Intro

I was always fascinated by what the late 90s and early 2000s were about. It might sound strange, but that era had a distinct pattern.

We might be able to recognise some of the things that made that era distinct. Every era is distinct for a reason, after all. But not every era has its own themed Puni subgenre aesthetic. The 80s have one of the most unique and distinctive patterns and their own Punk subgenre, the Cyberpunk subgenre and aesthetics, as well as the vaporwave aesthetic, which is heavily influenced by the 80s and early 90s, taking shape and being introduced to the world later in 2010. Of course other Punk subgenres are also very popular, such as Steampunk, which itself enjoys huge popularity, as well as Dieselpunk. But a more accurate and full examination of all subgenres can be viewed here.

Sitting inside my favourite restaurant, a stuck to the 90s and early 2000s fast – food place, I still feel like it’s the 2000s. But it’s not. And that’s where the journey begins…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

WHAT IS PUNK IN LITERATURE?

Punk, is mostly known as a music genre or even a clothing form of expression. Of course nowadays, people are familiar with words such as “Atompunk”, “Dieselpunk”, “Cyberpunk”. But many can’t exactly explain what the -punk in all these words represents in literature, where it began appearing, especially in comic books, then movies, illustrations and of course, videogames.

According to author B.K. Bass, the punk fiction and all of its subgenres, are “a group of speculative fiction genres which strive to move outside the boundaries of classical science fiction and fantasy norms, often focus on the effects of technology on society or explore a fictional society or alternative history with anachronistic levels of technology—sometimes referred to as ‘retrofuturism’—and typically address social issues with an anti-establishment perspective.”

The Punk fiction is not real. It’s not a depiction of reality and many times it’s not even trying to look or feel realistic. And at its very core, Punk fiction is more than just fiction. It’s more than just literature. It’s a way of delving into the subconscious. A way of exploring hidden messages, by the artist to be decoded, to be discussed, to be interpreted. And sometimes, there are more than one interpretation to a subject. Interpretations that even the artists themselves haven’t predicted at all.

 

HOW IT ALL BEGUN WITH Y2K – PUNK

Y2K. The year humanity didn’t die. Or did we? And Y2K – Punk was the name I was planning on giving to this project originally. There were other names too. 2000sPunk, Millennium Aero (a combination of the Y2K aesthetic and Frutiger Aero, which came as a continuation and spiritual successor). But it’s Millenniumpunk. That’s the name it deserves. It’s a subgenre that acts as its own, but also as a loveletter to other subgenres. It’s an aesthetic that smells premium plastic, flashes like a Sony Ericsson LCD screen and sounds like a PlayStation 2 “Red Screen of Death”.

The Cyberpunk subgenre, the 80s and the Vaporwave aesthetic were mentioned earlier and earliest for a very important reason. Or more…

• Cyberpunk: The future, as seen by a past inour present, with past technology that by the time it was conceived as an idea, still looked futuristic, but could never be realistically something to see in our present. A mostly dystopic future and a depiction of despotism and tyranny.
• Vaporwave: A look through the Hauntology. A look through what the past was like, or what we think the past was like. It’s meant to make criticism on extreme consumer madness, but to do so, it brings back a past, in which this consumer madness was endorsed – rather than hypocritically critiqued by everyone living in our modern era, whilst almost nobody is able to escape that pattern.

This Hauntology with a past that dreamed of a future that isn’t present, is what Millenniumpunk tries to explore in its own way. A past through the eyes of our memories. A past reimagined.

I was born in 1994. For me, the 90s and more than that, the 2000s were an era that I managed to witness for whatever made these two eras distinct. But maybe in the end, it’s all memories from a distorted perspective, influenced by what was available in where I was born or what was available as a form of entertainment and information.

Looking back at the mid to late 90s, my memory remembers them as a world stuck to the 80s, with mostly bulky 80s cars, buildings that were mostly 70s themed and styled, an Athens that looked like a ghost from the 50s and within this Tim Burton’s madness, an alien future was beginning to crawl. Mobile phones. Not like the ones I later saw in movies such as Scarface and searched online if they ever existed, but smaller, sexier and more comfortable. It was 1999 when we first saw one inside our apartment and I remember clearly my father mentioning that it was a tool that soon would be used by everyone but for that moment it was meant for working people, doctors and those who really needed it.

Later, in the 2000s, getting introduced to 90s films, the spy action genre were full of gadgets from all over the world and some of them were even real or functioning in real life. I even managed to learn about vehicles that were actually not so bulky and 80s looking, which coexisted in that 90s timeline, such as the Subaru Impreza, or that mobile phones were actually widely used in some countries. There were even PDA’s, to which I would soon be introduced to in my own house. And there was something else existing since then. The internet.

