Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Nope. 1998 and 1999 were still totally '90s for sure, but it definitely already has some early '00s tendencies.
Beavis and Butthead was 1993-1997. Very popular in the mid 90's, and the re-runs were still extremely popular in the late 90's.
Home Imrpovement, though it came out in 1991 went on until 1999.
Grunge was early 90's for sure, but it's limped on in various other forms since then. The late 90's gave birth to pop punk with Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring, and other variations, and also boy bands like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, and huge teeny bopper pop idols like Christina Aguleira, Briney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and more. Friends, ER, and some other big tv shows were darlings of the late 90's.
It's debatable, but I still think the late 90's had more memorable 90's things about them than did the early 90's, but then maybe it's because I was older in the late 90's and remember more of it. It's really all perspective anyway.
Beavis and Butthead was 1993-1997. Very popular in the mid 90's, and the re-runs were still extremely popular in the late 90's.
Home Imrpovement, though it came out in 1991 went on until 1999.
Grunge was early 90's for sure, but it's limped on in various other forms since then. The late 90's gave birth to pop punk with Green Day, Blink 182, The Offspring, and other variations, and also boy bands like NSYNC and Backstreet Boys, and huge teeny bopper pop idols like Christina Aguleira, Briney Spears, Jessica Simpson, and more. Friends, ER, and some other big tv shows were darlings of the late 90's.
It's debatable, but I still think the late 90's had more memorable 90's things about them than did the early 90's, but then maybe it's because I was older in the late 90's and remember more of it. It's really all perspective anyway.
I agree that the Facebook/Twitter/smartphone revolution of the mid/late-2000s was a massive cultural change, but at the same time it doesn't look or feel like previous cultural changes from decade to decade. From the 1950s to the 60s to the 70s to the 80s to the 90s, everyone *knew* they were in a different decade with a distinct culture. The music and fashion trends made it obvious. That hasn't happened for the past two decades.
I think the reason is, from the 50s to the 90s each decade's culture was in its own way rebelling against that of the previous decades. But 21st century culture isn't rebelling *against* the 90s. So people don't feel a need to go out of their way to *not* look or sound like the 90s.
I think this happened because of the nature of 90s culture combined with technological changes of the time. A hallmark of 90s culture was the rejection of the rigid social roles and strata that defined the 80s, the social scene in which The Breakfast Club existed for example. Because 90s culture was reacting against such a social hierarchy, it was inherently averse to setting up its own hierarchy. The attitude was, everyone could be into what they were into, and that was cool. If you didn't live through the 80s, it's hard to imagine what social life was like before this happened.
The technological aspect was the breakdown of monolithic mass media in the 90s, which meant that everyone didn't have to listen to the same Top 40 music and watch the same TV shows the way they did in the 80s and before. So the media wasn't able to put 90s trendsetters in such a ubiquitous spotlight that everyone would feel peer pressure to conform to a specific type.
Due to a combination of these two developments, the trendsetters of 90s culture did not put themselves up on a pedestal in the same way that those of the previous decades had. Therefore, in the following decades people have not felt a need to knock "90s types" off of a pedestal.
I've never been able to put my finger on what the 2000's were all about. They kind of just flew by for me, and aside from the very early part of the decade (up to about 2003), I can't think of anything that clearly defines them, they still seem fairly "normal". In fact, the first half of this decade even blends into the 2000's for me, I just can't think of any monumental cultural changes that warrant a major shift, it's more of a gradual blending.
I would assume the 2000's will paint a clearer picture once we're further away from them. The 90's are clear as day to me.
You should add your reasons behind choosing the quintessential year. I really disagree with 1993 being the "quintessential" year of the 1990's.
I would wager for 1997 or 1998. The 90's were in full swing by then, boy bands, the new diva pop singers, Bill Clinton and his scandalous presidency, the economy was on the upswing, the internet was on the rise, video games were moving to the homes in droves with the advent of N64 and Play Station, Pokemon and other popular trading card games had made their American debut, a lot better movies had come out, Titanic namely, the Summer Olympics in Atlanta in 1996. Yeah, 1996-1998 were more the quintessential years in my opinion.
