Twenty Twenty: A Pop Culture Podcast

Award Season is a highlight of the pop culture calendar. From MTV’s Video Music Awards in September through to the Academy Awards in March, we are treated to nearly six months of red carpet looks, tearful acceptance speeches and, if we’re lucky, a healthy dose of celeb drama. What better way to end the first season of Twenty Twenty than by looking at who won big in the year 2000, and dishing out some awards of our own. Let the show begin...

This is our last episode of the series, and we want to hear your feedback! Fill in this survey by Tuesday 15th December to be in with a chance of winning a copy of Sylvia Patterson’s, ‘I’m not with the band’: https://forms.gle/s5XBbYu3YSadRhCV8

And keep in touch! Follow us on Twitter and Instagram for updates on Twenty Twenty

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This week we’re hosting a special roundtable on everyone’s favourite mother-daughter duo, The Gilmore Girls. We’re joined by critic Zarina Muhammad, who is one half of art collective The White Pube, and Anna Leszkiewicz, Culture Editor at the New Statesman.

 

Together we discuss Gilmore Girls’ timeless appeal and its second life as a streaming sensation. We’ll also look back at how the show was received at the time as well as the grittier themes of class and privilege tucked beneath its cozy exterior.

 

References 

Gilmore Girls Review, Zarina Muhammad - The White Pube

SRSLY Gilmore Girls Quiz

SRSLY Gilmore Girls Special

 

Clips:

Where You Lead I Will Follow (Gilmore Girls Theme), Carole King

Opening Scene, S1EP1

Gilmore Girls Music - La La Song's

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Pure Shores by All Saints. Independent Women by Destiny’s Child. Can’t Fight the Moonlight by LeAnn Rimes. These chart-topping tracks are some of the year 2000’s most memorable pop hits — but none of them would exist if it weren’t for movies. Designed as marketing tie-ins for the original soundtracks to The Beach, Charlie’s Angels and Coyote Ugly, the legacies of these songs have outlasted the movies they were attached to. In this episode, we explore the increasingly entwined relationship between Hollywood, pop music and the hype machine and how it’s changed over the last 20 years.

We talk to legendary music supervisor and record executive Kathy Nelson (Miami Vice, Pulp Fiction, Dangerous Minds, High Fidelity, and SO MANY MORE) who tells us the story behind Can’t Fight the Moonlight. 

Got a favourite culture moment from 2000 you want us to talk about? Suggest an episode idea here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram

References and Clips

Kathy Nelson, IMDB

The Muse of the Coyote Ugly Saloon, Elizabeth Gilbert 

Coolio, Gangsta’s Paradise

Coyote Ugly (2000)

Can’t Fight The Moonlight, LeAnn Rimes

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Twenty years after it first launched, The Sims is still going strong. Much more than a nostalgic relic of the noughties, the game has a thriving community of fans. In this episode, Tara, a longtime player of the game, explains it’s enduring appeal to Simran — a self-identified Sims noob.

We get into the tensions of escapism and introspection within the game and talk about the challenges of reflecting the ‘real world’ in a simulation. We’ll also ask: is The Sims “a beguiling capitalist fantasy” or can a more meaningful commentary on consumerism be found amongst the hypnotic tones of the ‘buy mode’ music? 

Got a favourite culture moment from 2000 you want us to talk about? Suggest an episode idea here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram

Clips used in this episode: 

The Sims 1- House Fire

Sims 1: Craziest Party Ever…

The Sims 1: The Tragic Clown

The Sims 1 - All Places to "Play with" (Woohoo)

Lily Allen - Smile (Simlish)

The Sims Soundtrack: Build Mode 1

References: 

The Nod, Autumn 

Playing The Sims Is Better Meditation than Meditation, GQ

I Think About My Painting Goblin in The Sims a Lot, The Cut

My land of make believe: life after The Sims, The Guardian ,Liv Siddal

Will Wright - New Yorker profile

The Sims at 20: two decades of life, love and reorganising the kitchen, The Guardian 

