This article is brought to you by Electric Ireland’s Electric Picnic Ticket giveaway on Facebook Live.
How many of these items from the 90s do you remember?
The 90s was a decent decade. We had Italia ’90, the Madchester scene, the panic of Y2K, giant mobile phones and people unashamedly using pagers.
This year Electric Ireland will be helping Electric Picnic festival goers relive the amazing music from the ’80s, ’90s and ’00s with their #ThrowbackParty. They are giving away 30 weekend tickets through Facebook live every day from Monday 22- Friday the 26th August to make sure you don’t miss out on all the throwback tunes.
Some of us remember the 90s vividly and there are certain things that, despite medical advances, can’t be unremembered.
Giant mobile phones
Way back before the dawn of smartphones, mobile phones entered the public consciousness as massive slabs of technology.
They were clunky, they were massive and it certainly would not fit in your pocket.
Echo Island
This was an Irish TV show aimed at young adults which ran from 1994 to 1999. It featured mainly bilingual presenters and it partly broadcasted as Gaeilge.
Before he was selling out comedy venues by the bucketload, Dara O’Briain was one of the main presenters back in the day, along with Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh, Derek Mooney and Carrie Crowley.
Image via RTE
Tie-dye T-Shirts
Back in the 90s, people were not content wearing plain coloured t-shirts. Oh no siree. Your t-shirt had to those who gazed upon it the impression they were staring through a wonky kaleidoscope.
An explosion of trippy colours all over the t-shirt was what was called for and people everywhere wore them, especially at music gigs.
It was totally far out and radical man.
The Y2K panic
Back in 1999, just before the year 2000, there were genuine concerns that society as we know it would grind to a halt with the advent of the new millennium.
Many feared that when the clocks struck midnight on January 1, 2000, lots of affected computers would be using an incorrect date and would fail to operate properly unless the computers’ software was repaired or replaced before that date.
There were hysterical fears in some places that nuclear weapons would be launched. Thankfully, the date passed without incident and now look at how great we all are.
The Irish dominance of the Eurovision
The Eurovision has been a frustrating affair for the Irish over the past few years.
In fact, we haven’t won it since 1996, despite sending our brightest and best talent like Dustin, The McCauls and Jedward twice. Mystifying.
However, back in the 90s, we were the dominant force. We won it 4 times in 5 years and took our many, many douze pointe for granted. We won in 1992 with Linda Martin, in 1993 with Niamh Kavanagh, in 1994 with Paul Harrington & Charlie McGettigan and in 1996 with Eimear Quinn.
We were basically the Kilkenny of the Eurovision.
Actually, can we just send Brian Cody next year?
https://youtu.be/jHE8a-D9Zb4
Clip via Euroencyclopedic
Baggy flared jeans and fisherman hats
The Madchester scene hit us back in the early 90s. That combined with the explosion of rave led to some interesting fashion choices.
The Stone Roses led the movement along with bands like Inspiral Carpets and the Happy Mondays. Long before Oasis came along, fans of these bands were dressed in baggy-flared jeans and fisherman hats and were mad for it.
The birth of boy bands
Some people argue that The Beatles were the world’s first boyband. Hahahahahaha.
The boyband behemoth really began in the 90s and it’s unfair to deprive that decade of that accolade.
Boyzone, Backstreet Boys, East 17, 5ive, BoysIIMen are obviously the legends of the genre but how well do remember some of the fallen heroes like MN8 and Irish titans, OTT.
This article is brought to you by Electric Ireland.
Electric Ireland, the official energy partner of Electric Picnic, is reeling in the years with its #ThrowbackParty at Ireland’s biggest music festival. Electric Ireland is giving away 30 weekend tickets in its much-anticipated annual Electric Picnic ticket giveaway. The tickets will be given away through Electric Ireland Throwback Live, a five-day Facebook Live competition at 7:30pm each evening from Monday 22nd – Friday 26th August. Tune in for your chance to win.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
