The 1970s: The Decade started off very well with the moon landings, youth protest culture, the sexual revolution, and more. Everyone was optimistic about the future. But that quickly changed as the decade progressed with terrorism, skyjackings, watergate, the U.S losing Vietnam, deurbanization, stagflation, white flight from Urban areas leading to places like New York going bankrupt, skyrocketing crime rates, serial killers, 2 gas shortages in 1973 and 1979, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the introduction of AIDS. Aside, from a temporary break from the Cold War (Until it came back again in the early 80s), there aren't many good things about the 1970s.

The 1960s: This is in the perspective of the older generations. The civil rights movement, hippies, the Vietnam protests and all other types of protests along with the liberal ideals of the boomer generation, how they openly used drugs, and their carefree attitudes about sex shocked older generations and created a huge divide. Whom in the early 60s were riding the high of Pax America continuing from the 50s. Then they were greeted with the Cuban Missile crisis and a dead president.

The 2010s: The pop culture started off very bubbly and bright, but darker in the middle of the decade and much darker near the end. The politics speak for themselves.

Decades that started off bad but ended off good:

The 2000s: For most adults, this was a decade that started off bad, and stayed bad till the end. For youth and young adults, the decade experience a couple of different transitions and eras. From Y2K to the Aftermath or post 9/11 era, to the Emo era, to the Electropop era. Ignoring the Y2K era, which I count as a part of 90s culture, the 2000s started off dark, and stayed dark till the later part of the decade, assuming we went by pop culture and youth culture.

The 1990s: This was a decade that was economically perfect, but the pop culture was dark. For most adults, this decade started off well, and stayed that way till the end, with a few incidents here and there. For young adults, this decade started off dry and dark, especially compared with the 80s. The early 90s were like a hangover to the 80s, like how the 70s were to the 60s. The decade stayed dry and dark, pop culture-wise, until the end. When the late 90s came, pop culture became brighter, along with the dotcom boom making the economy pick up fast.

The 1980s: When you look at the early 80s, pop culture seemed much darker compared to the late 80s. You can see this by looking at music videos from the early 80s, such as Young Turks by Rod Stewart or Billie Jean or Beat it by Michael Jackson. The early 80s was a continuation of the hangover from the late 70s. But things were getting better, despite rising crime rates throughout the decade, AIDs, and Cocaine becoming more abundant, the 80s became more colorful and bubbly as they went on.

What do you think?

How about the other way round with the 1940s, starting with WW2 and ending in peaceful times?

The 1920s which ended with the great depression.
The 1930s which already started badly with the great depression and ended up a whole lot worse with World War II.

For me the 2000s started with a lot of optimism (only the year 2000) and after 9/11 everything went down, with dark emo culture in the mid-00s and finally the Crisis of 2008

The economy in the 80s stopped booming around the stock market crash of 1987, which then culminated in a recession in 1990. There are articles showing the public expressing concern about the economy around that time.

The 1970s: The Decade started off very well with the moon landings, youth protest culture, the sexual revolution, and more. Everyone was optimistic about the future. But that quickly changed as the decade progressed with terrorism, skyjackings, watergate, the U.S losing Vietnam, deurbanization, stagflation, white flight from Urban areas leading to places like New York going bankrupt, skyrocketing crime rates, serial killers, 2 gas shortages in 1973 and 1979, the Iran Hostage Crisis, and the introduction of AIDS. Aside, from a temporary break from the Cold War (Until it came back again in the early 80s), there aren't many good things about the 1970s.

The 1960s: This is in the perspective of the older generations. The civil rights movement, hippies, the Vietnam protests and all other types of protests along with the liberal ideals of the boomer generation, how they openly used drugs, and their carefree attitudes about sex shocked older generations and created a huge divide. Whom in the early 60s were riding the high of Pax America continuing from the 50s. Then they were greeted with the Cuban Missile crisis and a dead president.

The 2010s: The pop culture started off very bubbly and bright, but darker in the middle of the decade and much darker near the end. The politics speak for themselves.

Decades that started off bad but ended off good:

The 2000s: For most adults, this was a decade that started off bad, and stayed bad till the end. For youth and young adults, the decade experience a couple of different transitions and eras. From Y2K to the Aftermath or post 9/11 era, to the Emo era, to the Electropop era. Ignoring the Y2K era, which I count as a part of 90s culture, the 2000s started off dark, and stayed dark till the later part of the decade, assuming we went by pop culture and youth culture.

The 1990s: This was a decade that was economically perfect, but the pop culture was dark. For most adults, this decade started off well, and stayed that way till the end, with a few incidents here and there. For young adults, this decade started off dry and dark, especially compared with the 80s. The early 90s were like a hangover to the 80s, like how the 70s were to the 60s. The decade stayed dry and dark, pop culture-wise, until the end. When the late 90s came, pop culture became brighter, along with the dotcom boom making the economy pick up fast.

The 1980s: When you look at the early 80s, pop culture seemed much darker compared to the late 80s. You can see this by looking at music videos from the early 80s, such as Young Turks by Rod Stewart or Billie Jean or Beat it by Michael Jackson. The early 80s was a continuation of the hangover from the late 70s. But things were getting better, despite rising crime rates throughout the decade, AIDs, and Cocaine becoming more abundant, the 80s became more colorful and bubbly as they went on.

What do you think?


I disagree with this.

The 1990s had a very strong start and remain a strong decade until 1997 were the 90s pop culture went downhill a bit with the Clinton scandals and the Y2K bug madness a lot of people had to work on fixing before the year 2000 started, other then that at least it ended with a good stock market and the Dow being high.

The 2000s started out okay, but it went downhill will fast with the 2000 Election to the 9/11 attacks, and it keep getting worst and worst with the Iraq war, to the 2007-2008 economy crisis, the 2000s ended  poorly.


The 2010s had a very bad start and it remain very awful at the very end, the high cost of rent and living keep getting worst and worst, we have two very bad presidents, also having to deal with race riots and mass shootings going up, 2010s had a very awful ending and things will keep getting worst and worst.

The economy in the 80s stopped booming around the stock market crash of 1987, which then culminated in a recession in 1990. There are articles showing the public expressing concern about the economy around that time.


The '90s in general were awful economically, at least in Canada. My parents talk about it like its the dark ages. It only got good in the late '90s. Other than that, I agree with most the list.