25 Facts People Forget About The 1990s
- Elexus Jionde
- Apr 28
- 4 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
A lot happened in the 1990s. Refresh your memory of American history, pop culture, and politics in the Clinton era with this eclectic list of little-known facts!
Evangelical Hell Houses competed with Halloween’s Haunted Houses in the 90s, depicting “sinful” acts like abortion, teen suicide and death by AIDS to reach the ‘MTV Generation’. One church that made $17,000 during one 5-day period began selling $175 kits to ship out nationwide.
In 1996, the Oakland, California school board passed a resolution declaring Ebonics to be the language of its 28,000 black students. This prompted backlash, a debate, and an anti-ebonics MLK poster that caused even more furor.
The world’s 2nd continuous livestream, “JenniCam”, featured college student Jennifer Ringley studying, cooking, getting dressed, having sex, and otherwise living her life. It became an internet phenomenon and ran from 1996-2003, attracting 4 million views a day during its peak.
In 1991 Chicago, black students making up 12% of the population at all-male Brother Rice High School threw their own prom because the official prom wasn’t representative of black music. They played the the Isley Brothers and danced the Electric Slide.
In 1992, 25-year-old Seattle music executive Megan Jasper pranked The New York Times, tricking them into publishing a list of fake grunge slang terms like “cobbnobbler” for ‘loser’ and “harsh realm” for something that was a bummer.
The 1999 Columbine Massacre wasn’t just a school shooting but a terrorist attack. Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold fired 188 shots that killed 13 people, but also left behind 95 bombs meant to harm others.
When Kobe Bryant brought his date Brandy to prom (attracting media attention), some of his fellow classmates were pissed.
The first black Surgeon General, Joycelyn Elders, was dubbed “The Condom Queen” by conservatives who hated that she demanded thorough Sex Education in schools. The Clinton Administration fired her in 1994 for advocating for teaching masturbation in Sex Ed.
In the early 90s at backyard ditch parties in SoCal, latino teenagers danced to house music, new wave, soul, and more for $2-10, where there was often alcohol, competing party crews, and fun. Rejecting their underfunded schools and anti-immigration sentiment, the teens became the focus of local news coverage.
In 1993 and 1994, the Senate held hearings about violence in video games to determine if there should be a federal regulatory body. The most controversial games were Doom, Mortal Kombat, and Night Trap.
During the murder trial of Carolina Panther player Rae Carruth, hired hitman Van Brett Watkins Jr. testified that the athlete was a “bitch.” Carruth had hired Watkins to murder his 9-month pregnant lover in Charlotte, North Carolina.
In 1999, there was a bigger push to enforce ratings at movie theaters. Reported the AP Press, “The strict enforcement of the R rating… was the result of an agreement worked out recently between President Clinton and major theater owners in reaction to the Littleton, Colorado school massacre.”
When Pokémon began airing on WB in 1999 it continued the trading card, toy and gaming craze known as Poké-Mania, and served as many Americans' first anime.
In 1993 Lakewood California, a gang of white teenagers calling themselves the “Spur Posse” came under national scrutiny for competing for ‘hook up’ points by coercing (and forcing) as many girls to have sex as possible, some of them as young as ten. Only one member got in trouble.
1998’s Blade was Marvel’s first commercially successful film, setting the precedent for comic adaptations in the years to come.
Nick News host Linda Ellerbee shocked adult and adolescent viewers when she produced a condom for a demonstration on safe sex during the A Conversation With Magic Johnson special.
On January 16th, 1997, Bill Cosby’s 27-year-old son Ennis was killed during a roadside robbery in LA. The murderer, Ukranian immigrant Mikhail Markhasev, would later write to a friend, “I shot the n*gger. I went to rob a [drug] connection and obviously found something else.” Cosby would create the Nickelodeon show Little Bill in Ennis’s honor.
In 1997, Hudson Food’s recall of 25 million pounds of ground beef potentially infected with E. coli was the largest recall until that date. The Nebraska plant was a Burger King beef supplier.
Senator James Exon asked “a friend” to download the nastiest porn he could find and to put print outs in a blue folder for senators to examine before voting on a measure to impose $100,000 fines on people who posted obscene material that was ever accessed by children. Even Newt Gingrich was against the bill, and while 1995 The Communications Decency Act passed, it was eventually ruled unconstitutional.
Jerry Falwell accused Tinky Winky of the Teletubbies of being a “gay role model,” citing that the male character was purple, “the gay pride color” and wore a bag that looked like a purse. The controversy actually increased viewership and merchandise sales.
While youth suicide rates peaked in 1994 overall, as of 1995, suicide became the third leading cause of death of black people between 15 and 19, with the causes being linked to depression, lack of opportunity, homophobia, and bullying.
In 1990, 2 Live Crew album “As Nasty As They Wanna Be” was ruled obscene by a judge. Uncle Luke and other members were arrested while performing it at a strip club in Broward County. Experts like Henry Louis Gates Jr. testified that the music was within the black tradition and the rap group beat the charges. 2 Live Crew followed up their victory with Banned in The U.S.A., and received Bruce Springsteen’s blessing when using the Born In The U.S.A. sample.
The 1996 Telecommunications Act required all newly manufactured TVs over 13” to have a child lock V-Chip allowing parents to restrict television programming with a 4-digit pin. Most parents found the system hard to use, and it didn’t block sexuality or violence in infomercials or news.
When the movie Scream premiered during Christmastime in 1996, it shocked moviegoers and changed the trajectory of the horror genre, grossing $100M worldwide and spawning a franchise. The movie's satire of serial killer culture and mass media was especially enchanting.
Yahooligans, established in 1996, was the oldest kids internet portal racking up nearly half a million viewers per month by 1999.
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