When I listen to music from years like 2013 and 2014, it's really starting to hit me how the music wasn't quite as bad as I remember it.  However, my personal life went to hell in 2012 and really has yet to recover.  My darkest years were 2013 and 2014 so of course, I hated that culture at the time and look back at those years with disdain.  In reality, the culture and music wasn't that bad and wasn't really that far removed from the early '10s, which I really loved.

Likewise, I have a special affinity for the late '00s and early '10s and also the early '00s.  The late '00s and early '10s the best years of my life and the early '00s were very defining and the music that was popular then was somewhat of a soundtrack for it.

Can anybody else relate to this?  How does your personal life effect the way you perceive the culture?

If we're personal life after childhood (which is always seen as the "great" period to many) I thought the early 2010s was alright. Late 00s was a bit of a downer on me in terms of personal life. But the 2010s was great. Upbeat pop culture which went along with my somewhat upbeat personal life. Listening to the songs that played from then really does send me back to the years 2011 or 2012.

It affects my views partially, I guess. I know I would feel a lot more positively about the more liberal aspects of this decade if I at least had a girlfriend and wasn't feeling constant isolation and neglect in my absolute need for romantic companionship. It's evident this age does provide ample opportunities for all sorts of people, I just really need my break to finally arrive because right now I feel powerless and unwanted in this world in spite of whatever qualities I try to express.

Yes. I can relate to you, dude. Your OP responding to this topic is brilliantly written. I'm a early 2000s up until the early 2010s guy my self, aside from self improvement. The early 2010s were the last era I can recall still being carefree, even if I was 19-23 through those years.


It affects my views partially, I guess. I know I would feel a lot more positively about the more liberal aspects of this decade if I at least had a girlfriend and wasn't feeling constant isolation and neglect in my absolute need for romantic companionship. It's evident this age does provide ample opportunities for all sorts of people, I just really need my break to finally arrive because right now I feel powerless and unwanted in this world in spite of whatever qualities I try to express.


Also.

.. I can.. relate to this.

Not really. My life was going great in 1999, but I wasn't a fan of the music at the time.

It affects my views partially, I guess. I know I would feel a lot more positively about the more liberal aspects of this decade if I at least had a girlfriend and wasn't feeling constant isolation and neglect in my absolute need for romantic companionship. It's evident this age does provide ample opportunities for all sorts of people, I just really need my break to finally arrive because right now I feel powerless and unwanted in this world in spite of whatever qualities I try to express.


I can relate to this.  Had I not moved back to my Bible Belt hometown and spent two years in ex-gay conversion therapy, I would have probably liked the era.  It was definitely easier and more in fashion to be liberal in 2013 and 2014 than it is today in the Trump era.  However, I was completely isolated during those years.  I didn't even have any friends and my helicopter parents basically took complete control of my life, despite the fact I was in my late twenties.

This seems to be somewhat true for me as well. I hate the mid/late 2000s (up to 2008) and that was also a bad time in my life.

The only glitch in the matrix is that many of my favourite songs come from late 2008/early 2009, but that was the most depressing period of my life. 2013 was also a low point for me, but I loved that year pop culturally. :D

2016 was the worst year ever for me. But I actually liked some songs that came out that year. 2014 was a bad year for me too and I also thought 2014 was the worst year for music in this decade.

This seems to be somewhat true for me as well. I hate the mid/late 2000s (up to 2008) and that was also a bad time in my life.

The only glitch in the matrix is that many of my favourite songs come from late 2008/early 2009, but that was the most depressing period of my life. 2013 was also a low point for me, but I loved that year pop culturally. :D


Were 2009 and 2013 consequential for you despite being depressing?  For me, I can look back fondly on years that were rough at the time if they were consequential and resulted in personal growth.  In fact 2009 was very much this way for me.  Though the end of 2009 through the end of 2011 was a blast, much of 2009 proper was awful at the time.  It was a year of amazing personal growth and progress but also consisted of getting fired and becoming on bad terms with my family after I came out as gay.  However, that resulted in my move to a big city in NC which began the most exciting, fun years of my life.  In September 2009 I was pretty much at the lowest point of my life but unlike today, I had a plan and I risked everything to get out of it and it paid off.  I also had youth on my side as I was only 24 back then.  Because of how consequential that time was, I am able to look back on it very fondly.

When I listen to music from years like 2013 and 2014, it's really starting to hit me how the music wasn't quite as bad as I remember it.  However, my personal life went to hell in 2012 and really has yet to recover.  My darkest years were 2013 and 2014 so of course, I hated that culture at the time and look back at those years with disdain.  In reality, the culture and music wasn't that bad and wasn't really that far removed from the early '10s, which I really loved.

Likewise, I have a special affinity for the late '00s and early '10s and also the early '00s.  The late '00s and early '10s the best years of my life and the early '00s were very defining and the music that was popular then was somewhat of a soundtrack for it.

