the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 1990 in Canada

To be fifteen in Canada in 1990 was to have “More Than Words Can Say” by Alias everywhere, Home Alone on every screen, and Road to Avonlea on after school. That year, gas cost $0.57/litre and Super Mario Bros. 3 becomes the game everyone wants was the new thing. Born in 1975? You turned 15 in 1990 — a teenager from 1988 to 1994, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 1990 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 1990

More Than Words Can Say — Alias

  1. Nothing Compares 2 U — Sinéad O'ConnorThat single tear on the screen taught a generation exactly how a broken heart was supposed to look.
  2. Vogue — MadonnaYou struck the pose in your bedroom mirror, certain elegance was something you could just decide to have.
  3. It Must Have Been Love — RoxettePretty Woman romance in a Roxette chorus, soundtracking every rented VHS sleepover that year.
  4. Where Does My Heart Beat Now — Céline DionCéline's English breakthrough felt like the whole country holding its breath and cheering at once.
  5. Vision of Love — Mariah CareyThat impossible high note announced a new decade's diva and every karaoke dream that would fail to reach it.

▶ Play your 1990 reel

why this one mattered

A Toronto band built from the wreckage of Sheriff, riding a soaring power ballad to the only all-Canadian #1 of the year — the kind of song that owned the radio dial from Thanksgiving clear through to Christmas.

the year-end #1 was #1 on RPM's Singles Chart for four weeks, November 24 – December 15, 1990 — the only Canadian act to top the Canadian chart that year (also #2 on the Billboard Hot 100).

what topped the Canadian box office in 1990

  • Home Alone
  • Ghost
  • Dances with Wolves
  • Pretty Woman
  • Total Recall

the tv shows you are binging in 1990

  • Road to Avonlea
  • Hockey Night in Canada
  • The Kids in the Hall
  • MuchMusic
  • Degrassi High

the games you are playing in 1990

  • Super Mario Bros. 3
  • Dr. Mario
  • Tetris
  • Altered Beast
  • Golden Axe
  • Strider

what things cost in 1990

What things cost in 1990
Gasoline$0.57/litre
Minimum wage (Ontario)$5.00/hour
Movie ticket~$6.25
Stamp (domestic letter)$0.39
the average income~$27,300/year average individual employment income

trending this year

Road to Avonlea premieres
AI-generated illustration
Road to Avonlea premieres
Super Mario Bros. 3
The GST (Goods and Services Tax) becomes law
AI-generated illustration
The GST (Goods and Services Tax) becomes law
The Oka Crisis
Photo by SamuelFreli (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crise_d'Oka_-_SQ_et_forces_canadiennes.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Oka Crisis
The Simpsons
Naula Ayisabun Aningore · CC BY-SA 4.0
The Simpsons

the gadgets you just got

Super Mario Bros. 3
Sega Genesis
Evan-Amos (Vanamo Media), via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain (released to public domain worldwide)
Sega Genesis
Game Boy
Evan-Amos, via Wikimedia Commons · Public Domain
Game Boy
Cellular 'bag phone'
Photo by Trent021 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_Bag_Phone_Outside_Bag.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cellular 'bag phone'
Camcorder
Photo by Darian Hildebrand (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RCA_VHS_shoulder-mount_Camcorder.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Camcorder

what everyone is snacking on

Dunkaroos
taylorhatmaker (Flickr), CC BY 2.0
Dunkaroos
Hawkins Cheezies
Photo by Bondolo (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W._T._Hawkins_Cheezies.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Hawkins Cheezies
Nanaimo bars
Photo by Alex Lozupone (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NanaimoS1370051.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Nanaimo bars
Ketchup chips
Photo by Hannah Clover (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ketchup_chips.jpg · CC BY 4.0
Ketchup chips
Mr. Big
AI-generated illustration
Mr. Big

what everyone is drinking

Clearly Canadian
Arkpafisto, via Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Clearly_Canadian_Orchard_Peach.jpg) · CC0
Clearly Canadian
Tim Hortons double-double
Photo by Justin (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Hortons,_extra_extra_large.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Tim Hortons double-double
Milk in a bag
Photo by incommunicado (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Four_litre_bagged_milk,_Quebec.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Milk in a bag
Molson Canadian
Photo by Sam Cavenagh (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Molson_Canadian_Beerbottle.jpg · CC BY 2.0
Molson Canadian
A Caesar
Photo by AirIntake at English Wikipedia (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caesar_Cocktail.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0
A Caesar

what made the news in 1990

  • The Oka Crisis grips the country through the summer
  • The Meech Lake Accord fails to be ratified
  • Nelson Mandela is freed after 27 years (February 11)
  • Iraq's invasion of Kuwait sends gas prices climbing
  • Germany reunifies after decades of division
The Oka Crisis: a 78-day standoff between Mohawk protesters, police and the Canadian Army near Montreal (July 11 - September 26)
Photo by SamuelFreli (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crise_d%27Oka_-_SQ_et_forces_canadiennes.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
The Oka Crisis: a 78-day standoff between Mohawk protesters, police and the Canadian Army near Montreal (July 11 - September 26)
The Meech Lake Accord collapses after Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper blocks its ratification (June)
Photo by Reid Campbell (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manitoba_Legislature_December_2023.jpg · CC0
The Meech Lake Accord collapses after Manitoba MLA Elijah Harper blocks its ratification (June)
Nelson Mandela is released from prison in South Africa (February 11)
Photo by George Bush Presidential Library and Museum (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_H._W._Bush_and_Nelson_Mandela.jpg · Public domain
Nelson Mandela is released from prison in South Africa (February 11)
Iraq invades Kuwait, sending oil and gas prices climbing that fall (August 2)
Photo by Unknown (U.S. Government) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iraqi_invasion_of_Kuwait,_1990.jpg · Public domain
Iraq invades Kuwait, sending oil and gas prices climbing that fall (August 2)
Germany reunifies (October 3)
Photo by U.S. Army (Jessica Abbas) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Germany_celebrates_reunification_(7452472).jpg · Public domain
Germany reunifies (October 3)

what everyone is saying

  • "eh"still eternal
  • "loonie"three years old and fully absorbed into everyday speech
  • "keener"the overachiever, always
  • "chesterfield"what your grandparents still called the couch
  • "beauty"high praise, still

the summer of 1990.

the best of it still feels like it's coming.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 1990 goes.

Turn 1990 into a 30-second reel →

▶ Play your 1990 reel with sound