Anyone else feel this way? I feel like some decades have a lot stronger of an identity than others. 80s, 50s, and 60s all had strong identities. 00s and 70s are harder to define. It’s been a decade since the 00s and I am just now getting an idea of what the 00s was in retrospect, but it’s only 2019 and I 100 percent know what people will be talking about and remember from this decade years from now. I don’t feel like much happened in the 00s besides 9/11, terrorism, and Obama. There’s so much that happened this decade though. Maybe it’s just cause I’m older, I don’t know. I’m 21 btw

I don't know tbh. I'm still having a hard time trying to pinpoint the identity of this decade outside of a few things and what really defined this decade. I do agree that only now am I starting to see the see the identity of the 2000s though. I'm around the same age as you(20).

Anyone who actually paid attention to 2010's pop culture knows that the 2010's identity is very strong.

Anyone who actually paid attention to 2010's pop culture knows that the 2010's identity is very strong.


This. The sheer amount of memes we have alone makes for a strong identity. So many iconic moments. Maybe it’s just cause I was a teen during this decade that it feels this way.

I don't know tbh. I'm still having a hard time trying to pinpoint the identity of this decade outside of a few things and what really defined this decade. I do agree that only now am I starting to see the see the identity of the 2000s though. I'm around the same age as you(20).


Maybe it’s cause it’s been an interest of mine so I’m more aware of it?? I don’t know, it’s been something I’ve been thinking about for a while

I know what will be talked about this decade 10 years from now as well. I have never understood why people say the 2000s, doesn't have an identity though.

I know what will be talked about this decade 10 years from now as well. I have never understood why people say the 2000s, doesn't have an identity though.


I do think the 2000s has an identity, though I don’t know if it’s as strong. I don’t know, which decade do you feel like has the stronger identity?

The 2010s is the decade of avocado toast, seltzer water, dubstep, trap, memes, Taylor Swift, yoga pants, Marvel, hipsters and the iPhone.

The 2000s was the decade of energy drinks, the Hummer, numetal, emo, crunk, American Apparel, Britney Spears, and Eminem.

There are some similarities - Beyonce was very popular during both decades, as were granite countertops. But plenty of differences too and both decades have a lot more character than people give them credit for.

Not to sure on the strong identity, the series of years seemed as ordinary as other series of years.

Beyonce was very popular during both decades
Beyoncé was nowhere near popular in the 2010s that the phenomenon she was in the 2000s though. On the Billboard alone, she had 5 #1s as a solo act and 2 #1s with Destiny Child's in the 2000s, compared to only one in the 2010s which was a Ed Sheeran duet.

Plus following her 2013 self-titled album, her style had majorily shifted anyway.

Before:
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After:
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And artists being popular in several decades doesn't mean much anyway, like Madonna being popular both in the 1980s and 1990s or Frank Sinatra from the 1940s to the 1960s.

Wasn't "Bootylicious" #1 on the Hot 100 by Destiny's Child?


Anyways, I concur that the 2010s have a strong identity.


And that is definitely the identity of meme culture.

Beyoncé was nowhere near popular in the 2010s that the phenomenon she was in the 2000s though. On the Billboard alone, she had 5 #1s as a solo act and #2 with Destiny Child's in the 2000s, compared to only one in the 2010s which was a Ed Sheeran duet.

Plus following her 2013 self-titled album, her style had majorily shifted anyway.



Then she was more into activism than singing...

Regaining popularity appearing as the voice over role of Nala in the remake The Lion King.

The 2010’s, like the 90’s, had a lot of “peak” era pop culture, which is why there was a strong identity. What hurt the 2000’s is that there was a lot of transitional pop culture which is why the identity wasn’t that strong as previous decades. The 2000’s are most remembered for the exiting of leftover 90’s culture and the birth of a lot of culture that would define and peak in the 2010’s. I could go on and on. Like Rainbowz said, if you’ve been paying attention, the 2010’s had a very strong identity, especially with this social media era and full blown high definition digital age. Even the events, biggest trends and music, had more of a cultural identity and peak in the 2010’s. The 2000’s had just a lot of weird transitional mini sub eras. Funny enough, my least favorite part of the 2000’s, the late 00’s, had more of a cultural impact and identity than the early & mid 00’s which were my favorite parts. There’s no denying this, regardless of what decade you loved or hated.

I agree with this. The 2010s have a stronger identity than the 2000s.

Well he thing with "Pop culture" and "identity" is all of it is only clear in hindsight. Go back to 2015 or so and people will say "things have been the same since 2005" or whatever. But no that we're in the last month of the 2010s we can look back and compare. There are a lot of pop cultural, political, and economical things are unique to this decade and can not be found in previous decades. From big political events such as Obama's 2nd term and Trump's 1st term to smaller pop cultural things like the Chuck E Cheese changing the mascot designs and remodeling the locations. Or even bigger pop cultural moments like Hip Hop overtaking Rock as the highest grossing genre or the rise of internet genres like Vaporwave and Chill Hop.

