GAZZA or Wazza? Major or Cameron? Nirvana or the Foo Fighters?

With 20 years now separating us from the 1990s, many of us are beginning to look afresh at the decade that gave us Titanic, Harry Potter and Dolly the Sheep. And we like what we are seeing.

According to a new poll for online magazine ASKMen, in the Battle of the Decades, the 1990s (Gulf War I/Grey’s Anatomy/Grunge) is beating hands down, the decade which has just passed (Iraq War/Scrubs/X-Factor).

Readers were asked to vote on whether they preferred a famous face from 1991 or their modern day rival and with figures from film, music, politics, TV and sport up for the public vote, celebrities from 1991 won six of the ten categories. In sport, former England star Paul Gascoigne – lately of this parish – remains close to our hearts, beating Wayne Rooney. Maybe we prefer his visible heartbreak at losing THAT semi during Italia 1990 to Rooney’s smirk, as we crashed out of yet another World Cup in South Africa last year.

In the world of pop we much prefer Nirvana to former bandmember Dave Grohl’s new outfit, the Foo Fighters, as we would rather listen to Madonna than Lady Gaga and Phil Collins instead of Plan B.

Weirdest preference of all was John Major over David Cameron. True, the student protests, euro meltdown, Liam Fox disaster and his general air of I’m all Right Jack-ery has not endeared Cammo to the masses. But is his record really any worse than the man who originally gave it all away to Europe at Maastricht, presided over the financially humiliating Black Wednesday (but only after interest rates soared to 15 per cent), and cheated on his loyal wife with Edwina Currie, of all people? Yet it’s John Major the survey respondents preferred.

But the 1990s didn’t have it all their own way. We would rather have the reformed Take That than its boy-band original, more than 60 per cent of us prefer Beyonce to her 90s rival, Whitney Houston. And new James Bond Daniel Craig beats his lacklustre 90s incarnation, Timothy Dalton, by 73 to 27 per cent.

The poll was conducted to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the launch of SEGA’s iconic video game character, Sonic The Hedgehog, which is perhaps the biggest clue to the real significance of the 1990s as the Age of Information and Technology.

Before the year 2000 dawned, we had witnessed the birth not only of Sonic, but his cyber pal Crash Bandicoot, Grand Theft Auto, the MP3 player, email, DVDs Apple’s iMac computer and, of course, the world wide web.

Add to this the publication of a book called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, the opening of the channel tunnel, the unceremonious booting-out of Margaret Thatcher, Forrest Gump, Disney’s The Lion King, George Clooney in ER and Manchester United clinching the treble and is it any wonder the 1990s are having a bit of a moment?

ASKMen publisher Mike Goldstein is in no doubt. “We’re a nation in the love with the past, and it’s clear so many of us become misty-eyed nostalgics when discussing our heroes,” he says. “In today’s celeb obsessed age, where stars like Rooney and Lady Gaga are splashed over the news, it’s great to celebrate a simpler time.”