs, AIM, Anita Hill’s testimony… shall we go on?
In his new book, “The Nineties,” cultural commentator and author Chuck Klosterman looks back at the years that he argues may be “the last decade.” He explained his reasoning to GQ:
“What I mean by that is that it’s the last ten-year calendar span that seems to have immutable values, and immutable old fashions, and immutable ideas that make it seem separate from the period that it came previously. I think we are now more in a period of perpetual now where the difference between 2009 and 2019 seems almost impossible to perceive outside of discussions about politics.”
We go back in time to the years when it was cool not to care with help from Klosterman, who made this playlist to accompany the book:
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