Which decade transition, going back to the 1950s, do you think is the most significant?  I would say probably the '80s going into the '90s.  Within just a few years, the world completely changed.  Most '90s music sounded nothing like '80s music and '90s fashion looked nothing like '80s fashion.  The Cold War was over and the conservative Reagan era was transitioning into the more liberal Clinton era.  Between 1989 and 1993, the world completely changed.  I can't really think of any other decade transition that was so monumental.  The '50s going into the '60s was pretty significant but that was a pretty slow transition in comparison and the quintessential '60s didn't fully arrive until late in the decade when you had events like the Summer of Love and Woodstock.

Least monumental is probably '90s to '00s.  The '00s really did come in gradually and in many ways were a more evolved 1990s.  I think 1993-2009 could be considered one long era.  There is a much bigger distinction between the '00s and '10s than between the '90s and '00s, but even this most recent decade transition pales in comparison to the '80s becoming the '90s.

70s to 80s, in my opinion. The fashion went from earthy to bright, big and flashy. Video games went from a novelty to a primary facet of entertainment. The advent of VHS tapes dramatically transformed the consumption of movies and television. Television itself transformed heavily, not just because of MTV, but the spread of cable television in general, diversifying what households could check out. The walkman gave rise to the cassette and made music portable, drastically enhancing its utility. Personal computers entered the mainstream, revolutionizing not just business but also entertainment. Neoconservatism dramatically altered the standard protocol of economics. Hip hop became a mainstream genre of music. Synthesizers went from occasional supplements in music to the very foundations of song production, setting us down the path of electronic music that has prevailed ever since. The microwave made it much easier to prepare meals. Star Wars' impact on the film industry was now completely felt, especially after The Empire Strikes Back pushed the boundaries of big budget epics even further. Black culture became significantly more integrated into mainstream culture in general. Commercialism became a ruling force in more ways than ever before. Whereas the late 70s still have a rustic tone to me, the early-mid 1980s just seem unusually futuristic, in part because the 80s were their own tangent of wackiness, but also because it was really the shift into the 80s that most solidified what I personally consider to be "modern," meaning a heavily technological, heavily commercial, cozy world with countless things to do besides the outdoorsy and the mundane.

The shift from the 50s to 60s are a decent runner up, thanks to the dramatic shift in black civil rights and music, but this change is held back by its lack of significant technological advancement and the film industry not really altering a whole lot until the dawn of the 70s.

The change from the 80s to 90s is a bit overstated, in my opinion. The differences were certainly there, especially the end of the Cold War and entrance of alternative into the mainstream (though it was a thriving underground scene in the 80s), but for the most part, the 90s were building off of the numerous foundations that started off in the 80s.

I also disagree with the 90s to 2000s shift being insignificant. The standardization of the Internet was an absolutely revolutionary milestone in the evolution of modern culture, as was the rise of the cell phone. Beyond that, there was also a geopolitical shift due to 9/11, the general aesthetics of things went from scroungy and unrefined to sleek and polished, and the overtones of most popular music went from maturely insightful and/or tuneful to pretentious, raunchy, and shallow (not that all 2000s was bad, but as a whole it felt so much less classic that the 90s and earlier).

70s to 80s, in my opinion. The fashion went from earthy to bright, big and flashy. Video games went from a novelty to a primary facet of entertainment. The advent of VHS tapes dramatically transformed the consumption of movies and television. Television itself transformed heavily, not just because of MTV, but the spread of cable television in general, diversifying what households could check out. The walkman gave rise to the cassette and made music portable, drastically enhancing its utility. Personal computers entered the mainstream, revolutionizing not just business but also entertainment. Neoconservatism dramatically altered the standard protocol of economics. Hip hop became a mainstream genre of music. Synthesizers went from occasional supplements in music to the very foundations of song production, setting us down the path of electronic music that has prevailed ever since. The microwave made it much easier to prepare meals. Star Wars' impact on the film industry was now completely felt, especially after The Empire Strikes Back pushed the boundaries of big budget epics even further. Black culture became significantly more integrated into mainstream culture in general. Commercialism became a ruling force in more ways than ever before. Whereas the late 70s still have a rustic tone to me, the early-mid 1980s just seem unusually futuristic, in part because the 80s were their own tangent of wackiness, but also because it was really the shift into the 80s that most solidified what I personally consider to be "modern," meaning a heavily technological, heavily commercial, cozy world with countless things to do besides the outdoorsy and the mundane.

The shift from the 50s to 60s are a decent runner up, thanks to the dramatic shift in black civil rights and music, but this change is held back by its lack of significant technological advancement and the film industry not really altering a whole lot until the dawn of the 70s.