The turn of the Millenium marked a new beginning and an entry to the unknown. An entry to a new realm, where a future we had never dreamed about, came into our dimension. The internet was nothing new by the 2000s, but its bubble was big enough to make the 2000s feel like the birth of it. And along with it, aesthetics, designs and themes that looked as if they had been brought from some other world.

It took a lot of time, research and effort for me to understand what exactly that huge leap – that change was from the 90s to the 2000s, and it took even more effort to swallow how from 2006, everything changed drastically. Of course this page will delve into the matter of the Y2K aesthetic and how it is the core influence of the Millenniumpunk fiction, but for now, I believe, the best way to explore the Y2K is by viewing Aesthety’s essay on the matter. But as for me, what became the spark that lit up the chain reaction, making me want to research that past and devote my literature works on that subgenre was the leap from 2006 to 2008.

2007 wasn’t even felt. It was a year in which everything looked like the calm before a storm. Even 2008 wasn’t felt that much, mainly because of a last frontier for the Y2K bubble to keep itself alive, being Frutiger Aero, being introduced. More exploration on Frutiger Aero as an aesthetic will be made later within this site and its forum, but for now, what’s important is that between these two years, something important happened that almost acted like a Siren of War to warn us of what was coming. Everything (the advertisements, the films, the videogames, the world itself) changed from vibrant blue and green filtered colors to yellow, brown and golden ones. Lights on the streets were the first victims of that change. The reassurance that the old themes would bring, along with the coziness and optimism, gave way to colors that resembled fear, survival, a need for adaptation to what was coming. Everything became serious. And history knows why. Y2K was a bubble. An imagination. And we all believed we had a chance of living in that bubble. Probably forever.

It was 2014. Exactly ten years earlier, when I began having this love and yearning for an era that – by then – was not that long gone. And although I had begun experimenting with literature on a hobby level since 2009, I would keep on researching and not publishing anything until 2021, when my first novel, “Three Dimensions”, written in 2018, would come out, with my intention to recreate the vibes of an early 2000s movie. But until then, my love for what was the 90s and the early to mid 2000s would only grow bigger.

To me, the era between 1995 to 2006 is still indistinct. Sure there was a gigantic leap from the previous millennium to this one, but the two eras are connected, at least in my memories. This is where the Hauntology comes in. PDA’s looked like the future. A future that never happened. A future that looked bulky and probably clumsy, by today’s standards, but still, it feels warm and fuzzy. Prosperous, optimistic and reassuring. Just like Vaporwave creates the same feeling when it depicts the 80s and early 90s with other intentions.

And so, I decided to not only explore this realm with other people, but to give it flesh.

 

DEFINITION OF MILLENNIUMPUNK AND ITS BASIC PRINCIPLES

Millenniumpunk is a Punk subgenre that gets influences by other Punk subgenres, mainly Cyberpunk, as well as Atompunk, and is inspired by, as well as uses themes from aesthetic movements, such as Vaporwave, Dreamcore, Weirdcore, Liminal Spaces, Frutiger Aero and of course, the Y2K aesthetic. In terms of literature, Millenniumpunk is influenced heavily by the scientific  theory of the Lost Futures by Mark Fisher, as well as urban theories, such as the backrooms and the lost media.

Millenniumpunk and its principles have multiple layers that define them. For that reason, Millenniumpunk fiction portrays a universe that is both utopian and dystopian at the same time. The Dot Com Bubble that describes the general optimism of that era, for as long as it lasted, is the main reason that whoever lives in said fictional universe can’t easily realise the countless threats that can deflate the bubble and the entire fantasy at any time. Threats, such as the inevitable economic crisis, the shift of power between nations and alliances and more. However, for characters defending this bubble, or those who sooner or later begin questioning the bubble itself, realise that it’s a dystopia. A universe stuck in a timeline, without the ability to move towards the future. A future that forms itself as present, but doesn’t feel fulfilling. It’s the calm before the storm and those who sense it, understand how dangerous the inevitable storm will be.

Since a Millenniumpunk fictional universe is stuck in that era, real life historical events, such as the economic crisis and the COVID-19 outbreak haven’t occurred. Technology is also mostly stuck in that timeframe, however, certain modern themes are discussed, within the borders of said fictional universe, such as the megalomania, introduced by social media and their users, overdenial of tradition and the exaggerated struggle for recognition and attention, many people are victims of. Modern technology might appear in such a universe, but looks inferior and is treated in such way by the people of that fictional universe. The characters might interact in a deliberately bizarre way with objects, such as using a PSP to make a phonecall, or a PDA to access modern social media and functions, showing exactly that the old technology of the 90s and early 2000s is not just thriving, but has also found a way of evolving through its frozen state.

