Top 20 '90s Pop Culture Fads That Are Cringy But Iconic

Top 20 Cringiest Things About the 90s

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the twenty cringiest and most embarrassing things about the 1990s.

#20: EXTREME!!!!

We don’t know if something was in the water or what, but we went needlessly hard in the ‘90s. For some inexplicable reason, we had to have “EXTREME!!!” versions of pretty much everything - not “cool,” not “fun.” Extreme. It didn’t matter what it was - chips, juice boxes, yogurt, cereal - they all got really edgy and colorful, and the flavors just exploded with intensity bombs. Heck, even logos and computer fonts got all jagged and messy, often accompanied by things like claw marks and lightning bolts. The more unreadable, the better. Sports also took on a more “extreme” angle, with things like skateboarding and the X Games exploding in the mainstream. It was loud and inexplicable, and there will never be anything else like it!

#19: Blowing Into Electronics

The ancient ritual of blowing into electronics - a sacred tradition passed down from older siblings who swore that it worked. This so-called technique was often practiced on Nintendo systems, and the logic was simple - if a game didn’t load, just pull it out, give the cartridge and system a good puff, and pop it back in. And maybe smack the console for good measure. The idea was that this cleared out the dust. Or something. In reality, it was probably just the removal and reinsertion of the cartridge, which properly re-aligned the contact points. In fact, the moisture from your breath probably just made things worse and corroded the cartridge over time. Oops. Oh well, it was like witchcraft for us kids.

#18: Colorful Windbreakers

This fad started to gain traction in the late ‘80s, but it hit its full, retina-searing stride in the early ‘90s. Hip hop and pop culture icons began rocking colorful windbreakers, and before long, the sportswear became casual, everyday fashion. It also rose in tandem with the rave culture of the 1990s - a colorful windbreaker was practically required rave-wear, especially if it glowed under blacklight. These babies could be seen from space, the nylon coming in hot pink, electric blue, neon green, bold purple, or some ghastly, Jackson Pollock combination of all four. Bonus points if it made an obnoxious “swish-swish-swish” sound with every step, alerting everyone in a ten-foot radius that Christian Dior had arrived.

#17: Bucket Hats

The 1990s is when we all collectively asked ourselves - what if we styled ourselves after fishermen? So we took their bucket hats, plopped them on everyone’s heads, made them tie dye or camo or floral or whatever, and charged $50 for it. Bam, you’ve got one of the weirder fads of the ‘90s. LL Cool J and Run-DMC were big proponents of the bucket hat, and they made it look effortlessly cool. We don’t know how. They also helped bring the accessory into the mainstream, to increasingly mixed results. Of course, like most things from the ‘90s, the bucket hat has staged a miraculous comeback, proving that even the wonkiest trends can withstand the pull of nostalgia.

#16: Frosted Tips

Maybe we were all wearing bucket hats to cover up those awful frosted tips. For those unaware, this is when someone - usually a young, white male - would bleach the very tips of their dark hair and then maybe turn those tips into spiky porcupine tufts. This was the era when every boy band had at least one member with frosted tips, usually the “edgy” one who, like, didn’t conform to fashion’s rules, man. And if your school yearbook didn’t feature at least three guys with frosted tips, were you even living in the ‘90s? But, like everything, this hairstyle quickly faded away, probably from a combination of social pressure, sun damage, and incredible regret.

#15: The Rachel

While the young guys were rocking the frosted tips, the girls were rocking The Rachel. Jennifer Aniston debuted the iconic haircut in season one’s “The One with the Evil Orthodontist,” and the ‘90s were never the same. Freaking everybody got this done, skill of the stylist or type of hair be damned. But, like any trend that gets massively popular, it quickly became a huge, cringy cliché. It was also a real pain to maintain and style, and if you didn’t do it properly, it looked…um…not great. And while iconic, the style is undeniably of its time. Like many pieces of ‘90s culture, The Rachel later saw a surge in popularity in the 2020s following the “Friends” reunion special, albeit with more modern touchings.

