The 1990s were a weird and wild time to be alive. The internet and personal computers were suddenly everywhere, jeans were ridiculously oversized, and there was a black market for cute floppy toys. But in all seriousness, the '90s were a great time to be young. From digital pocket pets to see-through devices, technology and pop culture came together to create some of the greatest distractions any kid could ever hope for. While it's hard to choose the best of the best from the decade that birthed the technological revolution, we've pulled together a list of '90s must-haves that were truly all that and a bag of chips. Without further ado, here are 20 things that every cool '90s kid couldn't live without.
1 | A Sony Discman
Compared to what we were used to with cassettes and vinyl records, compact discs (better known as CDs) provided crystal clear versions of your favorite '90s music, whether it was Ace of Bass or Alanis Morissette, Mariah Carey or Metallica.
When the Sony Discman made CDs portable in the '90s, it was like the future had finally arrived. Sure, the music skipped whenever the Discman was even slightly jostled, but it was still a huge revelation.
2 | A Tamagotchi
ShutterstockWho needs a real cat or dog when you have one in adorable keychain form? Tamagotchis were so addictive among kids in the '90s that some schools actually banned them because students would skip class to "feed" their handheld digital pets.
3 | Doc Martens
Courtesy Dr. MartensEven if they never ventured anywhere near a mosh pit, '90s kids everywhere wore these heavy boots as an everyday part of their wardrobe. Their junior high geometry class might as well have been a Rancid concert. And if you were particularly cool, you probably had them in a floral, plaid, or metallic finish.
4 | Bart Simpson T-shirt
IMDB/Jim Henson ProductionsBack when The Simpsons was one of the only daring shows on television, donning a Bart Simpson "Eat My Shorts" T-shirt was an act of rebellious defiance. Even the bootleg versions, with badly drawn caricatures of Bart and his family, were a symbol of counterculture that gave you street cred in the '90s.
5 | Beanie Babies
They were definitely cute—I had a soft spot for Bananas (the money) and Humphrey (the camel)—but it was crazy how obsessive people became over Beanie Babies. Some kids were even trampled in the late '90s by anxious mobs trying to buy limited edition TY toys. And people paid thousands and thousands of dollars for the Princess Diana iteration.
6 | Magic Eyes
Raise your hand if you lied about seeing the optical illusion within a kaleidoscopic Magic Eye image, just so you didn't feel left out? These images were so popular during the '90s that they were referenced in everything from Seinfeld to Kevin Smith's movie Mallrats.
Hanging one of these in your bedroom proved you were cool enough to see the elusive hidden image that not everyone could find. (Hint: All you have to do is unfocus your eyes and you'll see it, too!)
7 | Plaid Clothing
IMDB/Paramount PicturesWhether you were a grunge kid or just wanted to dress like Alicia Silverstone in Clueless, you likely had at least a few outfits in your wardrobe that were plaid. It's the one look that everybody in the '90s, regardless of their personal aesthetics, could agree on.
8 | Designer Yo-Yos
Yo-yo sales skyrocketed during the '90s, all thanks to designer yo-yo brand Yomega, which brought super-fast models—like the Brain and Fireball—into the world.
If it glowed in the dark or changed colors and made crazy sounds whenever you performed a trick (like "walking the dog" or making it "sleep"), all the better.
9 | A Chain Wallet
ShutterstockApparently, every kid in the '90s was suddenly convinced that they were being targeted by pickpockets. The chain wallet might not have been a foolproof security measure—and really, anyone sporting one probably didn't have a lot to steal—but it sure did look tough.
10 | An AOL Account
ShutterstockLong before Instagram and Snapchat, cool '90s kids would communicate with each other online via AOL Instant Messenger, better known as AIM.
But it wasn't as instant as its name indicates. It first required a CD-ROM to install the program, then a phone line you could connect to your computer, and then a long, ear-shattering dial-up noise as your computer tried to make contact with the AOL server. Eventually you would get connected, learn that "You've Got Mail," and be able to chat your friends with Comic Sans font. But most likely, you just signed on to put up an away message that looked *~*SoMetHinG LikE tHIs*~*
11 | A PlayStation Console
When it made its stateside debut in 1995, the Sony PlayStation changed the way cool kids spent their afternoons. Yes, there had been Nintendos and Ataris before it, but the PlayStation was hypnotic. You could easily spend 48 hours playing Gran Turismo, Tekken, or Resident Evil and never see sunlight. No regrets here!
12 | A Beeper
ShutterstockNope, these weren't just for doctors. Before kids had cellphones, they had pagers.
It was basically a cellphone that could only send text messages, and those text messages could only contain a few numbers or letters, and absolutely no emoticons. Sure, it doesn't sound that impressive now, but in the '90s, before anybody knew that texting was just a decade away, it was the coolest way to stay in touch with friends.
13 |
Starter jackets
These bomber-style jackets went from athletic warm-up clothing to the coolest outerwear, all thanks to star power. Actor Eddie Murphy and rappers like Public Enemy and 2 Live Crew practically wore Starters as a uniform, and soon every teen was determined to own their own jacket. If it didn't have a little "S" with a star on the cuff, it wasn't the real deal.14 | A Blockbuster Card
ShutterstockIf you didn't rush to your local Blockbuster on a Friday night to secure the newest release for you and your friends to watch during your sleepover, you probably weren't hanging with the cool kids.
A Blockbuster card was like having all the power. You could just show up, pick up the VHS of your choice, flash the card, and walk out with a brand-spanking new copy of Jumanji. It was yours… at least for a few nights. But before you returned it, we hope you were kind and did in fact rewind. Because if you didn't, that was an extra charge. To quote Stephanie Tanner, "How rude!"
15 | A Backwards Baseball Hat
Whether you were trying to emulate Will Smith or Fred Durst from Limp Bizkit, putting a baseball cap on the wrong way, with the visor either skewed to the side or facing backward, was '90s shorthand for "I have a zany personality!" Probably because your life got flipped, turned upside down. And if you'd like to take a minute, just sit right there. You can tell us how you became the prince of a town called Bel-Air.
16 | A See-Through Phone
We're not entirely clear on why anyone needed to see inside their phone, especially a rotary one. But transparency was all the rage in the '90s, from our technology to our backpacks.
It just looked so science-fiction-y—like you were actually a secret agent from the future sent back to spy on ordinary kids in the '90s, and at any point, you could be returning to the year 2495. That's a nice illusion when you're 17 and can't get a date to the homecoming dance.
17 | An
iMac G3
If a see-through phone wasn't enough to prove how awesome you were in the '90s, you might've upped the ante with an iMac G3. The personalized computer, which launched in 1998, looked so aesthetically pleasing to the '90s eye. It was bubble-shaped, had a transluscent back, and you could choose your own color, or "flavor," as Apple called them. As you might recall, they came in blueberry, grape, tangerine, lime, and strawberry.The iMac G3 was a status symbol—one that cost $1,299. If you managed to convince your parents to get you one, you were definitely cool... and maybe a little spoiled.18 |
Goosebumps19 | "Curtain" Bangs
ShutterstockWhether you were trying to emulate Kate Moss, Johnny Depp, or James Van Der Beek, chances are you took a risk with some middle-parted bangs in the '90s. And chances are you probably immediately regretted it. Man, those things are tough to maintain... and to see through.
20 | Oversized Denim
Denim never goes out of style, but '90s kids loved it so much, they wore it in massive swaths of fabric. Both rappers and grunge rockers alike looked like they were swimming in their jeans and jackets. And soon, we all followed suit.
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