Things you miss about the early 2000s

Gay bars and coffee shops where people actually sat around and talked to each other.

2001, the best year for movies in my lifetime. Hands down.

Movie rental stores (I never set foot into a Blockbuster, though), bookstores, record stores

People not questioning their gender and never really giving it too much thought.

Tower Records, in particular. Virgin too. Fucking hate that they ended. Kids will never know what that was like. And in L.A., it was the coolest place to see celebrities like Prince and Robert Plant shopping next to everyone else.

Having a decent President, well until Jan 20, 2001 that is.

I really loved the fashion in the early 2000s. I went to school in Arizona and would venture into all the fancy shopping malls. Clothing was gorgeous and still well-made, and, although perhaps a bit slutty, clothing really looked good on women (and men too, albeit not slutty). I remember Louis Vuitton having this really cool fantasy fairytale-themed line that I always thought was so pretty. Prada had cute robots on all its crap (not racist monkey creatures). Also, women's shoes were really awesome. Marshall Field's had a beautiful selection of women's shoes and everything was so creative and pretty. Fashion these days is so blah. With that said, I miss really miss Marshall Fields.

Anna Nicole Smith, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and Lindsay Lohan taking up the headlines with their crazy antics instead of the boring Kardashians/Jenners.

Being able to eat any and all fast food and never get fat

The 2000s were the WORST. Bush, Iraq, 9/11, horrible fashion, teeny bop music takeover. Gross. Fuck off, OP.

I don't know what r7 is smoking, but the fashion from the early 00s was possibly the ugliest period in my lifetime.

Uh, MySpace launched in 2003. OP is an idiot.

Silly dating shows like Room Raiders, Elimidate, Next, Parental Control, etc.

Trucker hats, Juicy tracksuits, ugg boots, Ed Hardy hats, looking like trailer trash. Gross.

That wasn't fashion, r11. That was coked-up celebutantes looking for attention. Take a look at the link. Sure there are a few clunkers (Galliano) but most of this stuff from Fall 2000 is fabulous and would still look great today.

R11 OK I will take part of my comment back. There were fashion blunders of course, mainly in the youthful popular fashions. At the time, I remember the hot college girl "uniform" was a super short denim skirt and tank top (tight hoodie if chilly). And they always wore high heels. Pretty sure it was made popular by the Paris Hilton types. I agree it wasn't elegant, in fact it was outright white trash looking, but dang women looked good in such an outfit. And I appreciated the simplicity of it. I also remember the douche bro culture being a major thing, with guys in looser jeans and tighter t-shirts from Abercrombie or gap, usually with a casual button down thrown over. I always loved that look on men. With that said, I do remember the high fashion of the time was incredible. Cocktail attire was really big, with really glitzy and colorful shorter cocktail dresses, lots of brightly colored shoes, and a generally very feminine look,. To me, it seemed a much more fun youthful look. Today, I can barely get any of my girlfriends to dress up in anything beyond a pair of leggings and some rumpled gross sweater. Then they usually throw on some nasty boots or flats.

Not a DAMN thing. That is when the USA lost its soul completely and went down the toilet.

Turning 18 and 21 - the wide-eyed optimism of everything being so new.

Napster then Winmx

OP is in his mid-thirties feeling nostalgic for his teen and early adult years already.

R20 nothing gets past you

Thinking Pink would be a one album wonder.

Earrings

Caftans!

Fall 2000, the Euro dropped to $0.85 while I was in Vienna.

PARTY!

Internet Relay Chat (IRC)

Von Dutch

Virgin Mega Stores

oprah

ICQ

[Quote] There were fashion blunders of course, mainly in the youthful popular fashions.

You could say that lol

The Forsyte Saga

The first album from The Strokes, which was fantastic.

What I miss most about the early 2000's is being in my 20s. Living for each weekend clubbing at Heaven in London. Every Saturday dancing and meeting new people. Sex came easier. After parties etc.The gay scene was busy then before grindr and the apps. Also a lot less straight people muscling in. Gay clubs used to be 90% gay/bi now the whole scene is like a mixed area. No go go dancers in clubs, no sense of fun. Mind you it might be that I've aged myself. I sure miss those exciting days though.

