40 Pictures Of Early '90s Things That Elder Millennials Have Completely Forgotten About

1.These square radio alarm clocks that would flash red or green light in your face in the middle of the night:

Digital alarm clock displaying 4:57 AM. Brand: Sony. FM/AM radio with frequency details, model ICF-C121, labeled "DREAM MACHINE"

2.Hypercolor T-shirts, which would, sadly, start losing its color-changing abilities after a few washes (probably 'cause of the dryer):

Tie-dye t-shirt with the logo "Hysteric Glamour" hanging on a wooden hanger

3.The Simpsons being a controversial TV show because it satirized the nuclear family and because Bart was considered a bad influence on kids:

The Simpsons family, including Bart, Lisa, Maggie, Marge, and Homer, sit on a couch with their dog, Santa's Little Helper. They pose with a picture of a sailboat
TM and Copyright © 20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. Courtesy: Everett Collection

4.Bootleg Simpsons T-shirts that you'd see in every souvenir shop and always looked janky and had themes that never made sense:

White T-shirt featuring Bart Simpson playing basketball with text "Air Simpson" and "It's the shoes!"

5.Magic Eye books — which would be really frustrating if you couldn't see the hidden image:

Three Magic Eye books titled, from front to back: "Magic Eye III: Visions: A New Dimension in Art," "Magic Eye II," and "Magic Eye: A New Way of Looking at the World."

6.Mead’s Académie Sketch Pads which made you feel like a legit artist:

A Mead Académie Sketch Pad with standard weight paper for drawing, suitable for ink, watercolor, pastel, crayon, and pencil. 12 in. x 9 in., with 50 sheets
breadteam / Via reddit.com

7.Those T-shirts that featured the Looney Tunes characters dressed in hip-hop clothes:

A Looney Tunes T-shirt
deleted / Via reddit.com

8.SNL's "Coffee Talk with Linda Richman" — whose voice you can probably hear in your head right now:

Mike Myers as Linda Richman during "Coffee Talk" skit
Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images

9.And SNL's "Gap Girls" skit, which Chris Farley would steal every moment of:

David Spade as Christy Henderson, Adam Sandler as Lucy Brawn and Chris Farley as Cindy Crawford during The Gap skit
Nbc / NBCUniversal via Getty Images

10.Cordless home phones that were giant with big antennas that stuck out and, weirdly, did not have much range. They also had zero battery life:

Woman talking on white cordless house phone
Comstock / Getty Images

11.And Sony Sports Walkmans that were bright yellow and came with hard plastic headphones that went directly into your ear — which was always slightly uncomfortable to wear:

Close up of a yellow Walkman with headphones
Uriah Samuel Bravo / EyeEm / Getty Images

12.Eek! The Cat, the cartoon series that really put poor Eek through so, so much each episode. He was just trying to be a nice cat!

Eek the Cat smelling flower as a vault falls on him
20thcentfox / Courtesy Everett Collection

13.Suncoast Motion Picture Company, which was a must-stop-in store whenever you went to the mall:

A Suncoast Motion Picture Company sign
Ray Out There / Via youtube.com

14.And the cool display figurines that decorated the upper parts of the Disney stores:

Goofy behind a camera
alyssaontherocks / Via youtube.com

15.Tony Little's Ab Isolator infomercials. As soon as they came on on Saturday mornings, you knew cartoon time was over:

Screenshot of Tony helping someone do ab exercises
mycommercials/ youtube.com

16.And Susan Powter's "Stop the Insanity!" informercials — which was a lot of yelling and played right after Saturday morning cartoons ended:

Susan yelling
chevyguy36w/ youtube.com

17.CDs that came packaged in wasteful long boxes. And in case you were wondering, this was done because CDs were too small for store shelves created for vinyl, so by packaging them in long boxes, retailers could just reuse the shelves they already had. It also helped make them harder to steal:

Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack in long box
Brian Galindo/ BuzzFeed

18.The blurry AF White Diamonds commercial where Elizabeth Taylor says, "These have always brought me luck":

Elizabeth Taylor
A1 Media/ Elizabeth Arden / Via youtube.com

19.TGIF's Step by Step, which was really just a modern-day Brady Bunch...

Step by Step cast photo
ABC Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

20....and Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, which never made much sense. In the show, Mark Cooper was a former NBA player, but worked as a substitute teacher and also had roommates to help make ends meet. What did he do with his money?

