Now that we're in 2018, can we determine the cultural character of the early 2000's/noughts?

There were none.

Bootleg pants and big sneakers. This song everywhere!

Axe body spray. Everywhere.

Horrible fake tans, flip-flops, "preppy" clothing a la Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle, etc.

MTV was still pretty big, though like many other networks at the time, it was beginning to transition to reality shows

SKANKY neatly sums up that unfortunate era

I was describing 2000-2005, not the entire decade, though is there really much of a difference?

r7 You forgot terry cloth track suits! I had a friend's Mom who lived in these. She seemed genuinely ecstatic that the fashion world had finally caught up with her lazy glam.

R9 Example:

I kind of love all of this. Back when trashy didn't take itself seriously. Now people wearing plush Unicorn costumes demand to be approached with the utmost of serious solemnity, for being so "brave" to be embracing their "identity".

Shore thing.

obnoxious hair extensions

rap metal i.e. Limp Bizkit

body glitter/crystals

bleached blonde hair on guys, PUKA shell necklaces

Raves (the early 2000's), ecstacy (Never MOLLY)

big fake breasts

high end label obsession (Fendi, Louis Vuitton etc)

Eminem

low carb and lettuce wrapped EVERYTHING

Social media with the introduction of My Space and Facebook.

Somewhere after 9/11 any remaining tact or class went right out the window

Gap ruled, of course.

black nail polish on non goths

stick straight hair (preferably two extremely contrasting colors like blonde with black highlights)

Anna Nicole Smith

Kangol hats

Brit pop and indie pop (Oasis, Weezer, Blur)

Scooters! Not quite skateboard, not quite roller blades, somewhere in-between.

George W Bush

Britney Spears

Harry Potter

Tom Cruise

Emo music (especially in the first half of the decade)

How could I forget piercings (ESPECIALLY tongue, bellybutton and eyebrow)

No, I'm not just trying to shore-horn Hanson into the conversation. This video has everything you need for a Noughts revival party, even tearaway track pants:

The “new rock revolution” and a billion “The” bands. The worst was having to hear about how those trust fund dicks The Strokes were the perfect post 9/11 band.

Women in Uggs paired with hotpants

R21 How the mighty have fallen!

The realization that a lot of money can be made off dumb girls and the lowest common denominator. Hence: the advent of reality TV, the tragic talent shows on which Midwestern charisma-free idiots tearfully and earnestly professed their desire to be "pop stars", the glorification of the "stupid, spoiled whore" lifestyle championed by Paris Hilton, Kim K, Nicole Ritchie, and their ilk, the youth fashion which was based on the lower level Vegas strip hooker look (AKA Juicy Couture.) and, in pop music, the mixture of shitty emo rock, slutty girl singers, and C-rate teen pop "idols". And I'm still trying to erase the lingering stench of Dubya and his presidency from my memory.

R24 They're selling more tickets now than then, though!

Somehow teen culture went from the danger of mosh pits to The Disney Channel

R24

R26 He just keeps getting hotter.

R31 it's all those protein loads

R33 Fine by me. I can do this all day!

You rang?

Skinny scarves on Lindsay

Check out the Gap In-Store Playlists for GapKids in 2004:

Lindsey Lohan, Aaron Carter, Mandy Moore, Hilary Duff, The Olsen Twins, Greg Raposo, and so many more...

Ashley Simpson!

Guys spent hours in just getting the off-center tilt to their trucker hats down just right...

R37 I'm always honored when I can start a thread that hooks Gap Playlist Guy!

For you, R22 :

Gap fits almost every thread, R39!

2002 was great with our darker washed denim, as well as the new Western Snap Denim Shirts, which Will Kemp wears so well here:

Like someone else mentioned, "reality shows" on overdrive.

The early 2000s seem like 2 different decades, there's a big difference between 2000-2005 and 2006-2009

2000-2005 =

Britney Spears / Christina Aguilera / Backstreet Boys / *Nsync / Destinys Child

Tacky pastel clothing for women, bright neon colored clothing for men, choppy highlighted hair, bootcut jeans.

Abercrombie, Hollister, American Eagle.

Early days of the internet.

The beginning of Reality TV.

Skater culture, Avril Lavigne and the death of good rock music.

2006-2009 =

Justin Timberlake solo career / Lady Gaga / Katy Perry / Taylor Swift / Rihanna / Adele

The beginning of emo / scene culture.

