It is a bit of a dilemna, ain't it?!?!?!
The early part of the 20th century didn't have any fancy nicknames either from what I recall.
The 1890's were "The Gay Nineties" (weren't the 1990's, too ... in movies & on TV - LOL).
But the change of the 19th to 20th century didn't seem too happening as far as culture goes. We were too busy with industrialization & then the first world war, it seems.
The next big thing was the Roaring Twenties;
Then the 30's & 40's ... the Jazz Age, Bebop, and the Big Band era;
the Fifties ... the birth of rock & roll and the homogenization US pop culture;
the Sixties ... rock & roll grows up and the counter-culture is born;
the Seventies ... the disco dance craze & the advent of the arena rock of super-groups;
the 80's ... new conservatism against the backdrop of corporate greed & excess ... plus hair metal bands and moronic pop-rock as a soundtrack to something new called MTV (tempered by the arrrival of Britain's "New Wave" that returns rock back to it's basics and "alternative rock" is born);
the 90's ... more idiotic MTV pop-rock ... plus the mix of heavy-metal hate-rock/gangsta rap that is now the mainstay of MTV (but Kurt Cobain & Seattle's grunge movement once again remind the world what rock is really about to keep the "alternative" alive);
the 2000's ... more insipid nonsense from MTV ... plus even more banal caterwauling courtesy of something new called "American Idol" ... musical pablum for the mindless masses (the only "alternative" available now is to go out & find your own on the internet).
So maybe that's why the past decade has nothing memorable to define itself with.
We used to all like one thing ... or most of us did ... and that was what people identified with.
Other people liked something that was totally different and that was how they identified themselves.
Today there is no single musical voice or style that defines the generation of the last decade. Maybe that's why it hasn't found a name yet.
And it's sad somehow. Diversity is great but the concept of a 'common thread' has been lost.
Did you hear the new single from 'Kings of Leon'? ... "Who are they" old-timers say.
"Alice In Chains" has a new album out ... "They're a new band, right?" ... old-timers say.
Yeah ... as opposed to T-Rex I guess you'd say they're new
Lynyrd Skynard played live on Huckabee last week .. "Are they still alive?" old timers ask.
Apparently so .. alive & well I might add
How we define the time we live in is basically by the way we live it.
And, for many of us, it's the music we grow up listening to that becomes the standard of our generation.
So. This decade is over already ... too late to do anything interesting now at this point.
Our interests as a people have been so fractal in everything.
From the music we listen to, and the politcal beliefs we have.
No wonder nobody can think of a good name. At the moment we have nothing in common.
So there really isn't any one term that sums it all up.
An era of disillusionment.
September 11th, the ensuing mood of fear, growing intolerance between political parties, and the recent financial meltdown leave most of us with a serious disconnect when it comes to faith in what the world will bring, and what any government can do to help any of us, or change any of it.
At the end of these ten years ... we still don't know what to make of it.
So we give it no name.
But ... no need to be disheartened or discouraged.
The times they are a'changin' .... as they always have ... and they always will.