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This article is about the decade starting at the beginning of 2000 and ending at the end of 2009. For the century or millennium starting in 2001, see 21st century and 3rd millennium.
The 2000s decade refers to the years from 2000 to 2009.
Thus far, the 2000s has generally been marked with an escalation of the social issues of the 1990s, which included the increasing awareness of terrorism and the rapid expansion of economic globalization. Communications and telecommunications have advanced drastically, with the widespread proliferation of the Internet and mobile phones, among other things.
Most major political developments in the 2000s revolved around the War on Terrorism, which was triggered by the September 11, 2001 Attacks and the Moscow Theatre Siege, and led to the American war in Iraq. Al Qaida has launched major terrorist attacks around the world in response to what it deems U.S. aggression against Islam, while Chechnya has engaged in deadly terrorism of its own against the Russian government. These and other events have dominated the news almost daily, including the many controversies regarding their consequences and justifications. The Iraq War, launched in 2003, has generated extreme controversy around the world, with many questioning its justification or questioning the United States' motives. Tensions have escalated in the Middle East regarding the War in Iraq, the Iranian nuclear crisis, Israel's month-long war against Hezbollah, and the election of Hamas in Israeli-occupied Palestine. North Korea has generated a nuclear crisis of its own by withdrawing from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and its reporting of a successful nuclear test.
Economic developments have largely focused on the explosion of Asia's economic and political potential, with China experiencing immense economic growth, moving toward the status of a regional power and billion-consumer market. India, along with many other developing countries, has seen a rapid increase in its economy, accelerated by increased technological integration with the economies of more developed countries*. A trend connecting economic and political events in North America, Asia and the Middle East is the rapidly increasing demand for fossil fuels, which, along with fewer new petroleum finds, greater extraction costs and political turmoil, saw the price of gas and oil soar nearly 300% between 2000 and 2005.
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Names of the decade
In contrast to the decades from 1920 to 1999, which are called the twenties, the thirties and the like, the '00s have had no universally-accepted name. Some refer to the decade as the two thousands, but many find that usage awkward and incorrect for a number of reasons, most notably the fact that the many perceive the "two thousands" as pertaining to the 21st century. Written in numeral form, the decade can be written either as the "2000s" or as the "'00s", but looking for a name that has the same ease of use as the nineties or the fifties has been problematic, especially in the United States.
In the rest of the English-speaking world "The Noughties" and "The Noughts" have come to be the most widely recognized and accepted terms.* The term "Noughties" has been adopted by the BBC,* and while the term may not be universal, there is no other term so widely recognized. Probably the only reason that the term Noughties has not been completely accepted world wide is the fact that, in the United States (where usage of naught or nought to mean zero has never been ubiquitous), there is some confusion by those who assume erroneously that the term has something to do with the adjective naughty.
Other proposed names have been almost innumerable, and include, "the zeroes", the "aughts" (which gained some popularity in the early 20th century), "double-aughts", "aughties", "2K's", "uh-ohs", "zoogs", "ozies", and "abs". But these other suggestions usually represent the wishes of individuals, and do not generally represent any burgeoning consensus.
The United Nations General Assembly declared the decade of 2000-2009 as the "International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World."*
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War, peace and politics
Major controversy over the 2000 U. S. presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore regarding the extremely tight results in Florida which would influence the overall outcome. Eventually, the issue was raised by the Supreme Court which called Florida for Bush, who thus won the election with enough electoral votes yet received less of the popular vote than Gore.
September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on New York's World Trade Center and Virginia's Pentagon killing 2,993 people. A resultant change in stance towards international terrorism (See New Era and War on Terror) has ripple effects on the USA's foreign policy and military strategy.
Illegal immigration in the United States talk and debate becomes widespread after press coverage in 2006 and thousands of Latinos in America participate in mass protests. The government has thus far failed to pass any new legislation regarding illegal immigration.
On July 12, 2006, Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers from Lebanon. In response, Israel launched a response by bombing Hezbollah strongholds throughout the country and moving troops into southern Lebanon to create a buffer zone and force out Hezbollah in the region. Israel's response has been widely-condemned by the international community, and negotiations are ongoing to solve the immediate crisis.
North Korea and Iran have continued their development of nuclear programs despite warnings from the United Nations Security Council. Iran has continually denied developing nuclear weapons and claims that their nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, the Western world has denied this, and even Russia and China have shown some concern over the program. North Korea, however, declared having nuclear weapons in 2005 and has been in a political stalemate since, refusing to negotiate with anybody but the United States over the issue. On July 5, 2006, North Korea tested a long-range Taepodong-2 with the potential to reach the United States, but it failed shortly after launch .As well as this, on October 9,2006, North Korea tested a small nuclear device near Kilchu, in the north. This has caused the UN and to further isolate the country, already the most isolated in the world.
