Raye's History House

Millennials: the generation that gets blamed for everything. From ruining the diamond industry to *checks notes* napkins (?). However, anyone who is a part of this generation knows there’s a lot more to those born between 1981 and 1996 than hipster fashion and brunch.

So, let’s look at who Millennials really are, from the music, TV shows, and events that shaped today’s “kids.”

*For each year, I’ve added the average US prices for commodities such as a gallon of gas and a home. For comparison, I’ve listed the prices in 2023 dollars below.

2023

Median Salary: $54,132

Minimum Wage: $7.25

Price of:

• A Home: $385,800
• A Gallon of Gas: $3.49
• Yale Tuition: $64,700

Color coding for timeline events:

• Pink – TV Shows
• Yellow – Major Events
• Green – Movies
• Blue – Music
• White – Books
• Dark Gray – Toys

What Made Millennials

• 1981

  Median Salary: $17,600 (2023: $60,500)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $11.52)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $84,300 (2023: $289,800)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.35 (2023: $4.64)

  -Yale Tuition: $10,340 (2023: $35,560)

  Best Selling Car: Oldsmobile Cutlass

• 1981: The first reports of crack cocaine use are reported in the US and the Caribbean.

• January 20 1981: Ronald Reagan becomes president of the United States.

  

  Iran releases the 52 American hostages they had held for over a year.

• January 21 1981: The first DeLorean is manufactured in Northern Ireland.

  

• March 30 1981: John Hinkley Jr. shoots US President Ronald Reagan in Washington DC.

• June 5 1981: The CDC reports that five men in Los Angeles have a rare form of pneumonia. Later, these cases are recognized as HIV/AIDS.

• June 12 1981: Raiders of the Lost Ark premieres.

• June 27 1981: Paintball is invented in New Hampshire, USA.

• July 9 1981: Nintendo releases the Donkey Kong arcade game.

• July 29 1981: Prince Charles marries Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London.

• August 1 1981: MTV airs its first music video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles.

• August 24 1981: Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of John Lennon.

• September 12 1981: The Smurfs premieres. The final episode airs on December 2 1989.

• September 13 1981: The J. Geils Band releases “Centerfold.”

• September 18 1981: France outlaws the death penalty.

• September 25 1981: Sandra Day O’Connor becomes the first female justice of the US Supreme Court.

  

• September 28 1981: Olivia Newton-John releases “Physical.”

• November 2 1981: Men at Work release “Down Under.”

• November 13 1981: Porky’s premieres in Columbia, South Carolina.

• 1982

  Median Salary: $19,000 (2023: $60,300)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $10.63)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $85,700 (2023: $271,900)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.28 (2023: $4.06)

  -Yale Tuition: $11,790 (2023: $37,400)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Escort

• 1982: Alice Walker publishes The Color Purple. The film adaptation was released on December 18 1985.

  Hasbro introduces the Glo Worm.

  Jane Fonda releases her first workout tape, Jane Fonda’s Workout. It was the top-selling VHS tape for six years.

  Dave & Buster’s is founded in Dallas, Texas.

  Coleco introduces Cabbage Patch Kids.

• January 30 1982: Elk Cloner, the first known computer virus, is found.

• February 25 1982: The European Court of Human Rights announces that corporal punishment in schools without parents’ consent is a human rights violation. At the time, only five US states banned corporal punishment. It was also still legal in some European countries, such as Germany, Greece, Spain, and the UK.

• March 29 1982: Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder release “Ebony and Ivory.”

  

• April 17 1982: Canada becomes fully independent from the UK.

• May 26 1982: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial premieres at the 35th Cannes Film Festival.

• May 31 1982: Survivor releases “Eye of the Tiger.”

• June 25 1982: Toto releases “Africa.”

• August 13 1982: Fast Times at Ridgemont High premieres.

• September 17 1982: The Clash releases “Should I Stay or Should I Go.”

• September 19 1982: Computer scientist Scott Fahlman posts the faces 🙂 and 🙁 to the Carnegie Mellon University bulletin board system, creating the first-known emoticons. At the time, they were called “smileys.”

• September 22 1982: Family Ties premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 14 1989.

