The Gay 90’s: the first cultural “decade”
The 1890s were the first decade in the canon of American cultural decades, also known as the “Decadeology” system. We associate that 10 year period with various whimsical things. Let’s explore them together, under the clearest of blue skies.
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@jackdyer5740
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
And Ian fidance was there
@oopsy444
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
What are these awards you keep saying youve "won"?
@No_Use_For_A_Name1981
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Eh, those of us that came of age don't romanticize the 90s like boomers do the 50s.
While we remember it as an era where the future seemed bright and hopeful, and probably was the last era where the internet didn't dominate our lives, we aren't so dumb as to think we can go backwards.
Older gens still seem to think if they wish hard enough and dominate enough people we are magically going to revert back to freaking leave it to beaver.
@jeffreyhughes7107
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
The Sentimental 1870s and the Elegant 1880s — please do those decades.
@womaniac4
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
💀💀💀🏳️🌈🏳️🌈🏳️🌈👨🎤👨🎤👨🎤
@quintessence_sailor
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Over the Garden Wall is a really great example of a modern unironic homage to the aesthetics, culture, and sounds of what I didn't know was called the Gay 90's till just now :))
@Carlito84Qc
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
So Red Dead Redemption takes place in the gay 90s, lol
@MrColuber
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay is a gosh darned good song. I dare anyone to challenge me on that.
Everyday Life Though the Ages – I have that book! I got my copy when I was a teenager. And I'm not a young man anymore.
@zachinthehat1
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Your fake accent and fart huffing way of speaking drove me insane.
@thomasdevine867
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
As the very term "the gay nineties" suggests there have been nostalgia fads all through the 20th century. The 1920s and 30s looked to the 1890s just look at how many films idealized the decade. The 1950s had a major 20s boom. It launched Debbie Reynolds' career. The sixties was fascinated with the "yellow" nineties and "le belle epoch." The 70s was obsessed with nostalgia especially for the 1950s. 5:29 It's a running theme.
@thedevilgoose2482
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Immortalized forever by Walt Disney and his own desperate nostalgia. Oh, and Bioshock Infinite, of course.
@conorwalsh5617
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Mainstreet USA at the Disney parks
@coasterpug
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Considering the prevalence of Gay 90s nostalgia in the 1950s, it's interesting to think that current right wing nostalgia for the 1950s might actually be nostalgia for the 1890s.
@SmokeySmudgeStudio
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Bioshock Infinite definitely has that gay 90s aesthetic
@Stillonthebus07
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
I was listening audio only, and I thought this would be a video covering all the decades. Imagine my confusion as he continued going on about the gay 90s
@gideonperkins7929
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
I feel like we also use centuries in a similar way. Like in my mind I have a vision of "The 1800s". But that only goes back so far.
I have no understanding of the difference between the 1200s and the 1300s.
I lived through neither time.
@BodhiBushido
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
One doesn’t have to be a Boomer to feel nostalgic about the ‘70s.
@TempleoftheBeagle
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Barbed wire ended cattle drives, not cowboys. Free Bird motherfucker 🦅
@dansdiscourse4957
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
So, two things. One is that this is not new. Identifying cultural trends with particular trends goes as far back as the "Gay (18)90s", and shows up again with the "Roaring (19)20s".
The other thing is that starting with the end of WWII, these cultural decades are better understood as starting and ending mid decade. The post war era begins in 1945/ 1946, the "60s" really start around 1964, with the early 60s really being a continuation of the 50s.
@GothicJimbt
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Shit reminds me of the Smashing Pumpkins aesthetic
@joltjolt5060
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Naw fam the 1980s were very gay lol.
@mystikosys
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Decades if thought of as eras do not really end on the dot. On a 0. Its questionable when the gay 1990s began. I for one would say the election of Clinton in 92. But i do know exactly when they ended: sept 11 2001.
@okiedokieartichokie772
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
This is so fascinating. Gay 90s coded for sure- steampunk. I wear corsets and bustles still.
@madnesshour
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
She sounds like a Canadian surfer
@judsongaiden9878
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
14:12 No one rocks that style of hat better than Carl Kolchak!
@otakubullfrog1665
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
The fact that the 1890s and the 1990s both got to be "the nineties" sort of breaks the popular theory that we don't really do decades anymore because the first one in this century that had an obvious name was already taken by the 1920s.
@kierad1794
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Pittsburgh has Gay 90’s nostalgia the way Detroit has mid century nostalgia
@austinivy135
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Victorian Houses! They scream “Gay 90s”! Along with all of the “modern home gadgets” that were mass-manufactured and started popping up everywhere. Also the wallpapers that were laced with arsenic lol😜😂
@blossom114
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Thanks to the Judy Garland movie strike up the band that came out in 1940 I knew exactly what the gay 90s was referring to. There's an entire play/musical sequence about the gay 90s 86 years ago
@janleonard3101
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
You left out barbershop quartets. I remember as the 1990s were getting closer wondering how we were going to differentiate between the 90s as I knew of them, and these new 90s. It would probably be strange to younger people just how popular the Gay 90s aesthetic was even in the 1980s.
@breee9214
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
HAHA okay, I thought he meant “gay 90’s” as in 1990 😂
@InternetDarkLord
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
You missed the Gay 90s Gibson Girl look. But I will forgive this lapse if you make an 1980s video, just remember the RMS Titanic. So much 1980s nostalgia forgets that part.
@wofi784
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Have you made a video about 1920's nostalgia? It's funny that decade-based nostalgia began in a decade that itself became so heavily romanticised years later. Even as someone who grew up in the 21st century, I was still exposed to a lot of 1920's nostalgia growing up, which also shows the lasting impact this sort of categorisation has.
@iragitlin7549
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Re: "Gay"–Back then, in addition to being used routinely to express the idea of "happy" etc., the word did sometimes have sexual (though not necessarily homosexual) overtones. For example, a woman of loose morals (as they would have said back then) might be described, with a wink and a nudge, as "gay". So saying "the gay '90s" was kind of like saying "the swinging '60s"–IF you know what I mean….
@alextolon4482
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Now that you mention the 90s taking off in the 50s, I've realized The Great Brain books were written in the 50s and exactly embody that nostalgia.
@frozencatcake
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Wonder if people in the future will talk about the 2020s like this
@anime6671
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
American imperialism is good
@Angel-Otk
July 3, 2026 at 2:01 pm
Thats a bar in my city
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