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Economics
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The euro becomes legal tender in twelve European Union countries in 2002. It is the largest monetary union in history. The euro eases trade in the Eurozone.
Major downturn in the value of dot-com shares, with occasional exceptions (Google's IPO on August 13, 2004). The Internet itself continues to grow as a business and advertising medium, with steady increases in online shopping and banking activities. Other successful firms include Amazon.com and eBay.
The US dominance over the world economy continues, but economically rising nations and organizations like China and India show signs of becoming contending world powers.
The 1990s stock market boom ends in Mid-March to Early September of 2000-2001, due to 9/11 and the tech-bubble burst.
Post-9/11 Recession from 2001-2002. The Dow Jones average would sink to the 7000 level during July 2002. Continuing stagnation in US and global monthly jobs growth afterwards. A recovery in US GDP growth begins after May 2003, but with continuing weakness on many indicators as of 2006.
American automobile companies General Motors and Ford lose market share to Japanese Makes such as Toyota and Honda in the US. This trend of General Motors and Ford losing market share to Honda and Toyota started around 1998 in the US and still continues in 2006.
By 2006, the U.S. economy had reached new heights, with the stock market breaking records, home prices rising and flattening study, and interest rates curbed. Gas prices lowered out by September of 2006, further fueling economic prospects.
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Technology
A huge jump in broadband internet usage, from 6% of U.S. internet users in June, 2000 to what one study predicts will be 62% by 2010 (although signs now show that broadband internet usage, continuing in its current trend, will be well over 90% by 2010 in the US).
Digital cameras become very popular due to rapid decreases in size and cost while photo resolution steadily increases. Sales of film reel cameras diminish greatly as a result.
Google and Yahoo search engines increases trafficability of the internet and "to Google" becomes a verb.
Graphic cards become powerful enough to render ultra-high-resolution (e.g. 1920x1200) scenes in real time with substantial detail and texture.
DVDs, and subsequently HD-DVDs and Blu-ray discs, replace VCR technology as the common standard at video stores, but there are an exception to the fact that some VCR technology still appears and various thrift shops and discount stores, along with many other independent markets.
Due to the major success of broadband Internet connections, Voice over IP begins to gain popularity as a replacement for traditional telephone lines. Major telecommunications carriers begin converting their networks from TDM to VoIP.
Wireless networks are becoming ever more commonplace in homes, education institutes and urban public spaces.
Corrective eye surgery becomes popular as costs and potential risk decreases and results further improve.
OLED (Organic light-emitting diode) technology revolutionizes display technology, making it possible to "print" screens on everyday objects.
GPS (Global Positioning System) becomes very popular especially in the tracking of items or people, and the use in cars. Games that utilize the system, such as geocaching, emerge and become popular.
RFID (Radio Frequency ID) becomes widely used in retail giants such as Wal-Mart, as a way to track items and automate stocking and keeping track of items.
DVRs (Digital Video Recorders), typified by TiVo, allow consumers to modify content they watch on TV, and to record TV programs and watch them later, leading to problems as consumers can fast-forward through commercials, making them useless and saving TV show for later viewing, causing a downfall of TV viewing.
Self-serve kiosks become very widely available, used for all kinds of shopping, airplane boarding passes, hotel check-ins, fast food, banking, and car rental. ATMs become nearly universal in much of the First World and very common even in poorer countries and their rural areas.
Internet usage surpasses TV viewing in 2004. Satellite TV loses its ratings as network television ratings gradually increase.
Emerging use of robotics, especially telerobotics in medicine, particularly for surgery.
Many more computers and other technologies incorporated into vehicles such as Xenon HID headlights, GPS, DVD players, self-diagnosing systems, advanced pre-collision safety systems, memory systems for car settings, back-up sensors and cameras, in-car media systems, MP3 player compatibility, USB drive compatibility, keyless start and entry, satellite radio, voice-activation, cellphone connectivity, adaptive headlights, HUD (Head-Up-Display), infrared cameras, and Onstar (on GM models).
The entire videogame industry's profits surpassed the movie industry's in 2004.
The tech bubble burst for the most part in late 2000 and after three years of negative growth the market began its rebound in 2003 and has continued to see moderate growth through 2006.
Videophones are cheap and abundant, yet even by mid-decade, they had not received much attention.