#14: Chokers

The choker was the ultimate fashion paradox, screaming “I’m edgy and not like the other girls,” while every other girl was wearing one in their seventh grade classroom The choker was one of the must-have accessories of the ‘90s, whether it was black velvet, yin yang, or those weird plastic ones that went in a lattice pattern. Those things were especially egregious, as you had to wrestle them over your head while praying it wouldn’t ricochet into your eyeball. The choker arguably peaked when celebrities like Gwyneth Paltrow started wearing them, signaling that they were now, quite literally, elite fashion. So take that, mom!

#13: Tinted Sunglasses

We don’t know why, but sunglasses got really weird in the ‘90s. Not only did they become inexplicably tiny, barely covering anything but the eyeball itself, but we also decided to tint them with a slew of different colors. Yellow, blue, pink, green. It didn’t matter. What mattered was that they were a cool color that wasn’t black or brown. Booooring. They made us look like something out of “Cyberpunk,” and different colors meant different things. Red? You’re probably a little alt and listened to nu metal. Blue? You fancied yourself an intellectual because you understood “The Matrix.” Naturally, even celebrities weren’t immune, but nothing screams ‘90s more than Justin Timberlake with his frosted tips and green sunglasses.

#12: The Slang

Every generation has their own slang, and the ‘90s had some real doozies. “As if!” was a big one, as we all thought we were Cher Horowitz. “Talk to the hand” was another good one, and it even made its way into the “Terminator” franchise. You’ve got your weird, inexplicable ones that don’t really make any sense, like “home slice” and “All that and a bag of chips.” There were the quirky alterations to existing words, like “rad,” “chillax,” and “wassup.” And of course, we can’t forget the made up words, like “shiznit” and “phat” (fun ph and all!). What can we say? ‘90s slang was da bomb.

#11: JNCO Jeans

JNCO stands for “Judge None Choose One.” Well, we’re judging. Sorry. The name in ‘90s streetwear, JNCO made these jeans that were inexplicably enormous. We’re not talking baggy, although that was a fad in and of itself. No, we’re talking fifty inch leg openings, and that’s not hyperbole. Schools were even banning them by the late ‘90s because they were considered a safety hazard. Again, not joking. And once they got super popular, they started being embroidered with extreme designs like graffiti, bulldogs, and flames. Nothing screamed fashion like flaming skulls and dragging around twenty pounds of denim, let us tell you.

#10: Overplucked Eyebrows

Fashion is a nebulous thing that always changes with the times. And in the ‘90s, it was apparently time for over-plucked eyebrows. Celebrities like Gwen Stefani, Ginger Spice and Drew Barrymore, who is perhaps the most famous example, made this trend essential. This inspired many of us back then to grab the tweezers and get to work. But like many out-of-date fashion trends, some have grown to regret it in retrospect. That’s not to say that people can’t pull off the look or that there’s something inherently wrong with having thin eyebrows. But in a time where it seemed like everyone was doing it, many people just didn’t do it right. The ‘90s certainly have a distinctive “look”, and that definitely includes overplucked eyebrows.

#9: Waterbeds

These were the cornerstone of many children's bedrooms through the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. There was just nothing better than excitedly running into a room, jumping onto the bed, and experiencing the sensation of being sloshed around by the water. Waterbeds have actually been around since the 1830s, when they were used in a medical capacity. The waterbed we know today was created in 1968 and became incredibly popular throughout the ‘80s. They earned 22% of the bed market share in 1987 and remained quite popular into the ‘90s. But the novelty eventually wore off, and the waterbed became a cultural relic. In 2013, waterbeds accounted for just 5% of the market.

#8: Short Sleeves Over Long Sleeves

Another quintessential ‘90s look was wearing short sleeve shirts over long sleeve shirts. This trend originally got its start back in the late ‘70s, before gaining traction throughout the ‘80s. However, it peaked in the early ‘90s around the time Kurt Cobain rocked the look in the “Smells Like Teen Spirit” music video, and quickly became one of the defining looks of the time. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, it’s more rare to see much of this double-layered look these days. It’s one of the many relics of the once popular grunge era, and it’s now mostly the stuff of nostalgia and jokes.