Just out of curiousity were you a younger kid in the late 90s?
Because when it comes to remebering the 90s, people who were children during the decade seem to focus on the later part of the decade and all the pop culture they remember from their somewhat idealized childhood. While most everyone older seems to think of the early 90s culture(the more nihilistic era of grunge and gangsta rap) as epitomizing the 90s in some ways. Like, I went from being 10 years old to being in college in the 90s, but the late 90s kid culture just seems like something I missed and wasn't really that interested in by my late teens(Pokemon, Harry Potter, teen pop)--it was all marketed at my younger cousins' generation.
My brother and I are both either very late Gen X or very early millenials, but we grew up more so with the culture of the early 90s. The late 90s was when there was this new sense of optimism for a second, but it was fleeting during the period, thinking that there was something bad around the corner(and there was).
In terms of nostalgia though we're all biased to what we were around for. For example the late 80s from about 86 or 87 on is what I remember from the 80s as a kid since I was too young to remember the really early period of the decade.
I've never been able to put my finger on what the 2000's were all about. They kind of just flew by for me, and aside from the very early part of the decade (up to about 2003), I can't think of anything that clearly defines them, they still seem fairly "normal". In fact, the first half of this decade even blends into the 2000's for me, I just can't think of any monumental cultural changes that warrant a major shift, it's more of a gradual blending.
I would assume the 2000's will paint a clearer picture once we're further away from them. The 90's are clear as day to me.
Yeah, I don't know what I put as a the dominant cultural trends of the 2000s looking back. It seems like the culture should've changed more after 2001, but people just imagined that we could just get back to the peaceful boom years of the late 90s--and for a second it seemed we could for a few years, though Iraq War Part II turned into an epic clusterfark and the real estate bubble started to fall apart and then we were looking at a really big economic downturn. The middle part of the decade get dark again. But honestly the music or art of the period didn't seem to reflect what was going on in the news. There wasn't a great culture of protest songs or socio-political commentary, it was just rabble arguing via TV news networks and online forums.
A lot of the pop culture of the early-mid 2000s seemed to be pretty steeped in nostalgia for something else. Like the whole hipster/indie culture was just pulling at strings trying to grab onto every old countercultural element since the 60s. Rap music became overtaken by rappers trying to pop singers with autotune. The biggest cultural shift in the 2000s I think was that technology became more than just a way to consume pop culture, technology became the pop culture. You have people via YouTube getting 15 minutes of fame, people leading internet startups became the new rock stars(a bit hyperbolic, but sadly a little true).
Yeah, I don't know what I put as a the dominant cultural trends of the 2000s looking back. It seems like the culture should've changed more after 2001, but people just imagined that we could just get back to the peaceful boom years of the late 90s--and for a second it seemed we could for a few years, though Iraq War Part II turned into an epic clusterfark and the real estate bubble started to fall apart and then we were looking at a really big economic downturn. The middle part of the decade get dark again. But honestly the music or art of the period didn't seem to reflect what was going on in the news. There wasn't a great culture of protest songs or socio-political commentary, it was just rabble arguing via TV news networks and online forums.
A lot of the pop culture of the early-mid 2000s seemed to be pretty steeped in nostalgia for something else. Like the whole hipster/indie culture was just pulling at strings trying to grab onto every old countercultural element since the 60s. Rap music became overtaken by rappers trying to pop singers with autotune. The biggest cultural shift in the 2000s I think was that technology became more than just a way to consume pop culture, technology became the pop culture. You have people via YouTube getting 15 minutes of fame, people leading internet startups became the new rock stars(a bit hyperbolic, but sadly a little true).
I remember having a moment in the summer of 2007 where I decided I wasn't going to listen to new mainstream rap/hip-hop anymore. It became annoying, without even the slightest hint of being genuine. Like it was all suburban bad boys living the high life, not storytellers who kept it real. Rappers used to be scary, not partiers.