You old fucks are stupid. Britney was still the number one star in the world and selling like crazy in the early 2000s. Her breakdown was in 2007. Hardly EARLY 2000s

[quote]Internet forums ruled

We're still here, bitch

Electroclash, electro/French house, good R'n'B... The last gasp of good dance music before it become backdrop for IG whores and douchebros to woo hoo and fistpump to it.

R36 this insufferable queen is what came out of the early 2000s

The anticipation of the first Jeepers Creepers movie. Waited all through the summer of 2001 to see it. I ended up being slightly disappointed, but not nearly as much as many others moviegoers. Still one of my faves.

It came out less than two weeks before 9/11. It’s one of the last prominent memories I have about pre-9/11 life.

Jeepers Creepers has so much hype it was ridiculous.

I still like Jeepers Creepers but it is somewhat tainted now thanks to Victor Salva.

That Strokes album was incredible.

It brought us The Arctic Monkeys though, with Alex and his fab ass.

All I wanted was to be a member of the Strokes...

In my city there were a lot more independent stores and restaurants in the early 2000s, now, more and more, they are being forced out by rent increases and online shopping and are replaced with large corporate chains. Not a fan.

My being under 25 and living off my parents’ money

Extreme Sarah Huckabee Sanders Makeover

Each week, we get to dress Sarah Huckabee Sanders so she looks at least marginally better than now.

I miss my youth. Otherwise, not much, except for the fact that social media hadn't taken over the world yet.

Big Mouth Billy Bass

Thinking it couldn't get worse than George W. Bush.

That whole chill music thing. Bent, Air, Lemon Jelly, Zero 7, Royksopp

Toronto pride

The Spider Room in LA, doing coke, not caring much about work, Sports Club LA before it became Equinox, trashy pseudo celebs, D Listed, MJ's in Silverlake, when there were places to go dancing, after hour clubs like Spike, Brent Bolthouse events, my friends being hot and childless, being able to buy just a one day pass to Coachella, being able to fuck up and knowing your parents will help you out in a bind. I was so much more fun then.

I miss The Slowskys, Bill and Karolyn.

...

Matthew Rush

R35 The Ghetto was cool too. There was a good alterna-gay scene.

I miss the lack of my current concern for diminishing variety. It seemed like things were more wild and expanding then. Now it seems so many things are being killed off and replaced by something more generic, centralized, controlled. I realize this is happening along with more acceptance of diversity in people, which is good. I'm not sure how to express what I mean. Maybe it's just something that comes with living through so many changes, generally.

The Anna Nicole reality show featuring slimy Howard K Stern and surly Kimmie.

Portland, Or. It was great, still.

[quote]The Anna Nicole reality show featuring slimy Howard K Stern and surly Kimmie.

Yeah! WoW! Hot time culturally.

No GAP Store Playlist plug yet!?

[Quote] Brent Bolthouse events

I don't know whether it's good or bad that i only know about him because of The Hills.

Saturdays Twilo nightclub in NYC. Going every single weekend for years until it was closed. It was its own gay microcosm of people, wild energy and so much fun to spend the rest of weekend traipsing around the city with nothing but a change of underwear, a toothbrush and a smile.

One of my Boston clients was a priest and for $60, through his invite I stayed at an Episcopal youth dorm in the heart of Chelsea several blocks down and remember the guard seeing me coming in sweaty from a night of debauchery and asking, “Nice run?”

Hell yeah.

Hosting American Idol. Endless possibilities. Sigh. 😔

Being in college, fully funded by my parents, across the country and not needing to work.

Frasier

[quote] Portland, Or. It was great, still.

It's a long way from LA.

OP Wasn't Crazy Britney more like the mid to late 2000s around 2007?

For reference:

When was she ever sane?

