i think you'd have had to have lived through the Eighties and the first half of the Nineties as a conscious adult (or near-adult in my case re. Thatcher's first term as PM - which was the first of three terms as PM - and which was followed by another Conservative term of office - making for a grand total of eighteen years of Tory rule) - lived through all that, and the mainstream cultural reflections of it - with an adult awareness of it - to truly know how daft it is to say that the late Nineties was the worst time in Britain since the Blitz.
Second half of the 90s was a top time on many fronts, compared with what came before, and certainly compared with what came next from Iraq War onwards.
In retrospect all that pre-millennium tension and "cold cold world" and "darkness" and apocalyptic vibes that suffused certain quarters of Nineties music and that we used to bang on about as critics / fans, that is the stuff that seems misplaced. Things weren't that dark. True dark would be coming soon enough.
The happy happy up-up-UP! vibe circa 96-97-98 - Hype Williams videos, UKG, Timbaland & B, Daft Punk, and yes Big Beat, and yes Spice Girls too - seems more and more apt, and something to be wistful about.