1992 was 30 years ago--what were you up to?--likes, job/school, music, etc.

[GulDukat]

1992: The year the 80s became the 90s

-I was in the 6th/7th grade
-Had a paper route
-I really liked (mostly) rap, although I remember buying Nevermind that summer and Imagine by John Lennon
-Closely followed the 1992 presidential election. I remember watching the debates.
-Overweight
-Sega Genesis--especially Sonic the Hedgehog
-Movies I liked that year--Batman Returns, Juice, Basic Instinct, Singles
-TV events/shows--Cosby Show, Growing Pains and Who's the Boss all aired their last episode. Kind of and end to the 80s. Also remember Major Dad, Full House, Family Matters, Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place. Was really into Black Adder.
-Events that I remember--LA Riots/Rodney King verdict, The Dream Team, Dan vs. Dave, Woody Allen/Mia Farrow split
-Deaths that I remember--Lawrence Welk, Robert Reed

[allegate]

1992 I was writing (mostly) weekly articles for the local newspaper. It's blurry and I don't even know if it'll link correctly but that's me. I forgot about that douche writing about actual news, like teens paid attention to that back then. Hah! as if! scoff!

I got the job after seeing an article in the classifieds (remember those?) and applying, sending in a writing sample after ~200 applicants were whittled down to a handful. Held the position throughout high school, got paid $10 an article and could write off video games and movie tickets on my taxes. It was great. That said, I went through my articles the other day (and honestly the only reason I'm writing this) and wow they were terrible. I'll have to get one uploaded at a readable resolution so you can all point and laugh.

Also that photo never changed. They didn't get better so I left it that way from 9th grade to 12th.

But going through the articles I can tell you that I was into SNES games, books (Atlas Shrugged* and Les Misérables are two that come to mind), movies, symphonies (seriously), concerts, and dinner theater. Hey, $10 an article.

*I need to get the Atlas Shrugged up just so you can see A) shit writing and B) shit opinions of fifteen-year-old me. holy hell it was a pain to read that again.

I wrote a review of a Rod Stewart concert (I won the tickets from the radio station and, again, $10!) and that actually got these ladies to write an opinion letter in response. Of course I kept that! One of the dinner theater troupes cut the article out and signed it to give to me the next time they stopped by.

And I'm going to have to explain that part, aren't I.

See, I grew up on a state National (?!) park. In the summer there were concerts and dinner theaters on alternating weekends so one weekend would be South Pacific and the next weekend would be a Doo-Wop concert with huge acts from the 50s/60s. I mean, can you say that Chuck Berry performed in your backyard?

Found this in a Tampa Bay Times article from 1996

Doo-Wop Saturday Night is a festival of groups like the Dixie Cups, the Coasters and others from the '50s and '60s, held the third Saturday in July in Clifftop, W.Va.

And of course it was cancelled because, as they hint at delicately, they started dying off.

[kel]

i was 12, going to middle school in meridian (boise suburb), was just getting into music. i stole my sister's cassette collection and listened to rhythm nation with headphones on AND IT BLEW MY MIND. then i started getting pissed off that i had been made to believe something was wrong with me because i was gay. enter: nine inch nails, a surly disposition, and black clothes.

[r_z]

I was a 2nd and 3rd grader. I was friends with a classmate through whom I got into soccer. Our hometeam made some noise in european wide championships and we were playing in youth leagues ourselves as well, so that was great. Eventually me and him would go to the same high school together but kinda drifted apart until we became friends again. He died in 2009 on the field during a soccer game. I once "met" him in my dreams. We were talking about our lifes and what we been through. I told him I got married and was about to become a father. It was really weird, how real it felt.

[ekrekel]

"April 29th, 1992; there was a riot on the street tell me where were you...." well I (9 years old) would stay at a friend's house after school while my single mother finished work. That afternoon people started going crazy after the Rodney King verdict and since news wasn't as instant as it is today she had no idea what was going on in specific areas of town, just terrible stories on the radio and smoke rising as she drove across LA to get me.

