Remember when music came on cassette tapes, windbreakers were neon, and you had to wait for the radio DJ to stop talking to record your favorite song?
The 90s were a golden era for music, giving us everything from the gritty distortion of Grunge to the high-energy BPMs of Eurodance. If you’ve ever wanted to recreate that vibe but don’t know how to play a synthesizer or tune a guitar, you’re in luck.
AI is your new time machine. Today, we’re diving into Suno AI, a tool that can turn a simple text description into a fully produced song that sounds like it came straight out of 1995.
Here is how to create your own 90s nostalgia track in minutes.
Step 1: The Setup
First, head over to Suno AI. You don’t need to download anything; it runs right in your browser.
- The Account: You’ll need to sign up (it’s free to start).
Step 2: Switch to “Custom Mode”
This is the most important step. On the “Create” page, toggle on Custom Mode. If you just type “90s song” in the simple box, you’ll get a generic result. Custom Mode gives you control over the two things that matter most: Lyrics and Style.
Step 3: The “Style of Music” (The Secret Sauce)
This is where the magic happens. The AI doesn’t just need to know “90s”; it needs to know what kind of 90s. The 90s had distinct “sonic textures”—specific instruments and production techniques.
Here are three “Style recipes” you can copy and paste to get different 90s vibes:
📼 1st Prompt – Old Wedding Procession + Echo +
Open Ground Feel
Make this in the style of an old Indian wedding procession with open ground echo.
Use warm rough vocals on a loudspeaker mic, slightly off-pitch and unpolished.
Mix in distant dhol, hand percussion, and rhythmic claps.
Add natural echo, outdoor ambience, and mild distortion to make it feel like a real barat.
Energy should be joyful and dance-focused.
🎸 2nd Prompt – Village Barat Mic + Dance Vibe
Make this sound like an old Indian village barat performance.
Use a cheap loudspeaker microphone tone with clear distortion, harsh mids, low bass, and limited bandwidth (6-7 KHz).
Add light echo like it's coming from an outdoor street setup.
Include energetic dance-style dhol, tasha, and hand percussion.
Make the vocals slightly off-center, raw, and unpolished, like someone singing on a wired mic in a wedding procession.
Overall vibe should feel festive, noisy, and high-energy, like a real barat song from rural India.
🧢 3rd Prompt – Vintage Street Mic + Local Singer +
Dhol Dance
Make this sound like a local singer performing on a street mic in a barat.
Use narrow, harsh vocal tone with distortion and echo.
Add dhol, tasha, and fast percussion with a festive dance pattern.
Mix everything slightly uneven to create a natural village vibe.
Keep the energy loud, raw, and full of celebration.
🎶 4th Prompt – Short Prompt
Bollywood 90's style, vintage, old
Step 4: Structure Your Song
In the Lyrics box, you can either write your own or let the AI generate them. Pro Tip: Use “Metatags” to tell the AI how to sing.
[Verse 1](Keeps the energy lower, tells the story)[Chorus](Make this big, catchy, and repetitive)[Bridge](A change in melody before the final chorus)[Outro](Fade out)
📝 Your Prompt Template
Want to try something else? Use this fill-in-the-blank formula to build your own prompt.
The Formula: [Decade + Genre], [Specific Instrument], [Vocal Style], [Tempo/Mood]
Example for a Pop Punk song:
- Decade/Genre: 90s Skate Punk
- Instrument: Power chords, fast drumming
- Vocal Style: Nasal male vocals, group shout chorus
- Mood: Rebellious, fast
Copy/Paste Template:
90s [INSERT GENRE], [INSERT INSTRUMENT], [INSERT VOCAL TYPE], [INSERT MOOD], lo-fi cassette quality
Why It Works
Suno is surprisingly good at capturing the production quality of the era. By adding keywords like “lo-fi,” “cassette tape,” or “raw production,” you stop the song from sounding too polished and modern, giving it that authentic, gritty 90s feel.
Ready to travel back in time? Click here to launch Suno AI