It's a new decade then, and it seems the very word 'decade' is something that has always been synonymous with music, perhaps more so than any other recreational activity. The decades have, of course, been defined by specific styles of music. However, they have also become a way of categorising music in their own right, albeit a strange way. Ten years is a long time in music and technology can change rapidly. 'Pump Up The Volume' couldn't be any less similar to 'Shaddap You Face', yet we sometimes lump them together purely by the decade in which they were released.

So it is perhaps a curious way to divide music, but divide we do. I'm sure we've all run decade-specific nights, or even played at venues with a decade-related music policy. But, as time moves on, it seems these parties and venues aren't moving on themselves. Despite a plethora of 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s nights, we still seem to be scared of revisiting anything post-millennium.

We find ourselves – unbelievably – in 2020. A whole 20 years since 'Who Let The Dogs Out' came out (are we still playing this?). 2000 to 2019 has just gone like that, but what do we, and our punters, remember? Music from the ‘60s to ‘90s is hard to forget, even though it was much longer ago. Multiple replicated compilations, specific TV channels, TOTP on BBC4 and ‘Gold’ radio stations, mean that us DJs, as well as the public at large, are reasonably well-versed in these decades. Indeed, my New Year gig just gone only really picked up when I 'got the ‘80s on', despite the average age being pretty low.

So why are we not looking back at the ‘00s and the ‘10s so much? To begin with, I would imagine it doesn't help that we can't even agree what to call them! I've heard a variety of different terms used. Personally, I plump for the ‘noughties’ and the ‘teenies’. Noughties, of course, works pretty well should one be moved to do such a themed night – ‘naughty noughties’ sounds great. So great in fact that I've copyrighted it as the name for an up-coming podcast! As for the teenies, I can't help feel a bit uncomfortable with that one.

I think perhaps you might get the wrong crowd there, or the very wrong crowd! So, how about the 'tens'? Well, 'Tens Night' really doesn't cut it, does it? ‘Top Tens’ maybe? But then that sounds like a knock-off version of a certain card game. Maybe by the end of the ‘20s there will be a generally agreed name for both.

But is there another reason for the apparent widespread dismissal of the past 20 years of music history? Is it because the music media are stuck in the past? Are the public stuck in the past? Are us jocks stuck in the past? Or has all the music that came out over the last two decades been total crap?

In the late ‘00s, when I was still burning the mp3s I bought to CD, turning them into my own compilations, I decided to give the many Maplin (RIP) bags I was carting to gigs an overhaul. I remarked to my then, clearly disinterested, girlfriend that I only ever seemed to play music from either the ‘60s, ‘70s,’ 80s and ‘90s or whatever was current at that moment in time. Everything else just came and went. I don't know about anyone else, but I still find this to be largely true at my gigs. So in this respect has the music from the last 20 years just not got the longevity to stick in our collective conscience? The rise in the use of the word 'cheesy' over the past two decades to smear anything remotely upbeat and memorable probably hasn't helped, as the media became more bothered about being credible than catchy.

It also doesn't help that the ‘00s and ‘10s didn't really have any big ‘scenes' like past decades. Where the ‘70s had punk and disco, and the ‘90s had rave and Britpop. The 00s? Well, they had, um... bassline? Which was meant to be some big new thing yet produced virtually nothing except 'Heartbroken' by T2. We also had the 'Clubland' brand explode and for a