I feel like my generation loves to romanticize the Y2K time period A LOT. It's often seen by Millennials as the greatest time ever, which makes sense because most of us grew up in those years. Memories of being kids and having fun without the responsibilities we have now will always make us look back fondly at that time. I mean, it's safe to say most people will probably think the decades they grew up were the best... except maybe kids growing up in the Covid era, they've had it a bit rough so far. So I wanted to look back and see what really made this decade so great and why my generation still looks back at it with so many fond memories. I'm going to try to look at this from a fun and entertainment-focused view, so I'm not going to focus too much on the politics of the time or the fact that, like, gas was cheaper or buying a house was actually possible.
THE MOVIES
One of the first movies I think of when I go back to the Y2K period is The Matrix. That movie captures that time period so well, and it really seeped its way into a lot of pop culture from the late 90s and early 00s. Can't even name all the movies and shows that parodied the bullet time sequences from The Matrix at the time. Another movie that comes up a lot is Disney's Zenon, which really captures that time period well with the way it depicts the future. I guess Y2K is heavily tied to futuristic ideas like the show in The Matrix and Zenon. A lot of metallic textures with shiny colors are paired to make it look futuristic. Other movies that capture that Y2K style are Zoolander, Dude Where's My Car, Fifth Element, and Bring It On. I think the reason The Matrix is the first one that comes to mind, though, is its ties to the rise of the internet, as that's a big aspect of the first movie. Of course, the whole Y2K thing was because of computers and the internet, so it makes sense why a lot of those movies used that aspect of our lives. The internet was starting to become mainstream. If you go back and watch a lot of media from back then, they always present the internet in such a primitive way. I think the movie Hackers, with Angelina Jolie, did a surprisingly good job at capturing the Y2K style before it even began back in 1995. Then there are a lot of music videos, which I'll get to later.
THE TECH
Y2K has ties to the rise of technology, as computers and the internet were becoming something everyone was starting to have in their homes. That and the start of everyone getting cell phones/Palm Pilots, MP3 players, and portable CD players. The one thing I really miss is how fun everything looked in that time period. All the tech came in actual colors, and there was even that period where everything had a see-through look, where you could see all the circuit boards inside computers and gaming consoles.
I mean, just look at how cool most of that tech looks. Sure, it won't match the rest of your tech or furniture, but who cares! I'd at least like the option to buy this style of tech again anyway. Companies were less afraid of making weird and fun designs back then; now, everything has to be as safe and flat as possible to try to appeal to as many humans as possible. Even all the company logos these days are changing to be as boring and safe as possible, where's the fun and creativity? Who would have guessed the rise of AI and better tech would make everything so safe and boring? I mean, these days we don't even get to explore the internet through websites anymore; everything is an app or social media-focused. Well, I didn't mean for that to be a rant on modern tech, but oops. I guess I just miss when we had more options and not just black/white basic colors for everything. I will say, PCs at least are a lot more capable of being customized with cool colors and displays. Maybe this is just one of those "you had to be there" situations.
MUSIC
Okay, this is really what I wanted to talk about a lot, because lately I've been listening to a lot of music from the Y2K time period. There's something so unique about the music during the Y2K era, some ways good and some ways bad. Back then, there was still a huge emphasis on music videos being a huge part of how a song got big, along with radio play. I wanted to talk about some of those great music videos that captured the Y2K look so well. The first group that came to mind was Backstreet Boys, as the boy band craze was at its peak in that era, and Backstreet Boys were the biggest group alongside *NSYNC. One of the albums that really captures the era is "Millennium", I mean, it's pretty much in the name there. The album came out in the middle of 1999 and became one of the defining albums of the period. The opening track, called "Larger Than Life," is a perfect song to show anyone who wants to know what Y2K was all about.
It wouldn't be right if I didn't mention probably the biggest rock band of the Y2K era, Linkin Park. They crafted a sound that fit right into the new millennium by mixing hip-hop and hard rock that many a band would try to replicate, but fail to fully capture. The song "In The End" is not only one of the best rock songs of the 2000s, but it has one of the most memorable videos, too. The super dated effects look terrible now, sure, but back then, it was awesome and really gave it a unique look. That alongside the band's style and, of course, Mike's frosted tips on his spiked hair. Nothing screams Y2K more than frosted tips, right?