We all do grow up and sell out, but the entire genre sold out, at least for me.
I don't want to go as far as to call new technology as the dominating aspect of the culture, surely we are more than that, aren't we?
I think the economic collapse of 2008 put an early end to the 2000's.
In terms of pop culture, the 2000's were most noteworthy for all the gaudiness and trashiness. We glorified ghetto culture to the point that the only #1 hits in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 were by rappers, R&B artists (with rappers featured in a verse), pop artists trying to rap (Gwen Stefani), and a token week or two each year for whoever won American Idol. Top 40 radio even developed a rift, with "rhythmic" Top 40 stations eating the lunch of the more comprehensive Top 40 stations from about 2001 through 2007. We went from Nickelback at the end of 2001 all the way to James Blunt at the beginning of 2006 without a non-rhythmic, non-American Idol #1 hit. In fact, the biggest such hit in 2003 was Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow's duet, "Picture," which reached no higher than #4 that year. Elsewhere, your self-worth was measured by your car accessories. The more TVs in your car, and the bigger your rims were, the cooler you were. Even upper-middle-class soccer moms started putting "spinners" on their oversized SUVs so their kids would think they're cool. Never mind that everybody who went crazy with the automotive accessories put themselves deep in debt doing so, which expedited the cultural changes to come.
Ghetto culture wasn't the only reason pop culture in the 2000's was so trashy, though it was certainly the primary driver. Elements of redneck culture began to proliferate as well. Anybody living outside the South notice an increase in the number of Confederate battle flags appearing locally since 2000? You could even find white trash in California starting to fly it. Anybody else notice how popular and literally trashy your average Kenny Chesney concert is? Yee-haw. Then there was the upper-middle-class entitlement culture, which was basically fueled by the explosion of consumer debt. Weddings and "sweet 16" birthday parties suddenly became these epic events. Teenage girls bitched about the entry-level luxury vehicles their parents bought for them being the wrong color. Glad to see them and their enabling parents literally lose their **** by the end of the decade. Voyeurism became trendy as well, with pornography going mainstream, and "reality TV" becoming ubiquitous. Related to this was the trend of people becoming famous for no real reason whatsoever: Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Omarosa, Kim Kardashian...OK, Kim Kardashian became famous for starring in a sex tape with a rapper, which ties back into pornography going mainstream.
As for "social media," I honestly see it as a more quintessentially 2010's phenomenon. MySpace and YouTube took off in 2006; Facebook reached out beyond college campuses in 2007, and Twitter took off in 2008. Remember, though, that I said the 2000's were truncated culturally, so something that became a trend during the late 2000's only had a glancing influence on the "cultural decade." The main cause of the truncated 2000's and the early start to the 2010's was the collapse of the economy in 2008, but the growth of social media laid plenty of groundwork for change as well. This is how the whole "Web 2.0" talk really got going in the first place. Fashion has changed a bit too. Finally -- FINALLY!!! -- girls are ditching the sloppy-looking bell-bottom and flared-leg pants with waistlines at their pubic bones, and going more for skinny jeans. As a man who admires the entire female form, I'm so happy to see girls wearing more form-fitting clothes than before. And the waistlines have gone slightly higher again, high enough to be functional (no risk of "plumber's crack"), but still low enough to be tantalizing.