Playing "The Sims"as though you were Kurt Cobain, Miguel Sicart

Inside the online communities making beautiful black Sims, Dazed

The Untold Story of 'The Sims,' Your First Favorite Jazz Record, VICE 

 

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When Southampton teenager Craig David arrived into the mainstream with the help of production duo Artful Dodger in 1999, many considered him a poster boy for UK Garage. In his own work, he melded that 2-step sound with crooning R&B and even Spanish guitar to great effect. Born To Do It became the fastest-selling debut album ever by a British male solo act, a record the album holds to this day. So why was it that the following year he was snubbed at the BRIT Awards? Why, in 2002, was he already singing about fame’s inevitable ‘Rise & Fall’? And why was he the target of so many jokes? We consider the mythology and legacy of Craig David, and ask what happens when subculture goes mainstream.

Got a favourite culture moment from 2000 you want us to talk about? Suggest an episode idea here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram

 

Clips and References

 

0:36 - Fill Me In, Craig David  

0:43 - 7 Days, Craig David

1:01 - “Soulful Craig David looks set to sweep Brit awards”, The Guardian

1:07 - No BRITS for CD, Craigs performance at the 2001 BRITS

3:34 - Re-wind, Artful Dodger

5:32 - “Mature Ravers Only: The Story of UK Garage Fashion”, Red Bull 

6:19 - “How Ayia Napa transformed from a fishing village to the heart of garage music”, New European

9:11 - Pitchfork, Review of Born To Do It

11:56 - Rolling Stone Review

13:18 - What’s Your Flava?, Craig David

14:08 - Sexy Willy Wonka

14:19 - Rise & Fall, Sting and Craig David

17:38 - Melody Maker cover

18:22 - Simon Reynolds, Bring The Noise 

19:20 - Bo Selecta - The Craig David Story

23:00 - Liberty X, Being Nobody

25:08 - Fearne and Craig David

27:25 - People Just Do Nothing Trailer

28:36 - Craig David on BBC 1 Xtra

29:10 - When The Baseline Drops, Craig David x Big Nastie

31:20 - Got It Good, Kaytranada ft Craig David

 

Special thanks to Max Palmer for providing original music for this episode! You can listen to more of his music here: www.soundcloud.com/sundensound

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The new millennium brought with it a fresh wave of optimism and excitement for the future. Zadie Smith's best selling debut novel White Teeth embodied this mood and symbolised a changing of the guard. Smith was lauded with critical acclaim and lavished with media attention — an overnight literary sensation at just 24 years old. With special guest Sharmaine Lovegrove, publisher at Dialogue Books, we explore the impact of the novel and the legacy of its author.

Content Warning: Mention of suicide  

Got a favourite culture moment from 2000 you want us to talk about? Suggest an episode idea here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram

Follow Sharmaine on Twitter here.

Find out more about the Black Writers Guild here. 

 

Select books Sharmaine mentions in the episode: 

The Lonely Londoners, Sam Selvon

Second Class Citizen, Buchi Emecheta

The Buddha of Suburbia, Hanif Kureishi

The Black Album, Hanif Kureishi

Blonde Roots, Bernardine Evaristo

Girl, Woman, Other,  Bernardine Evaristo

Queenie, Candice Carty Williams

Bridget Jones Diary, Helen Fielding

 

Select work by Zadie Smith referenced: 

Fences: A Brexit Diary, NY Books

Stormzy at Glastonbury

Intimations

Sharmaines question to Zadie in the Guardian

 

Clips Used: 

Tony Blair wins landslide general election win for Labour (1997) - Newsnight archives

America's Internet Trading Boom (1990) -  

Journeyman Pictures

Tony Blair on immigration (2004) -  London Business School

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The year 2000 saw the launch of two new reality TV shows. Big Brother made instant celebrities

of ordinary people and was deemed the most addictive show on telly. Faking It won two BAFTAs and took home an International Emmy, but remains a cult hit.

