Music facts that will make you feel really old

With the millennium now a quarter of a century ago, we’re feeling our age (Picture: Getty)

Hearing a song or an album can put you exactly back where you were when you first heard it but sometimes that place is longer ago than you think.

Nostalgia is a powerful tool, documented by the huge swathes of bands going on reunion tours in the next year.

With bootcut jeans having a resurgence (thanks, Kendrick Lamar), Robbie Williams at the forefront of our minds, and Oasis finally reuniting, it’s easy to forget what year we are actually in.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but the 00s are now 20 years ago even if most of our brains are still convinced it was yesterday.

If you’re not keeping track; Iron Man premiered almost two decades ago, David Bowie tragically died nine years ago, and it’s been nearly 30 years since the UK last won Eurovision.

We’re taking a walk down memory lane with some shocking music facts that will make you feel really old — sorry in advance.

It’s over 30 years since the Spice Girls debuted It has been 30 years since we met Sporty, Baby, Scary, Ginger, and Posh (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

Starting with a big one, it’s been 30 years (yes, really) since the iconic girl power band Spice Girls first spiced up our lives.

Mel B (Scary), Melanie C (Sporty), Emma Bunton (Baby), Geri Horner (Ginger), and Victoria Beckham (Posh) formed in 1994.

The Spice Girls were an instant hit after releasing their debut single Wannabe and are synonymous with 90s British pop.

To this day, they have sold over 100 million records worldwide, cementing their legacy as one of the biggest groups of all time.

After six blissfully pop-filled years, the group called it quits in 2000 and have not reunited as a full five-piece in over 13 years… although rumours are rife.

Rihanna’s hiatus is almost as long as her music career

It has been nine years since Rihanna released her last studio album Anti and we’ve been begging for more ever since.

That in itself is a horrific thought; soon secondary school age children will have never lived through a RiRi album drop.

The Umbrella icon released her first album in 2005, so we only actually had 11 years of her popstar era.

If Rihanna keeps up her studio silence, we will have had more years in a row without new music than we ever had with.

Rumours that she could be preparing to release something new have been on the increase but until the Fenty Beauty founder says otherwise it looks like she’s taken a bow.

10 years since Zayn Malik left One Direction How has it been over a decade since One Direction split (Picture: Kevin Mazur/WireImage)

A traumatic moment in any Directioner’s life; on March 25, 2015, Zayn Malik announced he was leaving One Direction.

After seven Brit awards, seven AMAs, and numerous Teen Choice awards, the biggest boy band in the world had begun their downfall.

‘I am leaving because I want to be a normal 22-year-old who is able to relax and have some private time out of the spotlight,’ he said at the time as teenage girls across the UK wept.

The rest of the band followed swiftly after but Zayn’s exit will always go down in history as the beginning of the end.

2025 also marks 15 years since the band was formed while on X Factor, claiming second place in the competition.

Sadly, possible reunion plans have been overshadowed by the sudden death of Liam Payne last year.

Lady Gaga released Telephone with Beyonce 15 years ago

Some of Lady Gaga’s biggest hits — Poker Face, Just Dance, and Bad Romance — come from her debut album The Fame in 2008.

It’s wild that it’s been so long since Stefani Germanotta first blessed us with her music. It would be two more years before her ionic meat dress moment.

After the album’s re-release in 2009, Gaga dropped a collaboration that would go down in history: Telephone ft Beyonce.

In the accompanying music video in 2010, Beyonce said ‘promise we’ll never come back’ to which Gaga replied ‘I promise’.

Despite the ‘to be continued’ title card, the duo has so far kept their promise and have not been back together in the 15 years since.

Madonna fell down the Brits stairs 10 years ago

The gasps that rang out around the nation on February 25, 2015, when the legendary Queen of Pop fell on stage at the Brit Awards.

Madonna’s dramatic performance was highly anticipated and the then-51-year-old did not disappoint as she slowly walked towards the stage with a huge cape trailing behind her.

Reaching the stairs, she appeared to struggle with undoing the cape before it was pulled off by dancers, yanking Madonna backwards too.

Ever the professional, the Material Girl hitmaker recovered quickly and continued with her performance but fans were on edge the entire set.

She later explained it had been ‘tied too tight’ and referenced her song as she added: ‘Nothing can stop me and love really lifted me up.’