• September 29 1982: An unknown person laces Tylenol with potassium cyanide, killing seven people in Chicago.

• October 1982: CDs are released in Japan. They enter the North American and European markets on March 2 1983.

• October 22 1982: First Blood premieres.

• November 29 1982: Michael Jackson releases his sixth album, Thriller. It becomes the best-selling album of all time, selling 110 million units worldwide.

  

• December 2 1982: 61-year-old Barney Clark becomes the first person to receive a permanent artificial heart at the University of Utah.

• December 7 1982: Lethal injection is used in an execution for the first time in Texas.

• 1983

  

  Median Salary: $20,000 (2023: $61,200)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $10.25)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $89,100 (2023: $272,600)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.23 (2023: $3.76)

  -Yale Tuition: $12,980 (2023: $39,710)

  Best Selling Car: Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme

• 1983: America Online (AOL) is founded.

  The first Now That’s What I Call Music! album is released in the UK and Ireland.

• January 2 1983: Michael Jackson releases “Billie Jean.”

• January 23 1983: The A-Team premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on March 8 1987.

• February 14 1983: Michael Jackson releases “Beat It.”

• February 28 1983: M*A*S*H airs its final episode.

• March 9 1983: The 3D printer is invented. It becomes commercially available in 1986.

• March 25 1983: The Outsiders premieres.

• April 15 1983: The Tokyo Disney Resort becomes the first Disney park to open outside the US. It is followed by Disneyland Paris, which opened in April 1992.

• May 20 1983: Police release “Every Breath You Take”

• June 9 1983: Margaret Thatcher is re-elected by a landslide. She remained the prime minister of the UK until 1990.

  

• June 13 1983: Pioneer 10 becomes the first space probe to reach Neptune.

• July 15 1983: The Nintendo Entertainment System is released in Japan. The original price was $179 (2023: $548). It was discontinued in 1995.

• July 25 1983: Metallica releases their debut album, Kill ‘Em All.

• August 5 1983: Risky Business premieres.

• September 5 1983: Culture Club releases “Karma Chameleon.”

  He-Man and the Masters of the Universe premieres.

• October 25 1983: The predecessor of Microsoft Word, Multi-Tool Word, is released.

• December 1 1983: Scarface premieres in New York City

• 1984

  Median Salary: $20,600 (2023: $60,500)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $9.84)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $98,500 (2023: $289,200)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.20 (2023: $3.52)

  -Yale Tuition: $13,950 (2023: $40,960)

  Best Selling Car: Chevrolet Cavalier

• 1984: Tonka introduces Pound Puppies

• January 24 1984: Apple launches the first Macintosh personal computer. It originally sold for $2,495 (2023: $7,325).

• February 3 1984: The first embryo transfer from one woman to another occurs at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles.

• May 4 1984: Sixteen Candles premieres.

• May 14 1984: Wham! releases “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go”

• May 16 1984: Prince releases “When Doves Cry”

• June 4 1984: Bruce Springsteen releases his seventh album “Born In The U.S.A.”

• June 6 1984: Tetris is released in the Soviet Union. It is released in Europe in 1987 and in North America in 1988.

• June 8 1984: Ghostbusters premieres.

• June 16 1984: The Cirque de Soleil company is founded in Quebec.

• June 22 1984: The Karate Kid premieres.

• June 25 1984: Prince releases his sixth album, Purple Rain.

  

• June 27 1984: Rainbow Brite premieres.

• July 1 1984: Liechtenstein becomes the final country in Europe to give women the right to vote.

• July 19 1984: Happy Days airs its final episode.

• September 14 1984: At the 1984 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna emerges from a wedding cake in a see-through wedding gown to perform “Like a Virgin.” The performance is considered one of the most iconic of all time.

• September 17 1984: The Transformers premieres. The original run ends on November 11 1987.

• September 18 1984: Three’s Company airs its final episode.

  

• September 20 1984: The Cosby Show premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on April 30 1992.

• October 9 1984: Thomas the Tank Engine and Friends premieres on ITV. The final episode airs on January 20 2021.