Most cellphone carriers offer video viewing services, internet services, and some offer full music downloads, such as Sprint in 2005. This leads to an almost saturation of cell phone ownership among the public and a sharp decline in the use and locations of payphones.
Home automation and home robotics advance in North America; iRobot's "Roomba" is the most successful domestic robot and has sold 1.5 million units. (Others of interest include: Robomower, and Scooba as of May 2006)
Smartboards in schools gain acceptance and are adopted rapidly during the middle years of the decade.
An increase in online DVD rental services such as Netflix.
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Science
The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission successfully reached the surface of Mars, and sent detailed data and images of the landscape there back to Earth.Whilst NASA's original mission timeline of 3 months was wrongly speculated, the Mission was overall tremendously successful in the long term, as the MER Mission continues til this day, lasting more than 3x the projected length.
Controversy over Intelligent design theory, of which opponents claim is simply disguised Creationism and proponents claim is valid scientific theory. The vast majority of scientists, a number of moderate religious groups, and many citizens of European, and American countries, do not consider intelligent design to be valid theory.
The first robotic vehicle completes the DARPA Grand Challenge in 2005 and becomes the first vehicle to be able to navigate itself with no external interference.
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Culture and religion
Reality television becomes a well-established sector of the television programming industry for most of the early 2000s, switching to more traditional programming starting in the year 2004. Nightly news broadcasts continue to lose viewership to 24-hour internet and cable news broadcasts. Changing television habits that involve increased use of the internet, telephone, and video games and the preponderance of TiVo make marketers rethink the paradigm of the 30-second TV ad. Viral marketing, and product placement within reality television shows and movies are some increasingly used alternatives. Spam is used as an alternative, irritating many.
Same-sex marriage becomes a major cultural issue in developed countries. In 2001, the Netherlands becomes the first country to allow homosexual couples to wed. This is followed by Belgium in 2003, and by Canada, Spain, New Zealand, and South Africa in 2005. Many countries now permit civil unions or a variation of them, which often allow exactly the same rights as marriage (Germany, France, Great Britain, Sweden, New Zealand, Denmark, Norway, Iceland, Luxembourg, Finland, Slovenia, Switzerland, Czech Republic). In 2004, homosexual marriage, previously banned throughout the United States (sometimes by explicit mention in statute, other times by omission in statute), becomes legalized in Massachusetts, the first state to do so. Also, in May 2006, the United States Senate Panel OKs a vote for an amendment banning and not recognising all same-sex marriges in the country.
There is an increased awareness of global poverty through campaigns such as ONE.
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Other
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In August 2003 over 18,000 French die in a heat wave coinciding with the summer holidays when the bulk of France's medical and aged care staff are off-duty. Other spikes in mortality amongst the aged and infirm occur across Europe.
In 2003, a major earthquake rocks the ancient city of Bam, in Iran. Cost over 50,000 lives.
Methamphetamine use skyrockets while crime rates in the U.S. reach the lowest rate in 40 years as of 2005 and use of most other drugs drops.
Bird flu spreads through South East Asia; countries begin preparing for a potential bird flu epidemic, fearing that it could mutate into a form that could transfer easily from person to person and kill millions of people. Bird flu spreads rapidly into Europe in October 2005.
Criticism of Vladimir Putin's governmental policies and reforms mount and a backlash of Soviet-nostalgia occurs in Russia.
On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina strikes southeastern Louisiana, U.S., with winds up to 125 mph, killing more than 1,400 people and devastating the city New Orleans and the Mississippi coast, making this hurricane one of the costliest hurricanes in known World History. People and life later return to New Orleans, but many analysts expect that New Orleans will never return to its prior state.
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Fashion
The wearing of thongs among young woman, popular in the late 1990s and early 2000s, becomes less popular by 2005. Less revealing undergarments, such as boyshorts, make a comeback.
The "Baggy Jeans" craze of the 1990s (mostly with young males) remains commonplace in the beginning part of the decade, but becomes less popular circa 2002. Tighter fitting jeans become more popular and mainstream.
Longer hair among young males becomes much more mainstream, and is no longer considered just a "skater"/alternative look.
1980s fashion revival: For girls and women large/chunky jewlery, originally popular in the 1980s and early 1990s, return to style circa 2002. Leggings worn with shirts and/or mini-skirt became a trend circa 2005. Upturned collars on tennis shirts become popular among the youth as well. Some boys begin to wear pink, and the mohawk makes a comeback, becoming more mainstream and less of an alternative trend, as it was during the 1990s. Wearing high-heeled boots, specifically tucking one's slacks into them, becomes a popular trend among young women. Layered clothing becomes popular, especially with women's shirts; ruffled skirts also become a trend.