We all can make a huge list on how the 2010s differ from the 2000s (and prior decades), but I'm happy about because I somewhat feared that decades being unique from each other was thing of the past. Couldn't quite imagine having multiple decades all feeling the same. Really decades are just like people. We can only truly distinguish chapters in our lives months or years after they already happen and ended. It's probably why autobiographies usually detail events that happened decades prior and not weeks prior.

We all can make a huge list on how the 2010s differ from the 2000s (and prior decades), but I'm happy about because I somewhat feared that decades being unique from each other was thing of the past. Couldn't quite imagine having multiple decades all feeling the same. Really decades are just like people. We can only truly distinguish chapters in our lives months or years after they already happen and ended. It's probably why autobiographies usually detail events that happened decades prior and not weeks prior.


Hey it's nice you have you back again "Toon"! I know it's you because that's the way you type and analyze topics! I miss you a lot my dude!

Hey it's nice you have you back again "Toon"! I know it's you because that's the way you type and analyze topics! I miss you a lot my dude!


How you been after all this time? I took a break from this board simply due getting burnt out with the topics being repeated all the time. I'm not back and....... not much has changed.  :PBut then again I'm not sure what I was supposed to expect. I'm just "3D Blast" now since it's the same as my old Xbox user tag and also because "Toon" may be unavailable.

It's nice to see ya too after all this time.

My list of how I summrize the 2010's:

- Smartphones and tablets
- Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, TikTok)
- Avengers movies
- Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead
- Netflix and Hulu
- Gaming dominated by the 8th Gen (PS4 and XBox One from 2013) and Nintendo Switch toward the later part
- Also mobile gaming such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Pokemon Go
- World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Fortnite
- Obama for the majority, and Trump in the later part
- Hipster fashion and social justice movements
- EDM and trap music

I agree with this. The identity was even stronger than the identity of the 2000s. Not as much as the 1980s but nothing beats the strong identity of the 1980s. But the 1990s? I think 2010s have even more of an identity than the 1990s had. Still a horrible decade of course, but it did have a very distinct identity.

No they don't, the last decade that was distinct was the 1990s.

I can understand the argument from both sides honestly. On one hand technology made it feel like there was no identity. On the other hand, clearly defined popular trends both on social media and in culture in general makes it feel very distinct with an identity. Everyrhing from fidget spinners to popular memes to hipster fashion.

My list of how I summrize the 2010's:

- Smartphones and tablets
- Social Media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Vine, Snapchat, TikTok)
- Avengers movies
- Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead
- Netflix and Hulu
- Gaming dominated by the 8th Gen (PS4 and XBox One from 2013) and Nintendo Switch toward the later part
- Also mobile gaming such as Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Pokemon Go
- World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Fortnite
- Obama for the majority, and Trump in the later part
- Hipster fashion and social justice movements
- EDM and trap music


Thanks, I always wanted to be reduced to a cultural stereotype.

No they don't, the last decade that was distinct was the 1990s.
1990s were all over the place, and people still struggle on ways to define them without summing up a million different and contrasting things. But sure ;)

Yeah, the 1990s had many identities. The early portion (1990-93) was almost indistinguishable from the late 80s, specifically 1989. The late portion (1997-1999) was just one big setup for the 2000s. The mid portion (1994-1996) was the 90s in its pure form.

How you been after all this time? I took a break from this board simply due getting burnt out with the topics being repeated all the time. I'm not back and....... not much has changed.  :PBut then again I'm not sure what I was supposed to expect. I'm just "3D Blast" now since it's the same as my old Xbox user tag and also because "Toon" may be unavailable.

It's nice to see ya too after all this time.


While the topics might feel the same or repetitive, the vibe of this site when it comes to the users has definitely changed. The mods have become more strict (blame the trolls), and some of my best friends from this site since 2015 are no longer on or rarely get on now. It’s fun to see this site evolve with new fun posters each day, but I miss my old buds tho. Thankfully the other Marquis and ZeldaFan are still here, we go back to personality cafe.

While the topics might feel the same or repetitive, the vibe of this site when it comes to the users has definitely changed. The mods have become more strict (blame the trolls), and some of my best friends from this site since 2015 are no longer on or rarely get on now. It’s fun to see this site evolve with new fun posters each day, but I miss my old buds tho. Thankfully the other Marquis and ZeldaFan are still here, we go back to personality cafe.


How has the vibe changed? I’m just curious.

