2004
A Pop Culture Timeline
JANUARY
JAN 3RD
BRITNEY WEDDING #1
Britney marries Jason Alexander at a Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas. The 4 am marriage lasts 55 hours and is annulled on Jan 5th.
JAN 16th
MICHAEL JACKSON GOES TO COURT
Michael Jackson goes to court and pleads not guilty to 7 counts of sexual charges against minors. On his way he dances on a car and has a bash for supporters after. Unhinged
JAN 5TH
WEDDING ANNULLED
After 55 hours, Britney's marriage to Jason Alexander is annulled. Allegedly because of Brit's mom..
JAN 10th
JENNIFER ANNISTON HOSTS SNL
Jennifer Anniston hosts SNL's first show of 2004 - make fun of Brit's wedding, her 6 Brad, teasing the Friends finale and (trying) to create hype for Joey (lol)
JAN 27th
THE OSBOURNES ARE BACK
Season 3 of The Osbournes premieres
FEBRUARY
JAN 8th
YOU'RE HIRED
Donald Trump's show
The Apprentice premieres
JAN 26th
PEPSI GOLD
Pepsi release THE most epic ad, starring Britney, Beyoncé, Pink, Enrique (+ cameos Brian May and Roger Taylor from Queen) filmed at the actual collosseum!
FEBRUARY 1st
SUPERBOWL FIASCO
At the most watched Superbowl at the time, Janet Jackson's right breast is exposed by Justin Timberlake during their halftime performance due to a wardrobe malfunction. Superbowl gets fined $500k and Janet's career is basically o-ver
MARCH
APRIL
MAY
JUNE
JULY
FEB 3RD
JANET APOLOGY VIDEO
Janet's team releases a pre-recorded apology video available to outlets… wait…is this the first apology video!!! MO-THER
FEBRUARY 4TH
HELLO FACEBOOK
The Facebook is founded by Mark Zuckerberg in Massachusetts
FEBRUARY 20TH
IPOD MINI RELEASE
Apple releases the first iPod Mini
FEBRUARY 5TH
LAWSUITS FILED
The first lawsuit (of many...) against Janet Jackson is filed
MARCH 28th
SPOTTED
First paparazzi photo I could find of Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 - who allegedly started sating in Feb
MARCH 18TH
FAIL
Outlets report at the time Apprentice star Donald Trump is trying to trademark “You’re fired”. Spoiler Alert: it was rejected
FEBRUARY 16TH
VIRAL VIRUS
The computer virus Netsky-P is released.
MARCH 30TH
JANET JACKSON ALBUM
Janet Jackson releases her Damita Jo album, which ends up blacklisted by radio and TV stations because of the incident
FEBRUARY 23RD
DRUNK PICS
The first lawsuit (of many...) against Janet Jackson is filed
APRIL 30TH
MEAN GIRLS IS OUT
Tina Fey's masterpiece & Lindsay Lohan's most iconic role imo!
APRIL 1ST
GMAIL LAUNCHES
Gmail launches with 1GB free data - 100 x what you could get from other providers at the time
MARCH 17th
I BELIEVE I CAN.. WALK AWAY FREE
Charges against R.Kelly for possession of Child pornography are dropped by Florida prosecutors (because the po-po got the evidence illegally)…smh.
MARCH 4TH
PIMP MY RIDE!
Pimp My Ride premieres on MTV, hosted by X-Zibit
MAY 12TH
LILO HOSTS SNL
Lindsay hosts SNL and adds fuel to her feud with Hilary Duff by shading her live
JULY 10TH
A CINDERELLA STORY PREMIERE
Hilary Duff bans Lindsay Lohan from attending because of the SNL skit
MAY 6TH
FRIENDS FINALE
The final episode of Friends airs, 10 years after the show originally premiered...emotional
JUNE 6TH
BRITNEY ACCIDENT
Britney slips and tears her knee while filming the music video for Outrageous, which ends up never coming out. Shame cos it looks bomb.
MAY 17TH
ONE STEP FORWARD
Gay marriage is legalised in Massachusetts, first state of the US to do so
JUNE 16TH
THE SIMPLE LIFE IS BACK
Season 2 premieres at the height of Paris' sex scandal
JUNE 11TH
MARY-KATE CHECKS IN
Mary-Kate Olsen checks into a clinic for her issues with anorexia although some speculate it has to do with coke
JUNE 5TH
MTV MOVIE AWARDS
Eminem flashes his butt. MTV censor it in the US coz of the Janet drama, but it actually does get shown in the UK!
AUGUST
JULY 16TH
MARTHA SENTENCED
Martha Stewart is sentenced to five months in prison and five months under house arrest for…basically insider trading back in 2001.
JULY 18TH
ENTOURAGE PREMIERES
Definitely remember this being later but oh well
JUNE 7TH
HAPPY GRADUATION
The Olsen Twins graduate from high school
MAY 31ST
OLSEN TWINS ON OPRAH
That now infamous interview where Oprah asks them what their "size" is...
AUGUST 4tH
PARIS GETS ROBBED
Paris and Nicky Hilton's storage unit is robbed. This will later become the contents of the infamous Paris Exposed website
APRIL 26TH
ENGAGED!
