1990s

Centuries: 19th century - 20th century - 21st century

Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s - 1990s - 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s

Years: 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

Events and trends

Computers, technology

Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other technology
Year 2000 problem (commonly known as Y2K)
Microsoft Windows operating system becomes virtually ubiquitous on IBM PCs
Development of free operating system Linux is started
Break through of Compact Disc technology - branching into Digital Versatile Discs

Science

Cloning (of Dolly, the sheep) achieved
Human Genome Project begun
Global human impact on the environment widely accepted

War, peace and politics

Reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990
Gulf War and United Nations embargo on Iraq in 1991
Break up of the Soviet Union in 1991 -- the end of the Cold War, United States as sole world superpower
End of apartheid in South Africa and election of ANC government of Nelson Mandela
Genocide in Rwanda kills one million people, in 1994.
Peace process begins in Northern Ireland
Balkan war in former Yugoslavia
Eritrea gains independence from Ethiopia
North Yemen and South Yemen merge to form Yemen
A decade of women presidents in the Republic of Ireland

Economics

Development of GATT, the World Trade Organization and other global economic institutions
After 1992 the booming of the stock market, in reference to which Alan Greenspan coined the memorable phrase "irrational exuberance", which eventually stretched into the dot-com boom/dot-com bubble

Culture

Grunge music gains widespread mainstream acceptance in the early part of the decade

Others

Bill Clinton's sex scandal with Monica Lewinsky and his Impeachment trial
Divorce and scandal rocks the British Royal House of Windsor
Assassination of Selena Quintanilla
O.J.'s trial, called by many the trial of the century
You go, girl! becomes a popular phrase as the media gives feminist movements a boost with The Spice Girls, the WNBA, women's boxing, Sex and the City and others showcasing feminine talent.
The Vieques controversy

World leaders

Prime Minister Bob Hawke (Australia)
Prime Minister Paul Keating (Australia)
Prime Minister John Howard (Australia)
Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (Canada)
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien (Canada)
"Paramount Leader" Deng Xiaoping (People's Republic of China)
President Jiang Zemin (People's Republic of China)
President Lee Teng-hui (Republic of China on Taiwan)
President Franjo Tuđman (Croatia)
President Hosni Mubarak (Egypt)
President François Mitterrand (France)
President Jacques Chirac (France)
Chancellor Helmut Kohl (Germany)
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder (Germany)
Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (India)
President Mohammad Khatami (Iran)
President Saddam Hussein (Iraq)
Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin (Israel)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Israel)
Emperor Akihito (Japan)
President Yasser Arafat (Palestinian Authority)
Pope Pope John Paul II
Taoiseach Charles Haughey (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach Albert Reynolds (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach John Bruton (Republic of Ireland)
Taoiseach Bertie Ahern (Republic of Ireland)
President Boris Yeltsin (Russia)
President Frederik Willem de Klerk (South Africa)
President Nelson Mandela (South Africa)
President Mikhail Gorbachev (Soviet Union)
Queen Elizabeth II (United Kingdom et al.)
Prime Minister John Major (United Kingdom)
Prime Minister Tony Blair (United Kingdom)
President George H.W. Bush (United States)
President Bill Clinton (United States)
President Slobodan Milo?ević (Federal Republic of Yugoslavia)

Entertainers

Sports figures

Andre Agassi (U.S tennis player)
Sergey Bubka (Ukrainian track and field athlete)
Roger Clemens (U.S. baseball player)
Dale Earnhardt (U.S. racing driver)
Brett Favre (U.S. American football player)
Paul Gascoigne (English soccer player)
Haile Gebrselassie (Ethiopian track and field athlete)
Steffi Graf (German tennis player)
Wayne Gretzky (Canadian ice hockey player)
Hicham El Guerrouj (Moroccan track and field athlete)
Evander Holyfield (U.S. boxer)
Miguel Induráin (Spanish cyclist)
Michael Johnson (U.S. track and field athlete)
Michael Jordan (U.S. basketball player)
Brian Lara (Trinidadian cricketer)
Mario Lemieux (Canadian ice hockey player)
Jonah Lomu (New Zealand rugby union player)
Mark McGwire (U.S. baseball player)
Karl Malone (U.S. basketball player)
Cal Ripken Jr. (U.S. baseball player)
Patrick Roy (Canadian ice hockey player)
David Robinson (U.S. basketball player)
Pete Sampras (U.S tennis player)
Barry Sanders (U.S. American football player)
Michael Schumacher (German racing driver)
Monica Sele? (Yugoslavian tennis player)
Ayrton Senna (Brazilian racing driver)
Emmitt Smith (U.S. American football player)
Sachin Tendulkar (Indian cricketer)
Mike Tyson (U.S. boxer)
Courtney Walsh (Jamaican cricketer)
Shane Warne (Australian cricketer)
Steve Waugh (Australian cricketer)

