What a time.
We’re not going to sugar coat it… 2020 was pretty shit.
We brought in the new decade amidst the Australian Bushfire Crisis which we were barely recovering from when the Coronavirus pandemic swung in like a wrecking ball, leading to all kinds of uncertainty about what to expect in the next few months.
So instead of focusing on all that, we’re going to take a little trip down memory lane to the year 2000 AKA the year that was probably the greatest year in the history of the world – and we’re not exaggerating.
Let’s take a look.
1. A dude by the name of Eminem had just burst onto the scene and he was about to change hip hop music, and more generally, music forever. This was literally the year Shady gave the MTV VMAs a potent dose of that shock value when he took over with an insane performance. It opened with a military line of Eminem lookalikes on New York City’s 6th Avenue, robotically bobbing their heads to the Dr. Dre-produced beat, before swarming Radio City Music Hall. It became a signature moment for Mathers and for the awards show.
2. Kylie made a huge comeback, releasing a trio of her biggest hits (Spinning Around, On a Night Like This and Robbie Williams duet Kids).
3. The first MP3 had just been launched and we were all using a website called Napster to download music and it took forever.
4. Reality TV had just started to take hold. A little known show called Big Brother was starting to gain traction around the world, while Popstars gave us reality TV singing competitions… and Bardot.
5. ‘Who Let the Dogs Out’ by the Baha Men was one of the biggest songs of the year.
For more fun reads, check out 39 tell-tale signs you’re a true Geelong local.
6. The Sims, the first game in the series, was released for Microsoft Windows, giving us whole new worlds to explore.
7. Between midnight and 5am there were weird game shows with young hosts that encouraged participation through text messages and callers at home ringing in, remember them? Where did they go?
8. The world didn’t end with Y2K. Remember how worried we were that all our all computers, electronics, and satellite systems would fail because none of our digital calendars went past 31 December 1999?
9. The internet had just become standard in houses, remember the dial-up tone? Ba ding .. Ba ding.. Tssshhhhh
10. There was no social media, MySpace was still six years away, but everyone was starting to chat on MSN messenger. Who first found love on MSN messenger?
11. DVDs were at its absolute peak and controlled a major share of the entertainment market.
12. Every male had blonde bleached hair and was obsessed with pushing it forward and creating a ski ramp at the front. Now it’s mullets and man buns.
13. When you went on a holiday it would have been likely you would have flown Ansett.
14. You wouldn’t have found it unusual had someone suggested they watch a movie on VCR.
15. You could buy a nice house just off Pako for about 150k and rent was $155 a week on average.
16. Sydney threw the best Olympic Games EVER. Cathy Freeman lighting the Olympic torch (or winning gold in the 400m sprint a few days later) was iconic… as was Nikki Webster flying around the stadium. Oh, and the Thorpedo (Ian Thorpe) taking home five medals.
17. Skating and boarding culture was everything, everyone was Avril’s Skater Boy, in their own head.
18. You relied on a clock radio to wake you.
19. You printed out directions from MapQuest which would handily deliver you step-by-step directions you could print out and read!
19. Anne Robinson instilled fear in every Weakest Link contestant.
20. The Nokia 3310 became the best-selling phone of its time (and everyone was playing Snake!).
21. It was Powderfinger’s year. They took out #1 and #3 of the 2000 Hottest 100 with ‘My Happiness’ and ‘My Kind of Scene’.
