30 Posts And Memes About The Wild ’90s That Today’s Kids Probably Wouldn’t Understand (New Pics)

The Nostalgia Test Podcast was born during the pandemic when friends Dan and Manny decided to catch up over Zoom. The two friends would have long conversations about pop culture, until one day day they decided to record it as a podcast in the form of a nostalgia test.

"On the surface, The Nostalgia Test Podcast is a comedy podcast where we make fun of stuff," Dan told Bored Panda. "At its core though, it's a longtime deep friendship between two people that have shared so many moments, happy and sad, scary and beautiful. That's really where the building blocks of The Nostalgia Test Podcast lie because that's how nostalgia is created."

"Thinking about the past is pretty funny because we always think that our past was always the best and everything we did was great and everything that came out was better than it is now," Manny shares an observation. "It's been fun going through all the different decades and all the different genres of movies, music, and more to see whether it stood the test of time, and whether our memories and nostalgia play tricks on us." 

Throughout their tests, the guys experienced disappointment with some pop culture staples that brought them joy way back when. "You're disappointed and you almost wish you never would put it to the test because you just remembered it differently," Manny told us.

"The '90s had so many ups and downs, so many independent movies that did well and others that did badly, the music was so different too, and it's just been a whirlwind of emotions to relive all of that," he explains. "It's fun to make fun of your own past, and while you're making fun of it, you also get to see how great it really was."

Dan and Manny, the faces and voices of The Nostalgia Test Podcast, think that the '90s were a decade like no other. Dan believes we're so drawn to it nowadays because they were so full of life. "It was like society woke up from the end of the '80s and was like, 'Oh no, what did I do for the past 10 years?'" 

"I feel the last verse from Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' from their album Nevermind says it all, 'And I forget just why I taste/ Oh yeah, I guess it makes me smile/ I found it hard, it's hard to find/ Ooh well, whatever, nevermind.'"

Dan says that people felt a similar way because of the pandemic and the few chaotic years prior, starting around 2016. "After the world reopened in 2022, there was such a desire to feel again, to experience, to be fully embodied (even if people didn't have words for it). And much like the '90s, it was like relearning to taste again."

He compares the pop culture of the '80s to that of the early 2000s. "[It] worked to distract people from feeling pain, from dealing with reality." The '90s, according to him, were a response to the materialism and nihilism of the '80s. They were messy, painful, cathartic, and they highlighted taking risks.

"People are gravitating towards the '90s because of this messiness, the intense volume of the music, and the look of the '90s because it challenges the (dis)illusion of social media and corporately manufactured pop culture selling us a recycled hyperinflated American Dream," Dan shares his thoughts.

His co-host Manny thinks the '90s were the decade of acceptance. "There was so much variety—you had a swing resurgence, you had grunge, you had punk, and you had independent movies that were box office hits. Creativity was at its highest, along with accessibility, and acceptability was, to me, at its peak point in the '90s. Everyone was fine in their own way," he told Bored Panda. "I think people are in search of that again, that it's OK to be different. It's OK to be creative and it all can still be mainstream."

In their 100-plus episodes, Dan and Manny have tested American pop culture staples to see if they have stood the test of time. Things that pass The Nostalgia Test are worth recommending to others and engaging with again and again. And those that fail have two possible fates.

"If it remains nostalgic, that means that it's not necessarily good, yet it makes us go back to that time and reminisce, giving us a rush of memories about people, places, moments, good or bad, happy or sad, whatever it is, and we can enjoy that for some time," Dan tells Bored Panda. The other fate befalls pop culture that is so bad the hosts never want to return to it again.

One of the more surprising movies that didn't pass The Nostalgia Test was The Wedding Singer. "We really wanted to like this movie and thought we would because we remember loving it when we saw it in 1998," Dan tells us. However, in their adult eyes, the movie failed miserably. "Any 'joke' moments were targeting historically oppressed communities, and all of it was wrapped in a nostalgic soundtrack."

"When you listen to our conversation about this movie on episode 35, you can hear the disappointment and sadness of us realizing that when we were laughing back in the day, we were laughing at the expense of people being repeatedly punched down on for no reason," Dan points out.

The hosts had similar feelings for the movie Airheads. "There were no jokes, and the jokes that were there were all punching down," Dan says.

But then there are universally panned movies that weren't good back then and aren't any better today. The Nostalgia Test podcast hosts mention Rocky 5 and Street Fighter as examples. "My cohost Manny says it best, 'There's '80s cheese and then there's '90s trash.' These were '90s trash," Dan says.

Manny's personal pick for the thing that didn't pass their test is '90s swing music. "It was fun to listen to, but it's just not the vibe anymore," he says simply. 

Manny isn't judgmental towards the things that didn't pass their nostalgia test. There's a lot that failed, but some fall in between the awesome-terrible spectrum. "We do have a grade where it just stays in 'nostalgic,' meaning it was still fun and it's still a movie that tells the story of its time, but it just doesn't fit into what our lifestyles are right now," he explained.

Dan and Manny say it's hard to put their coming-of-age moments to The Nostalgia Test because we all hold them sacred, more or less. "At the same time, it's been kind of an exercise in learning about living in the present," Dan notes. He says that we cling to nostalgia because it makes us feel safe, but being able to live in the moment is more important. "Nostalgia can be fun for a quick visit. It's no way to live your life though, living in the past."

Dan says that, in the end, their podcast celebrates what it means to come of age through your connection to pop culture. You also see if you've grown out of some of the things that used to be part of your identity. The best way to deal with those, according to him, is "to say thank you, and like Marie Kondo says, to let it go if it doesn't bring you joy."

If you'd like to see which iconic '90s pop culture phenomena passed Dan and Manny's nostalgia test and which didn't, be sure to give their podcast a listen! Who knows, maybe you'll discover something new about your favorite '90s things, too.