Relief that tritherapy was working for a few years and people had not been dying. Seemed like a gloom lifted.

I remember feeling hopeless after Americans allowed the oval office to be stolen and didn't rise up. I knew then that Americans were soft and didn't deserve their freedom and decades would pass before they knew revolution was the only way to get it back.

Burning cds for my friends.

I'm in better shape now than I was then.

Will & Grace was a Top 10 show & it drove the fundies CRAZY!!!

Now it's not a Top 10 show & the fundies are either dead, accepting, or indifferent to it.

Memories...of the way we were.

It was a shit show then and it's even worse now, R74.

I waited years for a real Go-Go's reunion CD & finally got one in the fall of 2001 (which 9/11 helped suppressed the fanfare).

It only disappointed in the album title & Contemporary Christian themed attire.

WTF girls?!?

Not knowing that Bill Cosby is a rapist.

Chandler & Monica getting together on Friends helped silence the Ross & Rachel fraus (at least for awhile).

After a very lames 60's cartoon, the Justice League had the best comic book animated series evah!!!

It should've been brought back before the very disappointing season 3 of Young Justice that's out now.

GAP In-Store Playlists from 2000 to 2005!

I need many more to re-complete my collection

Not yet participating in anything online that forced politishit on me.

Oh brother, all the crazy Stans in one thread.

The fabulous HOW DO YOU WEAR IT? Gap campaign of Fall 2004!

Are You A Jean

OR

Are You A Khaki?

GAP - Spring 2000

Is there really only one Gap Playlists Guy?

It's a safe bet that R82 was saying GET OFF MY LAWN back then.

I miss the good old days when an M&M was just chocolate candy and not a homophobic white rapper.

Great clothes AND great music at GAP in 2002!

Including Will Kemp's nipples!

I miss all of the malls that were in my area.

For crissakes!

All of the Rax restaurants closed down in my neck of the woods.

They made some great blueberry milkshakes.

USENET

The best Star Trek series I've ever watched was still on. The awful Kirk era reboot films & ongoing series were nowhere to be found.

Jennifer Lien was back as a guest star playing a confused girl run amok (instead of being one in real life).

I always thought she would be a big film star (instead of the Rock who was also a guest star on the show).

If the entertainment industry is any kind of example then life sucks for the talented probably more than the untalented.

Monica was the first Bridezilla

You had me at no smart phones or social networks. The regular internet over a computer, without social media, was enough connectivity. IMO, that was the sweet spot.

Social media has been around since AOL’s creation. Chat rooms and AOL profiles were social media.

My mistake, R96. You're right. Maybe I should describe it as "second generation" social media, but not sure if even that is right. Anyway, the stuff that came post MySpace - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram. The big ones today.

When Kid A was unleashed...

Chris burden, Bridge Period

No hordes of illegal migrants and no terrorist attacks in Europe, or the US either til 9/11. Surprised no one has mentioned this in 100 posts.

[quote]Silly dating shows like Room Raiders, Elimidate, Next, Parental Control, etc.

Hey don't forget Love Cruise, The Swan, and Rendez-view with Greg Proops and Ellen lendowski (or something like that)

The Jump the Shark website.

Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

Before 9/11 and especially the recession, restaurants in NY weee open much later.

I miss expensive shoes being $350-400 instead of $900-$1000 (and that’s not counting boots)! I won’t even get into handbags. Or taxis for that matter.

When they were irrelevant.

"Someday" by The Strokes is on the February 2002 AND the November 2002 GAP In-Store Playlists!

"When It Started" by The Strokes is on the July 2002 GAP In-Store Playlist!

In the early 2000's, the only time a very few people had to deal with the GAP Playlists guy was perhaps in his sublimed contentment as a working GAP shopbottom.

R105 I think he's tremendous! Don't deny me my GAP playlists guy fantasy of his ivory soap scented, industrial-scrubbed body in ironed khakis and popped collars.

Visual Merchandising Manager, R105.

And R106, the scent was, of course, GAP Blue No. 655 For Him.

