If you’ve read some of my other posts here, you *might* accuse me of being a negative person but reader, the world is a negative place! But the 2010’s was a pretty damn good decade (at least in terms of pop culture, sports and entertainment I don’t know what your last 10 years looked like).
Without further ado, let’s dive in! Here are 10 really good things from this decade in no particular, but some what arranged order.
The Chicago Music Scene
I spent the first five year of the decade going to school and working in Chicago and while I can’t really say anything like it shaped me or whatever, it exposed me to a ton of great culture and some really great music as well.
Strap in for some personal bias but I truly believe that this decade, the city of Chicago collectively put out the best catalog of music. Chicago has always been known to be looked over (hence it’s nickname, the Second City) despite the talent it incubates (before they move to LA or New York). They also are a tight-knit group, sticking together, hanging out at parties, collaborating on music and sharing the love.
If there’s anything else like this, I haven’t seen it. My 5 years in Chicago really helped show this. Going through the catalog of hits from Chance, Twin Peaks, Knox Fortune, Keef, Joey Purp, Vic Mensa, Whitney, Louis the Child, Grapetooth, Fredo, Durk, Valee and many many more I feel bad for not remembering.
There’s this album by the Walters, Young Men, from 2015, that I recently rediscovered and connected with. For whatever reason - it’s just perfect. It encapsulates the piss apartments I hung out and partied in and the various songs that made up the soundtrack that accompanied me home walking from the train. I have a very fuzzy (i.e. drunk) memory of seeing these guys play up close to a crowd of like six people and the more I read that, the more it sounds like a lie.
Here’s another good one.
Moving onto…
HBO Dramas
The 2000’s ushered in the two greatest HBO dramas that really made the Network (The Wire and The Sopranos) and while Game of Thrones might have reached that magnitude and acclaim (don’t ask me, I didn’t watch it!) there were so many other dramas on HBO this decade that were absolutely spectacular.
While this decade also ushered in the era of streaming and changing the way we watch TV forever, HBO took the most of my time and attention in terms of streaming apps and whathaveyou.
The Leftovers, True Detective, The Night Of, Watchmen, Succession, Sharp Objects, Chernobyl, Barry, Euphoria, The Jinx and I know there’s more I need to see. Is Big Little Lies one of them? I hear conflicting things!
It was an amazing decade for HBO dramas that are all as re-watchable as when they aired. This year I revisited True Detective Seasons 1 & 2 and also picked up the Leftovers, which was one of my favorite binges. Recency bias sure, but goddamn.
The Best NFL Season Ever, 2014-15
I can really vividly remember the 2014-15 NFL playoffs for how batshit crazy it was and how it was the best and all the weird cursed voodoo hanging over the NFC. It was a year like this turned me into a slave to the NFL and that turned the playoffs into absolute appointment television. I look forward and wait for it every year and am sad when it goes away.
From memory, in the Wild Card round, the Cowboys squeaked by with a win over the Lions after a very mysterious flag was picked up on a holding call. Never saw that one before. The next weekend in the Divisional round, Dallas traveled up to Green Bay where they got shanked by the infamous Dez Bryant “catch that was a catch but not actually, technically a catch” and in the NFC championship, the Packers took that curse and lost one of the most inexplicable games of all time. It’s insane Aaron Rodgers has only won one title with this team.
Skip to 5:50 and watch for yourself. Can you believe Wilson converted that pass for 2? I still can’t.
Anyways, the Seahawks advanced to the Super Bowl only to make one of the biggest play-calling boners of all time at the 2 yard line for Malcolm Brown to seal the game with an interception for New England to be champs again.
This game also has a special place in my heart and was told beautifully by SB Nation.
Ryan Lindley, I will never forget you.
The NBA is the Future and the Future is Bright
Football is still the best sport to watch but it’s an old man’s game. There is so much glory of the NFL that is still talked about today that 90% of people in my generation haven’t heard of and is shown on black and white film. Compare that to when the NBA reached true prominence in the late 80’s, took off in the 90’s, kinda slowed down in the 2000’s and then become one of the most beloved leagues globally.
The people who cover the NFL and talk about it are fossils and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone use #NFLTwitter unironically, but NBA Twitter however…
NBA Twitter: A sports bar that doesn’t close, where the stars pull up a seat next to you
On social media, there’s nothing like NBA Twitter. It’s a sports bar that doesn’t close, a barbershop with unlimited seating, a family cookout where the NBA stars show up to hang.
This article was released around the time of the Bryan Colangelo burner account saga which feels like approximately 10,000 years ago and makes me recall so many great NBA Twitter moments from the decade…
Off the top of my head I’ve got…
JR Smith throwing soup at his coach
The Rockets-Clippers tunnelgate fight
Kevin Garnett telling Melo his wife taste like Honey Nut Cheerios
Matt Barnes fighting Derek Fisher
All the Craig Seger memories
And that’s not even talking about the game on the court. We saw the second greatest player of all time go to 8 straight finals…we saw a three point revolution…and as NBA legends like Kobe and Dirk hung it up, we can look forward of years of watching Luka, Trae Young, Giannis and Embiid. Please stay healthy Joel!