  

• October 12 1984: The Irish Republican Army (IRA) attempts to assassinate UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and her Cabinet at the Grand Hotel in Brighton. Between 1969 and 1994, the IRA killed approximately 1,800 people, including 600 civilians.

• October 19 1984: A-ha releases “Take On Me.”

• October 23 1984: A BBC report brings international attention to the famine in Ethiopia. During the famine, 300,000 to 1.2 million died, 400,000 left the country, and 200,000 children were orphaned.

• October 26 1984: The Terminator premieres.

• November 6 1984: Madonna releases “Like a Virgin.”

• November 13 1984: Foreigner releases “I Want to Know What Love Is.”

• December 1 1984: Beverly Hills Cop premieres in Los Angeles.

  

  New York becomes the first state to pass mandatory seatbelt laws. 45 more states pass laws over the next decade.

• December 3 1984: Dune premieres in Washington DC.

  A methyl isocyanate leak from a Union Carbide pesticide plant leads to 23,000 deaths in Bhopal, India. Union Carbide agrees to pay the Indian government $470 million in damages in 1989.

  

• 1985

  Median Salary: $22,200 (2023: $63,00)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $9.50)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $100,500 (2023: $285,000)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.20 (2023: $3.40)

  -Yale Tuition: $15,020 (2023: $42,600)

  Best Selling Car: Chevrolet Cavalier

• 1985: Margaret Atwood publishes The Handmaid’s Tale. The film adaptation was released on February 15, 1990, in West Germany.

  Gabriel García Márquez publishes Love in the Time of Cholera. The book was translated into English in 1988.

  Teddy Ruxpin hits the market

• February 7 1985: The Breakfast Club premieres in Los Angeles.

• February 8 1985: The Dukes of Hazzard airs its final episode.

  

• March 11 1985: Mikhail Gorbachev becomes the de facto leader of the Soviet Union.

  

• March 31 1985: The first WrestleMania event takes place in New York City’s Madison Square Garden.

• April 15 1985: South Africa ends its ban on interracial marriage.

• April 23 1985: Coca-Cola releases New Coke. The original formula is returned to the market three months later.

• May 11 1985: The FBI brings charges against the heads of New York’s five major Mafia families.

• May 16 1985: British scientists announce the discovery of the ozone layer hole.

• June 28 1985: St. Elmo’s Fire premieres.

• July 3 1985: Back to the Future premieres.

• July 13 1985: Live Aid concerts in London and Philadelphia raise $50 million for the Ethiopian famine.

• September 1 1985: The RMS Titanic wreckage is finally found by an American-French expedition after 73 years.

• September 2 1985: She-Ra: Princess of Power premieres.

• September 13 1985: Nintendo releases Super Mario Bros in Japan.

• September 14 1985: Care Bears premieres.

  

  The Golden Girls premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 9 1992.

• October 2 1985: Rock Hudson dies from AIDS complication in Beverly Hills.

• November 20 1985: Microsoft releases Windows 1.0.

• December 11 1985: Hugh Scrutton becomes the first Unabomber fatality after an explosive takes his life in Sacramento, California.

• 1986

  Median Salary: $23,500 (2023: $64,100)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $9.14)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $114,400 (2023: $312,300)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $0.93 (2023: $2.54)

  -Yale Tuition: $16,040 (2023: $43,780)

  Best Selling Car: Chevrolet Celebrity

  

• 1986: Pleasant Rowland releases American Girl dolls.

  DNA is used as court evidence for the first time.

• January 28 1986: The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes 73 seconds after launching, killing all the astronauts on board, including schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. The US Navy discovers the bodies of the seven astronauts on March 9.

  

• January 29 1986: Pretty in Pink premieres in Hollywood.

• February 3 1986: Pixar is founded in Richmond, California.

• February 19 1986: The Soviet Union launches Mir, the first modular space station.

  

• March 7 1986: Diff’rent Strokes airs its final episode.

• April 13 1986: The first child to be born to a surrogate mother is delivered in the US.

• April 24 1986: Crocodile Dundee premieres in Australia.

• April 26 1986: The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant melts down in Pripyat, Ukraine, USSR. The disaster immediately killed 31 people and radiation later killed thousands more.

