I’m really interested in people’s individual perceptions of how they would define a decade, to see if there’s a commonality amongst the different opinions or if they vary.
Obviously, the actual dawn of a new decade doesn't magically wipe the slate clean; there's always going to be some overhang from the previous decade before the culture shift begins and settles in. 1990 may have been the literal beginning of the 90s, but the presence of the late 80s was still very much there. It takes a little while for the crossover period to play out.
Then there’s the end of the decade, which I feel was made more contentious than it usually would be because of one ‘little’ thing: Millennium. It wasn't just a new decade, it was the turn of the century; a once in a lifetime event. I remember what a massive deal the millennium was, the whole Y2K thing, the push for all things hi-tech and futuristic and digital in the media, fashion, etc. The ‘prepping’ for it was well underway through ’99, I recall, and I feel like it ended up kind of creating its own little mini-era that eclipsed the aforementioned end of decade overhang to some extent, but didn’t truly kick off the 00s either.
I've noticed that a fair few people feel that 9/11 was the key event that brought a rather abrupt end to the 90s, because of the ripple effect it had around the whole world, and destroyed a general societal attitude that had grown through the ’90s, among other things. I was too young at the time to be aware of the larger effects of it, but I can absolutely see where that point of view is coming from.
Personally, I’ve always felt that 2002 was the year when the 00s era really began to take shape, and by ’03 the transition was more or less complete. ’01 still very much had that end of ’90s/millennium vibe in pretty much all respects (the millennium ‘mini-era’), but during ’02 I felt a palpable shift forward.
What about you guys?
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The quick rise of grunge through 9/11.
I absolutely agree 9/11 was the dead stop culturally.
Yip
I think the 90's started when Nirvana Nevermind came out.
Agreed. The day I heard Nevermind (in my friends car on a bootleg tape) was the day the 90s started (for me).
Username checks out.
Agree
there wasn't a style attached to it yet though. Grunge was more popular as a fashion after and the year Cobain died actually 93-95 was peak grunge, not 91... there was way too much 80s stuff still going on in 91. Teen Spirit was just one of many songs.
Nirvana never mind was the start of the 90s, but I can see varying opinions there
9/11/01 was the end. That was such a monumental moment. Everything changed. I also think this is why 2002-2018 almost feels like one big decade.
One big shitty nightmare of a decade for the most part.
Nah, not true at all, you're speaking for yourself on that one, 2002-2006 was a whole different time from what 2018 was, now from 2007 onwards, with the massification of smartphones and Wi-fi, rise of social media, HD quality, online gaming, etc, now is argueable, although I would say 2007-2012 was a period of its own as well.
No shit I’m speaking for myself
2007 WAS not the beginning of a new era. The iPhone was only unveiled to the world in June of 2007. The world was not accustomed to a touch screen reality until the hit of the 2010s, when apps like Instagram and Snapchat took off. I’d say the new era began somewhere during 2010.
The period of the recession also affects this as it began in late 2007 (December), technology became very advanced through this period (December 2007-June 2009) (2008-2009 (Simplified))
I believe 2002-2007 felt very culturally in dependent from the 90s and 10s.
The world was still pretty retro up until around late 2008.
Definitely. Compared to the 90s and 10s the zeroes was a very depressed decennium with 9/11 and her wars and the subsequent terrorist attacks in London. Madrid, Bali, etc. It was a period of fear.
The west came down from her happy high of the 90s and felt the world was a dark place. And as soon as the terror fear started to subside we got the banking crisis.
It's not a surprise that the 00's were the high mark of emo music.
I agree 2007 on a technical front was the end of the 90's - peak Blockbuster, all downhill very quickly after streaming rapidly took over, the popular rise of Facebook in 2007(social media) that outgrew traditional media as the main source of daily information, the iPhone launch (need I say more), this was the dawn of everything we have now, with the music industry being digitised on the late 90's the other technical changes shaped our culture drastically from 2007 onwards.
I’d say it started around 92-93 and ended 9/11. We needed a few years to get rid of the 80’s fashion and Y2K was such a big part of the lates 90’s that 2000 felt like a continuation.
After looking over my post again, I think I should've made that part more clear. I felt like rather than the typical end of decade transition from 90s to 00s, there was this little Millennium period unto itself, like a little bubble, from late '99 - '01. It was like instead of generation overhang we had the opposite; the near future creeping backwards.