Music

#-C

311 (311)
A Tribe Called Quest (The Low End Theory)
Aerosmith (Get a Grip)
Alan Jackson (A Lot About Livin' (And a Little About Love))
Alanis Morissette (Jagged Little Pill)
Alice in Chains (Dirt)
Anthrax (Persistence of Time)
Aphex Twin (Selected Ambient Works 85-92)
Ash (1977)
Backstreet Boys (Backstreet's Back)
Bad Religion (Stranger Than Fiction)
Beck (Mellow Gold)
Beenie Man (Blessed)
Big Audio Dynamite II (The Globe)
Björk (Debut)
blink-182 (Enema of the State)
Blind Melon (Blind Melon)
Blur (Parklife)
Buju Banton (Till Shiloh)
Bush (Sixteen Stone)
The Butthole Surfers (Electriclarryland)
The Candyskins (Space I'm In)
The Cardigans (First Band on the Moon)
Celine Dion (Let's Talk About Love)
The Chemical Brothers (Dig Your Own Hole)
Christina Aguilera (Christina Aguilera)
Clint Black (Killin' Time)
Elvis Costello (Mighty Like a Rose)
Cradle of Filth (Dusk & Her Embrace)
Cypress Hill (Black Sunday)

D-J

Da Brat (Funkdafied)
D'Angelo (Brown Sugar)
Dave Matthews Band (Under the Table and Dreaming)
Deftones (Around the Fur)
Depeche Mode (Violator)
Dixie Chicks (Wide Open Spaces)
DMX (It's Dark and Hell Is Hot)
Dr. Dre (The Chronic)
Elastica (Elastica)
EMF (Schubert Dip)
Eminem (The Slim Shady LP)
Emperor (In the Nightside Eclipse)
Erykah Badu (Baduizm)
Fugazi (Repeater)
Garth Brooks (Ropin' the Wind)
Get Up Kids (Something to Write Home About)
Green Day (Dookie)
Guru (Jazzmatazz, Vol. 1)
GZA (Liquid Swords)
Hootie and the Blowfish (Cracked Rear View)
INXS (X)
Jane's Addiction (Ritual de lo Habitual)
Jesus Jones (Doubt)

K-O

Kid Rock (Devil Without a Cause)
Kris Kross (Totally Krossed Out)
Lauryn Hill (The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill)
Limp Bizkit (Significant Other)
Lush (Split)
Madonna (Erotica)
Mariah Carey (Music Box)
Marilyn Manson (Antichrist Superstar)
Mary J. Blige (What's the 411?)
Edwin McCain (Misguided Roses)
Midnight Oil (Blue Sky Mining)
Moby (Play)
Morrissey (Your Arsenal)
Peter Murphy (Deep)
My Bloody Valentine (Loveless)
Nas (Illmatic)
Ned's Atomic Dustbin (God Fodder)
Nine Inch Nails (The Downward Spiral)
Nirvana (Nevermind)
NOFX (Punk in Drublic)
Notorious B.I.G. (Life After Death)
Oasis (Definitely Maybe)
The Offspring (Smash)
OutKast (Aquemini)

P-R

Pantera (A Vulgar Display of Power)
Paul Oakenfold (Global Underground: Oslo)
Pearl Jam (Ten)
Pennywise (Pennywise)
The Pixies (Doolittle)
Poe (Hello)
Presidents of the United States of America (Presidents of the United States of America)
Primus (Sailing the Seas of Cheese)
The Prodigy (The Fat of the Land)
Public Enemy (Fear of a Black Planet)
Radiohead (OK Computer)
Raekwon (Only Built 4 Cuban Linx)
Rage Against the Machine (Rage Against the Machine)
Rancid (...And Out Come the Wolves)
Red Hot Chili Peppers (Blood Sugar Sex Magik)
Ricky Martin (A Medio Vivir)
Ride (Nowhere)
Rush (Roll the Bones)

S

School of Fish (School of Fish)
Sepultura (Chaos A.D.)
Shania Twain (Come on Over)
The Smashing Pumpkins (Siamese Dream)
The Smithereens (11)
Snoop Doggy Dogg (Doggystyle)
Social Distortion (Social Distortion)
Soundgarden (Superunknown)
The Soup Dragons (Lovegod)
Spacemen 3 (Taking Drugs to Make Music to Take Drugs to)
Spice Girls (Spice World)
Stone Temple Pilots (Core)
Sublime (Sublime)
Suicidal Tendencies (Lights...Camera...Revolution!)
Sunny Day Real Estate (How It Feels to Be Something On)

T-Z

TLC (CrazySexyCool)
Tool (Ænima)
Tupac Shakur (2pacalaypse Now)
Type O Negative (Bloody Kisses)
The Vandals (Quickening)
The Violent Femmes (Why Do Birds Sing?)
Weezer (The Blue Album)
White Zombie (Wilco (Being There)
Wonderstuff (Never Loved Elvis)
Wu-Tang Clan (1990s music groups

View Live Article This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License