The change from the 80s to 90s is a bit overstated, in my opinion. The differences were certainly there, especially the end of the Cold War and entrance of alternative into the mainstream (though it was a thriving underground scene in the 80s), but for the most part, the 90s were building off of the numerous foundations that started off in the 80s.

I also disagree with the 90s to 2000s shift being insignificant. The standardization of the Internet was an absolutely revolutionary milestone in the evolution of modern culture, as was the rise of the cell phone. Beyond that, there was also a geopolitical shift due to 9/11, the general aesthetics of things went from scroungy and unrefined to sleek and polished, and the overtones of most popular music went from maturely insightful and/or tuneful to pretentious, raunchy, and shallow (not that all 2000s was bad, but as a whole it felt so much less classic that the 90s and earlier).


I agree with all of this, especially the last two paragraphs.

The differences between the '80s are '90s are vastly overstated in my book, particularly when it comes to music. The idea that many seem to have is that '80s music is cheesy whereas '90s music is "serious". Minus a few exceptions (like hip-hop), this is most certainly not the case. Top 40 remained (to me) largely just as cheesy throughout the '90s as it had been in '80s, and mainstream rock post-1994 was arguably even cheesier than it had been in the '80s. I mean, how exactly are Deep Blue Something, Dishwalla, Tonic and Creed any more "serious" than Warrant, Poison, Winger and Skid Row?

Where I agree with bchris02 is on the world stage and political front there were larger shifts between the '80s and '90s. The end of the Cold War between 1989-1991 was a massive event that effectively changed 40 years of American foreign policy overnight. The election of Bill Clinton in 1992 ending the Reagan/Bush era was a huge event as well, but it must be remembered that Bill campaigned as a moderate Democrat, and at times governed as a conservative Democrat by today's standards. He did famously say "the era of big government is over" after the Democratic congressional beatdown in 1994.

I also feel like the technological shift between the '90s and '00s gets overlooked sometimes. Yes the internet exploded into the mainstream between 1995-2000, but even by the beginning of 2001 only about 50% of the country actually had internet access. For as much as the Dot-Com bubble is associated with the late '90s, the large majority of the country (including me) still did not have the internet yet. By the end of the 2000's, there were things we could do like watching movies or listening to music on a smartphone that would've seemed inconceivable in the '90s.

The 80s to 90s transition was rather big to me, since that was when the Internet started to expose itself into the public. Also, Windows 3.1 was released by this time, giving out PC users the colorful experience in which everybody has today.

I think it's easier to say that the 90's are an evolved form of the 80's rather than the 00's being an evolved form of the 90's. 1983 to 1995 is one big era; the late 20th century.

Turning point years:

60's: 1963 (JFK gets assassinated, the Beatles and the Searchers usher in the British Invasion era)
70's: 1971 or 1972 (hippie culture starts to decline, Nixon does his War on Drugs speech in 1971)
80's: 1981 (Reagan gets inaugurated, MTV debuts and puts the final nail on the disco coffin, The Smurfs debuts on TV)
90's: 1991 (Nevermind, Badmotorfinger, and Ten get released, USSR collapses, Operation Desert Storm)
00's: 2001 (Bush becomes president, 9/11 happens, Anthrax attacks, start of War on Terror)
10's: 2012 (The Aurora Theater and Sandy Hook shootings take place, the Trayvon Martin incident takes place, Putin gets elected as the Russian president, electropop declines and gets replaced with dubstep and EDM)

Turning point years:

60's: 1963 (JFK gets assassinated, the Beatles and the Searchers usher in the British Invasion era)
70's: 1971 or 1972 (hippie culture starts to decline, Nixon does his War on Drugs speech in 1971)
80's: 1981 (Reagan gets inaugurated, MTV debuts and puts the final nail on the disco coffin, The Smurfs debuts on TV)
90's: 1991 (Nevermind, Badmotorfinger, and Ten get released, USSR collapses, Operation Desert Storm)
00's: 2001 (Bush becomes president, 9/11 happens, Anthrax attacks, start of War on Terror)
10's: 2012 (The Aurora Theater and Sandy Hook shootings take place, the Trayvon Martin incident takes place, Putin gets elected as the Russian president, electropop declines and gets replaced with dubstep and EDM)


I agree with every one of these, with the possible exception of the '70s.

I kinda lean towards 1973 as the "turning point year" for the '70s. That was the year that the United States officially ended the Vietnam War, the year that abortion became legal in the U.S. following Roe v. Wade leading to the rise of the conservative Religious Right, and the year that the Watergate scandal became a major political story. Also, the hippie movement was pretty much totally dead that year following the end of the draft and the crushing defeat of George McGovern the previous year.

