Peak 90's colour is Hypercolor
There will be a bright patch where you crotch is in contact with your bass.
There will be a bright patch where you crotch is in contact with your bass.
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Most 90’s colour
- Thread starter MPU
- Start date
If it's from the Nineties, then, like everything else from that decade, it must be...Yes! Teal, purple and white
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Jazz (design) - Wikipedia
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90s color trends varied over the decade.
There was a real trend in photography and music videos to use cross-processing (using the wrong chemicals in the darkroom, ending up with an image like a faded Kodachrome; popular on lots of album covers, grunge videos etc.)
Yeah, teal and pink were the iconic colors of the decade (though to me that feels like a misremembering of the 80s) - I remember white denim briefly being a thing, and there was definitely a thrift-shop vibe that brought a lot of sunny 1970s colors back into circulation - tangerine, sky blue, and chartreuse, royal purple, lime greens, textured fabrics like corduroy and velvet, and clubwear that included a lot of interesting hues of leather and vinyl.
Across the decade there was an increasing techno-glam style that used chrome, silver and greyscale tones, offset with hints of bright jewel tones, and this carried into the early 2000s. (For instance, the Ibanez Joe Satriani Chrome Boy came out as early as 1990, but it was a bit ahead of its time)
I think this is exemplified by the 2003 Tom Jones / Cardigans cover of Talking Heads' 'Burning Down The House' - it has a stark color palette of silver, greys, black, and white, with orange as the sole saturated color.
Here's some fashion pieces from the time using silver mesh and silver finishes:
There was a real trend in photography and music videos to use cross-processing (using the wrong chemicals in the darkroom, ending up with an image like a faded Kodachrome; popular on lots of album covers, grunge videos etc.)
Yeah, teal and pink were the iconic colors of the decade (though to me that feels like a misremembering of the 80s) - I remember white denim briefly being a thing, and there was definitely a thrift-shop vibe that brought a lot of sunny 1970s colors back into circulation - tangerine, sky blue, and chartreuse, royal purple, lime greens, textured fabrics like corduroy and velvet, and clubwear that included a lot of interesting hues of leather and vinyl.
Across the decade there was an increasing techno-glam style that used chrome, silver and greyscale tones, offset with hints of bright jewel tones, and this carried into the early 2000s. (For instance, the Ibanez Joe Satriani Chrome Boy came out as early as 1990, but it was a bit ahead of its time)
I think this is exemplified by the 2003 Tom Jones / Cardigans cover of Talking Heads' 'Burning Down The House' - it has a stark color palette of silver, greys, black, and white, with orange as the sole saturated color.
Here's some fashion pieces from the time using silver mesh and silver finishes:
Ford also sold the Escort GT and Ranger in similar green in the 90's
Yeah I originally was going to use an Escort GT for that image but then I remembered the Porsche beach buggy concept car and I couldn't help myself.
This sounds like a discussion I would love to have with a sociologist or the like.
I agree and, to add to all that; It's probably fair to say that early Nineties aesthetics were a big push-back against the brighter, sometimes neon, colors of the Eighties, much like how the latter decade was a retaliation to the drab, earth-tones a lot of Seventies aesthetics. (Club/disco wear was another beast, altogether, but I'll get back to that below.)
(Side-note: I absolutely love-to-hate this pic! It...is...HORRIFYING!!
)
It certainly feeds into the "thrift-shop vibe" of the Nineties. The color palette and general "groove" was a big touchstone. (And, while "bell-bottoms/flares" did come back a little, it was not nearly as pervasive as it was in the Seventies. Talk about "dodging a bullet"!)
The latter half of the Nineties saw the rise of techno music and the "DJ/Producer"...people like Moby, The Crystal Method, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, etc...so, it makes sense that the look of decade took a turn towards a bright, gleaming techno-futuristic look. It makes me wonder if the dawning of "The Internet Age" and the rampant computerization of homes across America might've also had a guiding hand in that.
As for the "Burning Down The House" cover, great dancers backing up massive talent. Personally, the only thing I think they missed was something actually being on fire. I mean, how can one make a video covering that song and still miss that key element...even one that could've been added in post-production?! DUH!!