#7: Spray Butter

There are many substitutes for butter out there, and one of the most famous is [SB “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter!”] This still-existent low-cost alternative was first marketed to the American public in 1981. However, it received a significant expansion in the late ‘80s after the company was acquired by Unilever. Afterwards, particularly in the ‘90s, it quickly became trendy and a go-to butter substitute, with the company making a spray version. This concoction of vegetable oil, water, and artificial butter flavoring may have been cheaper, but let’s not fool ourselves, we can indeed believe this spray is not butter.

#6: Bowl/Mushroom Cut

Few looks scream ‘90s as much as the bowl cut. This simple haircut has strong connotations with the 1960s, owing in large part to The Beatles. But it enjoyed a big comeback throughout the ‘90s, with popular celebrities of the time such as Nick Carter and James Van Der Beek rocking variations of the ‘do. It was even made into a joke in “Dumb and Dumber”, with Jim Carrey sporting a particularly heinous and hilarious bowl cut. Just take one look inside a yearbook from the ‘90s and chances are very high that you’ll see at least one kid with those instantly recognizable bangs.

#5: A Lot of Body Glitter

People loved glitter in the ‘90s. Every form of makeup came in some type of glitter variety, whether gels, sprays, powders… you name it. Celebrities and everyday people alike just adored the stuff. Simply walking down a busy city street could sometimes be like watching a fancy light show. This trend was primarily led by pop artists like Christina Aguilera and Britney Spears, who often came across as walking disco balls. It certainly looked unique, but it proved an incredible pain in nearly every other regard. Body glitter was messy, hard to clean up, got absolutely everywhere, and was borderline impossible to get off your skin.

#4: The Macarena

Did people genuinely enjoy the Macarena, or was everyone just doing it ironically? Regardless, the Macarena was the dance of the ‘90s, and looking back on it is a little cringey. The dance comes from the song of the same name by Los del Río. The Bayside Boys remix spent fourteen weeks at #1 in 1996, and even made its way into that year’s Democratic National Convention. Although everyone knows the words and the moves to the dance, no one should necessarily be doing it in the 2020s (okay, maybe at weddings). Let’s leave this in 1996 where it belongs.

#3: Popcorn Shirts

Few turn-of-the-millennium fashion trends are as confusing as the popcorn shirt. Sometimes referred to as magic bubble shirts or scrunchie shirts, these things appeared very tiny until you actually put them on. At that point, they would magically expand to fit your torso. Aside from saving on closet space, there is little to fondly remember about popcorn shirts. They were uncomfortable, and felt weird. They also… didn’t look great, at least from our modern perspective. We guess some people can pull them off. Fortunately, the trend didn’t last very long, and popcorn shirts quickly flooded thrift store aisles as people got rid of them.

#2: Crop Tops & Low-Rise Jeans

If one female fashion trend dominated the late ‘90s and early 2000s, it was the famous crop top and low rise jean combo. The pants were notable for their low waist cut that allowed hip bones to be exposed. So the combination of short crop tops and low rise jeans resulted in a sharp uptick of visible midriffs, and the look was everywhere on the verge of the new millennium. But while this combo looked good, it wasn’t without its flaws. Many people found low rise jeans to be uncomfortable, and generally impractical as a piece of clothing.

#1: Y2K

If Y2K proved anything, it’s that humans are susceptible to media influence and fearful of technology they don’t understand. The famous Y2K scare largely stemmed from the belief that, essentially, the world’s computer systems would fail because of the numeric date “2000.” This would somehow result in a major glitch that would crash the world’s technological ecosystem. Planes would fall from the sky, the stock market would collapse and city infrastructures would be destroyed. Essentially, the world was going back to the Dark Ages and an impending apocalypse was coming. It turns out programmers had long before prevented the problem— mostly, anyway. When the world’s calendars flipped to 2000...nothing much happened. The Y2K scare quickly became a punchline.

Are you embarrassed by these, or do you have a fond nostalgia for them? Let us know in the comments below!