Marjiuana, Not for Deviants Anymore!
Weed is so abundant whatever fun counter-culture aspect that used to be more fun when I was a teenager has sort of gone away and honestly, good! It’s become a tired joke at this point about the over-availability and customization of your high. In the states that know better (and are making millions over millions in revenue) you can get your weed delivered. Apps will easily direct you to these legal havens. Eat it/drink it/smoke it to get a body high/head high/weak high/strong high - whatever! And perhaps what’s been best is not only legalization and decriminalization, but the general lax attitude about it. Too relaxed almost - when I was buying Christmas cards there was multiple “weed themed” ones at my local Target.
EDIT: As I finished writing this part, there is an old 60 year old guy yelling into his phone signing off his call with “We should roast one when I’m in town” and proceeded to talk about his oil cartridge connection. He sounds like a total fucking herb (no pun intended).
Being able to take advantage of legality in California, Colorado and Washington (Illinois, you’re next!) I can say legalization is the best and safest way to weed consumption (legality would have prevented all those deaths from vaping THC). Now that we’ve moved past demonizing normal people for using it, let’s also focus on expunging records and releasing every non-violent offender who we’ve locked up for profit.
A24 Movi- Er, Films.
My favorite purveyor (almost called them a studio!) of movies this decade came from A24. Real original I know!
It me.
Launching in 2013, A24 came on the map for me with Spring Breakers and they haven’t really missed since…there’s more than enough for to catch up on and re-watch well into next decade. They just celebrated their most successful release yet with Uncut Gems (go see it!) and have introduced me to filmmakers like The Safdie Brothers, Yorgos Lanthimos, Ari Aster (Hereditary is actually the best horror movie of all time, fun fact) and Barry Jenkins.
Basically, A24 continues to make indie movies more mainstream and if that means seeing better quality movies while getting talented filmmakers paid, how can you not be for that? Every time I see the A24 logo during a trailer, it automatically piques my interest and am looking forward to seeing what they drop in the future.
The Best Decade of Food
Cooking at home is also easier than ever with so many great resources out there. It’s extremely easy shit. With more guidance, we have more confidence to not create an abomination in the kitchen. Instant Pots, slow cookers, sheet pan recipes, one-pot meals…I would hate to make you, the dear reader, feel bad but if you can’t make yourself a half decent meal you have nobody but to blame but yourself dummy!
We’ve also sort of woken up to the benefits of eating real ingredients and non-genetically modified foods as it is more and more attainable.
I wrote a little bit about some of my favorite food viewing, that also shows you cooking and how-to’s and would be remiss not to mention some more resources/recipe hubs to help you in the kitchen like Bon Appetit, NYT Cooking, Epicurious, America’s Test Kitchen and 100,000 home bloggers with variations on one dish you can find with a Google search.
In terms of food and dining trends, love them or hate them, it’s now easier than ever to get something special in your city.
I don’t live in the biggest city yet the amount of dining options is endless. Food trucks aren’t just an Austin thing anymore…we’re thousands away from Nashville and even further away from Tokyo, yet I have access to some of the best bowls of ramen (Ramen Tatsuya, you won’t find better) and hot chicken.
As a founding member of #PopeyesHive, I was also pleased to see more recognition for the best fried chicken (bone in or in a sandwich) around.
Adidas Boost
I really wanted to include something that I’ve worn and loved and had to settle upon Adidas Boosts, most notably the multiple pairs of Ultraboosts that I’ve worn to death this decade that are still somehow wearable. I’ve run in em, hike in them (light flex but also very stupidly, I did a 14er in them) and wore them to work the next week.
The bubble on Boosts definitely broke - Adidas has thrown on em everything and anything without any other really successful innovations but none of that matters because the shoes that took all the hype and ran with it that utilizes Boost technology is of course Kanye’s Yeezy line.
Mental Health Awareness
This is a topic I plan to learn and write about more but man we’ve come a long way from internalizing all our problems by drinking a bunch of brown liquor and getting cirrhosis of the liver. Mental Health resources are thankfully more abundant (but still needs a lot of work, Medicare for All, Bernie 2020) and in addition to access, it’s nice to see the negative stigmas of going to therapy evaporate.
Story time! When I was young and my parents split they decided I would benefit from counseling and at the time I honestly never felt more ashamed and embarrassed in my life. I realize how silly that was and I just hope no child or person, to ever feel that again.
This might have even led to a ton of competitive oversharing or brands doing annoying shit like this but if this all means that more people have been able to come out and get the help they need, well…that’s good stuff!
You Can Too
Looks like I only came up with 9 but hey, that’s extremely on brand! I wouldn’t be jumping into your Inbox and blasting my dumb thoughts out without Substack! Until the NYT Opinion desk can afford my rate, this will have to do…There’s Patreon and a ton of other self-publishing platforms for whatever the hell you are into! And if you are good enough at what you do, you can even make a few bucks off of it. Anyways, that’s it. I look extremely forward to burying this and moving onto regularly scheduled programming.
Thank you for making it this far and sticking with me, dear reader. I truly look forward to seeing what you have up your sleeve for this decade as well.