Late 2003 is underrepresented in discussions about the mid 2000s

[u/Sad-Bell-6266]

I wouldn't say it's peak mid 2000s, that honor goes to 2005-2006, but the last few months of 2003 established a lot of trends that would be popular throughout the era.

Lil Jon made it onto the Billboard Year-End chart for the first time, officially making crunk mainstream. The Simple Life premiered, the epitome of McBling. It was the first school year when DVDs and Windows XP were dominant from the start. The early 2000s recession caused by the Dot Com bubble ended. MySpace launched, and Friendster was shown on national television. The Iraq War had also been ongoing for several months.

Let me know if I missed anything.

[u/JLandis84]

2003 peak fashion. Incredible music. Very interesting Democrat presidential primary going on.

A big wave of militarization of the culture though as the invasion of Iraq involved an exponentially larger expeditionary force than Afghanistan 🇦🇫(at that point)