2004 themed cicada party?

May 3, 2021 10:46 AM

Help me commemorate the incoming Brood X cicadas. I was thinking a nice way of celebrating would be to throw a 2004 themed party, but my memories of that era are a bit fuzzy. Any good suggestions for punny and thematic food/drink/entertainment?

The party will probably just be for me and my partner and maybe our cats, but I was thinking a thematic dish and playing some mid-aughts bangers would make a nice night. Wikipedia lists the 2004 Eurovision song contest as happening around the right time, so that might be on in the background. We're both Californians in our late twenties and so our memories of that era are mostly focused around school/family.

I've seen some articles about eating cicadas, but we are not that adventurous and that's part of why I was looking for a good 2004 event to base the food around. Current food fallbacks include something based off a political scandal from the Kerry/Bush campaign (something fishy, like due to "flipflopping" and "swiftboating"), and maybe some snack foods we'll call Edvard Munch-ies because some of his paintings were stolen in 2004. The bar for entry is low and any silly connection to 2004 is welcome.

The current playlist will be built off of Usher's Confessions, Green Day's American Idiot, some Britney Spears, Franz Ferdinand, and maybe early Kayne and Beyoncé in the mix. Additional recommendations of music that would have been in the air around then would be greatly appreciated.

posted by crossswords to Food & Drink (11 answers total)

Irony as a fashion statement was really coming into vogue in 2004.
posted by phunniemee at 10:54 AM on May 3, 2021

Jeans under dresses, velour sweatsuits, popped collars and frappachinos! 50 Cent and Britney Spears's Toxic!
posted by nowadays at 11:02 AM on May 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

Best answer: I graduated college in 2004, so I can pin certain memories to that year specifically better than other years, like 2006 or 2020. The two big movies that I think really capture the spirit of 2004 would be Garden State and Napoleon Dynamite (Anchorman also came out that year, but I'm not sure it was...twee? enough to really capture that year). Oh, right, and Mean Girls. For music, The Shins owe a lot due to being featured heavily in Garden State, and really that whole soft indie rock genre that followed. The White Stripes were probably at the peak of their popularity, thanks to Seven Nation Army off the 2003 album Elephant. Outkast was also huge off Speakerboxxx/The Love Below (also from 2003). The Killers released Hot Fuzz in 2004, and I'm pretty sure everybody knows all the singles from that record. The mid-2000s-2010s hipster thing was just getting started; I remember the freshman class that year being the first to arrive in skinny jeans, ironic facial hair, etc. Craft beer was already up and going (although not the extent it is now) — Sierra Nevada, Dogfish, etc. were around and easy to get. Cocktail culture was in its bare infancy – you wouldn't expect to get a good cocktail at a random bar, but there were specific cocktail bars popping up here and there.

For food...I can only suggest shrimp something because...cicadas/shrimp...right?
posted by General Malaise at 11:19 AM on May 3, 2021 [6 favorites]

Even if you’re not into 19th-century French music, your playlist should include Emmanuel Chabrier’s “Les Cigales” (The Cicadas).

Recording

French text with link to English translation
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:26 AM on May 3, 2021

Best answer: Shrimp is a great suggestion, or lobster, as they are the bugs of the sea.

"Mr. Brightside" by the Killers came out in 2004 with the line "Coming out of my cage & ive been doing just fine" which would be a great tribute to the cicadas.

At some point you will have to ceremonially emerge from some blankets and get a primal scream going.
posted by bleep at 11:36 AM on May 3, 2021 [8 favorites]

This song is not 2004, but I do not believe a cicada-themed party should pass without it.
posted by dlugoczaj at 12:24 PM on May 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: We are nowhere near Cicada-land but if you are, maybe your party could have an outdoor component: cicada treasure hunt/citizen scientist adventure/weird drinking game? Learn about a community science project and see if you are in the expected cicada zone. To clarify, the article does not encourage drinking while photographing cicadas, but my family would be all in on this. And/or cicada costumes.
posted by heidiola at 1:49 PM on May 3, 2021

Best answer: Hit the MetaFilter archive for 2004 and just start with January!

You don't need to read the links, just skim the descriptions, and I'm sure that you'll be reminded of the details of pop culture of 2004.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 3:06 PM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Oh, just thought of something else: The infamous Dean Scream was in 2004, so, maybe eat some Dean Scream Ice Cream? I have no idea what that would entail, but hey, low bar, right?
posted by General Malaise at 3:53 PM on May 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Best answer: I know OutKast was already mentioned, but Hey Ya! (though it was released in '03) was basically inescapable in '04. Another song that screams '2004' to me is Float On by Modest Mouse.

That was the year the Boston Red Sox broke the Curse of the Bambino. It was a big deal if you were a baseball fan, even kind of if you weren't. The Yankees-Red Sox ALCS in particular got a lot of attention - it was legitimately one of the best baseball playoff series of all-time - and lots of people (myself included) briefly took up Red Sox fandom that October. (Which seems weird now.) So maybe you could do some Boston-themed thing like clam chowder or baked beans or Sam Adams?
posted by breakin' the law at 6:23 PM on May 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Don't forget 17 candles on the cake!
posted by fairmettle at 3:43 AM on May 4, 2021