Why is everyone so obsessed with the 1990s?

Audiences at Oasis reunion shows aren't just middle-aged people remembering the music of their youth – Gen Z are also lapping up the 1990s nostalgia, even though none of them can remember the decade.

It's because people can "feel nostalgic for a past that predates them", known as "historical nostalgia", wrote nostalgia expert Clay Routledge in The New York Times.

Golden age

Gen Z, who were born between 1997 and 2012, are "specifically captivated by what life was like in the analogue past", wrote Routledge, and they seem to be "mining" it to "enrich their present lives", particularly by "fostering a greater appreciation for offline living".

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"At some point" during the past 15 years, wrote Daisy Dunn in The Spectator, "it was decided that the 1990s were a golden age". This feeling even extends to those who can't remember them because Gen Z, who know only the "colourless, anodyne first years of the new millennium", "speak of the 1990s in mystical tones".

I thought that I saw the 1990s through "rose-tinted specs because it was the decade of my childhood" but those years are "worthy of nostalgia and deserve the envy of those who didn't experience them".

Gen Z members see the 1990s as "less stressful" than now, when they're "weighed down by concerns about climate change, war and artificial intelligence", said France 24. Students are adopting the "baggy jeans and bucket hats" that were a "staple" of Liam Gallagher's wardrobe in the 1990s.

The Oasis reunion tour continues to offer various generations their very own 1990s revival. Although the band continued until 2009, the reunion setlist includes only one track, "Little by Little", to indicate that the band "existed into the 21st century", wrote Alexis Petridis in The Guardian. Other than that, it's a "shameless trip back to the 1990s".

Objectively brighter

Millennials are also enjoying the 1990s revival. There's a "sudden rash of nostalgic food rebrands" of "everything from Nik Naks to Walkers" and "Bacardi Breezers", which is "tapping into 30-somethings' apparent yearning to return to our 1990s childhoods", wrote Emily Watkins in The i Paper. It was a "simpler time, when the worst thing that could happen was being sent to bed before 'Top of the Pops'".

Each generation "loves to romanticise the good old days, whether or not they were actually better" but "for my generation, they were". Houses were more affordable, the internet "hadn't yet melted our brains" and "economically, politically, culturally, life was objectively brighter".

All this has us "feeling more than a little nostalgic – for the decor as well as the music", said Liz Lane in House Beautiful. If you want a 1990s-themed home, she recommends lots of "rich colours" like navy blue, burgundy and mustard yellow. You can also add "quirky decor items like a vintage record player or retro radio", and "bring back shabby chic", which was "one of the defining styles of the decade".