Pinstriped button up shirts, striped polo shirts over T-shirts, blazers, and layers of brightly colored sweaters are popular styles of fashion among young males. The trend was made popular by artists such as Usher and Kanye West in the mid 2000s. This look may be considered being an alternative form of the "prep" look
While straight hair on women still remains fashionable in the 2000s, as it did in the 1990s, wavy and curly hair becomes more widely accepted (especially in the mid-2000s).
Trucker hats, usually made by the Von Dutch company and commonly worn by celebrities such as Ashton Kutcher, become popular in 2003. The trend, however, falls out of favor circa 2005.
Wearing baseball caps backwards, common during the 1990s, becomes less prevalent, with many wearing them sideways or forwards.
Fad diets such as Atkins and low carb diets are popular during the early '00s, but fall out of favor circa 2004 in favor of diets heavy in whole grain foods.
Slang words and catch phrases used often in 2000s America include "Retarded", "Fugly", "Manufactured" "Chill" "Gay", "Crunk", "Wanksta", "Rad", "Whateva", "That's Hot!", "Totally", "Bringing SexyBack", "Promiscuous", "Bootylicious", "Seriously", "Metro", "Tight", "Ill", "Ditty", "Snap", "Fetch", "Git-R-Dun"," "Rogue", "Hell Yeah", "Sick", "Eh-oh", "BOO-YA!", "Pure"," Sweet", "Jokes", "Beyotch", "You're fired", "Pwnage", "Emo", "Noob", "Über", "Fragged", "Leet", "Internets" and "Werd up"/"word up". Many of them have roots from the 1980s and 1990s, such as the word "totally" and "rad". 1990s hip hop slang such as the words "yo", "da bomb", "chill" and "buzz kill" still remains popular in the middle 2000s. A lot of slang from gaming and the internet that were less well-known become popular. Also, internet slang, such as "OMG", "BRB", "LOL", "ROTFLOL", "NO WAI", Leetspeak, and many others become popular to say outside of an online setting.
Owning or having a cell phone becomes prevalent among teenagers and preteens from many different economic and social classes as opposed to the 1980s and 1990s, when they were seen mainly as a symbol of someone with great wealth. Payphone use decline dramatically because of this.
MP3 players, particularly the iPod (introduced in 2001), become very common as they become more powerful and easier to use. By 2006, over 1 billion songs had been downloaded by customers onto their iPods using Apple's music management software iTunes and the iTunes Music Store.
Poker becomes a craze, as many Americans are enticed by online poker rooms and games with their friends and neighbors. The World Series of Poker aired on ESPN becomes a huge success.
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Europe
In Eastern Germany and other ex-Communist countries was for a short time a growth in nostalgia for former Communist times (Ostalgie) (2002).
Because of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the politics of U.S. president George W. Bush, there has been a surge of anti-Americanism, especially in Western Europe.
From early in the decade, mobile phones are largely seen as a necessary accessory, even for the majority of children as young as 10 years old. Ownership approaches 100% of the population in most Western European countries.
Fashion and cosmetic surgery become more mainstream; an increase in interest is most notable in men, influenced by fashion-conscious "celebrities" such as David Beckham.
Formal wear such as sun dresses and evening gowns become more popular amongst the younger generations in Europe, especially in the latter part of the decade.
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United States and Canada
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Hip-Hop is the most popular musical genre with the youth, replacing rock and roll. Artists such as Kanye West, Outkast, Lil Jon, 50 Cent, Nelly, and Eminem were the dominant hip-hop artists that defined the hip-hop genre in this decade thus far. Also Eminem looks set to become the best selling music artist of the decade selling around 80 million albums by the end of 2006. Distinct regional differences also developed outside the hip-hop/rap strongholds of the 90s, New York City and Los Angeles; while the southern scenes, particularly Atlanta, emerged "crunk" hip-hop, the upper midwest, especially Chicago and Detroit became nationally recognized scenes for more socially conscious hip hop/rap artists, such as Kanye West, Eminem, Lupe Fiasco, and Common. Hip hop had its peak of popularity in 2003, and hip hop as a genre is generally considered to be declining in popularity, albeit slowly.
