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Here are the highlights/lowlights
- MP3. Ability to download music and create your own CDs was mind boggling
- Music went to complete crap and hasn't recovered
- Fashion: Tapout, Von Dutch (LOL) and Trucker hats
- Pop Culture jumped the shark. Paris Hilton. Birth of people making a living off reality television
- Cribs on MTV. Addiction to image reached a new level
The pants were Baggier than ever before. People wore JNCOs around then. We were so far out from the Varsity jacket wearing, Paula Abdul listening, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle watching early 90's. People's memories of the early 90's started to be lumped in with their 80's memories. Generation Y even called '90-'93 the 80's. The 80's fans of then did not like that. They thought of '84-'87 as the real 80's. Most X'ers were nosalgic for the early-mid 80's. In 2002, Hot Topic sold those He-Man shirts and Muppet shoe laces. The nation was definately arming up for the "Big 80's revival". The atmosphere of the early 00's was that of the late 90's. The early 00's really aren't that long ago. I would take them over now. Thought that would stink, because I would know what the 00's would become. The mid-00's did not have as many cancelled shows as the early 00's did. Stuff like "MTV's Parental Contol" and "My Sweet Sixteen" should have been cancelled from conception.
I remember AIMing (AOL Instant Messaging) with dozens of friends at a time while in college (this was Facebook without the "Face" back then!) at 3 AM while writing thesis papers and chugging Mountain Dew and Hot Tamales...Now we just txt.
I was in middle school at the time. That time period really began with 9/11. I was in sixth grade and I remember watching it in class just being shocked and scared. For most people my age, that really popped our bubble of security and made us a little more insecure and jaded- or maybe it was also hormones. It was a scary time. I remember every day in school there was some rumor about another terrorist attack. I lived near Atlanta and people were constantly saying that we were next on their list because they wanted to bomb the CDC and release all the viruses they have there. Totally freaked me out.
So protecting America became the most important issue. To the OP- you may have came of age during the times when everybody hated George Bush, but when I was in middle school from 2001-2004 he could do no wrong. He was our protector and commander in chief, and criticizing him was tantamount to supporting the terrorists. I don't think we'll ever have another president who went from the most beloved man in America to the most hated man so quickly. But you have to remember that when America is threatened, we rally around our leaders. I remember watching the news during the beginning of the Iraq war with my family and my mom felt compelled to tie a yellow ribbon around the tree in our front yard. A lot of people were doing that. It was a very "rah rah America is number one!" kind of time. To be honest, as a liberal I really kind of resent that in retrospect. A lot of really smart and wise people were warning us that war with Iraq was a mistake, but we didn't listen because we just labeled them an un-American. I wish we had had more of a debate about the merits of the war- then maybe we might not have lost so many young men and women.
Pop culture was interesting as well. I was in middle school and everyone was trying to prove how grown up they were. If you listened to dirty rap and hip hop- then you were cool. If you knew all the words to "Hot in Hurr" or "Fantasy" by Ludacris then you were super cool. This was the era of crunk and hip hop, and it made us feel really grown up and mature to listen to it and memorize all the words. All the girls wanted to be Britney Spears and all the guys wanted to be Eminem or 50 Cent. I remember girls were constantly getting in trouble for wearing their jeans too low, as low rise jeans were really becoming stylish at the time. Girls would spend hours flat ironing their hair and we would all spend tons of money at Abercrombie and Fitch and then of course the outfit was completed with a puka shell necklace.
You were also really cool if you claimed to watch "Friends." I don't think any of us did. We were too busy watching American Idol with mom and dad. Those finales were always a big deal. We would all be fighting about who should have won the day after at school. We were probably the first generation to really utilize the internet from a young age. Everyone had an AIM account, but Myspace and Facebook weren't around yet. I think boys my age were also the first generation of kids to start looking at porn online. People older than us probably had their first porn experience with a sex book or a magazine or maybe a movie, but we were the first kids who had easy access to online porn from a young age. I think that might have screwed us up a little to be honest. So yeah, if you were a teenage boy in the early 2000s, the internet was for AIM, Porn and computer games lol.
So that's what I remember. It probably wasn't the greatest of times, but I came of age then, so it will always be a special time to me.
I was 9 when we entered the early 2000s, so I may not remember everything.
Here goes...
The economy was still roaring along at a rapid pace from the economic boom of the 90s and gas was still cheap (around 1.00/gallon) but everything seemed to fall apart after the 9/11 attack. We eventually went back to normal but society as whole seemed jaded and jittery in the post 9/11 event. Security tightened up big time. All the while, the housing boom was getting into gear around 2002 but gas prices were steadily rising and the War on Terrorism had just begun. Also, I remember there was a big anthrax scare around 2002.
People seemed optimistic about their own lives but pessimistic about the country and the people around them.
Cell phones, computers, and the internet were starting enter the average Americans households. Most people who had internet had it through AOL. I remember my Nana had to connect her phone line to her computer in order to access the internet and the computer would make a weird alien-like sound, then the "You have mail" voice would pop up. However, you couldn't use the phone if someone was using the internet.
Clothing: style of clothing was more uni-sex than it is now. Girls dressed more tom-boyish then and clothes were baggier in general.
Music: Brittany Spears, n'Sync, Eminem, etc were all popular.
TV: reality shows started popping up around 2001. American Idol, The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, Fear Factor, etc. Celebrity reality shows started coming on around 2003-2004.
Last edited by CountryFisher; 07-22-2013 at 06:53 PM..
Beautiful days. I'd go back to those days anytime than get rich....*sigh*
*Elementary school days summed up my late 90s/early 000s...And school was rather fun and pleasant
*Playing outside with friends, going around neighborhoods, doing mischievous things
*Weddings, meeting new kids there...
*Video games were gold - used to play Super Nintendo (Mario, Donkey Kong), which was already 8 years old back then, but oh well..(I play Wii today, and it's a 8 year old console now)
*The Ketchup Song, Shakira, Titanic (movie & song), The Mummy were our childhood entertainment...
After reading these posts I feel rather old...but here goes
1) 2000 I was fresh out of college and working my first and only post college job of a flight attendant. I loved it but was working twice as hard as in college and making twice as less...(welcome to the real world)
2)2001-Rumours at work of layoffs and economic slowdown loomed..then 9/11 struck...and my world ended as I knew it. I knew many good friends who died on that day. I did not get laid off from work but to this day it has not been the same...
3)2002-this is the best year of my life since college(since nothing can compare to those awesome days)I met and fell in love with my partner of 12 years and also I got broadband instead of dial up...
3) 2003 or 4 the ecnomy seemed to really suck I gave up my pension as most of us did just were greatful to have a job!!!and the rest is history!
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