I guess it wouldn't make sense to leave out the biggest artist of the Y2K era, Britney Spears. Bring on the shiny silver outfits! Britney was a huge part of the sound of the early 2000s, and "OOPS!... I Did It Again" is still one of the biggest hits of the 2000s. The video is really cheesy, and of course has some incredibly outdated effects, but it actually works in its favor to make it more charming. It's interesting to look back at an artist who was at the top of the world at the time and see how big they went for her videos. A lot of artists now just make lyric videos and call it a day, which I can't blame too much because they most likely just don't have the money to make something like this anymore. At least the bigger artists are still making videos anyway, and there have been some great ones recently. That being said, I feel like I see them less and less every year, mostly because you really have to seek them out now unless it goes viral outside YouTube.
Video Games
I guess it would be weird to not mention the games of the Y2K era, considering how much I was playing back then. Not too go too far into it, because I could spend hours talking about them, but there were some highlights I think a lot of us remember. Obviously, Pokémon was reaching new heights that no video game had really done before... except maybe Tetris, but as a huge RPG game, it was really cool to see how popular it got. We also got the transition from cartridge-based games to disc-based games with the PS1, and later, every other console would adapt it. If you were on a PC back then, you might have been introduced to very early online gaming, like EverQuest and Ultima Online. Hell, maybe you ran into a small game called Runescape in its very early days. It's interesting to go back to those days, especially with how bad things are getting these days, as companies try to drain customers of all their money with microtransactions and broken games at launch. Things just weren't like that back in the day. I get that games have become insanely complicated to make with giant teams taking years to finish a project, but that doesn't mean everything has to be broken or require a 50 GB update at launch. Sometimes I just want to pop in a disc and play the game without any of that getting in the way. Oh boy, here I am ranting about the "good ole days" again like an old person. One last big thing from the Y2K era I wanted to mention here was the Tamagotchi. It's recently made somewhat of a comeback, as a lot of Y2K things have, but it's pretty nice to see it get another run. It's a very simple game, probably more popular for being a cool-looking gadget rather than the actual gameplay. Still, it was fun for a week or two.
TV
One last thing to talk about is, of course, the TV shows from back in the day. I mentioned MTV in my music section, but I mean, it was such a huge part of the culture back in the Y2K years. Outside of still having actual music on the show, they had a lot of groundbreaking shows like Real World and Punk'd, alongside some other really fun reality shows like Pimp My Ride, True Life, and Cribs. You know, back when it was fun to see how celebrity houses looked and not depressing. Also, how funny was it to see people on Pimp My Ride get back cars that would probably not even be street legal anymore? Do you really need a fish tank in the back seat? No, but there it is anyway. Enjoy, bitch.
Disney Channel was killing it with the live-action kids' shows back then. You're telling me I can watch That's So Raven, Even Stevens, and Lizzy McGuire on the same channel? They also had those terribly cheesy movies on there where a high school kid becomes a leprechaun. Or the one where a high school kid becomes a mermaid. Or the one where a high school kid watches a vampire hook up with his mom.
The cartoons were pretty good around this time, too, I mean, you had that one indie show that most people didn't watch called SpongeBob SquarePants. Surprised that one didn't get more love. There was a huge battle between Nicktoons and Cartoon Network over who was the best. Well, at least kids would argue about it and name all the shows from each channel to see who had the best line-up. Honestly, it's tough, so I'll make a list here, and you can decide for yourself.
NICKTOONS
Rugrats
Spongebob
Fairly Odd Parents
Jimmy Neutron
Hey! Arnold!
Wild Thornberrys
Rocket Power
Rocko's Modern Life
CARTOON NETWORK
Courage The Cowardly Dog
Codename Kids Nextdoor
Ed, Edd, N Eddy
Dexter's Lab
Powerpuff Girls
Cow and Chicken
Johnny Bravo
Samurai Jack
Just from this list, I'd probably say Cartoon Network has a slightly better lineup, but still, we had some amazing cartoons to watch back in the day.
So yeah, the Y2K era was pretty great... I mean, I'm sure there were bad things about it, too, but this was more of the fun stuff and not any of the boring/bad stuff. And I did it all without mentioning 9/11... Goddammit.