"2000 Jams From The 2000s" Re-Launch

| 2000 || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 |
| 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009 |

We're gonna try and do this over. We didn't like how the original 2000s Jams was unraveling, and the list was ultimately abandoned. But this turned out for the best, because it gave us a chance to try something different.

But why now? How does 2015 make sense for this?

Some theorists insist on an argument suggesting a 20-year-cycle of nostalgia. For example, '70s nostalgia was especially present within Gen X culture, like Richard Linklater's Dazed and Confused (1993), or the moments in Reality Bites (1994) when Winona Ryder and Janeane Garofalo reminisce to "Conjunction Junction" or "Disco Inferno."

Our personal theory notes evidence of nostalgic roots sprouting slightly earlier - specifically during the 9th year of the following decade. For example, Sha Na Na capitalized on '50s nostalgia starting in 1968. And the '80s-themed film The Wedding Singer premiered in 1998. Just trust us. This is a real thing. It's an actual pattern that really exists. We're expecting some capitalization of oughts-nostalgia to begin no sooner than 2018.

So we decided to jump on this train before "oughts" turns into a word as equally dirty as "nineties." It's not especially cool to discuss the 2000s as nostalgia-worthy just yet, which we find ironic since VH1 nostalgia marathons like their 10-part I Love the '80s series were hugely popular during the 2000s (and ultimately led to an entire TV channel called VH1 Classic that centers around this idea). In-depth nostalgia for previous decades was part of popular culture in a way that hasn't seemed nearly as widespread in subsequent years. Instead, we get superficial Buzzfeed listicles with animated gifs captured from old Nickelodeon shows.

We started a radio series called '90s Mixtape in 2004, which seemed like appropriate timing even though the '90s had barely been finished for a half-decade. '90s nostalgia wasn't a huge cash cow just yet, but we started the show anyway because it seemed like it was representing a bygone era killed dead in the aftermath of a distinct cultural shift. Some might refer to this before-and-after period as "the TRL era." Britney, Eminem, Tom Green, American Pie, Woodstock '99, and DMX are just a few of the names that contributed to the launch of this cultural shift. Three years later - by the time The Strokes, The Osbournes and George W. Bush were around, that '90s-feeling was long gone.

We bring this up only to pose a question about the 2010s: Was there a similar culture divide between 2009 and 2011? From our perspective, it hasn't become truly noticeable just yet - or at least not nearly as obvious as what resulted from "the TRL era."

The one aspect of modern culture that seems far removed from 10-15 years prior is hiphop, after 2009 launched breakthrough releases from at least 10 of today's biggest stars, including Nicki Minaj, Earl Sweatshirt, Wiz Khalifa, Gucci Mane and Drake.

Outside of hiphop, the blurry cultural divide may explain why 2000s nostalgia hasn't yet been fully explored and exploited.

Either way, it's bound to happen at some point, so we figured we should board the train early and get it out of the way. We also have energy for it within this moment, which may not exist 3+ years from now.

With this in mind, we'll admit that our 2000s canon plans to unveil itself more similarly to a series of Buzzfeed listicles than a collection of in-depth thinkpieces. We wrote up some lists. We located as much streaming media associated with those lists as we could find. And we curated some playlists. That's basically the jist.

Will this really be a list of 2000 jams? Probably not. But there will be a lot of them over the course of this 10-part series, one post per year starting with 2000 and wrapping up with 2009 at some point in the future.

Each post will be highlighted by our top 20 songs of every year, plus another 30-40 bonus jams, followed by 10 or 12 other things we liked that happened on TV or on the internet. (So that's [20 + 40 + 12] x 10 years. That's actually a lot closer to 720 than 2000. But whatever. It's close enough. Who has time for 2000 jams anyway?)

And we'll spit out all these playlists starting on Tuesday, September 15 sometime after midnight.

It was the decade of ass. It was the widespread ass embracing all things material. It was the 2000s. Not everyone loved it, but we def lived it.

The 2000s. Coming soon.

| 2000 || 2001 || 2002 || 2003 || 2004 |
| 2005 || 2006 || 2007 || 2008 || 2009 |