the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 2004 in Britain

To be fifteen in Britain in 2004 was to have “Yeah!” by Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris everywhere, Shrek 2 on every screen, and Little Britain on after school. That year, gas cost 81.9p/L and Facebook launching at US universities was the new thing. Born in 1989? You turned 15 in 2004 — a teenager from 2002 to 2008, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 2004 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 2004

Yeah! — Usher ft. Lil Jon & Ludacris

  1. Yeah! — Usher ft. Lil Jon & LudacrisCrunk conquering Britain, Lil Jon's 'yeah!' the shout that started every party you snuck into.
  2. Toxic — Britney SpearsBritney's red catsuit and that string stab, pure pop danger you weren't quite allowed to love.
  3. Dry Your Eyes — The StreetsMike Skinner narrating a break-up so real you felt your own dumping in every mumbled line.
  4. Vertigo — U2The silhouetted iPod advert made flesh, U2's riff selling you the shiny new decade to come.
  5. Left Outside Alone — AnastaciaAnastacia's belted heartbreak filling car journeys, the windows-down, sing-till-you-cry ballad of that summer.

▶ Play your 2004 reel

why this one mattered

Crunk arrived and 'Yeah!' was inescapable — the Lil Jon 'YEAH! OK!' shout the definitive school-disco floor-filler of 2004. If you were 15 that year this is the club night, the ringtone, the whole confident sound of the summer before everything got serious.

the year-end #1 was the year's best-seller was Band Aid 20's 'Do They Know It's Christmas?'.

the movies you are watching in 2004

  • Shrek 2
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • The Incredibles
  • Spider-Man 2
  • Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason

the tv shows you are binging in 2004

  • Little Britain
  • The X Factor
  • Strictly Come Dancing
  • I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!
  • Shameless

the games you are playing in 2004

  • Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
  • Halo 2
  • Pro Evolution Soccer 4
  • Need for Speed: Underground 2
  • The Sims 2
  • Half-Life 2

what things cost in 2004

What things cost in 2004
a pint of lager£2.50
a cinema ticket£4.70
the national minimum wage (adult)£4.85/hr
a gallon of gas81.9p/L
a first-class stamp28p
the average income£27,150

trending this year

Facebook
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Facebook_Logo_(2015)_light.svg · Public domain
Facebook
the Motorola Razr
Photo by Raimond Spekking (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_RAZR_V3-4899.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
the Motorola Razr
Gmail
The X Factor
Photo by Ian Paterson (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:X_Factor_Auditions_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1292172.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
The X Factor
TheFacebook launches
Aleksi Tappura (via Unsplash / Wikimedia Commons); CC0 — no attribution required · CC0 1.0 (Public Domain Dedication)
TheFacebook launches

the gadgets you just got

the Motorola Razr V3
Photo by Raimond Spekking (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Motorola_RAZR_V3-4899.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
the Motorola Razr V3
the iPod Mini
Photo by kaori (Flickr) (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apple_iPod_mini_blue-2005-03-07.jpg · CC BY 2.0
the iPod Mini
the iPod mini
the iPod Photo
the digital camera
Photo by Alistair Paterson from Dunedin, New Zealand (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sony_DSC-V1_(2003)_(4867925220).jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
the digital camera

what everyone is snacking on

McCoy's
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:McCoy%27s_crisps.jpg · CC0
McCoy's
Fruit Winders
AI-generated illustration
Fruit Winders
Nik Naks
Photo by Mx. Granger (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nik_Naks_-_UK.jpg · CC0
Nik Naks
Cadbury Fudge
Photo by Evan-Amos (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cadbury-Fudge.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Cadbury Fudge
Yazoo
AI-generated illustration
Yazoo

what everyone is drinking

WKD
AI-generated illustration
WKD
Red Bull
VincentLR, Wikimedia Commons (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Lattina_di_Red_Bull.jpg) · CC BY-SA 4.0
Red Bull
Capri-Sun
AI-generated illustration
Capri-Sun
Oasis
AI-generated illustration
Oasis
Lucozade Energy
AI-generated illustration
Lucozade Energy

what made the news in 2004

  • The Boxing Day tsunami in the Indian Ocean kills over 230,000, with British holidaymakers among the dead
  • Ten new countries join the EU, opening free movement from Poland and eastern Europe
  • Portugal knock out England on penalties at Euro 2004 as Wayne Rooney is injured in the quarterfinal
  • The Hutton and Butler inquiries scrutinise the case for the Iraq war
The Boxing Day tsunami devastates the Indian Ocean
Photo by Sofwathulla Mohamed (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake_Maldives_tsunami_wave.jpg · Public domain
The Boxing Day tsunami devastates the Indian Ocean
Ten new countries join the EU, including Poland
Photo by Rockcohen (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1_May_2004_enlargement_celebration_in_Parc_du_Cinquantenaire.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Ten new countries join the EU, including Poland
Rooney dazzles at Euro 2004 before England fall to Portugal
Photo by Ilya Khokhlov (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wayne_Rooney_Euro_2012_vs_Italy.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Rooney dazzles at Euro 2004 before England fall to Portugal
Hunting with dogs banned in England and Wales
Photo by Lewis Clarke (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tiverton_,_Tiverton_Boxing_Day_1977_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1259850.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Hunting with dogs banned in England and Wales
Ken Bigley taken hostage and murdered in Iraq
AI-generated illustration
Ken Bigley taken hostage and murdered in Iraq

what everyone is saying

  • "Am I bovvered?"Catherine Tate's Lauren, the catchphrase of 2004
  • "Look at my face — is my face bovvered?"the full Lauren Cooper routine everyone recited
  • "Chav"the widely-used, much-debated label of the moment
  • "Safe"still the all-purpose word of teenage approval
  • "Buff ting"meaning an attractive person, rising urban teen slang

the summer of 2004.

you think you've got all the time in the world.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 2004 goes.

Turn 2004 into a 30-second reel →

▶ Play your 2004 reel with sound