A few weeks later I was put on an airplane and moved in with my auntie and uncle in Bel Air Fairbanks.

That and the Olympics are all I remember about 1992.

[allegro]

1992 I was writing (mostly) weekly articles for the local newspaper. It's blurry and I don't even know if it'll link correctly but that's me. I forgot about that douche writing about actual news, like teens paid attention to that back then. Hah! as if! scoff!

Omg I worked with a lady for a long time who was born and raised in Beckley West Virginia!!

Oh, and I don’t remember wtf I was doing in 1992.

[sweeterthan]

warning heavy post, parent loss, car accident

30 years ago on january 18th, i was in a horrible car wreck with an ambulance (no sirens, no lights) that almost killed me. 3 weeks before my 14th birthday. i survived but my mother did not. i had to have facial reconstruction. it took 14 hours. my nose is made from my hip bone. my eye sockets were reconstructed with bone graphs from my skull. The first week i was on a ventilator and in and out of consciousness. Things quickly got better and i got to go home after being hospitalized for two weeks. i did recovery at home and missed 3 months of 8th grade. people in my life wanted me to just get over it and be a happy kid again. looking back as an adult, i can’t believe how many people pressured me into things i didn’t want to do and feelings i didn’t want to feel. i was forced to go to a mother’s day brunch at church without my mother. the minister of the church telling me i was being a brat and it was time to move on. my dad ignored the only psych evaluation i had after, insisting i would just get over it.

i’ve been powering thru on this one for fucking ever. i’ve never dealt with this event with a professional so on tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the accident, i’m starting therapy to maybe get some closure. I’m sure this isn’t the point of this thread but it has been at the forefront of my mind as i approach this huge anniversary. 30 years since i didn’t die and survived a head injury to the face. Sometimes it feels heavy and sometimes it feels triumphant. i’d really like for the next 30 anniversaries to feel triumphant.

on topic edit:
before the accident, i was a latch key kid who loved george michael, mariah carey and janet jackson. my parents worked all the time so i watched mtv til they got home. i’d tell them my homework was done but i was finishing at school the next day.

after the accident, i was never alone. volunteers and nurses watched me for about six months. the hospital had mtv so by the time i left i was a new pearl jam and soundgarden fan. in the coming months, broken would be released and i would decide that trent is no longer the scary guy screaming but the sexy dude who understands. pre accident and post accident, my views of nine inch nails were different. i think it’s interesting that a scary ugly thing happening to me would change how i saw him and how he would influence me to this day. (“the plastic face forced to portray” thank you trent reznor).

[ekrekel]

warning heavy post, parent loss, car accident

30 years ago on january 18th, i was in a horrible car wreck with an ambulance (no sirens, no lights) that almost killed me. 3 weeks before my 14th birthday. i survived but my mother did not. i had to have facial reconstruction. it took 14 hours. my nose is made from my hip bone. my eye sockets were reconstructed with bone graphs from my skull. The first week i was on a ventilator and in and out of consciousness. Things quickly got better and i got to go home after being hospitalized for two weeks. i did recovery at home and missed 3 months of 8th grade. people in my life wanted me to just get over it and be a happy kid again. looking back as an adult, i can’t believe how many people pressured me into things i didn’t want to do and feelings i didn’t want to feel. i was forced to go to a mother’s day brunch at church without my mother. the minister of the church telling me i was being a brat and it was time to move on. my dad ignored the only psych evaluation i had after, insisting i would just get over it.

i’ve been powering thru on this one for fucking ever. i’ve never dealt with this event with a professional so on tuesday, the 30th anniversary of the accident, i’m starting therapy to maybe get some closure. I’m sure this isn’t the point of this thread but it has been at the forefront of my mind as i approach this huge anniversary. 30 years since i didn’t die and survived a head injury to the face. Sometimes it feels heavy and sometimes it feels triumphant. i’d really like for the next 30 anniversaries to feel triumphant.

