18 Music Trends That Defined a Generation—Then Disappeared
These 18 music trends once defined entire generations with their bold sounds and cultural flair—only to vanish as quickly as they rose, leaving behind echoes of dance floors, mixtapes, and MySpace profiles.
- Alyana Aguja
- 6 min read
From disco balls to dubstep drops, the history of music is filled with trends that blew up into the mainstream—only to be gone with a fleeting memory. They created youth culture, style, and identity before being discarded for the next sensation. This article explores 18 indelible music moments that defined the generations, only to come and go like a one-hit wonder.
1. Disco Fever (1970s)
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Disco permeated the late ’70s, from Studio 54 to Saturday Night Fever. Artists such as Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, and Chic dominated the charts with throbbing four-on-the-floor rhythms and disco dazzling extravagance. However, by 1979, disco backlash came in full force—summed up by the notorious “Disco Demolition Night”—and the genre imploded in short order.
2. Hair Metal (1980s)
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Acts such as Mötley Crüe, Poison, and Bon Jovi mixed large riffs with even larger hair, earning them MTV popularity and stadium fillings. Their glam look and power ballads characterized the mid-to-late ’80s rock sound. However, the early ’90s grunge eruption made hair metal a relic almost overnight.
3. Grunge (Early 1990s)
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Grunge, which originated in Seattle, combined punk and metal with whiny lyrics. It was headed up by Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. Nevermind was a cultural rebirth, knocking over pop bands and bringing flannel into fashion. But by the late ’90s, grunge collapsed under its own gravity, with most of its heroes breaking up or dying violently.
4. Ska Punk Revival (Mid-1990s)
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Third-wave ska caught on with acts such as No Doubt, Reel Big Fish, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, mixing punk attitude with brass-laden rhythms. The skanking dance fad even appeared in suburban proms and skate parks. But by the early 2000s, ska had faded to the fringes, leaving behind only happy memories and checkered suspenders.
5. Boy Bands & Teen Pop Boom (Late 1990s – Early 2000s)
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Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney Spears controlled radio and TRL, bringing back slick dance moves and bubblegum pop. Powered by CD sales and fan clubs, their fan bases were cult-like and international. The bubble popped in the mid-2000s as pop moved toward R&B and hip-hop-influenced acts.
6. Nu-Metal (Late 1990s – Early 2000s)
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Bands such as Linkin Park, Korn, and Limp Bizkit combined metal with rap, angst, and DJ scratches and appealed to disillusioned youth. Their hard-edged sound dominated MTV and mosh pits everywhere, with albums such as Hybrid Theory going multi-platinum. But by the late 2000s, the genre was ridiculed and widely discarded in favor of emo and indie rock.
7. Crunk (Early 2000s)
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Pioneered by Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz, crunk introduced crazy beats, yelled-out vocals, and dancefloor-friendly chants to hip-hop. Tracks such as “Get Low” and “Yeah!” took over radio and parties with their frenetic madness. Trap music and more melodic Southern rap eventually replaced it.
8. Bloghouse (Mid-2000s)
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An internet-born movement, bloghouse was led by acts such as Justice, Simian Mobile Disco, and MSTRKRFT. Its Avant-electro sound and DIY remixes spread through music blogs and early MySpace accounts. By the early 2010s, EDM’s mainstream breakthrough drowned it out altogether.
9. MySpace Emo (Mid-2000s)
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With My Chemical Romance, Fall Out Boy, and Panic! At The Disco bands, emo became a full-fledged lifestyle—eyeliner, side-swept bangs, and tear-filled lyrics included. MySpace facilitated direct fan-artist interactions and viral stardom. When social media grew up and fashion shifted, the movement declined, though nostalgia continues today.
10. Auto-Tune as a Gimmick (Late 2000s)
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Made ubiquitously popular to excess by T-Pain, auto-tune became a sonic hallmark, leading vocals into robot hooks. Even Kanye West adapted it on 808s & Heartbreak, revolutionizing pop. However, excess and criticism demoted excess auto-tune to a stylistic artifact, although subdued implementation is still widespread.
11. Flash-in-the-Pan Dance Crazes (Late 2000s – Early 2010s)
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Starting from Soulja Boy’s “Crank That” to Cali Swag District’s “Teach Me How to Dougie,” dance internet hits dominated the charts and YouTube. Every song had its corresponding moves and, in many cases, exploded by word of mouth through schools and social media. These trends soon gave way to more long-term choreography crazes on TikTok.
12. Dubstep (2010–2012 peak)
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Skrillex, Bassnectar, and Rusko brought dubstep’s wobbly bass drops and glitchy mayhem to the mainstream. It blew up into pop with hits such as Britney Spears’s “Hold It Against Me” and became a festival staple. However, dubstep was overexposed by 2013 and soon declined in popularity.
13. Chillwave (2010–2011)
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Washed Out, Neon Indian, and Toro y Moi made fuzzy, retro-sounding music ideal for Tumblr-era escapism. Lo-fi synths and beach sound became the indie kids’ soundtrack to something less bloghouse-like. However, by 2012, even its inventors had moved on from it, and chillwave became meme-like.
14. EDM Big Room House Boom (2011–2015)
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Swedish House Mafia, Martin Garrix, and Hardwell popularized huge synth drops and festival anthems to the masses. The sound overpowered Coachella and Ultra, with tracks such as “Animals” being worldwide hits. But by 2016, the formulaic sound became old, and DJs switched to deeper or more melodic sub-genres.
15. Twerk Anthems (2013–2014)
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Songs such as Miley Cyrus’s “We Can’t Stop” and DJ Snake’s “Turn Down for What” spurred a brief fixation on twerking culture. Viral clips and club scenes blew the trend up to the point of saturation. The dance craze eventually fizzled, and pop transitioned to more varied rhythms.
16. Vine Rap (2013–2015)
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One-minute hooks by artists such as OG Maco, Bobby Shmurda, and iLoveMakonnen went viral due to Vine’s six-second loops. They emphasized hook lines over lyrics, ideal for instant virality. The movement was over after Vine’s demise in 2016, although its impact influenced TikTok’s subsequent growth.
17. SoundCloud Rap (2016–2019)
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Raw, low-fidelity, and strongly auto-tuned, SoundCloud rap brought a generation of DIY artists such as Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, and Lil Uzi Vert. It was open to emotional vulnerability, punk, and mangled production. As the site declined and artists transitioned to major labels, the underground edge of the genre was lost.
18. Hyperpop’s First Wave (2020–2022)
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Pioneered by producers such as 100 gecs, Charli XCX (in her experimental phase), and SOPHIE, hyperpop burst with manic beats, pitch-shifted vocals, and meme visuals. It was futuristic and free-wheeling, created on Discord servers and fueled by TikTok. By 2023, the frenzy had dissipated, and artists started to move into more polished modes.