Watching this, even a decade on, still makes us wince every single time.

The Jonas Brothers just celebrated 20 years This throwback of the Jonas Brothers is making us feel ancient (Picture: Scott Gries/Getty Images)

This one caught us off-guard, how can it possibly be 20 years since boyband Jonas Brothers first started out?

Most of us got to know the trio’s music after watching Disney Channel Original Movie, Camp Rock; well, bad news, that film is already 17 years old.

Nick, Joe, and Kevin shared an emotional statement celebrating the last 20 years of making music together.

‘To us, it feels like just yesterday we were loading up our family mini-van with a couple of guitars,’ they wrote on Instagram.

Since starting the band as teenagers, the brothers have released six albums, had a six year hiatus, each been married, Joe got divorced, and between them have five children.

Billie Piper’s son is the same age she was when she first released music

Remember Billie Piper had a brief stint as a fresh-faced pop girlie before launching her acting career?

At just 15, Billie released her hit song Because We Want To which debuted at number one in the UK charts in 1998.

She went on to have a string of hits, including Girlfriend and Day & Night from her three consecutive studio albums.

In 2003, Billie announced she was leaving music behind and just two years later was revealed as the new companion Rose Tyler in the relaunched Doctor Who.

Now a mum-of-three, her eldest son Winston is the same age (even slightly older) that Billie was when she got her big break.

Born October 21, 2008, the now teenager has turned 16 — maybe he’ll be dropping an album soon just like his mum.

50 Cent’s In Da Club is older than Facebook

Ready for your brain to hurt? 50 Cent’s hit song In Da Club is over two decades old.

The song was the American rapper’s lead single on debut album Get Rich or Die Tryin’, widely regarded as one of the best rap records of the 00s.

First reaching airwaves in on January 7, 2003, the song is a whole year and a month older than Mark Zuckerberg’s social media platform.

While Facebook may now have a reputation for being the platform dominated by Boomers and the elderly, it was once a thriving space to connect with friends.

So much can change in 20 years but 50 Cent is still headlining festivals with the song on the set list.

University students have never known a world without Taylor Swift Taylor Swift’s debut album is old enough to drink (Picture: Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Taylor Swift’s debut eponymous album is officially 18, that means anyone who can legally drink in the UK has never known a time without Taylor.

18 is usually the age people head to university so this year anyone getting their degree has officially been alive for as long as her career.

Aged just 14, she signed to label Big Machine Records and wrote over 40 songs in two years, 11 of which would become her debut.

Since then, Cruel Summer hitmaker has spent a total of 720 weeks (over 13 years) on the UK singles chart … so far.

At the start of every Eras Tour, Taylor asked fans to go on a ‘journey spanning 17 years’ — a reminder that she is now firmly a legacy artist.

Eminem’s daughter is expecting her first child View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hailie Jade (@hailiejade)

Brace yourself, when Eminem, 52, first appeared in the spotlight, he often rapped about being a dad to his daughter Hailie Jade.

In 2012, he became locked in an infamous diss track battle with Machine Gun Kelly after the Emo Girl singer sent a vulgar tweet about a then-underage Hailie.

This beef continued across the next six years, cementing Marshall’s daughter as perpetual teenage in the minds of many fans.

However, Hailie was born on December 25, 1995, and just before she celebrated her 29th birthday, the influencer announced she is expecting her first child.

Also, in case this didn’t make you feel old enough Eminem’s iconic The Slim Shady LP has turned 26 this year and that wasn’t even his debut album.

Friday is older than Rebecca Black was when she released it

We apologise in advance for this song becoming stuck in your head but Rebecca Black’s (iconic) Friday is now older than she was at time of release.

14 years ago, the catchy but critically panned track first hit our ears and became something of a cultural phenomenon.

That isn’t necessarily a good thing as the music video is one of the most disliked YouTube videos of all time and has been parodied to the extreme.

Rebecca, 27, was only 13 when the song dropped and lead to heavy ridicule and tanked her music career for years.

She has since made a comeback after gaining popularity on TikTok, releasing new songs and doing DJ sets across the world.

‘I will stop playing Friday when my therapy bills are recouped,’ Rebecca once tweeted of the track.

Well, we feel absolutely ancient.

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