As the decade draws to a close, it’s time to start reminiscing on all the wild pop culture moments we’ve lived through. And so, without further ado, a list of all the stuff my brain had decided to block from my memory.
2010
We entered the decade playing Angry Birds and watching Glee. And if you attended literally any sports match, you were playing God. Damn. Vuvuzelas. I had totally forgotten those stupid horns existed, until I read the word and was instantly annoyed at them all over again. They were played so loudly during the 2010 FIFA World Cup that tv stations were putting noise filter on their broadcasts. The worst.
2011
Ah, 2011, the year of planking – a trend that my mind had apparently been wiped of. Sadly, now that I think about it, I think there are actually a couple of pictures out there of me planking. It was also the year that Kim Kardashian got married for 72 days, but I’m pretty sure none of us have forgotten about that.
2012
This was a wild year to Google, because pop culture was mostly made up of Gangnam Style and #YOLO, but remember how convinced we all were that we would save the world if we stopped Joseph Kony? #Kony2012 was huge, and people like Bill Gates, Nicki Minaj, and Rihanna got behind the movement. We were less convinced it would save the world after the founder of the movement had a very public, very naked breakdown.
2013
Justin Beiber’s Monkeygate was the saga that never seemed to end in 2013. German customs took his pet monkey, Mally, after Beiber tried to bring him into the country for a concert. PETA got involved, there was $11, 000 worth of fines, it was a mess. He also pissed in a restaurant mop bucket while yelling “F**k Bill Clinton!” and announced his retirement twice.
2014
This was the year that the ALS ice bucket challenge absolutely took over. 2.5 million people took part – including Mark Zuckerberg, Anna Wintour, and Robert Downey Jr. It was the first real example of something criticised for slacktivism, and seemed to be more about the spectacle than the charity, but at the end of the day it worked. The challenge raised over $100 million for ALS charities.
2015
The 2015 VMA’s were a mess, and I remember absolutely living for it at the time. Kanye West made a wild speech announcing that he was running for president in 2020, which has been pushed back to 2024 now, apparently. It was also the year Nicki Minaj absolutely skewered Miley Cyrus. “Back to this bitch that had a lot to say about me the other day in the press; Miley, what’s good?”
2016
Look, 2016 was garbage, and we should really throw the whole year away. A lot of things died in 2016 – basically every major celebrity, Harambe, and our hopes that Donald Trump wouldn’t actually be president. Amongst it all I’d managed to forget the spectacular break up of Rob Kardashian and Blac Chyna. Chyna left with their daughter, and Rob came home to an empty house, then put a video of the empty house online. I don’t exactly keep up, per se, but that one was brutal.
2017
I’m going to stay in Kardashian land here, but oh man. Right in the middle of #BlackLivesMatter protests gripping the globe, Kendall Jenner took part in a Pepsi ad that pretty much implied a Pepsi would fix it all. Yikes.
2018
I know it was only last year, but I’m going with all the Roseanne drama for 2018. The reboot had exactly two months of run time before getting canned after Roseanne herself made a racist tweet about a former Obama administration official. Not her best move.
2019
I’m going to take you back to January here. All hail Andy King, the man who was willing to do anything to get water to Fyre Festival. A shining pop culture light in a documentary full of incredibly sketchy people (mostly Billy McFarland).
What a time to be alive. See you all in 2020!