  

• May 12 1986: Top Gun premieres in New York City.

• May 25 1986: About 5 million people participate in Hands Across America, which attempted to create a human chain from New York City to Long Beach, California, to raise money to alleviate hunger and homelessness.

• June 11 1986: Ferris Bueller’s Day Off premieres.

• July 11 1986: New Zealand legalizes homosexual sex.

• August 8 1986: Stand By Me premieres based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella, The Body.

• August 20 1986: US postal worker Patrick Sherrill kills 14 of his coworkers and then himself in Oklahoma, USA. This event led to the phrase “going postal.”

• September 15 1986: Stephen King publishes “It.” The film adaptation was released on ABC in November 1990.

  My Little Pony premieres.

• October 9 1986: The Fox Broadcasting Company is founded.

  Phantom of the Opera opens in London. It will go on to become the longest-running Broadway show.

• November 3 1986: A Lebanese magazine breaks the Iran-Contra affair when they accuse the US of selling weapons to Iran. Oliver North is convicted on charges related to the affair on May 4 1989.

• 1987

  Median Salary: $24,700 (2023: $66,500)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $9.01)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $129,900 (2023: $349,500)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $0.96 (2023: $2.58)

  -Yale Tuition: $17,020 (2023: $45,790)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Escort

• March 6 1987: Lethal Weapon premieres.

• March 16 1987: U2 releases “With or Without You.”

• March 20 1987: The FDA approves AZT to treat HIV/AIDS.

• April 5 1987: Married… With Children premieres on Fox. The final episode airs on June 9 1997.

• May 2 1987: Whitney Houston releases “I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me).”

• June 12 1987: In a West Berlin speech, US President Ronald Reagan demands that Mikhail Gorbachev tear down the Berlin wall.

  

• June 17 1987: Full Metal Jacket premieres in Beverly Hills.

• July 11 1987: The world population reaches 5 billion.

• July 21 1987: Guns N’ Roses releases their debut album, Appetite for Destruction.

• July 27 1987: Rick Astley releases “Never Gonna Give You Up.”

• July 31 1987: The Lost Boys premieres.

• August 30 1987: The Street Fighter arcade game is released.

• September 1987: Toni Morrison publishes “Beloved.” The film adaptation was released on October 8 1998.

• September 22 1987: Full House premieres on ABC. The final episode airs on May 23 1995.

• October 11 1987: The AIDS quilt is lain on the National Mall in Washington DC.

  

• October 12 1987: George Michael releases “Faith.”

  

  George Harrison releases “Got My Mind Set On You.”

• October 14 1987: 18-month-old Jessica McClure Morales, more commonly known as Baby Jessica, falls down a well in Midland, Texas. It took 56 hours to rescue her.

• October 19 1987: Stock market levels fall unexpectedly. The day will be remembered as Black Monday.

• December 1987: The FDA approves Prozac to treat depression and other mental illnesses.

• December 8 1987: The First Intifada, a series of violent protests and riots against the Israeli government, begins in Palestine. It will continue until September 13 1993.

  

• December 14 1987: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles premieres. The final episode airs on November 2 1996.

• 1988

  

  Median Salary: $25,900 (2023: $67,000)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $8.66)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $137,900 (2023: $356,600)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $0.96 (2023: $2.48)

  -Yale Tuition: $18,060 (2023: $46,700)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Escort

• 1988: Stephen Hawking publishes “A Brief History of Time,” explaining theoretical cosmology in non-technical terms.

  The first official internet connection is made between North America and Europe.

  Fujifilm introduces the first fully digital camera.

• February 13 1988: Stand and Deliver premieres in Miami, Florida

• May 7 1988: The Facts of Life airs its final episode.

• June 21 1988: Guns N’ Roses releases “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”

• June 22 1988: Who Framed Roger Rabbit? premieres.

• June 23 1988: A NASA scientist testifies to the US Senate warning of man-made global warming. This event brings attention to climate change.

• June 29 1988: Coming to America premieres.

• July 12 1988: Die Hard premieres.

• August 8 1988: NWA releases their debut studio album Straight Outta Compton.

