Mental Floss

THE '90S





Mill Creek Entertainment

The quintessential annoying neighbor went from pitching milk and pizza in regional commercials to starring in 10 feature films. Let's see the Pillsbury Doughboy do that.

Jake Rossen




Mike Mozart, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

When U.S. Army Corps bombardier Max Spencer Adler was shot down over Europe and imprisoned by the Nazis during World War II, it’s not likely he dreamed of one day becoming the czar of penis-shaped lollipops and lava lamps.

Jake Rossen
ABC

From 'Full House' to 'Perfect Strangers,' if you turned on a TV set in the 1990s, it was impossible to escape ABC's Friday night "TGIF" lineup.

mentalfloss .com
Paramount Pictures

It takes just 14 words—“Welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger, can I take your order?”—to make a ‘90s kid swoon with nostalgia.

Tara Aquino






J.K. Simmons stars in HBO's Oz.

Before ‘The Sopranos’ or ‘The Wire,’ television’s golden age arguably began on HBO on July 12, 1997, when the premium network premiered Fontana’s prison drama ‘Oz.’

Jake Rossen


Nickelodeon

To those who grew up in the 1990s and early 2000s, 'All That' was must-see television. A kid-centered, 'Saturday Night Live'-style variety show, it ran for 10 seasons, begat a spinoff movie, and helped launch the careers of a number of rising musicians, f

Mark Mancini
YouTube

More than a quarter-century ago, ABC introduced us to 'Twin Peaks.' The rainy Washington town was home to log ladies, red rooms, and at least one murderer—but if you were only watching to find out “who killed Laura Palmer,” you were missing out.

Kristin Hunt




Robby Benson and Paige O'Hara in Beauty and the Beast (1991).

As the new 'Beauty and the Beast'—starring Emma Watson and Dan Stevens—readies for its big-screen premiere, the tale as old as time is ready to enchant a new generation of audiences.

Stacy Conradt




Frank Micelotta Archive/Getty Images

On April 5, 1994, the music world mourned the death of Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain, who died by suicide at the age of 27.

Roger Cormier
You love them.

While children of the '90s might remember topping their pencils with the miniature wild-haired figures, children of the '60s were all over that trend too.

Erika Berlin
Amazon

JNCOs were quintessentially '90s jeans, worn largely (at least at first) by skaters and nonconformists and known for mega-wide leg openings—and now, the brand is back.

Colin Gorenstein