I think it started when the Cold War ended in 1991 and ended in 9/11. When I think of the 90s, I think of how hyper-commercialized it was. Everything had the ability to be turned into a toy or a game, TV was reaching its peak before internet streaming was even an idea, and malls became popular because people had the time and the resources to just spend an entire day shopping.
Of course, there’s plenty of other defining aspects of the decade such as songs and artists and everything. But to me, the 90s were one of the most carefree decades I’ve experienced.
I feel the exact same way too. I've only lived in three decades during my life- the 90's, the 2000's, and the 2010's. The 90's are the only decade I recall as being peaceful, stable, and optimistic, with everyone getting along with each other fairly well regardless of race, gender, etc. Not so much sexual orientation, though, but otherwise, it felt like everything was perfect and happy back then.
Sure, my childhood experiences will make me feel biased towards the 90's as being a peaceful time. But even reading about the history of the 90's compared to the two decades that followed, the 90's were still a lot less chaotic and pessimistic.
I still greatly recall the optimism and happiness that surrounded American culture during my childhood years. Everything was going so great until 9/11 and many other shocking events happened. And it really sucks to have only known a cruel, cynical world during my teenage and adult years. It's one of the main reasons I feel so bitter towards the present day and desperately nostalgic for the 90's.
I was born in March '90 so, like you, I had my childhood throughout the 90s which obviously is going to cloud our perspective because of the age aspect. But that's actually one of the reasons I started this thread and enjoy this sub: learning about and studying what was going on during that time, the things I was too young to be fully aware of. It's sort of like filling in the blanks, to me; not like learning the history of a time before you were alive.
Sometimes I wish I'd been born earlier so I could've experienced the 90s being a bit older (like, tween/teenage) and more culturally aware but on the other hand, I truly feel like it was a great decade to be a child for numerous reasons, and wouldn't have wanted to miss out on that. But then maybe the late 80s were a rad time to be a child, too, what do I know haha?
I feel the exact same way. My childhood was defined and saturated by the 90's, even going into my later childhood years in the early 2000's. But since I was only an infant in the former part of the decade (I was never even exposed to the grunge scene that defined the early 90's), I haven't had the full picture of the 90's. I was also too young to be allowed to check out many key icons of 90's culture, such as Fight Club and The Matrix. That only makes exploring and learning more about the culture of my childhood decade all the more fascinating for me.
Sometimes I do wish I had been born a bit earlier too in the mid-to-late 80's so that I would've gotten to enjoy more of the culture of the 90's and especially more of the pre-Internet years. But I also feel I was a child at exactly the right time. I got to grow up in the stablest, happiest and most prosperous time period in recent history living in a family-friendly town in San Diego, and my childhood years took place just before everything began to fall apart on 9/11. So I'd say that being in a child in the 90's helped to provide me the foundation for a relatively stable life. And I'm definitely grateful for that.
Well that’s because when ur a kid everything seems innocent and all butterfly and rainbows I was a 70/80s kid but the 90s were a dark time a really dark time
Malls definitely saw their rise in the 80s moreso than the 90s.
Malls in the 70s and 80s were built in the center of town in pretty much every place I lived so we saw them as hubs to do everything, culturally central in the 70's 80's I think was the peak, 90's saw big store retailers muscle in to the space and malls tried to start to reinvent themselves succesfully for a short period while trying to make themselves look upmarket but again online retail put an axe to everything, some malls are still successful but the mid sized regional stuff is all but dead, the only thing malls have going for them still is that central location.
pretty much what others have said, 92 to 911 thats the essense of it, I also feel like the 80's were broken into 3 sections, you have the late 70's up until like 82 - then you have all the neon, synth stuff from 83-86 but then you have the late 80's which is 87-92 for some reason..
I agree on this also, late 80s with the neon etc was an 87-92 phenomenon. 87-92 is my favorite era and I see it as a bit of a mini decade in styles/fashion/music. I'd say the 90s were kind of split between 93-97 and 98-01 also. 98-01 has a different feel to me, resurgence of boy bands... 64 bit became popular, internet became way more popular, etc.
I feel like you've really nailed it with the 90's split. 1996 and 1998 felt very different.