Fresh of the Leo rumours, Donald Trump and Melania “announce” their engagement (by flashing a ring at the Met Gala - 3rd times the charm
FEBRUARY 8TH
46TH ANNUAL GRAMMY'S
Janet is uninvited cos she refuses to apologise on air. But, Justin’s there! And he does apologise, mid-speech. Cringe. Also, 50 Cent bitter about losing Best New Artist to Evanescence. Cute!
FEB 12TH
JANET APOLOGY VIDEO
Paris Hilton’s sex tape bud Rick Solomon calls in unannounced on Howard Stern’s show to discuss the sex tape and website. This show gets Stern’s broadcaster fined for 500k in April coz of how dirty it gets
MARCH 22ND
LAVIGNE DUFF BEEF
In a Newsweek interview, Avril calls Hilary Duff a "goody-goody" and a "mommy's girl" not in a good way, because Duff commented on Avril's treatment of fans.
JULY 19TH
HILARY DUFF Q&A
Duff says she shouldn't have said what she said about Avril Lavigne and that Lindsay Lohan doesn't like her very much
SEPTEMBER
JUNE 9TH
SEX TAPE RELEASE
Paris Hilton's infamous sex tape "1 Night in Paris" is officially released on VHS by Red Light District Video
SEPTEMBER 17TH
MACAULAY ARRESTED
24-year old Macaulay Culkin gets arrested for drugs possession
SEPTEMBER 22ND
LOST PREMIERES
4 8 15 16 23 42... is it weird that I remember this? Lost premieres and it's actually really good
SEPTEMBER 9TH
JOEY PREMIERES
Definitely not relevant but for the lols and how big of a fail it was
SEPTEMBER 7TH
POKEMON FIRE RED
Pokémon Fire Red is released in the US and Canada
SEPTEMBER 28TH
LAGUNA BEACH PREMIERES
MTV's real life OC. Reality TV is about to get a lot worse ;)
OCTOBER
OCTOBER 3RD
SAY HELLO TO DRAMA
Desperate Housewives premieres
OCTOBER 21ST
LINDSAY HOSPITALIZED
Lindsay Lohan is hospitalized for 5 days for a mysterious illness. Her dad claims it's drugs lol
NOVEMBER
NOVEMBER 6TH
RINGTONES FTW
Billboard launches hot ring tones chart (rip 2014) after ringtones officially outsell digital downloads and grew into a $4 billion industry. Here’s a little polyphonic mix for ya
DECEMBER
SEPTEMBER 18TH
BRITNEY WEDDING #2
Britney Spears marries Kevin Federline at secret ceremony at friend’s house in Studio City, Calif
JULY 2ND
HILARY AND JOEL
Reports start surfacing that Hilary Duff and Joel Madden are dating. She's 16 btw, he's like 25.
JUNE 13TH
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!
The moment all creeps were waiting for. The Olsen twins turn 18 and become instant billionaires
NOVEMBER 30TH
BLOGGING WORLD
Blogging becomes word of the year
NOVEMBER 21ST
NINTENDO DS
Nintendo DS is launched in US
DECEMBER 26TH
TSUNAMI
Tsunami hits Asia
NOVEMBER 15TH
HELLOMOTO
Motorola releases the iconic Razr V3
SEPTEMBER 29TH
JAY-Z & R.KELLY GO ON TOUR
The Best of Both Worlds Unfinished Business Tour begins
JULY 7TH
ADS PULLED
The Olsen twins' Got Milk ads get pulled, only two months after launching on May 7th... because of the drama..
MAY 17TH
TEEN OBSESSED
Another Teens Gone Wild cover gone wild
SEPTEMBER 17TH
HAPPY MEAL HAPPY DEAL
Mary-Kate and Ashley and McDonald's France collab on Happy Meals.
OCTOBER 23RD
ASHLEE SIMPSON SNL FAIL
Ashlee Simpson just…fails. on SNL as the wrong song starts playing, exposing her lip-syncing plans. She awkwardly walks off stage. Live.. Career. Ruined. 4evr.
OCTOBER 26TH
ASHLEE POSTS ON BLOG
Ashlee Simpson tries to apologize on her blog.. so, so, sad lol
NOVEMBER 26TH
WE'RE ENGAGED!
Avril Lavigne and Deryck Whibley are engaged.
NOVEMBER 5TH
CAM GOES HAM
Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake get in a fight with the paparazzi. Drama.
NOVEMBER 2ND
GEORGE BUSH RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT
George Bush is re-elected as president of the US
DECEMBER 10TH
TEAM HILARY DUFF
Joel Madden refuses to give Lindsay Lohan’s 8 year old brother an autograph at one of his shows until she publicly apologises to Hilary Duff. Way to get in on the drama J!
NOVEMBER 15TH
DANIEL SERRANO ARRESTED
An unlicensed plastic surgeon who botched Priscilla Presley is arrested after celebrity complaints. Gf Diane Richie (Lionel's ex wife lol) is also arrested for letting him operate from her bathroom (!) and referring him to her A-list friends
APRIL 22ND
ENGAGED?
People report Leo Dicaprio bought an engagement ring for Gisele Bündchen..
APRIL 25TH
UNDEFEATED CHAMPIONS
Arsenal win the Premier League undefeated, with 26 wins
FEBRUARY 29TH
OSCARS?
Lord of the Rings Return of the King wins 11 nominations at the Oscars