For all the aforementioned reasons, a universe within the principles of the Millenniumpunk themes and tropes, feels like a dream. Sometimes a pleasant one. Other times, a nightmare. It’s a universe without a future. A building without an exit. An endless loop. The protagonists and their friends, even the antagonists are trapped in a loop where every other character, irrelevant to the plot, might seem generic. Shallow. Almost like an NPC in a videogame. Yet, the universe itself, the cities mentioned, the people as a whole, they all have a unique backstory and distinct characteristics that make the universe be an actual character, rather than just a setting.

The settings’ architectures vary from Frutiger Aero inspired buildings, to organic – shaped facilities and furniture, decorating them. However  it’s not uncommon for extravagant futuristic 70s buildings and 80s postmodern ones to coexist within said universe. Synonymous to the megalomania of the 90s and early 2000s, there are tall buildings, or even large blocks with smaller businesses and buildings inside, all big to the eyes of the people walking inside them. Big malls, full of floors and hundreds of stores. However, the main characteristic that makes the Millenniumpunk distinct in its world building, is the fact that every single building looks vibrant, especially at night, with most of the building’s lights left on, boasting prosperity, optimism and safety. Safety from a future that has been eliminated, but a present doomed to never change or face any other form than what it is now. During daytime, anyone can easily notice people working in their offices, but at night, the same buildings look like abandoned, haunted houses. Empty, with few to no employees working, but with their lights constantly on. The same feeling of safety also brings a feeling of worry and fear. Why is the city never sleeping? Who is in these buildings if there is nobody inside? Is any of these things real?

In a sense, Millenniumpunk is making an effort to reverse the facts and the events that made an entire era be erased within a glimpse of time. The transition between the two eras was something unseen before and something that fits its timeline. When the transition from an optimistic future, to a realistic present took place, the internet and the instant access to information was widespread. It was a key factor, without which, that long gone era of the Y2K bubble could have potentially survived. A Millenniumpunk universe seems to ignore facts. It ignores and rejects modern means of everyday living, such as smartphones (although existent, as previously mentioned), the constant greed for better resolution on media, the shift of attention on appearance only, no mater the product, the digitalisation of everything. Yet, simultaneously, Millenniumpunk retains all of these, imagining how a society would find its way to evolve even in a frozen timeline.

So if someone wants to explain the layers of Millenniumpunk as a subgenre, the first layer they will notice is one of nostalgia. It’s a feeling that makes whoever witnesses said universe, feel fuzzy, relaxed and dreamy. However, the deeper one delves into such the Millenniumpunk universe, the more the feelings of worry and doubt will arise. The Millenniumpunk is meant to be not just a link to the past, or an alternative universe, but also a critique on everything that went wrong. A critique on modern societies and a critique on the things we once took for granted, ending up losing them through the years.

The people living in that universe are unaware of the entire critique. They constantly dream of a future. They constantly dream of a bright future that has just begun and only the sky is the limit. But they are wrong. In that universe, the future is forever gone and the society is corrupt, not by organizations, corporations, individuals or militias, but by concepts themselves. The concept of greed, the concept of megalomania, survival of the fittest and more. There might be typical villains, such as corporations, nations or individuals, but they are not united. They just happen to fight for the same goal together at one moment and at the other, they will form different allies. In the end, the real villains are these aspects of the human nature that turn a civilized entity into a beast. And such aspects are unbreakable, unkillable and powerful. Because they can’t be touched or even seen. They can be sensed in humans, but they can’t be sensed without them taking form through humans.

Technology is created by humans. But it’s humans who tell their creations how to interact with other humans. And it’s humans who dictate how humans using their technologies will live like, if they truly want to. Y2K, the internet outbreak, the inflation of the social media as a means of communicating, are all human creations. It’s through technologies, that human aspects, good or evil, manage to be spread faster and easier, like a virus. Because humans, communicating with other humans, begin adopting habits, ideas and philosophies. And without a clear clue as to who the true villain is and how they look like in such a universe, the dangers of people being influenced by their own mind’s consumption and their own greed, lust for power, selfishness and animalistic behavior, are real and they are more than just threatening.

 

POP CULTURE AND INSPIRATIONS

Millenniumpunk has been influenced by many media, as well as real life itself. They say that art imitates life and they are right. Millenniumpunk is like a time machine, ready to take those experiencing the subgenre into a journey back to that era, through references, or concept art that resembles the Y2K movement, as a whole. However, in order for references to exist, inspirations must exist as well.