Yes ! I distinctly remember bugle boys, and hobie surf stuff defining the late 80's
Are those Bugle Boy Jeans you're wearing?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3IzIfTGDIyE
98 - 01 Good club music, early daft punk(stardust), with the glow stick e poppers and light shows at their peak during this time, club scene was never this good for experimental techno, MP3's made alternative distribution explode and people went out of their way to discover new music.
87 - 92 when hip hop and rap was a major event, everything cashed in on it from movies with credit scores to commercials etc, I agree 87 to 92 was its own thing, however there was some awesome metal at this time like guns and roses, metallica as well, very fond of this music period, but also appreciate mid to late 90 grunge metal also that came after.
The 1990s began on December 25, 1991 and ended on September 11, 2001. I'm a lot less sure about when the 2000s ended, but May 2, 2011 seems like a solid bookend to a decade which began the way this one did.
August 23, 1991: the North American release of the Super Nintendo. Either that or the fall of the USSR on December 26 the same year. The 90's were a time of unprecedented economic growth in the US, because there were no real rivals in-between the Cold War and global insurgency.
Kind of, but SNES and Genesis didn't become that popular until 92, that's when the 16 bit stuff heated up. Genesis and TG 16 was out in 89, but most people still played NES. Genesis wouldn't get super popular until Sonic came out in 91 and maybe even 92, then Nintendo had to up its game. Hardly anybody could even get an SNES on release and there were only 6 games. SNES became REALLY popular after Street Fighter 2 came out for it in 92. By 93 with Mortal Kombat blood/no blood releases, it was an all out war between Sega and Nintendo. I would say those events along with a few album drops were definitely the opening "assaults" of the 90s but it would take another year or so before it would phase in. 9/11 was far more shocking and abrupt.
I think is started in 95 and ended in 2004. That’s how I remember it.
This question comes up a lot. I think 9/11 was basically the end of the 90s and I think the 90s began after the LA riots.
That's about time I think also, 92, summer of 92, things started changing quickly after that.
For me 1995-ish through 9/11 which means I was ages 14-20. Very impressionable. I believe that around those ages we all begin to spend less and less time living for ourselves “in the moment” and we start to pay more attention to others and what is going on around us. This is why we have such vivid memories of the colors, sounds, scents,etc. It’s likely the reason so many of us of a certain age have such nostalgia for that time period. For me, the 90’s feel “safe”.
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Don't forget Windows Millenium Edition!
Just what came to my mind: Golf War 1, grunge, death metal, shoegaze, terminator 2, end of the Cold War. The music and the fashion around music definitely stated a beginning of the 90’s, however what we consider 90’s genres was there at least half a decade before. In general music and fashion dominated the start of the 90’s imo. But back in the day everything cultural and even technology took time (unlike today) to hit the surface and become a memorable element of a certain era in the broad perspective. And I agree with your analysis regarding the end of the era.
The song Wild Wild West by Escape Club. It actually has a line in the chorus "living in the 90s". It was a rather 80s song but it was the song that made me think, wow the 90s are almost here. I was 12, so all I had ever known was the 80s. Having been 2 when the decade started, hehe. Just like Video Killed the Radio Star ushered in the 80s.
My reasoning is kind of personal, but I say it began in 1992. Automatic for the People came out in the fall of 1992 and for some reason that marks the beginning of the 90s to me. 1992 is also when I started middle school which was a pretty big change for me. Fashion also began to change around then - less fluorescent colors, jeans instead of leggings, bangs were less poofy.
I graduated high school in 1999, so because that ended a chapter in my life I'd say the 90s ended in 2000, but I could also see why it would be 9/11.
I agree and said the exact same thing... I don't think it's so much personal for you as is, it was just the timing lined up like that. Also started middle school same years and graduated high school in 99... Middle school was all about following the trends so I remember the change vividly.
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a good time also, I put the date in the summer/fall 92 era. I started middle school in 6th grade then and people were STILL rocking some 80s looking stuff, for sure Slap bracelets were still a thing, as were those neon friendship bracelets, as were matching tops and bottoms for guys and girls...but this would change with the fall clothes that season, and by spring semester, a lot of kids were wearing different stuff. You could also say Jan 93 when Clinton started office...it's definitely somewhere around there.
people call a helluva load 80´s stuff the 90´s, probably most things they call the 90´s are the 80´s
Started with nirvana, ended with 9/11
don't confuse early 92 - 01 grunge with late 80's 91 hit hop rar craze, all good times for destinct music trends, but the 90s was two parts 87 - 91 Rap/hip hop craze 92 was Guns and roses 93 onwards was Nirvana/Pearl Jam/Soundgarden, awesome grunge music, and MP3's in the late 90's changed a lot of things, experimental music became more main stream then as people tried new genres becuase they became so easy to obtain.
