English Topics Cool in the 00s
Alisha: Hi everybody! Welcome back to English Topics.
My name is Alisha, and I’m here with…
Michael: Michael. Hello!
Alisha: Today, we’re going to be talking about
“Things that were Cool in the 00s.”
The 00s refers to from the year 2000 to the
year 2010.
So, let’s discuss the things that we thought
were cool in this period of time.
My first item is “boy bands.”
Boy bands as a junior high school student
during the early 2000s to mid 2000ish years,
I was very loyal to one boy band in particular.
If you recall, during this period of time
in America, there were a few boy bands.
There was NSYNC, there were the Backstreet
Boys.
My personal favorite was Hanson.
I really had my walls just covered in Hanson
posters.
That was a big thing for me.
Did boy bands factor into your adolescence
at all?
Michael: Yes and no, again, I had three older
brothers to punch me and say, “Hey, don’t
listen to boy bands.
Boy bands are for losers.
Don’t be a loser.”
So, I never got into it, but I definitely
knew that was a thing.
You would see the binders in school and they’re
really shiny, laminated, maybe, 98 degrees,
this and that.
So, speaking of music, I think this one’s
pretty good is “Napster,” and this was
right before 2000.
It started I think ‘99 and got in a lot
of trouble.
The owner got in a lot of trouble.
It’s been that first peer-to-peer sharing,
they call it.
So, people peers and you share it, so I send
you a file directly.
That was the first time that came out.
So, I remember a lot of people didn’t think
about the moral implications.
Is this illegal, is this bad, the internet
was starting to bubble up and become really
popular.
So, I remember my relatives and friends, everyone
did it until all the sudden they said, “Whoa,
you’re stealing music.
Don’t do it.”
There were a couple people got arrested, fined
millions of dollars and stuff.
So, they started to die out and the new ones
came.
So, for me, I think after Napster, Kazaa,
and LimeWire.
there are all these different programs and
a million.
Basically, it was before torrent and all that.
Alisha: Yeah, that’s a great point though
because those sorts of peer-to-peer applications
really did change media.
That’s huge.
Good one.
I like that topic.
Wow, okay.
Nice one.
I guess I’ll go on to the next one for me,
this is also media-related.
This is something I think probably most teens
in our generation used at some point in time
and it’s “Instant Messenger.”
Instant Messenger, I was partial.
Me, I like to use AOL Instant Messenger, A-I-M.
I also had MSN Instant Messenger.
Did you use an instant messaging service?
Michael: Yeah.
AIM.
Alisha: Yeah, AIM.
So, this was before–maybe I think cell phones
were becoming more and more common but, at
least in my case, I didn’t get a cell phone–a
mobile phone for my own personal use until
high schoolish maybe, I don’t remember, till
maybe 17 or so.
I didn’t need one, really.
But, to talk to—who did I talk to?
To talk to my friends, I suppose, I don’t
know.
I used Instant Messenger to talk to people
in other parts of the world.
I would have a pen pal in a different country,
or I remember I exchanged music a lot with
a guy who lived in a different part of the
United States.
I don’t remember where he was from.
That’s true.
This is a true story.
He sent me Muse, I remember that guy, and
I liked it.
Michael: Secretly, a 40-year-old guy in his
basement.
“Electronic and Hip-hop Acceptance.”
So, for me I remember for the longest time,
we made fun of this stuff.
We would say there was a stupid phrase that
everyone said, “Rap is only one letter away
from crap.
That’s how you know it’s bad.”
Or like, “The electronic music, anybody
can make that music because it’s just a computer,
there’s no skill.
[beatboxed] Man I hate…”
We would all say that kind of stuff for a
lot of kids did.
And right around that, that’s when people
slowly, one-by-one started to convert and
it became more and more mainstream to where
a lot of the famous artists.
It just became like everyone loved it.
I think by the end of the 2000s, it was anybody
and everybody, any demographic loved electronic
and hip-hop.
It became a very popular thing.
Alisha: Yeah, maybe so.
Hip-hop really gained momentum there and early
2000s mid- 2000s, didn’t it?
Because up until then, it was kind of sweet,
pop almost or rock music was really popular.
But, yeah, electronic and grunge, too.
Grunge was a thing like Nirvana.
Nirvana was big in the 90s, no late 80s maybe.
Wait.
