Decade in Review: arts and culture

3 Dec 2009, 1:54 pm   -   Source: SBS - Shalailah Medhora
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The term metrosexual came to prominence in the Noughties to mean trendy urban makes who worry about their appearance and personal hygiene (AAP)

The term metrosexual came to prominence in the Noughties to mean trendy urban makes who worry about their appearance and personal hygiene (AAP)

It was the decade in which metrosexual male, skinny jeans and a small wizard named Harry all rose to prominence.

It was the decade in which the metrosexual male, skinny jeans and a small wizard named Harry all rose to prominence.

2000

-    The term 'emo' enters the popular lexicon. Emos are similar to punks, and are classified by their choice of music and tendency towards self-pity

-    Eight people die, and three more are injured, in a stampede at an outdoor Pearl Jam concert in Denmark

-    Tassie girl Mary Donaldson meets Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark while the Royal is visiting Sydney for the Olympics. They begin a relationship, and marry in 2004

2001

-    The first movie in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Fellowship of the Ring, is released

-    Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first in a very successful movie franchise, is released

-    Garage rock revival band The Strokes release their first album, This is it. The band's unique look led to men across the world adopting skinny jeans and big hair as a signature look

2002

-    The second Lord of the Rings movie, The Two Towers, is released

-    The term 'metrosexual' is widely adopted to apply to a trendy urban male who takes care of their appearance and personal hygene

-    Halle Berry and Denzel Washington become the first black actors to win Best Actress and Best Actor respectively at the Academy Awards

-    American Idol premiers in the US, triggering a number of similar talent shows

2003

-    The third and final Lord of the Rings movie, The Return of the King, is released to critical acclaim. The film wins all 11 Academy Awards it is nominated for, tying with Ben-Hur and Titanic for the most statues ever won

-    Madonna and Britney Spears kiss at the MTV awards

-    Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code becomes a worldwide bestseller, setting sales record at the time of its release, and being translated into 44 different languages


2004

-    Janet Jackson's infamous nipple revealing incident at the US Super Bowl brings the term 'wardrobe malfunction' into popular vernacular

-    Mobile phone ringtones are ranked on the Billboard charts

-    A video of heiress Paris Hilton having sex with her then boyfriend Rick Salomon is leaked on the internet. Hilton and Salomon then engage in a legal battle over its release, which is eventually settled out of court

2005

-    Pope Benedict XVI takes over after Pope John Paul II dies

-    Five free music concerts are held in London, Paris, Berlin, Rome and Philadelphia. The gigs, organised by Bob Geldof, aim to raise awareness with G8 on eliminating poverty, particularly in Africa.

-    Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie start dating, weeks after Jennifer Aniston files for divorce from the actor. The pair soon become one of the most photographed in the world, as gossip mags adopt the moniker 'Brangelina' to describe them

2006

-    Sasha Baron Cohen's biting satire Borat is released in cinemas. The film sparked a raft of lawsuits but earned Baron Cohen a Golden Globe statue

-    The stolen paintings The Scream and Madonna by Edvard Munch are recovered by police in Norway

2007

-    Earth Hour begins in Sydney on the last Saturday of March. Organised by the WWF and Sydney Morning Herald, more than 2.2 million people participate in the event in the first year. By 2009 the event has swelled to 88 countries and nearly 4,100 cities.

-    Emotional Britney Spears fan Chris Crocker posts an appeal on YouTube urging critics of the star to leave her alone. The film goes viral, and is one of the most recognisable images on the video-sharing site

-    The seventh and last Harry Potter novel, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, is released worldwide. Several bookshops remain open all night in order to meet demand for the final chapter in the incredibly successful series

2008

-    Australian actor Heath Ledger dies of an accidental overdose of painkillers and sedatives, aged 28. He later receives an Oscar for his role as the Joker in Dark Knight

-    Hollywood writers reach a tentative deal with movie and television executives after a 14 week strike that cost the film capital of the world, Los Angeles, millions in lost revenue

-    Big Brother axed in Australia due to poor ratings. The reality TV show had been showing in the country since 2001

-    Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres and Australian partner Portia de Rossi wed in Los Angeles, though the legitimacy of the gay marriage is later called into question

2009

-    The biggest benefit concert ever staged in Australia, Sound Relief, is hosted in Sydney and Melbourne. All proceeds go to victims of the Victorian bushfires earlier in the year

-    The internet nearly crashes as the world logs on for news on pop superstar Michael Jackson's death. His sudden demise has everyone reaching for their nearest iTunes store, making the King of Pop a chart-topper again

-    Shortly after news of Michael Jackson's death broke on Twitter, false rumours of Jeff Goldblum's death surfaced. The rumours caught out Channel 9's Richard Wilkins, who erroneously announced news of his death on his Today show.

-    Iconic children's program Sesame Street turns 40

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