As for music of the 2010's, James Blunt and Fall Out Boy were the first signs that musical tastes were beginning to change, back around the end of 2005 and the beginning of 2006. There are a lot more "singer/songwriter" and alternative rock songs that are big hits now than there were 10 years ago. The "rhythmic" Top 40 format is now moribund, because club music has more international flair, and less ghetto flair. That earthquake we all felt at the end of 2008 wasn't just the collapse of the economy; it was also the shift from T-Pain and Lil' Wayne to Lady GaGa and The Black Eyed Peas. World-renowned DJs like David Guetta and Calvin Harris started recruiting vocalists for their songs, with Zedd following in their footsteps. Experimental dance music has also enjoyed a higher profile, with DJs like Skrillex and deadmau5. And the 2014 Grammy Awards show just how far we've come. The Song of the Year was "Get Lucky" by Daft Punk and Pharrell Williams, which paired up world-renowned DJs from France with one of the more experimental R&B artists of recent years, and the Record of the Year was "Royals" by Lorde, which was a blatant rejection of the hedonistic hip-hop culture of the 2000's sung by a girl from New Zealand. By the way, "Royals" spent nine weeks at #1, which is the same length of time as "Hey Jude," "Bette Davis Eyes" and "In Da Club"; and "Get Lucky" spent several weeks at #2.
I've talked mostly about the differences in pop culture between the 2000's and 2010's, but I ought to touch on the geopolitical for a bit. In that regard, one of the key differences between the 2000's and the 2010's is that Muslim supremacists were public enemy #1 during the 2000's, but now it's anybody with power or influence on Wall Street or in Washington DC. Quite frankly, the Muslim supremacists, the Wall Street CEOs, and the federal politicians and the lobbyists who own their souls can all burn in Hell for eternity. They're all to blame. It takes a long-term, bipartisan effort by federal politicians to **** things up as badly as they are in this country, and the Middle East is home to the most backward-ass political regimes on the planet. There hasn't been a single worthwhile innovation originating in the Middle East in over 500 years, and the best Wall Street can do in that regard is a ****ing credit-default swap. And Washington DC has become the embodiment of the Gervais Principle.
None of the people I mentioned in the previous paragraph have made the world a better place; in fact, they've all made it markedly worse. The problem is, they're the ones who have all the power and influence, which explains the other key geopolitical difference between the 2000's and the 2010's: the mood shift from paranoia to resignation. In the 2000's, we were willing to fight, but eventually we realized that we have to fight much more than just lunatic Muslim supremacists. Many of our own politicians, businessmen and "philanthropists" (Hi, George Soros!) are just as evil as the bastards in the Middle East. John Mayer reached this sobering epiphany by the end of 2006 in his song, "Waiting On The World To Change." The salient line of lyrics: "It's not that we don't care / We just know that the fight ain't fair." Resignation soon followed, and I honestly don't see it getting any better soon, especially since the current presidential administration has bamboozled us even worse than the preceding administration.
This is just my take on the differences between the 2000's and the 2010's. Take it for what it's worth.
Quote:
Originally Posted by David Aguilar
I remember having a moment in the summer of 2007 where I decided I wasn't going to listen to new mainstream rap/hip-hop anymore.
So did the rest of the United States.
The only rappers to debut since who have been all that successful are Wiz Khalifa and Macklemore. Speaking of Macklemore, "Thrift Shop" spent six weeks at #1 last year, and it's a song about saving money on clothes. What a profound change from all the designer name-dropping 10 years ago!
Last edited by Craziaskowboi; 03-11-2014 at 07:04 PM..
I've never been able to put my finger on what the 2000's were all about. They kind of just flew by for me, and aside from the very early part of the decade (up to about 2003), I can't think of anything that clearly defines them, they still seem fairly "normal". In fact, the first half of this decade even blends into the 2000's for me, I just can't think of any monumental cultural changes that warrant a major shift, it's more of a gradual blending.
I would assume the 2000's will paint a clearer picture once we're further away from them. The 90's are clear as day to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Deezus
Just out of curiousity were you a younger kid in the late 90s?
Because when it comes to remebering the 90s, people who were children during the decade seem to focus on the later part of the decade and all the pop culture they remember from their somewhat idealized childhood. While most everyone older seems to think of the early 90s culture(the more nihilistic era of grunge and gangsta rap) as epitomizing the 90s in some ways. Like, I went from being 10 years old to being in college in the 90s, but the late 90s kid culture just seems like something I missed and wasn't really that interested in by my late teens(Pokemon, Harry Potter, teen pop)--it was all marketed at my younger cousins' generation.