In my case it’s pretty clear-cut because I started high school in 1990 and finished college in Dec. 2000, so the 90’s are my teenage years and start of adulthood.
I think the "90s" started in 1992 and the 1990s feel ended on 9/11 in 2001.I also agree that 2002 was a transition year,tho 2003 was still a transitional year becasue the VHS was still relevant (the DVD didn't surpassed the VHS until mid 2003),several 90s cartoons were still airing on kids channels,dial up was still relevant,Web 1.0 still existed,YouTube didn't exist yet, and the ipod wasn't that popular yet.
The DVDs released then were also a lot of back catalog stuff and had a different design. You'll see lots of old weird discs then. Similar to how the first cds were kind of plain. DivX was also almost a lasting thing. DVD players were still stupid expensive for most people. Actually OMG at this thread... exactly what I'm talking about and proves your point.
https://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=897634
It's very interesting how you bring this up. As an avid lover of 90's culture, this topic fascinates me as well.
The most common consensus is that the 90's began with the release of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" by Nirvana in September 1991 (which catapulted the grunge scene into the mainstream) and ended with 9/11, which began the radical shift in American attitudes from the positive, peaceful vibes of the 90's to the pessimistic, divided attitudes of today. This notion I can certainly agree with.
To me though, I'd say that the identity of the 90's fully gained shape in 1993 when Jurassic Park came out in theaters and fully ended in 2003 when the U.S. first went into Iraq. The beginning of the Iraq War was also the beginning of the U.S. Middle East war machine that still continues to dominate American politics today, which made it clear that we were heading into a new era. While the start of the grunge era in 1991 and 9/11 certainly signaled the beginning of brand new eras, it still took a few more months for the cultural identities of both the 90's and the 2000's to fully take shape.
I too remember what a big deal the millennium was. Sure, we got worried about Y2K, but overall we were really looking forward to the turn of the century and felt so optimistic about it, thinking it would bring incredible promise and advancement in society. It's too bad that 9/11, the Iraq War, the 2008 recession, the rise of social media and much more all had to happen afterwards, so the 21st century has brought anything but those things.
It's like Rocko says in the "Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling" trailer: "The 21st century is a dangerous century." I couldn't agree more with him.
Good to see you again and I would agree with you that it is more of 92/93. The "style" of hip hop and grunge was not a thing yet and took awhile to catch up, even if Nirvana Teen Spirit was playing on MTV...you still had plenty of hair metal going on also, plenty of new jack swing Bobby Brown, plenty of pop like paula abdul "rush rush" and "promise of a new day" also hit that year. MC Hammer 2 Legit 2 Quit... Vanilla Ice - Ninja Rap from TMNT secret of the ooze...etc. That is ALL 1991 releases. Again, grunge was NOT a cultural force at this point (maybe in Seattle only), even if we were like look at this cool Nirvana song.
In Hip Hop/Rap//rnb, stuff like Color Me Badd I wanna Sex you up was still popular in 1991, as was Boyz II Men - Motownphilly... DJ Jazzy Jeff - Summertime, ABC - Iesha...PM Dawn - Set Adrift a Memory Bliss... all completely diff sounds from what was to come soon.
Dr Dre the Chronic wouldn't come out until Dec 92, but was popular in 93.
Snoop Dogg Doggystyle wouldn't come out until end of 1993.
Nice to see you again too! Yeah, I’m not the most familiar with the 90-92 time period since I was only a year old in ‘92, but something that catches my eye looking back at those years is how 80’s trends and fashions still continued to carry over from those years. It’s kind of strange for me seeing those styles remain popular in the 90’s since I never grew up around them as a kid and this associate the 90’s with simpler, more down-to-earth fashions lol. But it does make sense since trends from the previous decade tend to carry over into the first three years of a decade.
Yes I have plenty of pictures, VHS tapes and polaroids that are dated (as we used to do) from that era (now an instagram filter) that you can clearly see people were still rocking that 80s fashion. 90s was definitely simpler, all about comfort, big jackets, baggy, even normal clothes were baggy, especially for guys, just watch some Friends episodes.