In this episode, we discuss these two shows and what they can tell us about the UK at the turn of the 21st century. We also explore the concept of reality TV fame, then and now. CW: mentions of self-harm

If you're in the UK, you can watch all of Faking It on 40D or its available to buy on Amazon. The early seasons of Big Brother are less readily available, but Channel 4 did a "Best Bits" show recently where you can enjoy memorable moments from across the seasons. 

Other links mentioned and clips used in this episode:

0:34 - Big Brother, Series 1, Day 22 - Davina Intro

1:00 - Faking It - Faking it Changed My Life

12:58 - Big Brother, Series 1, Episode - Phycologist comments on Mel  

15:07 - Big Brother, Series 1 - Confronting Nasty Nick 

19:20 - Reality TV Me, Jia Tolentino - you can find in her book Trick Mirror, and here is a video of her reading the essay

22:27 - Big Brother, The Reunion, Radio 4 - Tim Gardam quote 

24:00 - Faking It - Faking it Changed My Life

28:45 - Faking It - Shop Girl to It Girl

31:09 - Faking it - Lawyer to Garage MC

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“What matters is what you like, not what you are like" or so says Rob Gordon, the protagonist of High Fidelity. In this episode, we look back at the 2000 film starring John Cusack, and ask if there's value in the idea that our favourite songs, films and books reveal who we are. We talk about music snobbery, cultural gatekeeping and the politics of taste in the original film and the 2020 television remake starring Zoë Kravitz. 

Films and TV referenced in the episode:

Say Anything (1989)

High Fidelity (2000)

High Fidelity, Hulu (2020)

500 Days of Summer (2009)

Almost Famous (2000) 

The OC (2003-2007)

 

Other links mentioned and clips used in this episode: 

6:00 - Opening scene of 500 Days of Summer

10:30 - John Cusack, NYT interview (2020)

17:00 - The Rap Against Rockism, Kelefa Sanneh (2004)

19:40 - Beam Me Up Softboi Instagram account

20:27 - Men Explain Music to Me, Kim Kelly

22:49 - James Acaster, Perfect Sounds, BBC Sounds 

33:31 - Janet Jackson, I Get Lonely 

38:21 - Fan Girls, Hannah Ewens

38:30 - Jessica Hopper tweet

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Kelly, can you handle this? Michelle, can you handle this? Beyoncé, can you handle this? It’s a roll-call so iconic, it’s easy to forget this wasn’t Destiny's Child’s original line-up. A decade after the band first came together under a different name, it was in 2000 that they found their final form after a brutal year of line-up changes and legal battles. We go back to relive the drama and think about how it laid the foundations for who Beyoncé is today.

Got a favourite culture moment from 2000 you want us to talk about? Suggest an episode idea here. 

You can also follow us on Twitter and Instagram where we are running a giveaway of Sylvia Patterson’s book ‘I’m Not With The Band.

Links mentioned and clips used in this episode: 

4:20 - Say My Name Video

4:50 - Girls Tyme on Star Search

8:30 - No, No, No Part 1 Video 

13:00 - Survivor Video

13:30 - Interview from 1998

14:20 - I’m Not With The Band, Sylvia Patterson

16:20 - Interview by Toazted Best off

16:40 - Vibe Magazine Profile

21:10 - Cribs

23:30 - Wendy Williams Radio Show

26:00 - Interview, MTV News

27:00 - Tara’s interview with Ray Blk

29:30 - Flawless remix

30:30 - Superbowl performance

32:50 - Homecoming, Netflix

35:20 - LaToya’s red carpet interview 

36:30 - Beychella - From Homecoming

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Are you ready to back to the year 2000? Join two culture critics in their twenties, as they delve into the most memorable pop culture from twenty years ago.

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