If we’re talking about consistency, we would think of decades like the 80s, 90s, and probably even the current decade (2010s). Core 80s pop culture lasted from 1981 to 1988, when New Wave was popular til ‘86, music was predominantly rock/metal, Video Games (Except for 1983-84 with the VG crash), shows like Miami Vice, Max Headroom, etc. And the 90s lasted from as early as 1988 with New Jack Swing, and lasted til 9/11, but if we talk about the core 90s (1993-1998), we had Hip Hop, shows like Friends and FPOBA, Windows 9x series, Grunge/Post-Grung, etc. Same with the 2010s, which lasted as early as 2008, and felt like it lasted until late 2018, but if we’re talking about the core ‘10s, which is 2011-2018, we have shows like Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, and Netflix shows like Orange is the new black, Stranger Things, etc. Trap and EDM dominated music, which still is but Trap is slightly on the decline now, and of course, Smartphones.

But taking a look at the 2000s, it was like the decade was all over the place. It felt like 2000s pop culture started when the 9/11 incident happened, when Windows XP came out, PS2 and Xbox came out, Flip Phones, artists like Paris Hilton and Justin T., rap being mainstream with Eminem, you get the idea. But then, it moderately shifted around mid/late 2003, when Myspace became popular, along with Beyonce and Usher, and rappers like Kanye West. Also, Disney shows like That’s so Raven were popular. But then, an even more significant  shift happened in late 2006. Sure, you still had MySpace, Beyonce, Kanye, etc. But rap has accelerated beats with Snoop Dogg’s Sensual Seduction, and the notorious Soulja Boy. Chris Brown, Rihanna (No Irony intended), and T-Pain release their first songs. Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter emerge, and 7th-Generation consoles come out with the Xbox 360 and PS3. First Generation smartphones get released with the iPhone 2G, and flatscreens become more popular. Multiple shows like That 70s show either ended or get cancelled, and new shows like Hanna Montana are popular. And the last but not least, notorious late 2008 HUGE shift happened again, when electropop becomes popular with Lady Gaga, Katy Perry, Ke$ha, Rihanna, etc. Neon fashion rapidly grows in popularity, and 7th-Generation consoles become dominant. Windows 7 replaced half of the computers running Windows XP, and the iPhone becomes mainstream. CRT monitors decline in popularity, with HDTV’s (720p+) replace them. Games like Call of Duty and ROBLOX become popular, and shows like Breaking Bad and Phineas and Ferb get released. Facebook kills MySpace, and books are literally out of the question at this point. Rap/Hip Hop and R&B either kept the 2006-2008 fast style, or transition to the Early 2010s beats. The Great Recession, and Obama also defined this part.

Compared to other decades, this seems like the most inconsistent decade ever. 2001 feels completely different from 2008, but with other decades like the 80s, 1983 doesn’t feel very different from early 1988, and with the 90s, 1991 only feels moderately different from 1997. The 2010s, which is today, 2013 doesn’t feel too different from 2018, pop culturally, despite Donald Trump and Justin Trudeau. But yeah, do you guys think this decade feels different? It feels as if there’s no such thing as the core 2000s.

If we compare for instance the Billboard number 1 hits of 1991 with 1998, 2001 with 2008 and 2011 with 2018, it speaks to me that 2001 and 2008 sound the most alike.


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I don't think pop culture works that way in terms of decades. For instance, 2000s culture might have started as early as 1999 since that's when Spongebob, Ed Edd n Eddy, Family Guy, and The Sopranos premiered, as they were some of the quintessential shows of the decade. Two of those shows I mentioned were done by the late 2000s (2007 for The Sopranos and 2009 for Ed Edd n Eddy). Two of them are still running and making new episodes to this day (although Spongebob might be off the boot since Stephen Hillenburg just passed a couple months ago). That's pretty long within the entire decade, especially when people were still talking about them throughout the decade. So in sense, 2000s culture already started way before 9/11 happened (which was more political, tbh).

Technologically wise, people still used the Windows 9x series until July 2006, since Windows 98/ME was discontinued by then. Windows XP was mainly more prevalent by 2004, when Service Pack 2 was released. It was a huge deal from what you said about XP back in 2001, but a lot of people still used either 95/98/ME at the time. Heck, I never even used XP until 2004, and had it in my house until 2005. I even knew a friend who still used Windows 98 until it discontinued in 2006. For when Windows 7 was launched, many people still used Windows XP or Vista because not a lot of primarily upgrade their computers when a new operating system comes out. Unless you were a hardcore PC gamer or tech enthusiast that wanted to upgrade so bad. I still used Vista until 2012. The iPhone also wasn't used a lot until the early 2010s.

The 90s would also be considered to be "inconsistent" (as most people never really mention in this forum), since the early 90s still had that 80s feel, when the late 90s had a different aesthetic. Especially when New Jack Swing was only a late 80s/early 90s thing. By 1999, most young people would talk about Korn, Limp Bizkit, Smash Mouth, Nine Inch Nails, Britney Spears, and N-SYNC* (to name a few), which sound completely different from early 90s music (especially Korn and Limp Bizkit, since nu-metal was wildly different towards other metal subgenres). Grunge was also more of an early 90s thing since it was nearly dead when Kurt Cobain committed suicide.

Also, the 2010s have been really different between 2013 and 2018. Before 2015, there wasn't a lot of outrage against Trump because the media was mainly focused on Obama. Although serious political issues like gun control were already set by 2012. Trump was also only famous for being the host of The Apprentice, the owner of the Trump Tower, and being the son of Fred Trump before being president. Now, literally the whole world is talking about him because of how people thought he would never win the presidency in 2016, but won anyway. It's been that for a little bit now.