Dangerous by Michael Jackson was huge, but I do remember it being overshadowed by Thriller becuase people still kept comparing its sucesss at the time to Thriller, but I love it now, sure the dude was controvercial and i never paid attention to the tabloid, his music was incredible.
90 and 91 felt more like the 80s to me. So I guess 1992 when I think back. I felt the 90s ended after 9/11.
1990-1991 (beginning)
9/11/2001 (end)
Began late 1992 with the election of Bill Clinton, and like others have said, it definitely ended on 9/11.
First of all, this is one of my favorite topics and something I've given hours of thought and research to in the past... I'd say it's the summer or fall of 1992. USA Dream Team, SNES/Genesis was stronger now, Clinton/Bush on MTV, Hip hop/Grunge came in with an actual style attached to it.A lot of huge 80s shows also ended in 1992 as well and would NOT RETURN for the fall season, such as Golden Girls, The Cosby Show, Night Court, MacGyver, Growing Pains, Johnny Carson. Literally all of those ended in 1992. The few scragglers like Cheers and Saved by the Bell (super 89/90 aesthetic) were on life support and would be dead by 93. It was a big deal on TV Guides, and TV and to a lesser extent radio were the dominant cultural mouthpieces of the time (instead of the internet)...suddenly in 93 you had stuff like Dave Letterman, Leno, Ricki Lake Show, Beavis and Butthead on MTV, Power rangers and Animaniacs on Fox, etc. Cable surged a bit then as well with entire new channels like Food Network and ESPN 2, Cartoon Network and The WB. Suddenly you or your parents had to decide if they wanted that "extra" comcast package with these new channels (blocked off on the channel scrolling screen). Ended on 9/11, no doubt on that one in my mind. It felt abrupt.
A lot of people are saying it ended with 9/11, but I would say it began in 1991 and ended in 2004.
I'm inclined to agree with you here. 2004 was the beginning of broadband internet and when we transitioned from being a more outgoing and extroverted society to a more digitized, plugged-in and introverted society.
Kids went outside less and less and everything became online, even shopping. Gone were the days when people really were social like before and in were the days when people socialized online like on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, etc. or with games such as Halo, Call of Duty and World of Warcraft.
I agree that it ended in 2004.
For me it also has to do with my personal fase in life. I went to "Middelbare school" from 1993 and 1999, so that's a big start and end of an era.
My "innocent and easy" childhood ended in mid 1993, so the years before 1993 are more connected to the 80's. Especially the 2nd part, as I moved in 1985 with my family to a new house and village.
1999 til 2002 are for me a bit of a limbo-period. Even though I went to university and moved out in the beginning of 2000. It started again in 2002 when I moved again and also became socially much more active in the studentlife with becoming a member of a "studentenvereniging" and "studentensportvereniging". At that moment the 2000's took really shape.
The hardcore 90s for me is the period 1995-1996-1997 with the gabberhouse, hardcore house, happy hardcore and Eurodance. Everything was house. You had a lot of gabbers in the Netherlands and was a big thing in high school. It abruptly ended somewhere in 1998 with the happy hardcore when the gabber scene wasn't taking seriously anymore. Gone where the bald heads and the Aussies.
So I was born in 1997 so I can’t really speak upon anything culturally except kid culture. I was in preschool in 2000 and graduated pre kindergarten when 9/11 happened. I lived in San Francisco and I wasn’t affected by it, nor did I understand the impact it had on the US so it didn’t really affect me too much but I do remember that day still. I remember my babysitter (who was muslim) lost his job at Bank of America due to the attacks which I still think is so sad considering we lived on the west coast. However fashion and music was still reminiscent of the late 90’s during this time. I remember when I was in kindergarten my teacher Ms. Laura god bless her heart, wore overalls and the occasional mom jeans she was in her mid 20’s and this was in 2002. I also remember my aunt who was in her early 20’s during the early 2000’s always wore leather pants and big clunky shoes which was really popular style in 1999. HERE is a photo of me and my cousins on my birthday in 2001, If I didn’t know the date I’d think it was 1997. I also posted a childhood video on here that took place in 1999-2004. It has a lot of late 90’s early 2000’s feels to it.
I think grunge music and the decline of 80s hair bands, as well as the rise of gangsta rap music in the early 90s are 2 big indicators that things were changing. I feel like that's when rap went mainstream and it's pretty much been there since.