• August 11 1988: Al-Qaeda is founded by Soviet-Afghan War veterans in a series of meetings in Peshawar, Pakistan.

• August 20 1988: The Iran-Iraq War, which killed 1 million people, ends after 7 years of fighting.

• September 26 1988: Salman Rushdie publishes “The Satanic Verses.” It will go on to become one of the most banned books in the world.

• October 12 1988: Poison releases “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.”

  

• October 18 1988: Roseanne premieres on ABC. The final episode airs on May 20 1997.

• October 29 1988: The Sega Genesis is released in Japan. It is discontinued in 1997.

• December 2 1988: Mississippi Burning premieres in Washington DC.

• 1989

  Median Salary: $27,000 (2023: $66,700)

  Minimum Wage: $3.35 (2023: $8.28)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $144,300 (2023: $356,500)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.06 (2023: $2.62)

  -Yale Tuition: $19,310 (2023: $47,700)

  Best Selling Car: Honda Accord

• 1989: Polly Pocket hits the market.

• January 11 1989: Lexus unveils its first vehicle.

• January 20 1989: George H. W. Bush is sworn in as US President.

• January 24 1989: Ted Bundy is executed by electric chair at the Florida State Prison for his 1974-1978 crime spree which left at least 20 women dead.

• February 14 1989: The first GPS satellites are placed in orbit. However, civilians could not use the technology until May 1 2000.

• February 15 1989: The Soviet-Afghanistan War ends after 9 years.

• March 4 1989: Time Inc and Warner Communications merge to form Time-Warner.

• March 24 1989: The Exxon Valdez oil tanker runs aground and spills 240,000 gallons of oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

• April 15 1989-June 4 1989: Student protests for democracy erupt in Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The death toll is unknown; however, it is estimated that more than 1,000 people died.

  April 15 1989: 97 people die when a human crush occurs during a soccer match at the Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, England.

• April 21 1989: Nintendo releases the Game Boy in Japan. The original price was $89.99 (2023: $222). It was discontinued in 2003.

  

• May 12 1989: See No Evil, Hear No Evil premieres.

• July 5 1989: Seinfeld premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 14 1998.

• August 16 1989: Uncle Buck premieres.

• August 20 1989: Saved by the Bell premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 22 1993.

• August 24 1989: Colombian cocaine cartels declare war on their government, leading to bombing attacks. On November 27, the Medellín drug cartel attempts to kill future President César Gaviria Trujillo.

• September 22 1989: Family Matters premieres on ABC. The final episode airs on July 17 1998.

  Baywatch premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 14 2001.

• October 1 1989: Denmark becomes the first country to legalize same-sex civil unions. In 2000, the Netherlands becomes the first country to allow same-sex marriage.

• October 27 1989: Tom Petty releases “Free Fallin’.”

• November 7 1989: Douglas Wilder (Virginia) becomes the first African-American to be elected as a US Governor.

• November 9 1989: Checkpoints open between East Germany and West Germany, and citizens begin to dismantle the Berlin Wall. Germany reunifies on October 3 1990.

• December 17 1989: The Simpsons premieres on Fox.

  

• 1990

  

  Median Salary: $28,800 (2023: $67,600)

  Minimum Wage: $3.80 (2023: $8.92)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $150,100 (2023: $352,500)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.22 (2023: $2.86)

  -Yale Tuition: $20,820 (2023: $48,900)

  Best Selling Car: Honda Accord

• 1990: Hasbro releases the Super Soaker, originally called the Power Drencher.

• January 1 1990: Mr. Bean premieres on ITV. The final episode airs on December 15 1995.

• January 8 1990: Sinead O’Connor releases “Nothing Compares 2 U”

• January 31 1990: The first McDonald’s opens in Moscow, a symbol of the end of communism in Russia.

• February 1990: Smoking is banned on most commercial flights in the US.

• February 11 1990: Nelson Mandela is released from Victor Verster Prison near Cape Town after 27 years of imprisonment.

• March 23 1990: Pretty Woman premieres.

• March 28 1990: Tim O’Brien publishes “The Things They Carried.”

• May 17 1990: The World Health Organization removes homosexuality from its list of diseases.