Rock has remained highly popular, despite the increasing popularity of hip-hop and rap music. The most popular style of rock music early in the decade (and also during the late 1990s) was nu metal, featuring acts such as Linkin Park, Limp Bizkit, KoЯn, and Papa Roach, among others. Another style of popular music early on in the decade was pop-punk music, led by groups such as blink-182, Good Charlotte, Simple Plan, Sum 41 and Yellowcard. In the alternative rock/indie rock scene, there has been garage rock revival occurring with artists such as The White Stripes, The Strokes, The Hives, The Vines, and Jet. Around 2004, nu metal's popularity was greatly waning (although it still has a large presence on mainstream rock radio) and pop punk music was becoming more mature, mainly signified with Blink-182's self-titled album and Green Day's American Idiot. These two trends contributed to the rise of emo music as one of the most popular forms of rock music among youth in the 2000s. Some emo bands that broke out into the mainstream are My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, Panic! At The Disco, Taking Back Sunday, and Hawthorne Heights. In the metal world, a new form of metal that fused heavy metal and thrash with hardcore punk called metalcore achieved popularity. Bands such as Avenged Sevenfold, Atreyu, Killswitch Engage, As I Lay Dying, Trivium, and many others achieved success with the Ozzfest crowd. In the alternative rock/indie rock world, a post-punk revival led by acts such as Franz Ferdinand, The Killers, the Arctic Monkeys, and Bloc Party took place, although some of these acts were much more popular on the other side of the pond. Throughout the decade, the post-grunge sound remained popular on adult alternative, modern rock, and pop radio stations alike. Artists such as Nickelback, Seether, the Foo Fighters, Staind, and Shinedown all enjoyed much mainstream success and hits throughout the decade, due to their very radio accessible sound. Many popular rock artists of the 90s remained popular, and some even gained more popularity throughout the decade, such as Green Day, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Foo Fighters, Tool, and Weezer. Alternative metal also rose as one of the most popular rock genres of the decade with such artists as System of a Down, Three Days Grace, Godsmack, and Disturbed. Evanescence also brought gothic rock to the mainstream with dark and edgy yet mainstream-friendly sounds. Alternative rock remained popular with such emerging bands as 3 Doors Down, Lifehouse, Switchfoot, and Death Cab for Cutie.
Pop. Some styles of the 1990s remain strong and even trendy, except for a few such as the girl and boy bands/teen pop of the late '90s that declined in popularity during the early part of the '00s. Most of this can be attributed to the criticism of the genre's "fakeness" and "shallowness" and the growing up of its fanbase. Several artists of the era (i.e. Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Simpson) still maintain a strong presence on the charts and in the media. The teen pop genre morphed into a more adult-alternative or pop-rock oriented sound early on in the decade. In 2002, this new "teen pop rock" movement began. Michelle Branch was arguably the first artist to take this new direction in pop music, with her contemporaries such as Avril Lavigne and Vanessa Carlton not far behind. Soon, every female vocalist had to have a band backing their vocals up instead of processed computer beats. American Idol winners become a big part of the American pop sound, but only one winner became a staple. Kelly Clarkson experienced huge success and tons of hit radio singles with her pop-rock sound. The younger sibling of Jessica Simpson, Ashlee Simpson, experienced a breakthrough success with her teen pop-rock sound as well. Ashlee's then boyfriend, Ryan Cabrera had some big hit singles and made teen girls swoon. "Disney Channel" artists such as Hilary Duff, Lindsay Lohan, Aly & AJ, The Veronicas, The Cheetah Girls, B5 and Jesse McCartney who have a teen pop-rock sound became popular during the middle part of the decade, arguably keeping the teen pop era alive within the niche of children and teens who watch such networks. Circa mid to late 2000s genres are merging more and more and it's the songs that combine hip-hop/pop/r&b (for example Promiscuous (song), SexyBack, SOS (Rihanna song), My Love, London Bridge (Fergie song), Show Stopper, Crazy (Gnarls Barkley song), Buttons (song)) that are topping the charts.
R&B continues to be popular. Artist such as Usher, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce, and Alicia Keys are all popular mainstream R&B artist in the 2000s. The style is sometimes fueled by combination with Rap or hip-hop beats. Pop R&B, along with Hip Hop, dominates mainstream music in the earlier part of the mid '00s. Neo-soul is also popular during the early part of the decade.
Pop country slips in mainstream popularity in the early 2000s, due partly to the public retirement of Garth Brooks. However, the upper part of the Billboard album charts generally has many country albums, including some that go more than double platinum, indicating that the genre has a strong niche in the music industry. The genre grows during the mid 2000s from artists such as Carrie Underwood, who became the first American Idol winner to go into country instead of Pop or R&B. Artists that were popular during the decade were mostly artists who were already successful in the 90s, but the artists include: Dixie Chicks, Toby Keith, Gretchen Wilson, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Kenny Chesney among others.
