what do you think? I might have to go with 2004 the late 90s feel was officially gone, tv channels (cn,nick) began changing their format, America beginning to get over 9/11, 5th generation games officially dead and the beginning of the end for 6th generation games, internet switching to broadband, websites such as myspace and facebook arrive thus beginning the social media era, bling bling era rap being replaced by crunk rap.
boy bands/teen pop groups like nsync, Brittney spears were gone or beginning to fade.

theres more that im missing but you get my point but what do you think guys?

I can agree with 2004. The changes were substantial and really noticeable. 2008 was kind of random and lacked feel.

2008, definitely, though particularly the latter months of the year.  The Lehman Bros. bail out, the unemployment rate plummets, Lady Gaga releases Just Dance, Facebook officially overtakes MySpace as the most popular social media site, iPhones start to pick up slightly in the market, T.I.'s whatever you like and/or Jim Jones' Pop Champagne mark the end of the snap movement, Obama is elected President of the United States, Proposition 8 brings the gay marriage movement to a whole new level of significance, Akon revokes his classic style by releasing Freedom, and Katy Perry becomes popular.

2004 may mark the official end to any lingering 90s influences in the 2000s, but the transition had already been well underway since the beginning of the decade, especially after 9/11.  If you were a kid still watching Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, or your whole family was gigantic fans of Friends and Frasier, then I can understand why 2004 felt like a huge shift for you personally, but fundamentally, in terms of how the world itself operates, 2004 clearly wasn't nearly as changeful as 2008.

I say 2008, without a doubt in my mind.  2008 saw the election of Barack Obama and the 2008 election still continues to define us in many ways (the Republican attacks against Obama haven't changed much since).  The economy also went down the drain, a legacy that is still with us to a degree in terms of the job market and what not.

2004 I felt wasn't really much of a transition at all.  The late 90s vibe had already died out a few years earlier: 5th generation gaming was largely irrelevant by the end of 2001 (Nintendo 64 was getting a grand total of around one new game a month by 2001), and certainly by the end of 2002 in terms of game releases, boy bands were irrelevant long before 2004 (they were super uncool at my junior high by early 2002), and defining 00s musicians such as Eminem, 50 Cent, Linkin Park, Nickelback, and such had all debuted and had major hits by 2003, prior to 2004.  Reality tv was also exploding in popularity around 2001-2002 and onwards, something that was clearly distinguishing 00s tv from 90s tv.  The Iraq War, which would define the 00s, also started in 2002 with the buildup in 2002. 

To be honest, 2004 feels more like a peaking, or near-peak, of the "00s feel" that had been building in strength in prior years, rather than a transition to something new.

2004 was just the first full year of the core 2000's, when all late 90's influences were officially extinct. The transition from the millennial era to the core 2000's was 2003.

2008 was DEFINITELY a bigger transition. In terms of technology, music, the recession, new president, etc. a lot of changes occurred in 2008 looking back. A lot of stuff that debuted during the year are still relevant today. That's why I don't understand why people still think 2008 is still extreme 2000's, sure the early part of the year still felt like 2004-2007 but by the fall of that year the transition was very noticeable. It was the start of 2010's culture coming in rapidly despite late 2000's culture still being dominant for most of the year.

the beginning of the end for 6th generation games


2004 was like the ultimate peak year for 6th generation gaming. By then all 5th generation games were discontinued, and a lot of titles that would debut throughout Fall 2003 through all of 2004 are what made the period of 6th generation gaming really gold. The transition from 6th generation to 7th generation didn't start until late 2005 when the XBOX 360 was released and the transition was complete by 2007 when the Wii and PS3 were in full effect with popular titles.

I hate both of those years.

2004: I graduated high school and closed the best chapter of my life.
2008: My mom died in April, and at the end of the year my struggle with renal failure began.  :(

I'm biased. In 2008 things changed for the worst.

2008, definitely, though particularly the latter months of the year.  The Lehman Bros. bail out, the unemployment rate plummets, Lady Gaga releases Just Dance, Facebook officially overtakes MySpace as the most popular social media site, iPhones start to pick up slightly in the market, T.I.'s whatever you like and/or Jim Jones' Pop Champagne mark the end of the snap movement, Obama is elected President of the United States, Proposition 8 brings the gay marriage movement to a whole new level of significance, Akon revokes his classic style by releasing Freedom, and Katy Perry becomes popular.

2004 may mark the official end to any lingering 90s influences in the 2000s, but the transition had already been well underway since the beginning of the decade, especially after 9/11.  If you were a kid still watching Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, or your whole family was gigantic fans of Friends and Frasier, then I can understand why 2004 felt like a huge shift for you personally, but fundamentally, in terms of how the world itself operates, 2004 clearly wasn't nearly as changeful as 2008.