Skinny jeans, side bangs with stick straight hair, chunky jewelry and the return of 80s fashion, babydoll shirts and dresses.

Myspace and the early days of Facebook, invention of the smart phone and apps.

The beginning of hipster culture.

The Strokes were on several Gap In-Store Playlists in the Early 2000s, including February 2002:

People didn't seem to take themselves so seriously. There were a lot of D list celebs around which made going out really fun.

T-Mobile Side Kicks

R40 You’re stirring up a lot of my rage. I hate Julian Casablancas even now, though I will admit a few of those songs were catchy. He couldn’t even be bothered to graduate from his princessy Swiss boarding school.

Hot Timberlake

Alternate reality, switched perspective with a twist, scrambled timeline indie AND mainstream movies

New Wave derived electroclash and disco.

The Matrix

Tribal Tattoos (VERY early 2000's)

Energy Drinks

The Sopranos

The last era for the "character study" film.

LOVED The Strokes’ Last Nite. That song was awesome.

[quote] New Wave derived electroclash and disco.

I actually quite liked those genres. For a brief second they brought back the 80's art school pretentious weirdness, kind of like "Liquid Sky" reimagined 20 years later. Yes, a lot of that was derivative of the early 80s NYC No Wave scene, New Romantics, and italo disco, but I'd gladly take it over most of what's been passing for dance music lately which is basically the music for douchebros and weekend hooker suburban girls to woo-hoo to and fist pump.

This is a depressing thought, but I would say Jade Goody was emblematic of the way reality TV exploded in the UK in the 00s. She started off as a hate figure, then managed to become a trailblazer by building an entire career around being stupid, then proceeded to destroy said career by being stupid in a racist way, and then finally played out her long, drawn-out death in front of the media.

(The reason I thought of her is that I stumbled on a ranking of Big Brother UK contestants last week and ended up engrossed in it. I watched Big Brother religiously from 2000-2008 and then lost interest once I hit my twenties. I haven't watched it since then, except for the series with Tiffany Pollard. But reading these very entertaining write-ups has made me nostalgic.)

There was definitely something very nesting/leisurely about that era and I think it had to do with self nurturing after 9/11. Culturally, it was like one, long Saturday morning zone-out. Everyone in pajamas (the birth of the yoga pant for professional wear) or clothes sliding off them accompanied by flip flops, guilty pleasure trash shows, chill zone-out new-new wave music. Night life looking like a carnival. It was a period of low brow, low maintenance self soothing.

Puka shell necklaces

Flavor of Love on Vh1

The character?

Bush showered his base with tax breaks and war contracts. We thought he'd blow the surplus and be happy.

I agree w/ R43 that it the first half and second half were two completely different eras. The early 2000s saw the brakes starting on Madonna, Janet, Celine, Mariah's careers. None of them had hits in the second half.

Compared to the 80's and 90's, The early 2000's were by and large depressing. There were some good things but you had to wade through a lot of utter shit to get to it. I agree with the poster who said dumbed down was in. Reality TV started taking over, and became the big thing. Giving us a crop of Z list celebs famous for nothing. It was also the era of the bimbo with crotch shots and stupid quotes. Coming from the 90's explosion of female singer songwriters and female rap stars who could spit something fierce, this was a HUGE step back.

Unless you were a child/teenager during that era, I can't fathom anyone having fondness for it

Those god damned stupid yellow ribbon magnets that everyone felt compelled to put on their cars - and the whole slew of different colored ones that subsequently popped up for every other cause/awareness thing under the sun.

It was they heyday of reality TV. I don't miss that part.

more reminders of early 2000s television. I totally blocked crap like "Are You Hot?" out of memory.

and Eminem is definitely one of the biggest artists from the time

[quote] Early days of the internet.

Uhm, the mid-90s would like a word with you R43.

R42 Yes! The Swan! The reality show where they made over Fraus. Plastic surgery etc

Adrian Brody in The Pianist. Winning Best actor and going to town with Halle Berry. The year after he took a hit from a breath spray bottle on state before announcing best actress.

Sorry, ADRIEN Brody.

argh, ON STAGE before announcing ...

American men were turning into soy boys right before our eyes.

I was hot and recruiting

There was a legitimate mini-Golden Age of Rock that happened in the middle of the decade there, from around 2004 to 2006.

