Take a little walk and remember your childhood as we stroll down memory lane. It was the decade of 1990; a time when it was fashionable to have big hair and wear baggy jeans, a time when pop music reigned supreme, a time when television programs were at their best, a time when the tragedy of untimely death first crept into our lives and a time when horrendous acts of violence shocked us all.

The 1990s began with the official end of the Cold War, which had lasted for over 30 years. The decade ended with the technological Y2K scare and the massacre at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado.

“The most memorable part of the 90s was 1999 going into the year 2000 with the Y2K scare” said Terry Wheeler, who was an adult raising a family during the last decade of the 20th century.

So what happened in between those years that made the decade in which we lived out our childhoods so memorable? The popular culture of the 90s is marked by the music that we listened to, the television programs that we tuned into every week,  the toys that we played with, the technology that we used, the sports teams that we cheered on and the clothes that we wore.

This was the decade when the boy-band phenomenon crept into pop music. First beginning in the late 1980s with New Kids on the Block and carrying into the early 2000s with mega-bands such as N’Sync and The Backstreet Boys.

Not only was it a time of boy-bands but also a time of pop-princesses like Mandy Moore and Christina Aguilera with sugary-sweet voices and catchy lyrics. The most famed pop icon, Britney Spears, first came onto the music scene in the 90s and is still building on her fame and career to this day, even though her life has gone in different directions since.

“She was so cute back then. She was like a little girl” said sophomore Travis Jones, who recalls how big  Spears was in the 90s.

Though pop music was very popular throughout this decade, other people would argue that the 1990s was a time when hip-hop and rap music reigned supreme.

“The 90s had some great rap music. That was when Biggie and Jay-Z first came out,” said senior Nando Cuccurese who remembers listening to this type of music because it was what his older siblings were listening to.

Also, popular girl hip-hop bands such as TLC and Destiny’s Child were at the height of their careers.

In Christian music, the 90s were a time when bands like Audio Adrenaline, The Newsboys, DcTalk and Jars of Clay were blowing up radio stations all across the country. Christian artists like Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant and Steven Curtis Chapman were also very popular throughout the decade.

Television programs that aired in the 90s are completely unforgettable to the faithful viewers who tuned in every week. Who could forget ABC’s T.G.I.F. programming, or even One Saturday Morning?

Sitcoms like “Boy Meets World”, “Full House”, “Family Matters”, “Step by Step” and “The Fresh Prince” were popular among younger viewers. Among older viewers shows like “Seinfeld”, “Beverly Hills 90210” and “Friends” were popular.

“Shows are not like that anymore. Now it’s like all the shows are morally bad for kids to be watching” said alumna Kyla Florence who remembers watching “Full House” and “Family Matters” every week.

Sitcoms weren’t the only type of hit shows that people remember watching throughout the 1990s. Kids programs, like the “Power Rangers”, “Arthur”, “Doug”, “Recess”, “Rocko’s Modern Life”, “Are You Afraid of the Dark”, and “The Rugrats” were also extremely popular.

Toy crazes were another pop culture phenomenon that swept the nation throughout the 90s.

Kids played with electronic toys like Furbies, Nanopets and Tomagotchis. Pogs, which were cardboard discs with designs on both sides, was one toy craze that kids of the 90s fondly remember collecting.

In 1995, the same year as the Oklahoma City bombing and the year “Braveheart” won an Academy Award for the Best Motion Picture, the Beanie Baby craze began to take hold of the nation.

“I remember when McDonald’s was giving out Beanie Babies in Happy Meals, and everyone wanted one” said Sophomore James Blount.

Not only were our toys becoming electronic, but the world was evolving into one where technology was everything. The World Wide Web was created for home use in 1992. By the end of the decade there were over 200 million users.

Cell phones were invented in the 1980s, but they did not become commonly used until the 90s. By the end of the decade, cell phones gained almost the same importance that they hold today in people’s daily lives.

In 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first mammal to ever be cloned. About a year later, (the same year that Princess Diana and Mother Teresa died), President Clinton banned human cloning.

The 90s was also a decade that was marked by scandal in public life. The O.J. Simpson trial and the Monica Lewinsky scandal that almost forced President Clinton to resign from office were two momentous events that hold a place in the decade.

“I remember listening to the verdict and having a huge debate with a friend. I thought O.J. was innocent and he thought that he was guilty” said alumnus Rich Gaus.

As we look back and  remember the crazy things that we liked, imagine what we will think when we look back on the first decade of the new millennium?