• June 1990: J.K. Rowling begins writing the first Harry Potter book, which will be published in 1997.

• June 7 1990: Universal Studios Florida opens.

• June 8 1990: The 1990 FIFA World Cup becomes the first HDTV broadcast.

• July 26 1990: George H. W. Bush signs the Americans With Disabilities Act to guarantee certain rights for people with disabilities.

• August 2 1990: The Gulf War begins after Iraq invades Kuwait. The conflict ends on February 28 1991.

  

• August 22 1990: Vanilla Ice releases “Ice Ice Baby.”

• September 9 1990: Goodfellas premieres in Venice.

• September 10 1990: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 20 1996.

• October 4 1990: Beverly Hills, 90210 premieres on Fox. The final episode airs on May 17 2000.

• October 15 1990: South Africa ends segregation in public facilities.

• November 10 1990: Home Alone premieres in Chicago.

  

• November 18 1990: C+C Music Factory releases “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).”

• November 19-21 1990: The Cold War officially ends.

• November 20 1990: Michael Crichton publishes “Jurassic Park.”

• November 30 1990: Misery premieres.

• 1991

  

  Median Salary: $29,800 (2023: $66,200)

  Minimum Wage: $4.25 (2023: $9.45)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $151,100 (2023: $335,800)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.20 (2023: $2.67)

  -Yale Tuition: $22,200 (2023: $49,340)

  Best Selling Car: Honda Accord

• 1991-1992: According to data from 1960 to 2022, violent crime hits a peak during this time.

• January 30 1991: The Silence of the Lambs premieres in New York City.

  

• March 3 1991: Los Angeles police officers are caught on camera beating Rodney King. After the officers are aquitted on April 29 1992, riots break out in Los Angeles and last until May 4. 63 people are killed, 12,000 arrested, and property damage exceeds $1 billion.

• March 15 1991: Germany gains complete independence after the US, UK, France, and USSR relinquish all remaining rights to German land.

• March 31 1991: The Yugoslav Wars begins. It will end on November 12 2001. The wars resulted in 100,000 to 150,000 deaths and more than 4 million people were displaced.

• May 20 1991: Thelma & Louise premieres at the 44th Cannes Film Festival.

• June 17 1991: Bryan Adams releases “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You.”

• July 1 1991: After 36 years, the Warsaw Pact is dissolved in Prague.

• August 6 1991: The World Wide Web becomes publicly available.

• August 11 1991: Rugrats premieres on Nickelodeon. The final episode airs on August 1 2004.

• August 27 1991: Pearl Jam releases their debut album, Ten.

  

• September 4 1991: My Own Private Idaho premieres in Venice.

• September 17 1991: Linux is released.

• September 19 1991: Europe’s oldest known natural mummy, Ötzi The Iceman, is found in the Alps.

• September 21-30 1991: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) discover documents regarding Iraq’s secret nuclear weapons program.

• September 24 1991: Nirvana releases their second album, Nevermind. This album is credited as bringing Grunge to the mainstream.

  

• September 29 1991: Disney’s Beauty and the Beast premieres at the New York Film Festival.

• November 24 1991: Freddie Mercury dies from AIDS complications in London. On April 20 1992, the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in London raises millions of dollars for AIDS research.

  

• November 27 1991: My Girl premieres.

• December 26 1991: The Soviet Union is officially dissolved, and the country is renamed Russia.

• 1992

  Median Salary: $30,000 (2023: $65,000)

  Minimum Wage: $4.25 (2023: $9.21)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $145,300 (2023: $314,800)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.19 (2023: $2.58)

  -Yale Tuition: $23,700 (2023: $51,340)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Taurus

• 1992: Dial-up internet becomes commercially available.

• January 9 1992: For the first time, a planet is discovered outside of our solar system.

• January 21 1992: Reservoir Dogs premieres at Sundance.

• February 6 1992: Kris Kross releases “Jump.”

• February 17 1992: Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer is sentenced to 15 life sentences for his 1978 to 1991 crime spree that took the lives of 17 men and boys.

• March 2 1992: Red Hot Chili Peppers release “Under the Bridge.”

• May 7 1992: Sir Mix-A-Lot releases “Baby Got Back.”

• November 3 1992: Whitney Houston releases “I Will Always Love You”

• November 11 1992: Aladdin premieres.

• December 15 1992: Dr. Dre releases his debut album, The Chronic.

• 1993

  Median Salary: $30,400 (2023: $63,800)

  Minimum Wage: $4.25 (2023: $8.92)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $148,900 (2023: $312,400)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.17 (2023: $2.45)

  -Yale Tuition: $25,110 (2023: $52,680)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Taurus

• 1993: Irvine Welsh publishes “Trainspotting.” The film adaptation was released on February 23 1996.

  Jeffrey Eugenides publishes “The Virgin Suicides.” The film adaptation was released on May 19 1999.

  TY releases Beanie Babies.

• January 20 1993: Bill Clinton becomes President of the US.

  

• February 26 1993: A bomb explodes below the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing six people.

• March 8 1993: Beavis and Butt-Head premieres on MTV.

• April 19 1993: The Waco Siege ends when a fire kills 76 people in the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

  

• May 7 1993: Tag Team releases “Whoomp! (There It Is).”

• June 9 1993: Jurassic Park premieres in Washington DC.

• September 10 1993: The X-Files premieres on Fox. The final episode airs on May 19 2002.

• September 13 1993: Animaniacs premieres on Fox Kids. The final episode airs on November 14 1998.

• September 21 1993: Nirvana releases their third album, In Utero.

• October 3-4 1993: The Battle of Mogadishu occurs in Somalia. 18 US military members and about 1,000 Somalians are killed. The event was documented in the 1999 book, Black Hawk Down.

• November 1 1993: Ace of Bass releases “The Sign.”

  The European Union is officially formed.

• November 30 1993: Schindler’s List premieres in Washington DC.

  US President Bill Clinton signs the Brady Bill, mandating that firearm purchasers pass a federal background check.

• December 2 1993: Leader of the Medellín drug cartel Pablo Escobar is killed by Columbian police.

• December 20 1993: The Hubble Space Telescope takes its first images.

• 1994

  Median Salary: $31,000 (2023: $63,400)

  Minimum Wage: $4.25 (2023: $8.70)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $156,100 (2023: $319,400)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.17 (2023: $2.39)

  -Yale Tuition: $26,350 (2023: $53,920)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Taurus

• January 28 1994: Beastie Boys release “Sabotage.”

• March 8 1994: Nine Inch Nails releases its second studio album, The Downward Spiral. The album was controversially recorded in the LA home where actress Sharon Tate was murdered in 1969.

• April 5 1994: Kurt Cobain commits suicide at his Seattle home. His public vigil was held on April 10 where his wife, Courtney Love, read portions of his suicide note.

• April 7 1994: The Rwandan Genocide begins. By its end on July 15, approximately 800,000 people had been murdered.

  

• April 27 1994: Nelson Mandela wins the first multiracial elections in South Africa.

• May 10 1994: Serial killer John Wayne Gacy is executed in Illinois for his 1967-1978 crime spree which left 33 men and boys dead.

• May 18 1994: The first genetically modified organism (GMO) is approved by the FDA.

• May 21 1994: Pulp Fiction premieres at the 47th Cannes Film Festival.

• May 26 1994: Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley wed in the Dominican Republic.

• June 12 1994: Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman are murdered in Los Angeles. After a highly publicized trial, O. J. Simpson was aquitted of the murders on October 3 1995.

• June 15 1994: The Lion King premieres.

• June 23 1994: Forrest Gump premieres in Los Angeles.

• July 5 1994: Amazon is founded in Bellevue, Washington.

• July 8 1994: North Korean Supreme Leader Kim Il-Sung dies and his son Kim Jong-il succeeds him.

• August 12-14 1994: Woodstock ’94 is held in Saugerties, New York.

• August 16 1994: IBM releases the IBM Simon Personal Communicator, considered to be the first ever smartphone.

  

• September 1994: The Taliban is founded in Kandahar, Afghanistan. They will take over Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, in September 1996.

• September 10 1994: The Shawshank Redemption premieres in Toronto.