Dude, where's my escape vehicle?

The soldiers coming home in coffins from the war in Afghanistan

New Orleans' Superdome right after Hurricane Katrina Hit

DL icon Barbara Bush immortalized thanks to this glorious quote.

[quote]"What I'm hearing, which is sort of scary, is they all want to stay in Texas," Barbara Bush said in an interview on Monday with the radio program "Marketplace." "Everyone is so overwhelmed by the hospitality."

[quote]"And so many of the people in the arena here, you know, were underprivileged anyway," she said, [bold]"so this is working very well for them."[/bold]

Mariah Carey's "I don't know her".

....

'trashy but kinda hot'

Rick Schroder wasting his prime in the closet married to that dumb Mormon broad. I'm sorry, but asses like his were made for tappin'.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Reality TV is still extremely popular. Youtube even brought it online.

Gary Coleman's gubernatorial campaign. If he had won, he might still be alive.

I forgot about those livecams. Really a lot of this stuff started in the 90s.

R81 he waited for you.

Freddie Prinze Jr. , still riding his teen movie wave.

The "manic pixie girl" flip

Japanese horror movies movies redone for the USA, and all PG-13,

Very few R-rated movies after 9/11... Few raunchy comedies or bloody horror movies for a long time.

Ricky Shroeder is a closet case? Ive never heard that before

Endless Alicia Keys, Justin Timberlake, India.arie, Avril Lavigne, John Mayer, Michelle Branch, and Britney Spears...

That's 2003 in Music!

2002/2003 with Britney and various 'American Idol' contestants getting their own movies...

At least Anson Mount was HAF in 'Crossroads!"

People talking like Napolean Dynamite.

Personally I lost most of this decade to WoW, so I don't remember many cultural trends.

Popped collars on polo shirts.

r95 it’s was EQ for me.

R43 must live in a hick town because his years are way off, but the content is pretty accurate.

My two cents:

Early 2000--butterfly clips, body glitter, body sprays for all

Mid 2000s--Ghetto looks for all

Queer as Folk was a phenomenon only in the minds of the DL fraus. It was barely a ripple in the culture.

Brokeback Mountain was the phenomenon.

Iraq and Afghanistan wars, WOMD bullshit. Think about it.....Bush defined the new millennium, the new decade. I dont look back on it fondly

The decade still has tremendous backlash on us today and not in a good way

More terry cloth track suits!

R100 I think we're going to be learning, very soon, that Bush wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be.

R102

R95, the hype over Napoleon Dynamite was almost as obnoxious and inescapable as the hype over Garden State.

Bump!

This century, so far.

Retro novelty tees and the evolution of the ironic androgyny of the 90's into full blown, urban-ambiguous hipsterdom.

The O.C.

Napster, Limewire, and those tacky low rise jeans.

LINDSAY LOHANS -MEAN GIRLS!!!!

The stupidity started to overwhelm pop culture. Paris Hilton became a star. I worked at a TV network that was proud of intelligent programming, but by 2003 it was showing trash.

R111 what network was that? Curious.

BRITNEY SPEARS, limewire, MYSPACE, von dutch, trucker hats, Miss sixty, chapelle show, Abercrombie, energie jeans, diesal, the strokes, that's so raven, icarly, drake and josh, high school musical, AMERICAN IDOL, GEORGE W BUSH, YOUTUBE, amy Winehouse, intermix, american apparel, jessica simpson, Paris hilton, perez hilton, dlisted, lindsay lohan, flavor of love, charm school, rock of love, i love new york, louis devito, hex hector, peter raughofer, erik rhodes, we belong together, deborah cox remixed, ciara, justin Timberlake, live strong bracelets.

Tiffany Pollard. The Tiffany Trump of my family.

Sex and the City ruining everything.

^^^actually, yea. That show is repsonsible for all the new yorkers of today. At least female and homosexuals. Can't stand that fucking show now. Wtf was i thinking then?

Male Capri pants

Man bags

Flip phones

🎵What's Goin On🎵

We were able to identify 2000's culture early on in my opinion. Like even in 2008 it was getting easy to spot the early 2000's any way.

