Why was 2007 such an insane year for culture

[Bakartridge]

The title kinda says it all, it feels like whenever I look at popular stuff released in the late half of the 2000s, it's almost always from 2007, sometimes 2008 (usually early 08 but 08 nonetheless), it seems like such an insane(ly good) year for pop culture stuff, like for example:

Games released in 2007 include:

• Crysis
• Team Fortress 2
• Bioshock
• Guitar Hero 3 (and Rock Band)
• Super Mario Galaxy
• Call of Duty 4
• Mass Effect
• Halo 3
• Portal
• Uncharted

Films released in 2007 include:

• Superbad
• Ratatouille
• Transformers (the only GOOD Michael Bay one)
• Spider-Man 3
• Juno
• Paranormal Activity
• 300

Lastly, some albums that came out in 07 include:

• Beyond by Dinosaur Jr
• Graduation by Kanye West (yes, I know)
• Hold Your Colour By Pendulum
• In Rainbows by Radiohead
• Myths of the Near Future by Klaxons
• Year Zero by NIN
• Riot by Paramore
• Neon Bible by Arcade Fire
• Favourite Worst Nightmare by Arctic Monkeys
• Infinity on High by Fall Out Boy
• A Fever You Can't Sweat Out by P!ATD
• Sound of Silver by LCD Soundsystem

In terms of internet stuff, it's also where places like YouTube, YTMND, and Newgrounds had some amazing stuff uploaded, and there were plenty of classic memes that were introduced in this time, it feels like whenever I hear people talk about older videos/memes that got popular, most of the time it's from 2007 (or 2006), like I Wanna Be The Guy and Cat Mario released that year, they're personal examples but still, feels like 2007 was the year that everyone was like "alright lets just release total bangers"

[larvapuppy]

I think it'd be easy to make this argument for any year; just cherry pick all the stuff you like from that year and suddenly it's the best year ever for culture, according to the maker's tastes. For example your list is mostly full of media I'm not interested in or consider pretty basic, and a few that I do agree are good. I could probably make my own list from 2007 that has all stuff I think is amazing, but I could also make a list filled with stuff I think is meh or crap. And I could do the same with 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2020, 1986, 800, 1880, 2013, 30000, etc.

It has to do with age too; someone my mom's age probably thinks media from some year in the 80s is the best, while my age group would lean toward early 2000s stuff; zoomers are going to prefer late aughts / early 2010s, and so on... You're inevitably going to have a huge bias toward some year in your early adolescence when media that created formative memories for you was released.

[Bakartridge]

I think it'd be easy to make this argument for any year; just cherry pick all the stuff you like from that year and suddenly it's the best year ever for culture, according to the maker's tastes. For example your list is mostly full of media I'm not interested in or consider pretty basic, and a few that I do agree are good. I could probably make my own list from 2007 that has all stuff I think is amazing, but I could also make a list filled with stuff I think is meh or crap. And I could do the same with 2001, 2002, 2004, 2008, 2009, 2020, 1986, 800, 1880, 2013, 30000, etc.

It has to do with age too; someone my mom's age probably thinks media from some year in the 80s is the best, while my age group would lean toward early 2000s stuff; zoomers are going to prefer late aughts / early 2010s, and so on... You're inevitably going to have a huge bias toward some year in your early adolescence when media that created formative memories for you was released.

fair honestly :p
though admittedly some is a combo of stuff i liked as a kid and/or went back to in my teenage years (like most the albums listed i heard from the range of about 15 to 17 years old), some of these i got into afterwards, but a lot is stuff i still heard about growing up, like i didn't mention it in the list but No More Heroes came out in 07, didn't get the chance to play it until i turned 18 and i fucking love that game, but i heard people constantly rave about how it was one of the best games ever, same with stuff like CoD4
2008 is similar in the sense of "a lot of things i really like released that year", like just of the top of my head Rock Band 2 and Burnout Paradise released and those are some of my favorite games of all time, i'm probably just biased when it comes to 2000s stuff anyways, i know a lot of people back then were complaining about the games released and were like "gaming was better in the 90s", so it's just a perspective thing ig

[Ducky]

I agree!!

I've constantly told people that YouTube's golden years were from 2006-2008.

I had made a MySpace account in 2006 but I feel as if the peak of my enjoyment from it was in 2007.

From the list of games you mentioned, I especially agree with: TF2, Guitar Hero 3, and Halo 3.

A lot of good music on the radio that year too (when I still listened to the radio.)

As common as it is to not appreciate what you had back then, I feel as if little 2007 me (who was about 12 at that time) was aware of all the cool things that were out. The only sucky thing is that school/life stuff wasn't very great that year 

Overall, it's nice to know others share this sentiment c: