The trends, obsessions and crazes that took over America — one year at a time.
1990 · Episode
From Bart Simpson shirts and pump-up sneakers to portable Tetris and four pizza-loving turtles, these were the television shows, toys, games, movies, and music crazes that seemed to follow Americans everywhere in 1990.
Watch video1998 · 18:42
Furby, Pokémon, Titanic's Oscar year, the Seinfeld finale — the crazes, movies and gadgets that America could not escape in 1998.
Watch video1999 · 19:11
Pokémon, Y2K, The Matrix, Britney Spears and The Phantom Menace — the obsessions that closed out the American 1990s.
Watch videoShorter. One topic.
The crazes that took over — one origin story at a time.
Hype Stories · culture
The Jerry Springer Show began as serious television. By 1998, its fights, chants and security guards had made it a daytime sensation—and a target for critics.
Read the story
Hype Stories · culture
Giga Pets were inexpensive keychain toys with demanding digital creatures inside. When schools banned them in 1997, some parents inherited the feeding, cleaning and button-pushing—and Tiger Electronics turned the craze into a major business.
Read the story
Hype Stories · games
Pogs became a 1990s sensation without a blockbuster movie, video game or massive advertising campaign. Kids spread the simple collecting game from one schoolyard to another—until bans, arguments and an overcrowded market helped bring the craze to an abrupt end.
Read the story
Hype Stories · culture
Sky Dancers turned a pull-string launcher and a spinning fairy doll into a major 1990s toy hit. The unpredictable flight made them exciting—and ultimately led to a recall of approximately 8.9 million dolls.
Read the story
Hype Stories · tech
Before smartphones. Before social media. Before broadband. There was AOL — and the free trial discs that showed up in mailboxes, Blockbuster, and even frozen Omaha Steaks.
Read the story
Hype Stories · toys
Mattel, LEGO, Tyco and Hasbro all said no. Then a wedding, a drinking straw, and a construction toy that actually moved took over the 90s.
Read the story
Hype Stories · fashion
A sitcom hairstyle became a national obsession. The Rachel turned a fictional character’s layered haircut into a name millions of women carried into salons.
Read the storyFeatured year
1998
1998 was the year a talking toy crashed Christmas, a Japanese game landed in American backpacks, and a shipwreck movie still had the country in its grip. This episode walks through the ten hypes that defined the year — the ones you heard in malls, rec rooms and every other conversation.
Prefer the channel? Watch on YouTube.
A hype is more than something that was popular.
It is something people suddenly couldn't escape.
A toy everyone wanted.
A song everyone knew.
A movie everyone talked about.
A trend everyone copied.
A product everyone suddenly had to own.
For a brief moment, it was everywhere.
That is a hype.