Queer eye for the straight guy, JACKASS, bearshare, texting, bucket hats, shell necklaces/bracelets, crobar, aaliyah, bassment jaxxx, kim english, NYLA, newlyweds MTV, MAKING THE BAND, Chicago the movie, glitter, THE OC, mischa barton, gerard butler

Pre-smartphones. Those things really changed cultural and social life.

All those Reality)cooking shows appearing

This style eyeglass frame became world dominant. For men too. Couldn’t find anything but. So glad THAT is over. *shudder*

I think of these as more typical of the era, r123. The boat-paddle look.

The school sports film, the school sports TV show.

R125 "Summer Catch" (2001)

R126 "The Replacements" (2000)

R111 Bravo?

The timeless classic, "Glitter"!

Caps, caps and more caps!

R130 More Caps!

[quote]Somewhere after 9/11 any remaining tact or class went right out the window

Oh yeah, because late 90s celebs were so classy.

- Rap started to feature EVERYWHERE, including in acts that were ostensibly about rock or pop.

- Incest between twin sisters was universally considered hot.

The All-American Rejects in graphic tee redneck chic, 2003.

The 9/11 decade: W's lies, the death of investigative journalism, fighting israeld wars, loss of that onlysuperpower thing, bubbling towards a crash, loss of liberal mojo.

You can't eliminate or ignore 9/11 because it really colored the rest of the damn decade.

Ja Rule and Ashanti are making a new joint album

YESSSSS BITCH

Bump!

Velour, velour and mroe velour

More dirtbag/trucker cap

How did the exposed thong trend ever happen?

American Idol changed a lot. No gender bullsh@t.

Apples ascension. .

R112, probably Bravo. Used to show cultural programs but then became all reality shows

Even though resentment towards the wars had been building, Katrina was the turning point. It’s like the tone of the decade shifted afterwards.

Even though its impact is mostly forgotten now, I'd say, the Lord of the Rings trilogy.

It gave fantasy movies respectability and opened the door to all sort of B level YA fantasy novels adaptations, until everyone got sick of it.

The first film opened a few months after 9/11 and it was percieved as very comforting.

It also started a flame war of epic proportion on DL between mostly girls who fantasized about a secret relationship between two of the hobbits actos and DL regulars. So much so that any inocent mention of any of the actors from the film, even in another context, got the person who mentionned them a flurry of insults. Good times !

The books caused a social shift in the 90s -- kids were reading again, and they all read the same books. 00 Kids did the Vampire/Hunger games thing.

10s? IDK

Palm Pilots and later BlackBerrys. Suddenly everybody had one.

Palm Pilots were early 00s. BlackBerrys were later 00s.

Sharon began her reign. The original real housewife of Beverly Hills.

Katrina turned the mainstream against W, and then Rumsfield had to be booted after the 2006 midterms. That happiness lasted only for a few minutes and then Pelosi took impeachment off the table.

Ashton kutcher dude where is my car. Hated that movie. Trashy rap music. Neosoul music from Philly. All denim from head to toe even denim boots with studs. Sunglasses with rhinestones Gucci fendi tacky mess. The real housewives of orange county bravo tv, the start of the decline of bravo. Skimpy skirt with pleats. Wearing swimming bra out as an actual bra. Slit side jeans. Thin highliner eyebrows. Ugly lipsticks. Sweatpants made from velvet fabric. Those American pie sequels. Sean William Scott and all his lousy movies. Not forget josh Hartnett. The matrix triologies.

Horrible Hurricanes and Tsunamis...

Bridezillas

Rachel Ray

The laptop went from exclusive to everyone.

SARS

The end of public indoor smoking.

Some redemptive stuff: Kid A and Amnesiac and Hail to the Thief and In Rainbows Donnie Darko (the theatrical version, not the shitfest director's cut) Dancer in the Dark (kind of crap but good songs) Vespertine Arrested Development (seemed like the funniest thing ever when it aired) Funeral (Arcade Fire) Six Feet Under (often just a liberal soap opera, but that's probably why I enjoyed it) Lorraine Hunt Lieberson died :-( AbFab came back and mostly sucked :-(

The end of Cunard's QE2.

Euro-sportswear mixed with hippie-academic pieces. Diesel street shoes mixed with bootcut/bellbottoms; crisp, pastel polos and velvet, corduroy or tweed sport coats.

R161 H&M meets Abercrombie & Fitch.

Retro tees with pea-coats.

Charcoal Gray attempting to usurp Black