  The Magic School Bus premieres on PBS. The final episode airs on December 6 1997.

• September 13 1994: The Notorious B.I.G. releases his debut album, Ready to Die.

• September 14 1994: Léon: The Professional premieres in France.

• September 22 1994: Friends premieres on NBC. The final episode airs on May 6 2004.

• October 19 1994: Clerks premieres.

• December 3 1994: Sony releases the PlayStation with an original price of $299 (2023: $612). It is discontinued on March 23 2006.

  

• 1995

  Median Salary: $32,100 (2023: $63,900)

  Minimum Wage: $4.25 (2023: $8.46)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $157,700 (2023: $313,900)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.21 (2023: $2.41)

  -Yale Tuition: $27,630 (2023: $55,000)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Taurus

• 1995: Bill Gates becomes the richest man in the world, surpassing the wealth of Japanese businessman Yoshiaki Tsutsumi.

• February 6 1995: Montell Jordan releases “This Is How We Do It.”

• March 20 1995: The deadliest terror attack in Japan occurs when members of the Aun Shinrikyo doomsday cult release sarin into the Tokyo subway, killing 14 and injuring 1,000. Thirteen of the cult members are later sentenced to death.

  

• March 31 1995: Selena is murdered in Corpus Christi, Texas, by her fan club president, Yolanda Saldívar.

• April 19 1995: Timothy McVeigh sets off a bomb at a federal building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. McVeigh is executed in Indiana on June 11 2001.

  

• May 21 1995: The first known death from the human form of Mad Cow Disease occurs in the UK.

• May 22 1995: TLC releases “Waterfalls.”

• July 19 1995: Clueless premieres.

• August 1 1995: Coolio releases “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

• August 15 1995: Los del Río releases the Bayside Boys remix of “Macarena.”

• September 3 1995: eBay is founded.

• September 19 1995: The Washington Post publishes the Unabomber manifesto.

• October 16 1995: The Million Man March is attended by 400,000 to 800,000 people in Washington DC.

• November 19 1995: Toy Story premieres in Hollywood.

• December 6 1995: The FDA approves Saquinavir, drastically reducing the number of AIDS deaths.

• 1996

  Median Salary: $34,000 (2023: $65,900)

  Minimum Wage: $4.75 (2023: $9.20)

  Price of:

  -A Home: $161,100 (2023: $312,200)

  -A Gallon of Gas: $1.29 (2023: $2.50)

  -Yale Tuition: $28,680 (2023: $55,570)

  Best Selling Car: Ford Taurus

• January 13 1996: Jon Krakauer publishes “Into the Wild,” recounting the true story of the 1992 death of Chris McCandless.

• April 28 1996: 35 are killed in a mass shooting in Tasmania. The event is remembered as the Port Arthur Massacre and led to significant changes to Australia’s firearm laws.

• June 23 1996: The Nintendo 64 is released in Japan. It was discontinued in 2002.

• July 1996: Tyco Toys releases Tickle Me Elmo

• July 3 1996: Independence Day premieres.

• July 5 1996: Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal to be successfully cloned in Midlothian, Scotland.

• July 27 1996: A pipe bomb explodes during the Summer Olympics held in Atlanta, Georgia. Two people are killed and 111 are injured.

• August 1 1996: George R. R. Martin publishes “A Game of Thrones,” the first book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.

• August 17 1996: Chuck Palahniuk publishes “Fight Club.” The film adaptation was released on September 10 1999.

• August 21 1996: Queen Elizabeth II rescinds Princess Diana’s status as part of the royal family a week before her divorce from Prince Charles is finalized.

• October 1996: Pokémon releases its first trading cards

• October 7 1996: Hey Arnold! premieres on Nickelodeon. The last episode airs on June 8 2004.

• September 13 1996: Tupac Shakur dies in Las Vegas after getting shot four times on September 7.

• November 10 1996: Space Jam premieres in Los Angeles.

• November 23 1996: Bandai releases the Tamagotchi in Japan.

  

• December 26 1996: 6-year-old JonBenét Ramsey is found dead at her home in Boulder, Colorado. Her killer has never been confirmed.