Wow, incredible. Thanks for sharing it. Sorry to hear so many people's reactions were so flippant. Therapy for 30 sounds like a great idea!

A friend in HS lost her mother to cancer around the same age, seeing and (to a minor extent) being, a part of her support system makes your story hit harder. I can't imagine

[allegro]

@sweeterthan , Ugh. my heart breaks for that 14-yr-old left motherless, with so much pain and loss, and not guided to deal with it properly. And all that surgery!! I’m so sorry for your loss and experience, and I’m really glad you’re making the step that you are, so you can begin grieving and healing. It’s certainly never too late.

[sweeterthan]

Wow, incredible. Thanks for sharing it. Sorry to hear so many people's reactions were so flippant. Therapy for 30 sounds like a great idea!

A friend in HS lost her mother to cancer around the same age, seeing and (to a minor extent) being, a part of her support system makes your story hit harder. I can't imagine

thank you and i’m sorry your friend experienced that loss so young. sounds like she had a good friend in you.

@sweeterthan , Ugh. my heart breaks for that 14-yr-old left motherless, with so much pain and loss, and not guided to deal with it properly. And all that surgery!! I’m so sorry for your loss and experience, and I’m really glad you’re making the step that you are, so you can begin grieving and healing. It’s certainly never too late.

thanks allegro. i don’t think it’s too late either. i have been able to ignore things for so long and kept putting therapy off. the pandemic has given me time to think about it and decide it’s time to get it over with. the anniversaries are always reflective for me so when the therapist said their first available appointment was that day, i thought well, we’re coming in hot…


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk no

[Siah13]

I was 9... sneaking booze out of the bottom of my Dad’s dresser drawer. I didn’t drink much of it but I’d sip it and then pour it out. I think I thought if I kept pouring then out he would stop being a violent drunk one day
but that didn’t happen until much later...

I listened to a lot of Aerosmith and Paula Abdul. I was generally an outwardly nice and bubbly girl but super depressed and full of a lot of sadness and hurt. Within a couple years of this time period I began getting high and engaging in self-harming behaviors a lot. I still loved Paula BUT I discovered Nine Inch Nails via my friend’s older sister and I was instantly mesmerized by this man who not only seemed to feel my pain and sufferage but was able to express rage and all these emotions that I had always stuffed down and hid away.

Thank goodness for Trent Fucking Reznor... 😂

[Siah13]

Sometimes it feels heavy and sometimes it feels triumphant. i’d really like for the next 30 anniversaries to feel triumphant.

Thanks for sharing where you were... I super resonated with this sentiment you expressed and just wanted to reply specifically to it and say I absolutely feel this. Good luck with the therapy - I think it sounds like a good direction and I hope you find it helpful.

[ickyvicky]

I was 6 years old. I remember starting 1st grade, and school as a whole for the first time. My parents didn't put me in Kindergarden or Pre-K or anything like that because we were moving around a lot and my parents didn't speak English at the time either. So I had never been in a school setting or really with a bunch of other kids at once. I remember freaking out the first day because I didn't know what the hell was going on. I was just kind of dropped off without any explanation. Everyone looked at me like I was crazy, lol.

[onthewall2983]

I was 8 and it was the year I really got into pro wrestling. WrestleMania was in Indianapolis that year and so I don’t really remember what the local media buzz was but my younger brother was already watching WWF and as soon as we both were watching it became much more an infectious part of our childish routine between video games and whatever we were doing outside. A mostly tender, innocent time flecked by the occasional domestic calamity. My grandmother died the next year and things began to unravel for us all, but propped up by those around us we survived.

[allegro]

What was Trent Reznor doing in 1992?

Trent Reznor was 27 years old in 1992.

Trent Reznor recorded and released “Broken” in 1992.

Trent Reznor released “Fixed” in 1992.

Trent Reznor was using Prodigy online service in 1992.

[Swykk]

I was 12/13 in 7th grade and being physically and mentally abused pretty much daily by my stepfather (at the time. I haven’t spoke to or been around him in over 20 years). Long terrible tale; I was fighting a war I never should have had to. I had two friends I was about to lose when we moved a couple towns away near his parents late that year. I started to hate school where I was also being bullied and life around this time. No place was safe for me and I didn’t belong anywhere. I was still listening to whatever my friends were but an older sister was playing NIN in her room (she also got me into Kids In The Hall) and I thought it was different and cool but I didn’t make the connection right away. I was still to deep into Red Hot Chili Peppers and Faith No More to really register. I still love FNM. I don’t consider myself a NIN fan until 1994’s The Downward Spiral, which saved my life in many ways.

1993 was somehow much worse.

[botley]

I was five, and in full-time kindergarten, for most of this year. Not a lot to report. Probably kickin' ass on the Commodore 64 at school. Rockin' out to NKOTB.

[wampa]

I was 6, in first grade, and still an only child. My little sister would be born later in the year in September. Life was good! (still is, just in different ways)

[elevenism]

Jesus, @sweeterthan . I'm so sorry.

My mom lost her father to a car accident at 14, leaving her with a schizophrenic alcoholic mother. Also, the girl I was with all.through high school lost HER father to suicide at 14.
So I don't have first hand experience, but I've seen up close the devastating effects of suddenly losing a parent that way, with my old girlfriend. I was there; it traumatized ME. I couldn't imagine being in her, or your shoes. After that, we really didn't kick it with anyone but each other and family, and I did my very best to help.her deal with it for the next 3.5 years.
So yeah. Just be a normal happy kid? That wasn't gonna happen.

I've also seen the emotional scars, via my mother. She's 64, and she STILL speaks of her father often, and STILL misses him deeply. She has for my entire life.
So, again, "hurry up and get over it" doesn't work with that kind of trauma, as far as I can tell.

And, good god, the physical damage YOU endured- that's unreal. I'm so, so sorry.
It's amazing that you're HERE.
I know a LITTLE bit about that, personally- I fell off of a 20 ft loft and hit my head on an oak table at like age 5, and spent a couple weeks in the hospital and came VERY close to dying on the way. They said it looked like a second head was trying to emerge from my head: this was my brain bleeding. I was unconscious for 3 days. It changed my personality and gave me epilepsy. I also had a very unusual case of Bells Palsy when i was 8, which brought facial paralysis (obviously,) unbearable pain, dozens of Drs visits, lots of missed school, and surgery, finally. None of that compares to your injuries, but it's in that direction.

The triumphant feeling, though- pressure making diamonds and such- I bet you're an incredibly strong person. And you are amazing for "powering through" all of that trauma.

[GulDukat]

The list of performers at the 1992 MTV VMAs:

The Black Crowes – "Remedy"
Bobby Brown – "Humpin' Around"
U2 and Dana Carvey – "Even Better Than the Real Thing" (live via satellite from Pontiac, Michigan)
Def Leppard – "Let's Get Rocked"
Nirvana – "Rape Me" (intro) / "Lithium"
Elton John – "The One"
Pearl Jam – "Jeremy"
Red Hot Chili Peppers – "Under the Bridge" (intro) / "Give It Away"
Michael Jackson – "Black or White" (from his Dangerous Tour in London)
Bryan Adams – "Do I Have to Say the Words?"
En Vogue – "Free Your Mind"
Eric Clapton – "Tears in Heaven"
Guns N' Roses and Elton John – "November Rain"

Funny to see Def Leppard and Nirvana listed. Only in 1992.

[allegro]

Lollapalooza was still the 2-day traveling festival in 1992.

Chicago has this TV show called JBTV, which is like an alternative and funny and better MTV, with Jerry playing videos.

Here’s JBTV at the World Music Theater in 1992 for Lollapalooza:

[elevenism]

In 1992, I was a chubby, anxiety ridden 12 year old in 6-7th grade, at a magnet middle school where they STILL made fun of me for getting good grades/test scores.
Then, my parents made me go to a fucking psychiatrist for getting a B for the first time.
I took my PSAT that year and scored high enough to go to this ceremony thing at SMU where I got a medal and prizes and an invitation to start college at Duke, but I didn't want to leave my family. I won every gold medal in the like, countywide Academic Pentathlon.
We had season passes to Six Flags Over Texas and went constantly, and I spent my summers at Wet N Wild in Garland. I love SFoT to this day, and want my ashes scattered there.

I earned my Arrow of Light in Webelos, but quit Boy Scouts due to what people THOUGHT was an irrational fear of being molested, although I wanted to be an Eagle Scout and Order of the Arrow like my dad. It turns out, motherfuckers WERE being molested.
I loved just about any hip hop, Seal, Michael Jackson, Black Crowes, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Primus, Pantera, Lemonheads, Jesus Jones, Tears for Fears, Ozzy, Metallica, Megadeth, Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction.
I was utterly OBSESSED with Rush, Led Zeppelin, and this newish Nine Inch Nails band.

My life at school was hell. I just didn't fit in.
I was a die hard SNES/NES/Gameboy enthusiast, and I especially drowned my sorrows in JRPGs (which were just RPGs back then) which I'd play for hours on end. By the end of the year, i figured out that the kids would stop fucking with you, permanently, if you hit them really, really hard. (I was also studying Taekwondo). People called me Nintendo Boy; they thought that's what my NIN shirt meant.
I knew the location of every fighting game arcade cabinet within a two mile radius of my house, and my little brother and I pumped an obscene number of quarters into them.
I got around on roller skates: expensive ass roller skates, not blades. I did tricks on them and such. So, I was rollerskating around the streets in NIN and Megadeth shirts

I read an absurd number of books; this was the beginning of my SERIOUS obsession with Stephen King, and Anne Rice, but I'd read ANYTHING. ( @allegate , i, too, was enchanted with Ayn Rand, by way of Rush. I read Anthem, The Virtue of Selfishness and Romantic Manifesto that year. 99% of that stuff is, naturally, the antithesis of my current take on life).
That's ALSO when I developed my lifelong obsession with the occult, did my first spellwork, and learned various divination methods.

I got my first pair of Doc Martins. I got my ear pierced, got the longish "shaved up" hairstyle, and started growing my hair out. (edit: i still have the same haircut 30 years later, minus the "shaved up" bit). People called me a "waver" and I'd NO idea what that meant at the time.
I'd been playing guitar for four or five years. Bedtime was 10, but I was allowed to stay up till eleven as long as that hour was spent playing guitar one of my parents.
I started experimenting with drugs, in the form of caffeine pills.
I began a shoplifting habit that didn't end until...well, i'm too embarrassed to say, here.

I saw Jesus Jones at Astroworld in Houston: I'd seen Right Said Fred and the Allman Brothers and Little Feat, among others, but Jesus Jones was a breakthrough.

I rode on the back of my dad's Harley Davidson all the time, which scared the shit out of me.
I experienced my first all consuming crush, on this gorgeous, brilliant opera singer named Rebecca. I thought I was in love. She told me love wasn't possible at 12, but we DID have a fling when we were 17 or 18, which was wonderful.

I wrote mediocre dark poetry.

SO. WOW. Yeah. That was a seriously transitional time for me. Looking back at all of this, that year and 93 were the years I sort of started LOOKING the part of a hepcat, and smoking grass, and kind of embracing counterculture. I THINK that was inevitable, though, with my parents being gigging musicians and my dad being a biker. Also, I had the very beginnings of bipolar disorder and severe anxiety.
I decided I could prioritize playing music and taking drugs and chasing girls over working hard in school, thinking I'd be rich no matter what, because these test scores and awards made me think I was "too smart to fail." I didn't understand that I'd need drive, though, and a good work ethic.

"And all that could have been" comes to mind.