Okay, notice you did not list an artist or a movie that defines "your" generation. Is that because there aren't any? Can you tell us who stacks up to the Stones, Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Star Wars, etc? Zeppelin was big 30 years ago, and everyone knows their music to this day. I have yet to see anything come out of this decade that is even remotely as iconic as that. Name an artist from "your" generation that will still be a household name 30 years from now.

 

00's? - MySpace for all. . . the internet has DRAMATICALLY changed the way historians will have to contextualize pop culture.

Will movie popularity be dictated by box-office gross, DVD sales, or hits from video.google.com?

Music qualification has already changed. With full access to Soundscan starting in the '90's, the recording industry is realizing strange and new things. Also (and I'll attest to this), anybody can record a clean, digital recording for very little these days. Moby recorded a multi-platnum album in his closet. . . the musical zeitgeist of the 00's is whatever YOU want (check sales figures vs. MTV play - it's wacky). . . well, there is Outkast (which even a music dork like me will shake his rump to).

As a contemporary musician (www.wiselymusic.com) has written,
"These are the days of ones and zeros. After this, it's all downhill."

 

lol man. I want you to understand that you're views are very specific, focused on people "like you." I dont know who Zeppelin or Van Halen really are, but I am not disputing your claim to their icon status. I do know others like al green, the beatles, otis redding, sam cooke, and elvis. but why I know them is culture specific. Anywho, things of the 00's that won't be forgotten? Well, since it is the 00's right now, you can't really 100% say who is time tested, but certain groups do attract Much attention in whatever they do, and have for a while now! I could say groups such as the Dave Matthews Band, or artists such as Jay-Z, but you might dispute them and say they aren't true icons, but your view is truly based on where you stand! And of course everyone saw lord of the rings.

 

exactly, 8d

 

Prodigy, I pretty much forgot about DMB (and i've only seen them 13 times since '96 ), but that's a good one.

Maybe I should make a note about my original post. Movies like LOTR and the Matrix were wildly popular movies in this generation, no doubt. I guess the question I'm trying to ask about movies is, "What movie(s) capture what it is like to LIVE in this generation?" As much as I like The Matrix for example, I still can't stop bullets in mid-air <sigh>.

 

White Chicks.

When I was teaching, all of my students looked forward to the 'Scream' movies. While it's not any sort of view of American life, it definitely is a "zeitgeist contender."

As for music, I think "American Idiot" by Green Day is as powerful (and now ubiquitous and overplayed) a commentary as any. I think There are days when I think I'm the only person without a copy of it.

 

I was hoping you would say Sorority Boys. I think Road Trip, albeit far-fetched and campy in parts, was enjoyable and somewhat fits the mold. I know a lot of people dislike that movie and it's not great, but I enjoyed it.

American Idiot is a great album, I agree with you thoughts on its impact as well. Ironic that the same force which brought it to the mainstream is also the one that "cheapened" it (commercialization, "pop" radio)

 

Y gen music=happy, pop, materialistic, and shallow.

Sam

 

star wars does not capture how it was to live in the 70s

 

Exactly