I was born in 86, and my parents divorced in 92 (which for me was the first step down in quality of life, and I've seen a few other people throughout the years remark on 92/93 being a step down). From there on things really seemed to deteriorate. I know a lot of people point to the dot.com crash and 9/11 as major markers, but I think 2008 had a bigger impact of the socioeconomic climate then anything. I feel like I have been living my life of pause since 08, like a sort of safe mode.
What about the rest of you, especially you older folks that have been around longer? Was there a before and after year? Or years where there was a progressive and noticeable step down?
For me, it was the day 80’s hair metal died and Nirvana took over. That was definitely a shitty day and a temporal marker of the great decline.
Also when they started pushing shams like Rage Against (now on Behalf of) the Machine and other music that was just all "angry" often for no damn reason. Every teenager in the 90s was just angsty over the little thing, I should know I was one of them. I still enjoy a lot of my old music from that decade just not the mainstream stuff that was pushed and for some I see a different message in the lyrics that the writers had intended. Yes there is stuff to be angry over but it should be towards the puppetmasters who pushed us in this direction.
The only rock band from the second half of the nineties that really struck me is Fastball, whom I missed the first time around. The nineties were mostly not great for me like they were for everyone else, and it's only been in the last few years have I been really able to look neutrally at them.