This.

5th generation gaming was largely irrelevant by the end of 2001 (Nintendo 64 was getting a grand total of around one new game a month by 2001), and certainly by the end of 2002 in terms of game releases,


I'd say 2001 was the last year 5th gen was popular, at least where I live/ed. It was discontinued in 2003. My friends I went to school with were still into it until end of 2002. I still played my N64 until early 2003. My cousin and I still played PS1 games until 2003. Even though we both got PS2s in 2001 and 2003 respectively. But yes 2002, 6th gen had officially pretty much taken over.

2008.  Looking back, I don't see 2004 as that much of a shift.  There were some changes that year.  Punk pop died.  It was the peak of PC gaming.  However, the 90s influence didn't completely die out until 2006 and there really wasn't any radical change until 2008.

With that said, the '10s started on time.  2008 and 2009 were still '00s years and were '00s culturally.  2008 was NOT the beginning of '10s culture.

2008 was NOT the beginning of '10s culture.


Sorry, but Fall 2008 did bring out some of the earliest 2010's culture though, and yes I agree that 2008 overall as a full year was still predominantly late 2000's culture, but you can't deny that there was a huge transition in the late part of the year. A lot of stuff that started in Fall 2008 are still relevant today, or some of the stuff from the core 2000's (2004-2007) that had disappeared/ended around the time as well.

They were both pretty big.

2004 is when all the trends of the late 90's/early 00's were purged and we got stuck with a bunch of crappy fake emo pop bands. The end of the 1998-styled Nu Metal, Post-Grunge, Pop Punk, Emo and Post Hardcore. Good bands like Green Day went from being one of the best Pop Punk bands of all time to being a bunch of whiny sissies who wear eyeliner and pretend to be political. Kids started putting away their N64's and PS1's during this time. Even, though the PS2 and GC were out, kids still hung on to their old systems until about 2003/2004. Throughout 2003, this stuff was being cleaned away but not until 2004 that the world took a big nuke and bombed the good ol' Y2K era wiping it completely away. Technology went from VHS, Dial-Up and CD players to DVD, Broadband and the i-pod. All the good stuff about 2000-2002 went away in 2004. In other words, 2004 was a total f*cking bummer beginning to end.

2008 is when we started to enter the 2010's. Social media, smartphones, more and more technology got shoved into our lives, pants got skinnier, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry stormed the charts and everything started to get a lot more lifeless like Pepsi's 2008-today logo.

2008.

Although by 2004, rap was everywhere! You couldn´t turn on the radio without hearing a rap song, or an R&B song.  :o

Although by 2004, rap was everywhere! You couldn´t turn on the radio without hearing a rap song, or an R&B song.  :o


I'd say it was already everywhere by late 2001, after the teen pop craze had faded from significance and producers like the Neptunes, Irv Gotti, and Just Blaze were in their prime.  It was definitely huge in 2004, however.

I'd say it was already everywhere by late 2001, after the teen pop craze had faded from significance and producers like the Neptunes, Irv Gotti, and Just Blaze were in their prime.  It was definitely huge in 2004, however.


Yeah, pretty much after the teen pop trend burst, R&B and rap took over.

2008

2006 felt like a MUCH bigger change than 2004 did. 2004 had changes no doubt but compared to 2006 they were minor 2006 had MAJOR changes overall take place, so I'm going to go with 2008 over 2004 any day of the week.

2006 felt like a MUCH bigger change than 2004 did. 2004 had changes no doubt but compared to 2006 they were minor 2006 had MAJOR changes overall take place, so I'm going to go with 2008 over 2004 any day of the week.

Yeah, pretty much after the teen pop trend burst, R&B and rap took over.
R&B was pretty popular in the 90's though too. Rap-yeah it wasn't everywhere in the 90's like it was for most of the 00's.

2008.

Although by 2004, rap was everywhere You couldn´t turn on the radio without hearing a rap song, or an R&B song.  :o
Yeah I remember by 2005 I was like does every song have to be a rap song on the radio?

I'd say 2008.

2008 of course. No other year in the 2000s or 2010's so far had a bigger transitioning year than 2008. To be honest 2004 didn't feel transitional at all.

I re-thought this and I don't know why I said 2004 was a transitional year in my previous post since it wasn't even a transition. Maybe just barely during the early half of the year but 2003 is the true transitional year that killed off the 90's, put down the pieces of the 2000's and made 2004 what it was.