Can anybody else relate to this?  How does your personal life effect the way you perceive the culture?

On point with what I put in bold for this. For me, it really pissed me off that guys were wearing their hair short again - I felt like I looked ugly in short hair, and generally, in my experience, the guys who grew their hair long were way more interesting than the guys who wore their hair short, since they were not in the mainstream.

Mid to late 2000s and some of the music my parents listened to, and some music from one or two games defined my music taste. I just grew attracted to emo some time in my teens (during the late 2000s and early 2010s) because I felt like that emo guys were nicer even though I have never really seen many emo guys in real life, and because they could look like girls, and engage in a limited form of cross-dressing (wearing their hair long and accessorising to a small extent like how girls do, including make-up).

Because of what I've been listening to, I've always felt that mainstream music lacked emotion and were too inoffensive, even if I didn't pay attention to the lyrics (which is what I mostly do to music anyway, and how I'm easily able to enjoy foreign music). I listened partly to some pop and rock music that my parents were into, and some pop and rock music I found online. I thought I was too young for hip hop even though I listened to an explicit version of a rock song in private once, and I thought that the guys who were into hip hop were a bit boring, mainstream and mean.

It seems to go hand in hand this decade. All the years I hated culturally I also hated personally. However in the 2000s it was a different case. My personal life was the best from 2007 - 2009 and I hated the culture and music then and still do.

Were 2009 and 2013 consequential for you despite being depressing?  For me, I can look back fondly on years that were rough at the time if they were consequential and resulted in personal growth.  In fact 2009 was very much this way for me.  Though the end of 2009 through the end of 2011 was a blast, much of 2009 proper was awful at the time.  It was a year of amazing personal growth and progress but also consisted of getting fired and becoming on bad terms with my family after I came out as gay.  However, that resulted in my move to a big city in NC which began the most exciting, fun years of my life.  In September 2009 I was pretty much at the lowest point of my life but unlike today, I had a plan and I risked everything to get out of it and it paid off.  I also had youth on my side as I was only 24 back then.  Because of how consequential that time was, I am able to look back on it very fondly.


That's a dark/inspiring story, thanks for sharing. My 2009 went very similarly to yours in terms of trajectory, so you might have a point. In particular because while October 2009 was a happy time for both us (I'm assuming), a lot of those songs from January-August 2009 were still very much contemporary and still playing on the radio back then, so you can have a spillover effect. And yeah, like you said, the music can also remind you that all that sadness had a happy ending.

But I remember, even as the 2008-09 school year was ongoing, and I had no plan and saw no escape (I was suicidal), I loved the music. Sitting down on my chair, plopping on my headphones, closing my eyes (with tears rolling down my cheeks  ;D), and really listening to the music (the instruments, the various sounds, the small details) was my form of therapy, one of the few comforts I had in life. I didn't listen to much pop music (except calmer pop music like Sara Bareilles), but the rock/metal I was listening to was very much contemporary, and I loved it, and still love it. It got me through hard times. I still appreciated even the louder pop music like Britney Spears and Lady Gaga too. I remember in my IT class, the teacher used to put on the radio while we were working, and I generally found the radio pleasant to listen to. :)

2013 probably doesn't count for this thread, since the main reason I was sad was because of my sister's cancer, and that was outside of my control. I otherwise had really high self esteem/confidence, even if I was having breakdowns and was stressed out of my mind ;D

My first year of high school was absolutely horrible. It has definitely had an influence on how I perceive pop culture from 2012. Whenever I hear songs such as "Call Me Maybe", "Lonely Boy" and "Paradise", i'm instantly transported back to those horrible times. I haven't liked the pop culture since 2012 either, however my personal life has massively improved, even if I am still somewhat depressed and not in an entirely healthy mental state.

My first year of high school was absolutely horrible. It has definitely had an influence on how I perceive pop culture from 2012. Whenever I hear songs such as "Call Me Maybe", "Lonely Boy" and "Paradise", i'm instantly transported back to those horrible times. I haven't liked the pop culture since 2012 either, however my personal life has massively improved, even if I am still somewhat depressed and not in an entirely healthy mental state.


Do you mind me asking what made that year so horrible or why didn't you enjoy it, Becasue i thought it was a pretty fun year :)!

Do you mind me asking what made that year so horrible or why didn't you enjoy it, Becasue i thought it was a pretty fun year :)!