This sounds like a discussion I would love to have with a sociologist or the like.
I agree and, to add to all that; It's probably fair to say that early Nineties aesthetics were a big push-back against the brighter, sometimes neon, colors of the Eighties, much like how the latter decade was a retaliation to the drab, earth-tones a lot of Seventies aesthetics. (Club/disco wear was another beast, altogether, but I'll get back to that below.)
(Side-note: I absolutely love-to-hate this pic! It...is...HORRIFYING!!
It certainly feeds into the "thrift-shop vibe" of the Nineties. The color palette and general "groove" was a big touchstone. (And, while "bell-bottoms/flares" did come back a little, it was not nearly as pervasive as it was in the Seventies. Talk about "dodging a bullet"!)
The latter half of the Nineties saw the rise of techno music and the "DJ/Producer"...people like Moby, The Crystal Method, Fatboy Slim, The Prodigy, Daft Punk, etc...so, it makes sense that the look of decade took a turn towards a bright, gleaming techno-futuristic look. It makes me wonder if the dawning of "The Internet Age" and the rampant computerization of homes across America might've also had a guiding hand in that.
I can't really speak for the U.S.A. but here in England it was immediately obvious, and very disappointing, that from the word go the 90's seemed to have no identity of it own :
For the first couple of months, nothing really happened.
Then there was a massive 70's revival seeping into music, fashion, and club culture (you couldn't go anywhere without running into a "Car Wash" themed night).
That stuck around for a little while, before turning into a 60's revival, which was mercifully short-lived, and it seemed like everyone realised "hey, it's a new decade, why are we revisiting our parents youth?"
Only one logical thing to do...
The 80's revival. Suddenly every new band was wearing vintage skinny ADIDAS tracksuits, and shell toes, with an afterbirth haircut, idolising Paul Weller, and acting like they're in an episode of The Sweeney, whilst riding a Raleigh Chopper (all of which is 70's retro, but it's what these dipsticks felt all warm and cosy about as their nostalgia for the 80's).
That all seemed to drag on for entirely too long, before the 90's was finally able to get on with being itself - which was basically a mash-up of 60's, 70's, and 80's influences, dragged kicking and screaming up to date thanks to the influence of U.K. dance music, and American Hip-Hop culture.
Loads of really great music across the board, but the only thing I think of as being completely brand new, and uniquely original to the 90's was Jungle / Drum & Bass.
To be fair to the 90's, we all have a pretty clear idea of what we think of as "The 80's", so I found it really fascinating when the BBC began re-running complete series of vintage Top Of The Pops, to see the cold hard truth :
Basically, 1980, 1981, and 1982 are all as if the 70's never ended - the last gasps of Disco, and the hippie inspired singer-songwriter, and glam etc, mixed together with some slightly experimental pop, the occasional Goth / New Wave / early Synth-Pop crossover hit, and the awful novelty songs.
Then 1983 begins, and overnight it's Peak 80's, with all of the fashion, sounds, and everyone sweating buckets and looking like coked-up stockbrokers. It's truly crazy to see.
That timeline is uncannily like the way the 90's developed, and I dare say if you looked at subsequent decades, they probably follow a similar pattern.
Yes! These are the kinds of conversations I relish; art, fashion and history all rolled up into one! 
My only regret is how I wish I could have this in a more intimate setting, like around the table at a diner or bar or something. There's nothing like a good, spirited, but still friendly, chat accompanied by food and ever-refilled drinks.
It's probably fair to say that most of us do not see what a decade's stand-out, defining traits are until it's already passed us by. Kind of that "can't see the forest though the trees" thing, I guess. That, or we don't see the change, and what it means, until it's already upon us...kinda like a horror-movie jump-scare. One second, nothing's there...next second, what the hell is this!?
Also, "nostalgia" is a very powerful force within the human psyche, even if our perceptions of this-or-that is skewed, ill-informed and/or inaccurate. An excellent example is the movie, "The Wedding Singer". A number of the Eighties-isms are all mashed together, as if the entire decade all happened at once, which conveniently ignores that some of the fashionable stuff in it were already unfashionable by 1985. (Personally, I think "Stranger Things" handles it's nostalgia-driven narrative better, but if I were to look at it with a microscope, I could probably find some inconsistencies.)
