1. Ecstasy

This drug was first created by Fritz Hander in 1891 but sadly no actual human got to try it until 1959. It was in the early 1990s that the drug started to gain recreational popularity as part of the rave culture in the UK and Europe. The drug led to evolution of dance music with acid house, trance and techno. Whilst the raves of the 1990s have decreased (thank you Tony Blair and the criminal justice act), ecstasy has moved from a drug of choice of the subculture to mainstream usage. Ecstasy is now one of the four main drugs used worldwide!

2. The Macerana

For the non-drug using taking population there was only one type of dance that you could away with during the 1990s. The Macarena’ was realeased in 1995 and quickly became popular in every western nation. It achieved the second longest running number 1 best selling debut single of all time (a bit of a mouthful!)

What distinguished the Macarena’ from other shitty pop songs was the inane dance that went with it. If you where stuck in a bunker during the 90s then check out this video of an absolute chump performing it:
DANCING TO THE MACARENA


Whilst the 1990s subculture was expressing individuality, the drone class were all dancing the same moves to the beat of the Macerena. The Macerena still has sway today and you will often see pissed middle aged fools “pulling a Macerna” at a Wedding reception near you.

3. Beanie Babies

First released in 1993 by toy company Ty, these toys became a phenomenon during the 1990s. The craze was similar to the tulip mania of the 17th Century. Due to Ty retiring certain designs, people assumed that they would increase in value. During the peak of the Beanie Baby craze one design was sold on ebay for $24,000. As with every commercial fad, many fake Beanie Babies were made made and many can still be found on ebay today.

4. Alchopops

With ecstasy prevalent in all the clubs of the 1990s the amount of young people drinking declined sharply. The big brewers knew they needed something big to win back the youth of the day so they created Alchopops. In 1993 two dogs, Hoopers Hooch and Zima were released. Hooch became the most popular with around 70% market share and at its peak managed to shift around 2.5million bottles per week. Many Alchopops took a lot of stick due to their edgy advertising that some argued was aimed at underage drinkers. Now a days most alchopops are only drank by girls and southern nonces.

5. Pogs

The game of Pogs actually originated from the 1920s when Hawaii school kids would play with fruit juice bottle tops. Pogs was commercialized in 1991 and quickly became the main game of every school child in the land. Due to the fact that winners got to keep the other players Pogs, some school defined it as gambling and many started to ban the game in the mid 90s. With Pogs banned in school it quickly lost favor with the kids and we all moved on to the next fad.

6. Power Rangers

Might morphin power rangers was a hit show for many kids during the 1990s. The show was originally a Japanese production called “Super Sentai Series” but the Americans re-shot it with American actors. Similar to many super heroes before, individuals could morph into a spandex clad kung fu fighter. During its peak, Power Ranger toys where as rare as turbo man in the Schwarzenegger blockbuster “Jingle all the way”.

7. Gangsta Rap

After Ice-T and NWA created the genre in the late 80’s, Gangsta rap peaked in the 1990s. Dr Dre an ex member of NWA created Death Row Records. Death Row records had many west coast rappers on its books including Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg with both selling millions fo records. On the east coast, Puff Daddy and B.I.G had set up bad boy records and had also managed to gain dominance of the charts during the mid 90’s. When Tupac and Notorious B.I.G where killed, rumours circulated that it was due to an on-going feud between east and west coast. After the killings, Gangsta rap declined in popularity and has never again reached the dizzy heights of the 1990s.

8. Teletubbies

Anyone who was a student during the 1990s knows who tinkywinky, Dipsy, Lala and Po are. Otherwise known as The Teletubbies, this tv show was aimed at young children but generated mass appeal around the world. The Teletubbies did not speak english but instead spoke in a gurgling baby language similar to its target audience. Like many of the popular tv shows during the 90’s there was a lot of merchandise released off the back of the show. Controversy was sparked when the media thought that one teletubby - Tinkywinky was a homosexual. Recently the teletubbies celebrated their 10th Birthday and a site was created (
Take the the Teletubbies test) where users can try to be the 5th teletubby!

**Do you want to buy one from Amazon?Teletubbies - Plush - Night Glow Po

**Or do you want to buy the DVD from Amazon?
Teletubbies - All Fall Down - Funny Friends and Terrific Tumbles

**Disclaimer - i have included my Amazon id in the link - so you will be supporting 1990toys.com if you buy from those links but if you prefer to not to help us:( - just visit the pages here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000FEBWUS
and here: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0012S52RA”

Oh and check our brand new blog post gives you the Truth Behind the Teletubbies!

9. Britpop

In the early 1990s, Nirvana and grunge were invading the British music chart. A number of British bands decided to combat this with Brit Pop. Brit Pop referenced 60s and 70s British guitar bands and the most famous brit pop bands included Oasis, Blur and Pulp. The advent of lads culture was an integral part of Brit pop popularity which also led to the Oasis vs Blur battle. However like all good things, brit pop declined in 1997 with the heavily criticized release of Oasis’s album “be here now.”

10. The Internet

You could argue this fad is still alive and kicking and I would have to agree with you. However in the 1990s the Internet was plagued by low bandwidth modems and annoying pop-ups. Thankfully the Internet of the 1990s is largely indistinguishable from the broadband-multi communication platform that we have now.