The Surprising Influence of 2007

As era-defining years go, 2007 doesn't instantly come to mind. It neither kicks off nor ends a century or decade. A presidential election cycle hadn't kicked into top gear. We didn't even figure out how to time-travel (someday!). But 2007 is crucial to understanding American culture today. So much of what we're obsessed with now, how we distract ourselves, and where we spend our time originated or took hold a decade ago.

Think back to 2006, if you dare. We were a society of humans perfectly content to read books, flip through magazines and do crosswords on flights and the subway; to listen to music we burned onto our computers from CDs and then transferred to our iPods or, in that one guy who bought a Zune's case, to a Zune; to connect with people online primarily via your MySpace, comment sections and message boards, or your blog about the animal shapes you saw in your cereal that day; and to watch cable TV shows on cable TV as they aired, or on your DVR, or by nibbling through full seasons in piecemeal by maxing out your rental limits at your local Blockbuster or Netflix DVD delivery. And then, in the span of months, the iPhone, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and Netflix streaming seized our collective fancy and changed all that.

But 2007's continued impact goes way beyond technology. All of these things also happened in 2007: Guy Fieri made his first visit to one of our nation's Diners, Drive-Ins & Drives; Tony Soprano died or maybe didn't, and handed off the prestige-drama baton to Don Draper; Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan all melted down and turned the "It girl" keys over to Kim Kardashian; Radiohead found a direct pipeline to fans' wallets; Seth Rogen and Judd Apatow had an amazing summer; and everyone RickRolled each other, said "Don't Tase Me, Bro," learned "Chocolate Rain" and got played off by the Keyboard Cat. Want more proof of its continued relevance? It was the year that Barack Obama announced his presidential campaign and Donald Trump announced his appearance at Wrestlemania.

With Partial Recall 2007, we're opening up a portal into the '00s to document what life was like a decade ago. Why only partial recall? Well, some things, like the stuff mentioned above, are easy to remember because we still encounter them daily, and we actively enjoy thinking about them. But total recall isn't achievable, because it's impossible to remember everything that happened or why certain things, like Ed Hardy clothing, mattered. Plus, we've blocked a lot of stuff out, like Tila Tequila's MTV show. Since our memories are fading with every passing chunk of text, let's partially get into it.