Eye contact

2 humans speaking to each other

Physical sex (as opposed to virtual)

The White Stripes feeling new

Twinky Ryan Philippe

Entertaining episodes of MTV's Cribs. Redman's was my favorite. Never knew who he was but I respected him for keeping it real.

I miss the Lisa Ling years of The View.

It went downhill when Lizzie replaced her & never really recovered except for some great Rosie moments.

R112 How could they not know it was fake?? lol

I miss: walking around LA before brainwashed social media zombies and their smart phones took over. Photos taken by others and not including the obligatory duck face found in selfies. Sports Connection in WEHO. The Abbey when it was still gay. How cheap it was to live before internet/tv/cell service. Hope.

It was cheap, R115. My gorgeous apt., which was 3 BR, was $700 a month in 2002. It now rents for $3400.

Renée Zellweger being a thing

From Justin to Kelly. A modern classic.

[quote]Social media has been around since AOL’s creation. Chat rooms and AOL profiles were social media.

And for attention whores, there were "welcome to my home" pages hosted by GeoCities, Tripod, or your ISP.

Post 9/11 trauma sex.

Abercrombie

Holister

I loved those stores. I would walk the malll carrying Abercrombie and Holister bags and people would stare. I’d walk in and browse both stores and people would stare. They’d always ask if I needed help. I was a star then.

Geocities sites. Roswell TV show.

[Quote] From Justin to Kelly. A modern classic.

It's embarrassing how excited i was to watch that movie when it came out 😳

[Quote] Geocities sites. Roswell TV show.

I'll always love Roswell. Are you going to check out the reboot?

Real books -- not e-books

When he was really 24 and thinking he was too hot to be believed...

[quote]Are you going to check out the reboot?

Yep.

R126 how was it??

Until 9/11 it was easy to move somewhere and rent an apartment.

Then, something weird happened (beside the attack) and it became much harder. No more spontaneous moves

Bad, R127.

I was 52 back in 2000 but I still kept my youth—or was youthful. I had frosted tips and a Hollister necklace that I loved. Wore the cargo shorts with sandals. I kept up with the youngins.

R130 Delusional old geezer.

r131 I think r130 makes shit up.

I miss the carefree days before the GFC hit and terrorism became a thing.

Don't it always seem to go.. You don't know what you've got til it's gone..

The cheesiest reality shows, like Love Cruise and The Swan.

[italic]Bedknobs and Broomsticks[/italic] was still available uncut.

Joan Rivers - alive, well, giving shit to everyone who deserved it, and taking no shit from anyone else.

Fametracker sucked. Wing Chun was such a cunt.

Google. Alt. Groups

Drake & Josh.

r138 Is that what usenet eventually became? It was much better pre-google.

I miss nothing about the early 2000s. Good riddance.

Jason Bateman’s prime

more like things I don't miss from the early 2000's (42 year old here)

Is it possible to overdose on nostalgia?

SO early 2000s, r144.

Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek- loved these shows and the endless discussions about it on TWOP that followed.

I inherited $750,000 in 2005 in dribs and drabs over a several year period and for a while it turned my life around.

And then what happened, r147? Did you spend it all?

Ecstasy and human interaction.

Going to The Fridge in Brixton, S London on a Saturday night. Double dropping. Watched Mama Yvette bring on the strippers with the biggest dicks I've ever seen. Then go on to Fridge Bar or another club like Psy-trance Provocation. Before going back to a Chillout and talking bollox until Monday morning, with really interesting people. Those were amazing parties, where people made an effort to dress up, dance and have an amazing time to simply brilliant dance music.

How can anyone NOT miss the early 2000s? Things turned to shit after 2008. People lost their jobs and their homes. The internet worked fine but there were no phone zombies. The big terrorist attacks and the sheer number of them had not yet happened.

My virginity

[quote]How can anyone NOT miss the early 2000s?

Starts with a "B."

Not being afraid of Islamic terrorists since they don't attack targets in the West anyway.