From what I've seen on a day to day level, 9/11 didn't really change anything. I don't feel any sort of pre/post 9/11 difference, except for the obvious stuff like the TSA being more vigilant. I didn't notice any difference with society.
I actually don't feel much has changed from the 90s to now. This is probably more reflective of my own personal bias, but I feel like there's hardly any definiting things about the 2000s and 2010s, it's like we're still in an extension of the 90s. Think of the 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s. Very clear and distinct eras. The last 25 years though? It just feels like shades of the same thing.
uh gangsta rap was around before the 90´s wtf lol
true, keywords there were "mainstream" and "rise". Most things in the 90s were around before the 90s, same with many other decades. It's all about what's prominent and what's not. (bell bottoms are associated with the 70s for example, but it's hardly the only time people wore bell bottoms). Things don't happen overnight. Grunge started long before the 90s too.
Mainstreamed in the late 80's (87 became popular) in mass but pioneered as far back as the late 70s with Grandmaster Flash in NYC and remained underground for 10 years till it became mainstream in the late 80s
Kinda have to agree, except minor trends, the music is either retro on purpose or a tribute to grab peoples attention, Nostalgia became a huge cultural currency as the amount of distracting media sources to compete with became imense, people miss the authentic experience and that usually falls back on experiences in 'simpler times', the current generation has experienced one thing in mass and thats false nostalgia, you could argue thats what Happy Days did in the 70's 80's for the 50's and 60's, but now the lines are blurred as everything has been rehashed with a new spin on it.
2001 because of 9/11 everything changed the 90's
late 80´s and to the 90´s generation the culture is still here
They began truly in early 1997 and ended with 9/11.
In my opinion, September 1,1986 to March 31, 2003 would define "90s culture". I was born in December 27, 1992, but even if I believe this, I do not believe that clothing, hairstyles, and music after the summer of 1992 has changed very much; it's closely, or dare I say exactly, the same as today. Certainly a lot has changed since the 90s if we're talking economically, socially, scientifically, chronologically, and especially technologically. Prices were a lot cheaper than today, there are inventions that didn't exist yet, and today's society probably won't accept certain phenomena like 90s society would.
And frankly I find it utterly stupid when those 90s fanboys think that the 90s ended with 9/11, as if 9/11 ruined the world! It didn't! I hate it when they act like the 90s are the Garden of Eden, or everything was so perfect until either New Year's of '00 hit or when 9/11 happened. That is ignorant, narrow-minded, and contradictory! Hate to burst your romanticization of the 90s, fanboys, but the 90s were not some utopia, unless you're high! No decade or era is perfect, not even the 80s! And you need to stop badmouthing the 00s! They were not bad! I lived during those times and to me they were and are an extension of the 90s, from 1993 to 2006. It was a big static blob! Neither bad nor good, just sameish at best. Obviously, not everything from 1993 to 2006 was identical, but a lot of it was, at least to my eyes and ears.
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Fuck off with your bullshit.
Technically the 90's started on January 1st 1991 and ended on December 31th 2000 .Since there is no year 0 in the Anno Domini calendar which is the calendar we normally use , The first year of decades ,centuries and millenium starts at year 1 .Culturally there is years prior to the coming decade that start to set the mood to what it will be but takes a few years to fully be established hence why the late 70's had a beginning of what the 80's would be , same with the end of the 80's had a bit of what the 90's had to offer .But as other have mentioned ,the 90's definately started when grunge music was at its peak with Nirvana Pearl Jam and all the other bands that gave the 90's it's very unique colour so to speak .
I would say 90s culture began in 1993/94 but ended in 2002
I was born in 1973 so I remember this era clearly 90s definitely began in late 1991 but weren't in full swing untill mid 1993 but if your talking about the first year that had absolutely no 80s left than 1994 it is
Yeah there is a transition year, I'd say 90-92 were still the 80's, 93 was the split year then 94 was the full on 90's.
I think Columbine was the end of the 90s. It also began the school shooting era, which we are still in
The 90's officially began after the fall of the Soviet Union, culturally began with the rise of Grunge, and died when 9/11 happened.
92-02
I would say the 90's truly began in 1994 and ended at around 1998.
Personally, I think it began in '89 when grunge started taking over (Nirvana released their first album that year), and ended right after 9/11.