Dance music (house, techno, trance, drum 'n' bass) becomes mainstream in America. Dance artists such as Madonna and Kylie Minogue continue to become popular throughout the decade. Many dance remixes of past euro-dance or balad hits from the past appear between 2004-2006 such as the 2004 hit Call On Me by Eric Prydz, Fading Like A Flower by Dancing Deejays or Everywhere from Bonnie Bailey. These past hits have been enchanced with modern beats to be able to fit in mainstreem and also to be played in parties and night clubs.
Ethnic music, especially in near tropical locations is mainstream for most of the early to mid '00s, especially in the rise of Reggaeton and Reggae artist Sean Paul in the mid-2000s. In 2005-2006 Diplo brings Baile Funk to mainstream dance culture from Brazil.
Sales of CDs in 2005 in the U.S. decline drastically from the teen-pop era of the late 1990s-early 2000s. Some people who grew up listening to 1970s, 1980s, or even 1990s music claim the music industry is going for a younger audience in the 2000s that it has in decades past which might be leading to this drop in record sales. However, music industry executives claim the drop in CD sales is due to mp3 players (such as the iPod), and increasing popularity and access to music online such as the use of Napster.
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Europe & British Isles
Electro, as well as music that combines it with House becomes mainstream in the dance music scene in the middle of the decade, replacing the mainstream of more jazzy and Latin influenced sounds from the beginning of the decade
Boybands do not exactly die out, but they evolve into teen pop-rock/pop punk acts, with artists such as Busted and McFly
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Australia and New Zealand
Many new rock and alternative groups/bands form during the early years of this decade, consisting of 2 or 3 - 7 to 10 members. Instruments are almost always a guitar, drums, bass and sometimes keyboards, reviving youth interest in these instruments. Groups/bands such as The Vines and Jet become very popular amongst others around 2002 - 2003, paving the way for a mass of new groups midway through the decade such as, Evermore, Wolfmother and many others. This is speculated to result in a major breakthrough of the genre in Australia later in the decade similar to the grunge scene in the United States in the early 90s.
Rock and Hip Hop remain the most popular music genre amongst youth in Australia and New Zealand, particularly Hip Hop, Rap and R&B, although later in the decade these genres lose favour to rock and alternative.
Podcasting becomes popular in the later years of this decade with many radio stations podcasting several sections of their shows.
Bands such as The Living End become increasingly popular amongst a new generation of youth, spurring interest in a sort of punk style revival.
Popular American television show, The O.C., popularises many alternative Australian and New Zealand alternative rock bands by playing their music during the show. These bands include, Youth Group and Evermore.
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Latin America/Caribbean
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Far East
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Film
The The Lord of the Rings trilogy and King Kong (both by New Zealand director Peter Jackson), Harry Potter, comic book movies, and the new Star Wars movie sagas dominate the box office. The high profitability of these films arguably has much to do with the lack of investment and quality in newer and more original films in the 2000s as opposed to decades like the 1980s and 1990s.
Movie remakes and sequels hit an all-time high, in contrast to purely original scripts. Also, many movies based on old TV shows and novels become more popular in Hollywood.
Depressed ticket sales throughout the decade due to general lack of quality films and decline of the general moviegoing experience, as movie theaters keep ticket prices high and increase the duration of advertisements before movies, in some cases going as long as 30 minutes. Other trends emerge, such as the decreasing cost and increasing size of quality home theater displays along with the availability mail-based movie rental services, most notably Netflix, which offered an unlimited number of DVD rentals for a fixed price per month. Movie executives attempted to place some of the blame on online piracy due to the advent of BitTorrent, however its effect has been disputed, as some claim that those who download these movies would not have paid to see them in the first place.
The Matrix becomes an influence on special effect styles (ie: 'bullet-time', dramatic effects in slow motion).
"R" rated films are released at their lowest prevalence since the 1960s, reflecting a post-Columbine American society which increasingly lacks tolerance of violent films. While certain exceptions such as Kill Bill are made in protest of this development and in tribute to the overly violent kung-fu and action films of the 1970s, most action films of the 2000s are largely bloodless.
X-Men sparks the "Comic Book Movie Age." Many big-budget adaptations of various comic book characters are made, primarily by Marvel Comics and DC Comics. Some of these comic-book movies, aside from X-Men, include X2: X-Men United, X-Men: The Last Stand, Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2, The Fantastic Four, Batman Begins, V for Vendetta, Superman Returns, and the upcoming Spider-Man 3.