Mark Cooper teaching a class
Abc Photo Archives / Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty Images

21.How HUGE Steve Urkel-mania was that there was even a talking doll and cereal based off of him:

Commercial for the Steve Urkel doll
Commercial Maniac/ Tyco / Via youtube.com

22.The black-and-white ads inside TV Guide that would give you a little synopsis about what that week's episodes would be about:

CBS Television advertisement as appeared in the October 23, 1993 issue of TV Guide magazine
Cbs Photo Archive / CBS via Getty Images

23.The dating show Studs, which was full of double-entendres that would go way over your head:

Two screen grabs from the dating show Studs.
Fox Television Studios

24.The Club steering wheel lock and the commercials they would play nonstop for them (especially if you stayed home sick and watched daytime TV):

A red wheel lock

25.And the Blublockers commercial that featured a guy rapping about it:

Man wearing a large, decorative hat and sunglasses speaks into a microphone while others stand behind him, some also wearing sunglasses
ewjxn/Blublocker / Via youtube.com

26.Kinko's stores, which always smelled like printer ink and running computers. It was also a lifesaver because it was open 24 hours a day, so you could get something printed at the last minute:

Kinko's advert
Play Pause Video/ Fed-Ex / Via youtube.com

27.Madonna's Sex book and the huge backlash she got after releasing it:

"Sex by Madonna" book cover in packaging, featuring a spiral-bound silver notebook and a foil-wrapped book with a blue photo of Madonna's face

28.And her infamous interview with David Letterman where she smoked a cigar and said "fuck" more than a few times:

letterman looks annoyed
Letterman / Via youtube.com

29.Mark Wahlberg being known as Marky Mark and for pulling his pants down and dancing around in his underwear:

A shirtless Mark Wahlberg, wearing a backward cap, low-hanging pants, and exposed underwear, striking a pose reminiscent of his 1990s Calvin Klein campaign
Tim Roney / Getty Images

30.That basically EVERY SINGLE FAMILY owned a minivan:

A stock photo of an early '90s Latinx family posing in front of a grey mini-van as they are about to go on vacation.
Dreampictures / Getty Images

31.Thinking Grey Poupon was the fanciest thing you could eat because of the commercials for it:

A screenshot of one handing another hand a jar of Grey Poupon.
ScribasDotCom/ youtube.com

32.Laughing at Mr. Furley's panic attacks on Three's Company — which was also a sorta inappropriate show to have run in reruns after afternoon cartoons:

Screenshot from "Three's Company"
ABC/ threes_company78 / Via tiktok.com

33.Lassie, Dennis the Menace, and Mister Ed being on for HOURS during the day on Nickelodeon taking precious cartoon time:

"Lassie"
TeeVees Greatest / CBS / Via youtube.com

34.Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies VHS aerobics series, which the infomercials for played nonstop on the weekends:

Richard Simmons wearing a tank top and shorts, posing energetically against a lit background
Courtesy Everett Collection

35.The Crocodile Mile slip-and-slide toy that had the infectious "You run, you slide, you hit the bump, and take a dive" jingle in the commercial:

A kid using a slip-and-slide
Dino Drac's Retro Commercials! / Via youtube.com

36.And Wrigley's Doublemint Chewing Gum commercials that also had an infectious jingle:

A screenshot of a hand pulling out a stick of Wrigley's Doublemint Chewing gum.

37.This Jessica Rabbit poster that you would always find in the poster racks at Spencer's:

Jessica Rabbit poster
Buena Vista Pictures / ©Buena Vista Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection

38.The big reusable plastic water bottles with the thick-ass straws that gave everything a plasticky flavor. These were also the bottles you would freeze and then wrap in aluminum foil (to keep cold) on field trips:

A green water bottle featuring characters from The Simpsons: Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa, and Maggie. It stands on a pink surface against a green leafy background

39.McDonald's burgers that came in Styrofoam containers:

McDonald's food
Vampire Robot / Via youtube.com

40.And lastly, the urban legend that there was a penis on the cover of The Little Mermaid VHS 'cause it was drawn by a disgruntled ex-Disney employee:

Cover of the VHS tape of "The Little Mermaid." Features Ariel, Prince Eric, Flounder, King Triton, and Ursula, with the underwater kingdom in the background