I suppose another way to look at it would be how we look at, and think about, "decades". Inflicting a time-span on human life is pretty arbitrary. We try to pack things into neat, little boxes in our heads, books, movies, etc. But, in truth, society does not conform to such man-made constructs. It's good for easy reference, but when you get into the weeds, things tend to get a bit more "mushy".
'Til then, see y'all in the weeds!
My only regret is how I wish I could have this in a more intimate setting, like around the table at a diner or bar or something. There's nothing like a good, spirited, but still friendly, chat accompanied by food and ever-refilled drinks.
Yeah, I often call that "the Twenty-Year rule" when elements a previous decade...art, clothes, music, general aesthetics...gets embraced again. How much sticks and how much gets tossed seems to vary.
It's probably fair to say that most of us do not see what a decade's stand-out, defining traits are until it's already passed us by. Kind of that "can't see the forest though the trees" thing, I guess. That, or we don't see the change, and what it means, until it's already upon us...kinda like a horror-movie jump-scare. One second, nothing's there...next second, what the hell is this!?
Again, this is where I would fall back on "the Twenty-Years rule". What's old is new, eh?
Also, "nostalgia" is a very powerful force within the human psyche, even if our perceptions of this-or-that is skewed, ill-informed and/or inaccurate. An excellent example is the movie, "The Wedding Singer". A number of the Eighties-isms are all mashed together, as if the entire decade all happened at once, which conveniently ignores that some of the fashionable stuff in it were already unfashionable by 1985. (Personally, I think "Stranger Things" handles it's nostalgia-driven narrative better, but if I were to look at it with a microscope, I could probably find some inconsistencies.
)I'm reminded of how much I hated the early-90s days of Techno, back when a lot of what I heard was some existing piece of music...rock, classical or otherwise...with a frustrating "bmp-tsss!-bmp-tsss!-bmp-tsss!" laid over it with no technical or musical prowess whatsoever. It was only later, when I discovered The Prodigy and The Crystal Method..."The Fat Of The Land" and "Vegas", respectively...that it dawned on my; there are people who are musicians first. They only happen to be using Techno as their medium. It was an eye-opening moment for me which, in turn, led me to other, good Techno artists.
It's the same way with one of my favorites, The Cars. They may have founded a good part of the Eighties sound, but they got their start in the late '70s. Which leads to a greater point...
I suppose another way to look at it would be how we look at, and think about, "decades". Inflicting a time-span on human life is pretty arbitrary. We try to pack things into neat, little boxes in our heads, books, movies, etc. But, in truth, society does not conform to such man-made constructs. It's good for easy reference, but when you get into the weeds, things tend to get a bit more "mushy".
Author Stephen King probably said it best when he referred to "...the coke-soaked Eighties" in the foreword of one of his books.
Like I said, humans like patterns...for better or worse. I do like, however, the idea of revisiting certain ideas to see if they still work, especially in the current day. Sometimes they do...sometimes not, especially when "viability" is taken into account, like this situation...
'Til then, see y'all in the weeds!
Exactly. Trends never really start or stop in line neatly with years, and lots of visual and fashion trends co-existed across different scenes.
To me "the 80s" started as early as 1976, with Bowie's Berlin trilogy, various art-rock and proto-punk / new wave groups, and peaked around 1985. The tail end of the 80s saw what we thought of as the hallmarks of the era (particularly the visual influence of Memphis Milano) dissolve into many different directions.
It's also important to remember the influence of MTV (or your local equivalent, like MuchMusic). Music videos existed before that, but they didn't have a dedicated 24/7 cable channel as a parallel to terrestrial FM radio, and that's why those older 70s radio-hit bands hung on for a bit; Most 80s bands had been toiling under different musical styles for over a decade before they had "80s" hits.
Very few bands had a coherent visual style, save for a few more "theatrical" groups. Split Enz had a 1930s Dadaist / surrealist cabaret aesthetic which lasted up until about 1980, for instance, but that served them well in steering their direction into the video age (and this carried over into Crowded House).
