I'm biased towards noticing it
- I was there … old enough to do what I liked, young enough to do it — it was going to have a major impact on me
- I went on to become a DJ — music’s my thing
… but, nevertheless, if you look back at how people remember the Zeitgeist of an era, they always seem to do so in terms of politics (Suffragettes, WWII, Viet Nam, Civil Rights) or music (Swing, Jazz, Rock ’n’ Roll, hippies+Prog Rock. Punk, Metal, Hiphop, Rave); everything else always seems to be described in terms of the political or musical culture (and associated fashion) — you can’t even watch documentary footage of Viet Nam, without a soundtrack by The Doors plastered over it
I should make honorable mention of Industrial and Grunge too. The former had a less widely known but still not insignificant impact on both sides of the pond ¹ and the latter a seriously significant impact on mainstream culture — for me, the early ’90s were (consistent with the Zeitgeist) a musical mashup: Industrial in my personal sphere, Rave everywhere and anyone who wasn’t into either of those was listening to Grunge on the radio (even I recognise Nirvana, when I hear it).
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¹ At the time, if you were in a record shop, looking for Sheep On Drugs, for instance … if they weren’t categorised as ‘Dance Music’, you’d find it under ‘Industrial’.
