Homelessness was a giant issue in 1991, there were pop songs about it: Gypsy Woman (La da dee la da da) by Crystal Waters, and Walking Down Madison by Kirsty MacColl. We don't seem to have pop stars singing about issues any more. Unsure whether that's a plus or minus.

> If I had $200 Billion I would literally give all of it to be a teen again for ten years from 1990 to 2000 again.

I so so wish I could go back as well. Its such a magical time in my memories. I was 6 in 1990 and I was 16 in 2000. God, what a world that was!

My country had a complete economic collapse in the 90s and people could barely afford food, so mileage varies.

As an oil exporter country we were saved in the 00s by oil prices ballooning to the moon, so that was the golden decade for us instead (relatively speaking, and mostly in the big cities).

> * Employment was 10x better than today, and not by today's way of counting (which don't count group x y and z)

I'm pretty sure we count unemployment the same way. Those groups are just larger now because of age, education and economic malaise.

for 200 billion you better throw in knowing what you know now in to the mix, then it would pay for itself

> The 90s were incredible

I was born in 1974 and I remember being vaguely annoyed in my 20's at how the 90's "ruined" the 80's - I remember things being way better in the 80's and society starting to go downhill around 1991.

I will say, though, the poster's lament that he's nostalgic for a time he never knew is one I've heard a _lot_. My kids watch "Stranger Things" and ask if it was really like that when I was a kid ("did you really just get on your bike and go over to your friends houses?") and wish they had experienced the 80's (and even the inferior 90's). I _never_ felt that way about my parents generation - the 60's were interesting from a historical perspective but I never wanted to be there.

> Very few people were on drugs 24/7 like they are today

Kinda like the opposite man, kinda like the opposite.

Eh, the anti-gay sentiment was really bad in the 90s. A couple of my college buddies came out and instantly lost half their friends.

I am not sure where you experienced the 90s or at what age, but your experience is the opposite of mine.

I have a lot of nostalgia for the pre-9/11 world too but be careful with the rose tint.

It wasn't so wonderful if you were gay, for example. AIDS was still new and scary in 1990, and society was not so accepting of that lifestyle.

I remember when I was a teen it wasn't uncommon to go to a Boston Pizza-tier restaurant and have the waiter make a quip about "not wanting to look like a fag" by ordering the same thing as the guy next to you. This was a thing into my 20s, as late as 2007 probably.

Not to forget cheap housing !

>Music was incredible

Ehhh, the post-grunge world was a bit of a musical wasteland. Rock died as a culturally relevant force with Cobain, but hip-hop hadn't ascended yet, so we were stuck in this weird doldrum that gave us things like the swing revival, ska, nu metal, and boybands. I mean Counting Crows were the big megastars at the time. Really hard to name a timeless album from '96-'99 the way you easily could on either side of that range. Just see the set-list for Woodstock '99 to further illustrate the point.