Although it was the year 2000 that was supposed to change everything, the following year would prove far more pivotal in shaping the decades that followed.
The September 11 terrorist attacks in New York, Virginia and the skies above Pittsburgh would cause almost 3,000 deaths, 25,000 injuries and $10 billion of property and infrastructure damage, triggering a new era of military reprisal in the Middle East and casting a veil of fear and xenophobia over the Western mindset for years to come.
In tech news, file-sharing platform Napster was closed down following numerous copyright-infringement suits, while the release of Apple’s iPod and iTunes Store re-commodified music and transformed fans’ mobile listening habits forever. Free encyclopedia Wikipedia also went online for the first time.
In entertainment, both the Harry Potter and The Lord Of The Rings franchises debuted on the silver screen late in the year, topping off 12 months that had also seen the first instalments of the Monsters Inc. and Shrek franchises, as well as The Mummy Returns, Jurassic Park III, Hannibal, and remakes of Oceans Eleven (so cool) and Planet Of The Apes (so cringe).
It was a landmark year for heavy music as well, with the tail-end of nu-metal producing some absolute bangers, something of an industrial resurgence, and a whole host of alternative sounds that would help shape the rock landscape for the next 20 years.
Here are 20 of the most memorable musical milestones from 2001…