I agree with every one of these, with the possible exception of the '70s.

I kinda lean towards 1973 as the "turning point year" for the '70s. That was the year that the United States officially ended the Vietnam War, the year that abortion became legal in the U.S. following Roe v. Wade leading to the rise of the conservative Religious Right, and the year that the Watergate scandal became a major political story. Also, the hippie movement was pretty much totally dead that year following the end of the draft and the crushing defeat of George McGovern the previous year.


I also forgot another reason for 1972 - the first election where 18-year olds (at the time) could vote.

But 1973 is probably more accurate; you put a lot of good arguments (I didn't even know that the conservative religious right rose after abortion became legal). Not to mention, disco started to rise along with 50's nostalgia in around 1973 as well.

I also forgot another reason for 1972 - the first election where 18-year olds (at the time) could vote.

But 1973 is probably more accurate; you put a lot of good arguments (I didn't even know that the conservative religious right rose after abortion became legal). Not to mention, disco started to rise along with 50's nostalgia in around 1973 as well.


It's really close between 1972 and 1973. In 1972 you had the historic '72 presidential campaign and the end of the draft. Plus I'm pretty sure that's also the year that All in the Family became the #1 show on television. You could make a solid argument for either year.

On the issue of the Religious Right, they had been around before 1973, but did not play nearly as much of a major role in politics as they do today. The legalization of abortion and the backlash against it was what led to their increased influence in the Republican Party, and by the end of the '70s you had the arrival of people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell and the "Moral Majority", etc. on to the scene.

It's really close between 1972 and 1973. In 1972 you had the historic '72 presidential campaign and the end of the draft. Plus I'm pretty sure that's also the year that All in the Family became the #1 show on television. You could make a solid argument for either year.

On the issue of the Religious Right, they had been around before 1973, but did not play nearly as much of a major role in politics as they do today. The legalization of abortion and the backlash against it was what led to their increased influence in the Republican Party, and by the end of the '70s you had the arrival of people like Pat Robertson, Jerry Fallwell and the "Moral Majority", etc. on to the scene.

1973 was the year that the modern GOP we see today started to formulate. 1973 was also the year that CPAC started (even though, it wasn't like it is now).

Just voted 70's to 80's! 8)

Seriously, though, that was really what brought us from the old to the new. When I look at the 70's it still looks very old-timey in about most cases. The 80's feel very modern to me. Always have.

Just voted 70's to 80's! 8)

Seriously, though, that was really what brought us from the old to the new. When I look at the 70's it still looks very old-timey in about most cases. The 80's feel very modern to me. Always have.

The 1980s don't seem old but not really "modern" to me (I can't quite explain it). However, the 1990s (particularly 1993/1994-1999) feel modern.

The 1980s don't seem old but not really "modern" to me (I can't quite explain it). However, the 1990s (particularly 1993/1994-1999) feel modern.


For the 90's, I'd say around 1995 or 1996 till 1999 is what feels very-very modern but around '84 (even earlier due to VHS and the Walkman) to 1995 is what I'd say is modern in a late 20th century way where we have more technological conveniences, clothing is a lot more casual, etc.

For the 90's, I'd say around 1995 or 1996 till 1999 is what feels very-very modern but around '84 (even earlier due to VHS and the Walkman) to 1995 is what I'd say is modern in a late 20th century way where we have more technological conveniences, clothing is a lot more casual, etc.

OK, fair enough.

I don't get the question.  :-X

For the 90's, I'd say around 1995 or 1996 till 1999 is what feels very-very modern but around '84 (even earlier due to VHS and the Walkman) to 1995 is what I'd say is modern in a late 20th century way where we have more technological conveniences, clothing is a lot more casual, etc.


I'd peg 1978 as the start of the classic "late 20th century" era even, due to many of those new tech forms starting to be introduced around then, including PCs, Betamax, HBO, and cassette players.

I voted 90s to 00s since I felt at the time that the world had gotten considerably smaller and globalized, not to mention the beginnings of the modern music industry thanks to MP3s, "free" music downloaded, a spike in ticket prices for concerts, and in TV, the rise of HD, on demand, digital cable, and reality TV. Except for social media. trap, and less press on "War on Terror",along with a more stable economy, the 2010s aren't as drastically different as the 2000s in the developed world. That said, the '90s-'00s shift felt slow. The 1995 Internet was basically no different than Prodigy in 1990, but 2002 hat blogs, early Wikipedia, Friendster, more advanced chat rooms, and of course a much more offline presence in terms of its importance.