Millenniumpunk has been heavily influenced by movies, such as almost every Bond film of the Brosnan era, focusing on a comic – like bond with similarly comic – like villains and a huge arsenal of gadgets that made the movie look and feel like a videogame, in an era, when the combination of both was something that would draw young audiences to the cinemas. In these movies, the gadgets look futuristic. Yet they are stuck in the principles that make them era – definitive. Bond’s remote controller for his car is a Sony Ericsson with a monochrome green LCD screen, hiding a more powerful colorful LCD screen inside it. His Aston Martin uses optic camouflage, which was still being experimented on and has yet to be perfected or even revealed as a fully – fleshed military project. Yet, his car is much older than any car that will appear when that technology will be truly available. Whenever the camera shoots him at night streets, such as during his mission in Hamburg during Tomorrow Never Dies or when he arrives at Hong Kong in Die Another Day, the buildings look crowded and every light is on. Just as many real life buildings and areas used to leave their lights on at night. But almost nobody is inside these buildings in the background. Because offices don’t truly stay open that late.

Another movie that inspired the aesthetic of the Millenniumpunk subgenre was the third instalment of Fast and Furious, Tokyo Drift. Not only the buildings have that early 2000s flavor, as if nobody ever sleeps, but also, there are multiple scenes where the currently existing technology – by the time the film was shot – seems to be taking a step into the future, with flip – phones, able to make group – chat phonecalls and connect with eachother like a circuit. During that time, video calls were available, however, such phones were probably incapable of handling the complexity of applications such as the more modern Microsoft Teams, yet the characters seem to be able to use their phones and show their own point of view of each race to one another. Also, the movie is supposedly set in a future, between the events of the next three movies of the franchise, in which, the use of smartphones is not only introduced, but also, the characters seem to neglect functions such as the futuristic ones, the phones in Tokyo Drift had.

The previous two examples, however, have something in common. The Millenniumpunk aesthetic, or the inspiration it takes from the aesthetic of these films is coincidental. Bond always used gadgets, which were a product of their era, as well as the plans for the continuation of the Fast and Furious franchise were much different. Yet, such a beautiful coincidence is what gave inspiration to setting the basic principles of the Millenniumpunk subgenre.

A huge amount of gratitude goes to the Japanese film industry, for movies, such as Noriko’s Dinner Table, Pulse and even anime, such as Digimon, all sharing a distinct flavor of both 90s nostalgia and certain worries about the abuse of the internet, the digitalization of society and the loss of self – perception, through the overuse of the computer and the isolation of one’s self, due to it.

Videogames of that era have also inspired the subgenre, as well as the music of that era. However, music – wise, a music genre that has recently managed to surface, after many years of remaining mostly an underground genre, played an important role into being inspired by it. Phonk is a music genre, which is mostly known for its use in videos with cars, gym videos or action videos. It’s a music known for its repetition and overuse of heavy bass effects and extreme voice distortion. However, Phonk is also associated with liminal spaces and the aesthetic of Liminal Spaces and Dreamcore. Video – game, wise, there are two main sources of inspiration, which inspired their own generation of games respectively, them being the Aesthetics of the PlayStation 2 and the Dreamcast. These devices managed to influence every videogame under their respective umbrellas, in terms of looks and feels and probably no other console ever managed to recreate the same atmosphere through their music, menus and general architecture, like these two did.

Science magazines, such as FOCUS and the Greek computer magazine RAM, played a crucial role in taking inspiration for the creation of the principles for the Millenniumpunk subgenre. However, in terms of books, especially those written by Michael Fisher, were one of the biggest sources of inspiration that forced the entire subgenre be born naturally. Millenniumpunk is not just about mindless fun, or nostalgia. It’s a movement. It’s certain worries and critiques. It’s even critique on today’s society through the eyes of an old one, as if that parallel universe is directly affected by ours and ours is affected by theirs. Michael Fisher devoted his life, researching the lost futures. Millenniumpunk is about these lost futures. The futures humanity was promised, but was never able to witness.

 

SPECIAL THANKS TO:

I wouldn’t have managed to pull this task alone! In fact, during my research, I contacted a big number of people, who have been creating their own artwork or are exploring art from that era. In terms of artists and creators, there were many who seem to recreate the Millenniumpunk aesthetic unintentionally and so, I was amazed to meet people who love that era as much as I do. I am even glad that I managed to contact many of them directly and share my thoughts with them.

So this last paragraph is for each one of you who helped me with this ongoing project. And these thanks go to:

• Aleksey (Instagram: aleha_84 – pixelart artist)
• Dim Usov (instagram: PDApix – PDA and Y2K phones collector and photographer)
• Ciel (Instagram: dead.dollieeeart – artist)
• Lynn (youtube: PortiaLynnDoll: Youtuber and researcher of obscure retro websites and videogames)
• Maria (youtube: eurothug4000 – Youtuber and researcher of horror and retro videogames)
• The Backlog Channel (Instagram: backlog_chan – collectors of late 90s to early 2000s gadgets and videogames and photographers)
• Jeferson Andrade (Instagram: jdagames_   – collector of late 90s to early 2000s gadgets and videogames and photographer)
• Jonny P. (Instagram: 90s.era.nostalgia – Content creator)