Recently, I learned that Quentin Tarantino directed an episode in season one of ER, and that Biosphere 2’s second mission, which ended in disastrous litigation, was run by Steve “flood the zone with shit” Bannon. These facts were knowable to anyone who was alive in the 1990s, and they’re also knowable to anyone with access to Wikipedia today. But unless you’re Chuck Klosterman, these facts—footnotes to cultural history, really—aren’t much more than trivia. In Klosterman’s hands, however, they are two important data points in his latest book, The Nineties, which is a smart and funny analysis of the meaning and significance the last decade of the 20th century.
On the one hand, this feels like a weird, or maybe troubling, undertaking, especially if you’re a member of Gen X. I don’t know about you, but I wasn’t quite ready to face the possibility that cultural artifacts from my teen years—Ross Perot, Zima, The Phantom Menace—were now ripe for the history books. Some of that is the hard reality of aging, I guess. But as a youngish member of Gen X, I also believed that the decade during which I came of age, the 1990s, felt boring and static. In other words, I had my doubts that Klosterman, who is always fascinating, would be able to make something that seemed so vanilla at the time, interesting in retrospect.
But the 1990s were interesting! Actually, they might just be the most interesting decade in modern history. No, really! Consider the Industrial Revolution, which gave us the modern world, and lasted from roughly 1760 to 1840. Over that roughly eighty-year period, humanity packed in a lot of change. Meanwhile, the Digital Revolution brought change at a similar (maybe greater??) scale, but at a much faster pace. I lived through that change, and maybe you did too!
Maybe that’s why I’m enjoying reading The Nineties so much. It’s got some nostalgia, sure. But the book is also jam-packed with insights about the end of an era defined by mass media and the dawn of the present age. Only Boomers and Xers have a firsthand knowledge of what it means to live in both realities and experience the transition, but living it and understanding are two very different things.
Some questions:
Are you planning to read The Nineties, or have you read it? If so, I’d love to hear your thoughts about the book.
Are you a Klosterman fan? If so, what’s your favorite Klosterman book. Bonus points if it’s Killing Yourself to Live.
If you experienced the ‘90s, I’d love to hear what you thought that decade meant at the time (if you can remember), and what you think the ‘90s means in retrospect.
If you didn’t experience the ‘90s, I’d love to hear your thoughts on “ancient history.”
If you have no thoughts to share whatsoever, please share the most ‘90s thing you can think of. If you’re completely stumped by this, just say Crystal Pepsi.
And if you’re reading a good book at the moment, please tell us what that book is, so we can read it too!
There are many Klosterman books on our shelf. Years ago, I published a short story called “Invasion of the Kloster-Men” in my comedy magazine, and he bought a copy from our web store. So I think of him as having a good sense of humor about himself!
I did not know either of those facts, both of which seem like things I should’ve known. (Fun fact: during SXSW in 2012 I believe, I was walking through a hotel lobby and Quentin Tarantino was sitting alone at a table at the bar. I desperately wanted to go up to him and act like I had no idea who he was and ask if I could join him. I guess that’s a missed connection!).
Anyway, that book sounds like a riot. The 90s were when I moved to Austin, TX after getting my MA. I remember getting my first Internet account in 1993 and spending time in a local chat room of random weirdos and using email on various listserves. I wore some weird clothes and loved my Mac SE and then my Performa. I learned about the web in 1995, way before most people. I taught classes on HTML to build websites. In fact, I built the very first Irish history website in the world, (which according to my webcounter had over a million visits before I took it down). I watched Beverly Hills 90210 and cable access TV and did I mention I wore some really stupid clothes? Those were the days.
1990s... the fanny pack, Panda Pops, Beavis and Butthead, Grunge, light-up sneakers, roller blades, and the inception of a little thing ... what did they call it? Oh, yes, the World Wide Web.
So this is weird. The 90s were my 20s. And yet if you were to ask me what they were about, or what are the themes, I could not tell you. This is partially because I was drunk. But beyond that I think it’s because I haven’t been exposed to a lot of 90s analysis in the way I have with the 60s 70s and 80s. If I read Chucks book I might start to get a sense of what the 90s was about. But I’m not sure I want that. Maybe I just want my own dumb memories completely free of context.
There are many Klosterman books on our shelf. Years ago, I published a short story called “Invasion of the Kloster-Men” in my comedy magazine, and he bought a copy from our web store. So I think of him as having a good sense of humor about himself!
I did not know either of those facts, both of which seem like things I should’ve known. (Fun fact: during SXSW in 2012 I believe, I was walking through a hotel lobby and Quentin Tarantino was sitting alone at a table at the bar. I desperately wanted to go up to him and act like I had no idea who he was and ask if I could join him. I guess that’s a missed connection!).
Anyway, that book sounds like a riot. The 90s were when I moved to Austin, TX after getting my MA. I remember getting my first Internet account in 1993 and spending time in a local chat room of random weirdos and using email on various listserves. I wore some weird clothes and loved my Mac SE and then my Performa. I learned about the web in 1995, way before most people. I taught classes on HTML to build websites. In fact, I built the very first Irish history website in the world, (which according to my webcounter had over a million visits before I took it down). I watched Beverly Hills 90210 and cable access TV and did I mention I wore some really stupid clothes? Those were the days.
What's Crystal Pepsi? (Early 2000's baby)
1990s... the fanny pack, Panda Pops, Beavis and Butthead, Grunge, light-up sneakers, roller blades, and the inception of a little thing ... what did they call it? Oh, yes, the World Wide Web.
So this is weird. The 90s were my 20s. And yet if you were to ask me what they were about, or what are the themes, I could not tell you. This is partially because I was drunk. But beyond that I think it’s because I haven’t been exposed to a lot of 90s analysis in the way I have with the 60s 70s and 80s. If I read Chucks book I might start to get a sense of what the 90s was about. But I’m not sure I want that. Maybe I just want my own dumb memories completely free of context.