There were so many things to love about the '90s — from food to fashion and everything in between — that it's no surprise there were certain posters every '90s kid had. We had a lot to memorialize, you know? Naturally, we plastered these posters all over all walls, along with photo collages of our friends and other mementos. I personally had an entire wall of my room devoted to '90s grunge rock, complete with posters of the Foo Fighters and sloppy charcoal sketches of Kurt Cobain's face. (I fancied myself an artist for five seconds.)
Do kids today share the same fascination with posters we did back in the day? I don't know, although I'm inclined to say no. In fact, before we know it, there will probably be some new-fangled replacement for our OG print versions — like LED posters or digital projections — adorning the walls of today's tech-savvy youth. But in the '90s, we still appreciated the way a good 18-by-24-inch glossy rectangle of pop culture looked hanging over our bed or just above our extensive collection of butterfly clips and chokers.
While the exact subject matter of said posters varied, here are some of the classic categories of posters every '90s kid couldn't wait to hang on their walls.
1. The Poster Of Your Favorite Heartthrob
Le sigh. Oh, excuse me, I was just swooning over the myriad heartthrobs '90s kids had to choose from. Jared Leto's eyes popped against my bedroom's navy blue walls, but the heartthrobs hung on my friends' walls included dreamy faces like Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Danielle Fishel.
2. The Poster Of Your Most Beloved Band
We've already established I went through a very heavy grunge phase during the '90s — if you're picturing me in flannel overshirts atop my baby tees, with baggy jeans and Chucks, rocking out to the Smashing Pumpkins ... well, you'd be pretty spot on. Of course, the '90s served as a heyday for boy bands, so it wasn't uncommon to see posters of the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC and even the slightly more vintage of the bunch New Kids On The Block. Oh, and let's not forget the Spice Girls. Grrl power and all that.
3. The Inspirational Poster
In some cases, these were definitely posters the '90s kid picked themselves. My friend had a quote from the movie Mad Love, and I thought it was the coolest. I, on the other hand, had a non-ironic kitten poster I scored at my school's book fair. I believe it was hanging precariously, yet adorably, from a tree branch urging me to "Hang in there!"
4. The Poster Of Your Dream Car
I definitely reserved a spot on my wall for my absolute dream vehicle: A Jeep Wrangler. I guess I have Cher Horowitz to thank for that, although my poster depicted a black Jeep as opposed to a white one. IRL, though, the Jeep I bought right out of high school was white like my inspiration's. Other dream '90s cars included the Lotus (a la Pretty Woman) and the DeLorean (Back to the Future, natch).
5. The Poster Of The Latest It Girl
This was a bit different from the heartthrob poster in that it wasn't always someone who was just lauded for being a mainstream hottie. These posters celebrated women who had that certain je ne sais quo you wished you had — think Kate Moss, Winona Ryder, Drew Barrymore, Gwen Stefani, and Liv Tyler.
6. The Poster Of Your Favorite Movie
Wow, where do we even start with this one? Depending on your druthers, this could have been anything! After all, the '90s was nothing if not filled with cult classics of the cinematic world. A few standouts might look like Titanic, The Sandlot, Boyz N The Hood, Jurassic Park, Clueless, Now & Then , and 10 Things I Hate About You. Or anything with Heath Ledger, for that matter.
7. The Candie's Poster
Seriously, though — did anyone not have that poster of Jenny McCarthy popping a squat on the toilet for a Candie's ad circa 1997? I thought it upped my hip cred ten-fold but, looking back, I think it just made my parents wonder what in the world was going through the minds of '90s kids. Still, it was pretty badass. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Images: tzzza / Getty Images