All very astute, especially the part about MTV. Books have been written about it¹, careers launched and/or crashed & burned because of it, fashions came and went due to it's influence. Hell, countless people in Middle America were leaned on hard by their kids to get cable, just so they could watch it. Overall, it was quite a powerhouse from 1981 to 1992. (Yes, I am intentionally side-stepping it's impact on "Reality TV". That is a whole 'nother discussion.
)Something I meant to post earlier, but kinda-sorta blanked on it, involves the aforementioned "Twenty Years Rule". I can only speculate why, but there's something about the Eighties that bucks that trend fiercely. I don't know if it was the fashions, the aesthetics and the artists who guided it, the impact on the music scene with it's combination of the wholehearted embrace of MIDI and the simultaneous surge of cable TV it rode and/or helped along, but whatever it is, that decade will...Not...DIE!! Of course, being a die-hard Gen-X'er, I, for one, am not complaining, so...
Don't believe me? Ask anyone who was ever involved with their school dances if the idea of an Eighties theme was ever considered, let alone embraced, by their dance committee. How many TV shows and movies have "we're set in the Eighties!" as a part of their core theme². And then, there's the Hollywood era of "film directors who got started with music videos", like Russell Mulcahey, David Fincer and <bleurg!
> Michael Bay.So, there's something about that decade. I don't know exactly what it is or why it is, but one thing for sure, we're stuck with it for quite some time...for better or worse.
¹: I highly recommend the book "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution", especially the later edition with even more content. It's a fantastic peek into the inner workings of the channel, the music industry and has some hilarious anecdotes and apocrypha.
²: Personally, I dig "Stranger Things". I feel like they get it right. And "Moonbeam City" was as hilarious as it was underrated, mostly because it is more Eighties than the actual Eighties!
Oh great!
Thanks for reminding me of that early 90's "Toy-Town Rave" fad.
Dance music producers in their late teens / early 20's, hitting that childhood nostalgia spurt, and turning every memorable kids show theme tune into a cheesy rave track (Sesame Street, Roobarb and Custard, The Magic Roundabout).
The only one that was any good was the debut single by The Prodigy, sampling a public information film about the perils of having a mum who likes to rabbit on endlessly, and not let you get a word in edgeways.
The least cheesy version (at the time) was the b-side remix
Fair warning...do not get me started on Saturday Morning Cartoons. Not only was I an art & animation student at the turn of the '90s, but I've also done a fair share of public speaking at conventions about that exact topic and their societal impact/legacy...but that's a topic for a completely different thread.
As for "Charley Says...", oh, that poor cat, constantly getting bashed/scalded/drowned, all because of his psycho human friend. And, if someone needs proof, all they need to do is to gaze upon the cold, dead stare when the boy looks right down the barrel of the lens and into the souls of the viewers.
(Also, did he have a close call with Jimmy Saville at 3:49? )
Seriously, though...the stop-frame/cutout style very much reminds me of a twisted and excellent Lucasfilm-produced film titled "Twice Upon A Time", a movie that predated South Park's debut by about thirteen years. (Fun Fact: David Fincher...of "Se7en", "Fight Club" and "The Social Network" fame...worked on this movie when he was a very young intern with Lucasfilm.
)
For me, the '90s were all about natural finish basses.
Two Alembics - flame maple over mahogany, and flame koa over mahogany.
Three Zons - bubinga over swamp ash, burl California walnut over alder, spalted maple over swamp ash.
Two Alembics - flame maple over mahogany, and flame koa over mahogany.
Three Zons - bubinga over swamp ash, burl California walnut over alder, spalted maple over swamp ash.
I am so glad I wasn't a teen in the '90s!<looks towards Seattle> Flannel.
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Cool beans!Seriously, though...the stop-frame/cutout style very much reminds me of a twisted and excellent Lucasfilm-produced film titled "Twice Upon A Time", a movie that predated South Park's debut by about thirteen years. (Fun Fact: David Fincher...of "Se7en", "Fight Club" and "The Social Network" fame...worked on this movie when he was a very young intern with Lucasfilm.
This was with my first Zon, a fretless '97 Sonus Special 5.
As to the teal trend I will say one of these was my ride through the '90s.
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