When was Nirvana popular?
Michael: Yeah, it was ‘90s.
But I don’t remember exactly.
I mean he was gone by the end of the ‘90s.
Alisha: So, then, rock was really popular.
I feel like rock was very, very mainstream.
Country as well, country-western was big.
But, I think, you’re right, hip-hop really
gained a lot of momentum there, late ‘90s
early 2000s or so.
And electronic, too.
Okay, my next item is “Harry Potter.”
Harry Potter finished in the late 2000s.
Harry Potter was a huge, huge series and I
think it was really important – not even
so much because of the story, of course, the
story is widely known around the world by
this point in time.
But, I think it was really important because
I think it got people reading.
Young people, adolescents, older people.
it was one of those stories that could be
enjoyed by anybody, any age group.
I was super into Harry Potter.
I loved reading fantasy books and at any rate.
But, Harry Potter, I think was really popular,
was really fun.
It was one of those things that kids could
enjoy and parents didn’t have to worry about.
I don’t think it was like the kids were reading
something scandalous or whatever.
It’s just this sort of heartwarming fantasy
story about a couple of kids growing up together
in this strange situation.
Did you ever read Harry Potter?
Michael: Yeah, I read a little bit of it.
I remember mainly watching the movies.
But, I remember two things about that.
I think it’s funny you said it’s heartwarming
and I think most people agree with that.
but I remember there was a small group of
people who protested and said it celebrated
witchcraft and it’s not religious and a good
Christian shouldn’t read Harry Potter.
And then the second thing is, I remember that
it was number one, I don’t know exactly, don’t
quote me on this.
But, I remember it was really high for adults
on Amazon.com and children.
It was like a best-seller for both adults
and children, and that was kind of a first.
I think it’s pretty groundbreaking.
Alisha: Yeah, I think so.
And, I mean, of course, the movies came out
and that was a different sort of popularity
that happened because of the movies.
But, I think, having a series of books that
could captivate and got into such a huge audience
interested, it’s possible, maybe there’s another
series or another book that they had a similar
influence.
But again, going back to your point about
the internet, I think because of the internet,
and because of that exchange of information,
Harry Potter had just the perfect timing and
the perfect story for it to just spread like
wildfire, meaning it spreads so quickly and
with such like ferocity that it was like a
super story.
Right.
So, I think Harry Potter was a really, really
big part of that time period, from the end
of the ‘90s.
But I think it was huge in the early 2000s.
Michael: Absolutely.
“MySpace”
Alisha: My gosh.
Mic MySpace, that’s for sure.
This seems like a relic something so old now
because websites come and go.
But MySpace was–for those of you who don’t
know, you probably do–it was Facebook before
Facebook.
And before MySpace was something a little
before my time, but I guess called Friendster.
And there’s all these different websites,
these are just different social media.
But one thing I noticed that was different
about MySpace versus Facebook is there’s unsaid
internet social etiquette with Facebook.
You didn’t add strangers on Facebook.
Some people do, it depends on the country,
blah, blah, blah.
But, typically, it was only your close friends,
right.
Whereas, MySpace, I remember meeting just
strangers.
you just go on and see a girl that’s cute
and you add her and you say, “Hey, what’s
up.
I like your pictures.
You want to meet?”
And it was kind of like a chat room thing,
it was a weird in-between.
Until it became more of a personal thing,
right.
Alisha: Right.
Michael: My Facebook wall or whatever versus—
Alisha: Well, Facebook initially started out
of– it was from college actually.
When you went to college, a lot of colleges
would have something, a physical book called
a Facebook to my understanding.
And, it was like a yearbook, but before you
started the year, so you could see who your
classmates were.
I think that was what the deal was.
And, initially, when Facebook started, you
had to have a college, a university email
address in order to join Facebook.
So, at first, it was only college students
who could participate in Facebook.
And then, it became open to the public.
Now, of course, Facebook is popular all over
the world.
Okay, so those are a few things that we thought
were cool in the ‘00s from the year 2000
to 2010.
What was cool for you in your country?
I’m really actually kind of curious to hear.
I mean these are things that were big in America,
but I have no idea of what was–well, not
no idea but I have very little concept of
what was interesting in other countries at
this time in history.
So, please share, if you have something that
you thought was really, really outstanding
from this time.
That’s all for us today.
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