Disney abandons traditional 2D animation altogether in 2005, with Home on the Range being the last Disney movie with any 2D animation. Disney releases two non-Pixar-produced 3D films (Valiant in the US and Chicken Little) in 2005. Also, in 2006, Pixar became a part of Disney, furthering the company's transition into the 3D era, although a return to two-dimensional animation films may not be out of the question under the studio's new management.
and , become huge hits for Disney live-action movies. The sequel to the former has already premiered and a third movie is on its way.
Brokeback Mountain, a movie about two gay cowboys, is considered controversial by some conservative Americans. Director Ang Lee receives Academy Award in 2006. Many parodies appeared on the Internet during early 2006.
The Napoleon Dynamite craze starts, with "Vote for Pedro" shirts becoming a hot commodity in 2005 and thousands of items relating to the film being sold rapidly. This launched Jon Heder's career as an actor.
The increasing popularity and affordability of digital video equipment and computer-based editing software contributes to a boom in micro-budget, independent filmmaking. Hit movies like Super-Size Me and Open Water are shot on shoestring budgets with relatively inexpensive digital camcorders.
British cinema undergoes a resurgence, with British box-office takings bucking a general downward trend in ticket sales.
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Internet
The Internet becomes a major source of all types of media, from music to movies, thanks to file-sharing P2P programs such as KaZaA and Limewire. The debate continues over the ethics of file-sharing.
As people become more used to the Internet during this decade it begins to be spelled lower-cased, called simply "the internet" or "internet" as opposed to "Internet" or "The Internet" which were used almost exclusively during the 1990s. Similarly "E-mail" became "email" and "Web sites" became "websites".
The diverse and spontaneous nature of the internet allows an internet culture to form. Online projects such as hamsterdance, YTMND and Homestar Runner become international trends within short periods of time due to word of mouth on and off the web, with little or no promotion required from their creators. Internet phenomena and jokes spread quickly through out mainstream internet and sometimes off-internet culture from sources such as the Something Awful Forums, 4chan, and Albino Blacksheep. (A good example of this would be Chuck Norris Facts.) Some music acts, such as Arctic Monkeys became well-known almost entirely from the use of the internet.
Legal music download services such as iTunes and the re-designed Napster open up a new market of digital downloading. Napster, even its current version, becomes the number one music swapping enterprise of all time.
The film Snakes on a Plane, starring Samuel L. Jackson, becomes an Internet phenomenon prior its August 18, 2006 release.
Craigslist.org, a popular online classified site, saps over 50 million dollars a year from newspaper revenues, with a staff of only 16 people in San Francisco.
Voice-Over-Internet-Protocol(VoIP) telephones and the Internet slowly begin to merge: Examples are Vonage and Skype.
Re-cut trailers become popular in the mid-2000s, largely due to the many parody trailers of Brokeback Mountain during the 2005-2006 winter. Popular examples include "Brokeback to the Future", , and the Sleepless in Seattle trailer cut into a horror movie.
Social networking programs such as Myspace, Xanga, Facebook, Friendster, and MyYearbook become extremely popular among teens and twenty-somethings inspiring others to share and trade personal information via online. These sites, in particular Myspace skyrocketed in popularity since the late 1990s, especially around the year 1998 and are criticized by many for safety concerns such as their use by pedophiles to exploit the younger generations. MySpace seems to be improving in safety and security as the decade progresses.
Informational and educational web sites abruptly decline as the internet becomes more of a place for advertising and other types of media, such as the use of such chat boards including MySpace and Facebook.
The interactivity of the internet becomes more prominent with websites such as Wikipedia, YouTube and somewhat MySpace where users can become contributors without a specialized knowledge in HTML technology.
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Video games
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Gamers who were kids in the 1980s and 1990s are now adults and continue to play video games. The average age for video game players rises into the mid to late 20s as videogames become mainstream global entertainment.
The Sims, released in the winter of 2000 for PC, along with its numerous expansions and the help from many companies, such as Electronic Arts, Maxis, and Disney, becomes the best-selling PC game of all time. The Sims 2, released in 2004, becomes almost as popular.
Sega in 2001 drops out of the home console market after the Dreamcast (1999) fails to regain lost marketshare from the 1990s.
Nintendo releases the Game Boy Advance (GBA) in 2001, a 32-bit handheld system. A redesign of the GBA dubbed Game Boy Advance SP (GBASP) was released in 2003 introducing flip-top design and a frontlit screen. Another even smaller version of the GBA was released as the Game Boy Micro in 2005. The Game Boy line remains the best-selling handheld console line, despite increased competition from other companies.