* I missed primary school a lot.
* My best friend from primary school went to another high school.
* My friends from primary school were in different classes to me and they formed new friendships pretty quickly at the start of the year. As a result, I never knew where they were during the breaks, so I would eat my lunch by myself for the first few weeks.
* We had a really horrible and uncomfortable school uniform. Thankfully, it was changed a year later.
* My high school was rough at the time, so the overall experience wasn't as enjoyable.
* People at school used to make fun of my voice, because it hadn't broke yet and I have never had a deep voice.
* My two new "friends" would gang up on me and say things about me behind my back. I'm still friends with one of them though (he has apologised for it and hasn't done it since).
* This girl in my year group deliberately tried to make me feel miserable, by embarrassing me in front of other people. She would yell out loud that she loved me, even though she didn't at all.
* My Nanna (my Mum's mum) passed away in October that year.
* Two weeks later, we found out that my Uncle (my Mum's brother) had a brain tumour.

* I missed primary school a lot.
* My best friend from primary school went to another high school.
* My friends from primary school were in different classes to me and they formed new friendships pretty quickly at the start of the year. As a result, I never knew where they were during the breaks, so I would eat my lunch by myself for the first few weeks.
* We had a really horrible and uncomfortable school uniform. Thankfully, it was changed a year later.
* My high school was rough at the time, so the overall experience wasn't as enjoyable.
* People at school used to make fun of my voice, because it hadn't broke yet and I have never had a deep voice.
* My two new "friends" would gang up on me and say things about me behind my back. I'm still friends with one of them though (he has apologised for it and hasn't done it since).
* This girl in my year group deliberately tried to make me feel miserable, by embarrassing me in front of other people. She would yell out loud that she loved me, even though she didn't at all.
* My Nanna (my Mum's mum) passed away in October that year.
* Two weeks later, we found out that my Uncle (my Mum's brother) had a brain tumour.


I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that.

I'm really sorry you had to go through all of that.


Thank you.

* I missed primary school a lot.
* My best friend from primary school went to another high school.
* My friends from primary school were in different classes to me and they formed new friendships pretty quickly at the start of the year. As a result, I never knew where they were during the breaks, so I would eat my lunch by myself for the first few weeks.
* We had a really horrible and uncomfortable school uniform. Thankfully, it was changed a year later.
* My high school was rough at the time, so the overall experience wasn't as enjoyable.
* People at school used to make fun of my voice, because it hadn't broke yet and I have never had a deep voice.
* My two new "friends" would gang up on me and say things about me behind my back. I'm still friends with one of them though (he has apologised for it and hasn't done it since).
* This girl in my year group deliberately tried to make me feel miserable, by embarrassing me in front of other people. She would yell out loud that she loved me, even though she didn't at all.
* My Nanna (my Mum's mum) passed away in October that year.
* Two weeks later, we found out that my Uncle (my Mum's brother) had a brain tumour.


Ok. I'm really sorry about your Nanna and Uncle, and I can understand why you didn't enjoy that year, that school sounds pretty awful judging from the people who go there what with the bullying and stuff (not you of course :)).

Also, I feel similarly towards 2013 because of the personal events which happened in that year.

Ok. I'm really sorry about your Nanna and Uncle, and I can understand why you didn't enjoy that year, that school sounds pretty awful judging from the people who go there what with the bullying and stuff (not you of course :)).

Also, I feel similarly towards 2013 because of the personal events which happened in that year.

2014 and especially 2016 will always be the years I despise the most. 2013 was probably the best year of my life tbh.

Ok. I'm really sorry about your Nanna and Uncle, and I can understand why you didn't enjoy that year, that school sounds pretty awful judging from the people who go there what with the bullying and stuff (not you of course :)).

Also, I feel similarly towards 2013 because of the personal events which happened in that year.


Thanks for that and i'm sorry to hear that 2013 was a horrible year for you personally. Ironically, my school actually improved after 2012 and it has been pretty good since. :P

Idk why but for some reason odd numbered years seem to be better for me than even numbered years  ;D

I personally hated late 2013 and 2014 when I was going through it, but now I feel like there was some good music that came out during that time. For awhile I couldn't listen to songs from that time because it brought back bad memories, but now that its further in the past I can.

I personally hated late 2013 and 2014 when I was going through it, but now I feel like there was some good music that came out during that time. For awhile I couldn't listen to songs from that time because it brought back bad memories, but now that its further in the past I can.


I can relate.  I've recently re-discovered a lot of music from that era since I don't associate it as much with how my personal life was at the time.  During those two years (2013 and 2014) I was so depressed and angry that I hated the culture simply because I hated the era.  The thing is, I really wish I could have experienced the era under different circumstances.  2013-2015 was a great time to be liberal and to be an outcast.  Non-conformity was celebrated.  There was a huge push against homophobia.  Unfortunately, my own circumstances caused me to basically miss out on the entire era.  I would consider those years to be "lost" years for me.

For me? Not that much. The lousy 2000's economy hit our household something rotten, yet despite that I remember having good times even if money was tight. Hanging out with friends during the summer, listening to music, being part of youth group during the school year, the outings I had with youth group, and life's simple pleasures.