Ok not as much of an identity as the 1990s but more of an identity than the 2000s. I agree with Emman I think the days of strong identity decades of the 20th century are over. We can thank the internet for that. Because you can find whatever you want on there but back then you can only consume what the mainstream media gave you.

The 2000’s decade is very hard to identify bc it was a very transitional decade all in all. The first half of the decade in terms of fashion and technology was still similar to late 90’s fashion, culture and technology. The 90’s and 2000’s both were transitional eras however the 90’s had more of an analog aesthetic and culture (music, fashion and technology) evolved and progressed from the 80’s.  In the 2000’s the technology was a mixture of analog and digital However the digital tech we seen in the Early 2000’s were just evolved    models of digital tech from the 90’s. In the first half of the 2000’s analog was still primary source of movie/film production.Analog technology was more prevalent in 2000-2004 than 2005-2009 as well. So one half of the decade is still primarily analog while the middle of the decade is a mix of both (in with the new out with the old) and the late 2000’s were pure digital. Culture in the 2010’s were fully digital from start to finish making the aesthetics and cultural identity of the decade seem stagnant throughout it’s entirely, similar to the 80’s.

Depending on which side you're on, it's the time when progressives or the alt-right made a name for themselves. But I agree - compared to the 2000s, this decade seems to have a stronger identity.


I also do think people just wanted to get the 2000s over with as soon as possible since 9/11 and everything since then.

Ok not as much of an identity as the 1990s but more of an identity than the 2000s. I agree with Emman I think the days of strong identity decades of the 20th century are over. We can thank the internet for that. Because you can find whatever you want on there but back then you can only consume what the mainstream media gave you.


That’s actually not entirely true, many underground subcultures flourished in the pre-21st century era, the difference is it was much more geographically based. Take the college rock scene of the 1980s, its curators would largely avoid mainstream music/fashions. They would broadcast their playlists to their local college radios. Several years thereafter  the scene would evolve to Alternative Rock.

Another example is London’s IDM club scene. This scene notably influenced Björk, Thom Yorke, and many others.

That’s actually not entirely true, many underground subcultures flourished in the pre-21st century era, the difference is it was much more geographically based. Take the college rock scene of the 1980s, its curators would largely avoid mainstream music/fashions. They would broadcast their playlists to their local college radios. Several years thereafter  the scene would evolve to Alternative Rock.

Another example is London’s IDM club scene. This scene notably influenced Björk, Thom Yorke, and many others.

My point was with the internet and any song from any era being so accessible by everyone, it is just not the quite same anymore as it was in the 20th century.

The 2010s is the decade of avocado toast, seltzer water, dubstep, trap, memes, Taylor Swift, yoga pants, Marvel, hipsters and the iPhone.

The 2000s was the decade of energy drinks, the Hummer, numetal, emo, trap, American Apparel, Britney Spears, and Eminem.

There are some similarities - Beyonce was very popular during both decades, as were granite countertops. But plenty of differences too and both decades have a lot more character than people give them credit for.

Ftfy

This. The sheer amount of memes we have alone makes for a strong identity. So many iconic moments. Maybe it’s just cause I was a teen during this decade that it feels this way.


Late but

It’s not so much memes but more a specific style that’s unique and would stand out next to any decade and one that can’t be recreated because it wouldn’t make sense in they’re time period. Get what I mean ?

Like for the 70s I’d say it’s disco fashion, 80s is hair metal, 90s is grunge, 2000s is Emo/Scene kids, 2010s is Hipster/Normcore.

Unpopular opinion but I actually think the 2000s have a stronger identity then the 2010s, it’s just louder and much more bolder then the quiet, somber sounds of the 2010s

Unpopular opinion but I actually think the 2000s have a stronger identity then the 2010s, it’s just louder and much more bolder then the quiet, somber sounds of the 2010s

Honestly, if you agree that the 2000’s were more transitional than the 2010’s, then the 2010’s would obviously have a stronger identity because the culture is more consistent and therefore easily identifiable. In a way, the 2010’s kinda reminds me of the 80’s. You can very easily tell if a song is from the 80’s. It’s the same thing with the 2010’s. Meanwhile it’d be kinda hard to guess that “Boom Boom Pow” is a late 2000’s song.

Honestly, if you agree that the 2000’s were more transitional than the 2010’s, then the 2010’s would obviously have a stronger identity because the culture is more consistent and therefore easily identifiable. In a way, the 2010’s kinda reminds me of the 80’s. You can very easily tell if a song is from the 80’s. It’s the same thing with the 2010’s. Meanwhile it’d be kinda hard to guess that “Boom Boom Pow” is a late 2000’s song.


Especially late 2010s music. It has a really distinct identity and you can tell if a song was made in 2016 or after.