The Grand Theft Auto series sparks a fad of Mature-rated video games based on including gang warfare, drug use, and perceived "senseless violence" into the gameplay. The Hot Coffee controversy, when a sex mini-game was discovered in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, caused widespread controversy and have fueled efforts to ban the sale of Mature-rated games to minors. The effort has been spearheaded by mothers, lawmakers, and activists (such as Jack Thompson), although all such efforts to pass any laws concerning this have been firmly struck down.
Console gaming officially hits the Internet with Xbox Live, introducing widespread use of voice-chat via headset and requiring broadband Internet connection for "no-lag" gameplay.
Nintendo releases the Nintendo DS in late 2004 featuring dual screens, a touch screen, and built-in mic and Wi-fi. In 2006 the Nintendo DS lite, a redesign which is smaller with brighter screens, is released. Sony releases the PlayStation Portable (PSP) in early 2005, a handheld gaming console with many multimedia features and sharp graphics. The PSP, despite its variety of features, falls behind the DS in sales, allowing Nintendo to retain a firm hold on the handheld market.
During 2005 and 2006 the seventh generation of home consoles arrive: Microsoft's Xbox 360 (2005), the Sony Playstation 3, and the Nintendo Wii (both expected 2006) have sharper HDTV-ready graphics (though Wii will support 480p max), multi-media, wireless controllers, and more integrated online features. The PlayStation 3 will also feature a Blu-Ray disk drive, while the Wii will feature a completely new controller design (see below).
Nintendo announces that the Wii will feature a remote control style controller featuring full motion-sensitivity and a built-in speaker. This is the first major change in controller design since the home console market was launched. Sony follows by announcing that the PS3 will have tilt-sensitive capabilities in its controller.
Video games like Halo (2001) and Half-Life 2 (2004) with its Source engine revolutionize the physics aspect of gameplay. Red Faction in 2001 became among the first games to feature destructible environments on any level. Age of Empires III becomes the first real-time strategy (RTS) game to use the Source engine and thus feature realistic physics. Company of Heroes, an RTS released in 2006, was the first game of any genre to feature fully-destructible environments. Crysis, expected to be released in 2007, will push physics technology one step further, feautring an environment that can be affected in nearly every way by its surroundings.
3d games become the staple of the video-game industry, with 2d games nearly fading from the market. Partially 3d and fully 2d games were still common in the industry early in the decade, but these have now become rare as developers look almost exclusively for fully 3d games to satisfy the increasing demand for them in the market.
Sequels and spin-offs began to dominate the video game industry early in the decade and led to the decline in the number of successful original titles. The Grand Theft Auto series has become among the most popular franchises, beginning with Grand Theft Auto III in 2001. It has since spawned 2 sequels, with a third slated for 2007. All of the GTA games have been best-sellers. In 2004, both Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 were released as sequels to some of the most popular franchises in video game history, while Halo, released in 2001, has spawned another best-selling franchise. It was followed up by Halo 2, which was also released in 2004. The Final Fantasy and Zelda series remain among the most popular.
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Television
Television in the 2000s showed a steady decline in the amount of live sitcoms and dramas and a rapid increase in reality shows, like American Idol. Traditional network news programs have slowly waned in popularity with the increase of 24 hour cable news stations and internet news. Adult oriented animated programming also began a sharp upturn in popularity with shows like South Park and Family Guy along with the longtime running cartoon The Simpsons. Many successful sitcoms from the 1990s also ended in the 2000s such as Friends (1994-2004) Frasier (1993-2004) Everybody Loves Raymond (1996-2005) and That 70's Show (1998-2006)
Television passed to heavy censorship concerning nudity, sex, and violence in the U.S. after the Janet Jackson-Justin Timberlake Super Bowl incident happened early in 2004. After a long discussion, the United States House of Representatives passed a bill to raise the maximum FCC fine penalty from USD $27,500 to $500,000 per "indecent" violation. The United States Senate voted to increase it to $275,000 per incident. The two houses reconciled the differences in fine levels, settling for a fine of $375,000 per violation in 2005. See also: Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy. Although this doesn't seem to have much of an effect as previously taboo topics are confronted and media continues to push the limit on what is appropriate.
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Sports
The National Hockey League virtually disappears from the American sports landscape thanks to a year-long lockout that wiped out an entire season, as well as general apathy towards the sport and a television deal with OLN that prevented many fans from being able to see games (several NHL telecasts on OLN were outdrawn by WNBA games on ESPN2*). In Canada, the National Hockey League remains extremely popular, helped by the Calgary Flames run to the Stanley Cup Finals in 2004, and the Edmonton Oilers playoff run in 2006.
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