My brother and I are both either very late Gen X or very early millenials, but we grew up more so with the culture of the early 90s. The late 90s was when there was this new sense of optimism for a second, but it was fleeting during the period, thinking that there was something bad around the corner(and there was).
In terms of nostalgia though we're all biased to what we were around for. For example the late 80s from about 86 or 87 on is what I remember from the 80s as a kid since I was too young to remember the really early period of the decade.
Judging from these posts, and my own experiences it seems like we are less and less in touch with what's trending, what defines a decade, and the overall culture of the decade after we leave high school or college.
I graduated high school in 2007, I feel that in the year following high school I still had a pretty good grasp on the trending culture of the times, but once 2009 rolled around and I finally ended up in my career path I stopped paying as much attention. New music came to me more slowly, style and fads didn't affect me as much.
What I do remember very clearly is that the mid 2000's were very distinctive. You had the onset of Friendster and Xanga, then Myspace, and eventually Facebook. Hip hop dominated the airwaves in the early and mid 2000's while rock artists struggled. In this time almost ALL rock bands started to wear eyeliner, then emo rock came out, with their long straight hair parted over one eye.
The music industry struggled as online pirating became very prolific. Bush's presidency was being made a mockery of on a daily basis. The housing bubble continued to grow yet no one really noticed. Online gaming reached new peaks with the onset of the Xbox 360 in 2005 and the PS3 in 2006, cellphones became common! So common that almost every high school student had one when I was in school. Today kids in elementary school have them!
I identify very well with the times that I was a kid or a teenager. I don't identify with the early 90's as much because I was pretty young back then, born in '88. However, I do remember the late 90's pretty well, which probably biases my judgement on why I think the late 90's were the quintessential and defining years of that decade.
I think the economic collapse of 2008 put an early end to the 2000's.
In terms of pop culture, the 2000's were most noteworthy for all the gaudiness and trashiness. We glorified ghetto culture to the point that the only #1 hits in 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 were by rappers, R&B artists (with rappers featured in a verse), pop artists trying to rap (Gwen Stefani), and a token week or two each year for whoever won American Idol. Top 40 radio even developed a rift, with "rhythmic" Top 40 stations eating the lunch of the more comprehensive Top 40 stations from about 2001 through 2007. We went from Nickelback at the end of 2001 all the way to James Blunt at the beginning of 2006 without a non-rhythmic, non-American Idol #1 hit. In fact, the biggest such hit in 2003 was Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow's duet, "Picture," which reached no higher than #4 that year. Elsewhere, your self-worth was measured by your car accessories. The more TVs in your car, and the bigger your rims were, the cooler you were. Even upper-middle-class soccer moms started putting "spinners" on their oversized SUVs so their kids would think they're cool. Never mind that everybody who went crazy with the automotive accessories put themselves deep in debt doing so, which expedited the cultural changes to come.
YES! I remember this so well! Rap music and ghetto culture was EVERYWHERE! IT was so unbelievably annoying. Especially when you had upper middle class white kids trying to act "ghetto". Trash rap music littered nearly every facet of pop culture back then. As a die hard rock fan, the early and mid 2000's were tough times for us. I think that some of the best progressive rock music was made during those times, but went largely unnoticed due to the nation's fascination with trashy rap music. It wasn't really until about 2007 or 2008 that this finally began to turn, and various forms of alternative rock and new variations of pop with actually talented artists began to take center stage again.
Amy Winehouse, Adelle, One Republic, Foster the People, are all that really comes to mind now, but the music industry took a decidedly positive turn and actually found some good talent out there. May have had something to do with the social media boom and a lot more artists getting recognized, unfortunately it worked in the favor of bad ones too...such as Justin Beiber.
Times are so much better today fashionably and music wise than they were 10 years ago. 2004 was part of my teenage years, and they shaped me into who I am today, but pop culture has definitely taken a step up in many ways within the last 10 years.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
