Here’s a Smithereens video from 1988 (good song):
This could conceivably be by Hipsters (music and clothing styles) from the present day (although I think this band was ahead of its time).I think Soundgarden music from the 90s to still sound “modern.”
The politics of 2014 are essentially a Flanderized version of the politics of 1994.
I made the point in the last couple threads like this, and I’ll make it again. Our perception is biased because we currently live in 2014 and not in 1994 or 1974.
Take the question to the extreme. Does 1984 have more in common with 2014 or 1954 (note: this is basically the “Back to the Future” situation)?
Does 1974 have more in common with 2014 or 1934?
Does 1914 have more in common with 2014 than with 1814?
Does 1014 have more in common with 2014 than with 14?
With years we have direct or near direct experience, we see the similarities. Once we get far back enough in the past, we no longer expect to see similarities and are forced to see the differences.
There were car phones as far back as the 50s, though. I think going from nobody having a cell phone to a few snobby yuppies having some is a smaller change than going from said yuppies to literally everyone always being on their phone. But I guess it’s subjective.
Probably a bit more like 2014.
More like 1934.
More like 2014, but totally unlike either.
Definitely more like 14 AD.
Personally, I’d disagree. At the very least, the music, clothing, and technology is more like today than 1934. And that seems to be 80% of what’s been used to judge in the thread.
Seriously? Politically, 1014 is a lot more like today than 14 AD what with all sorts of interesting chicanery in Europe. There were Christian/Muslim conflicts in several places. Artistically, painting, sculpture, and music were more similar to today than 14 AD. Science and math were more similar to today.
This is kind of the point I was making. All these estimates are nearly entirely subjective and based largely on being young-ish in the current day. Somebody from 1914 would see anything past WWII as all being similar and being futuristic. Likewise, anybody from 914 would see everything from the 20th century as being similar and futuristic.
The reason I’d say 1014 is more like 14 than like today is because there was no antibiotics, global communications, people still lived a mean of about 25 years, the hemispheres still had (almost) no contact with each other, and in just about every way in general human existence was still little beyond what it was in ancient times. In terms of the elite and knowledge though you could make a case it’s closer to today yes.
I think the interesting thing about these comparisons is there really is no single correct answer. 
I’m just going to stick with the music category. 1994 is definitely more similar to 2014 in our perception of music.
In '74, music was mainly distributed as LPs with big albums. Without internet access, the album cover was pretty much the only visual link to the artist, aside from the occasional article in *People *magazine. With a larger canvas, album covers were a lot more imaginative and immersive. Album covers could make you feel like you were in a different world while listening to the contents. You also had more of a feel for what the artists were capable of doing, as credits listed their roles and instrumental equipage in making the album.
In '94, CD covers were a fraction of the size, so there wasn’t much more room for anything besides artist name and picture. Plus, you didn’t have to be so careful in treatment of CDs like you did for LPs. Your personal interaction with the artist and the medium was significantly reduced, and thus so was your devotion.
Nowadays, you don’t need CDs at all. The interaction with the music medium itself is down to point-and-click. You can find info about the artist through the internet, but you don’t enter the world of their album the way you used to. /sigh
I will dissent. I think 1994 was closer to 1974 than today. Outside of the immediacy of pop culture, both were dominated by the Baby Boomers and the Cold War. In 1994, interracial dating was still controversial; referring to your same-sex partner at work was “flaunting it” and unprofessional at best; pot legalization was a fringe view, date rape and queer bashing were bad-but-understandable-if. Vegetarianism was the only non-religious dietary restriction you ever saw, and it was rare. Ready access to cell phones and social networking --not to mention the internet and a wider array of cable channels–has totally changed the way people interact with each other, how they identify themselves, how they schedule their time.
I think a person from today suddenly transported to 1994 would feel a lot more like a fish out of water than a person from 1994 transported to 1974.
In Europe, at any rate, 14 AD was the Roman golden age, the age of Augustus. 1014 was basically the late dark ages, politically fragmented and full of local armed conflict, lawlessness, extreme poverty, and very little in the way of literacy and learning. “In terms of the elite and knowledge” (inasmuch as I can make any sense of that phrase), and in terms of politics (living in a wealthy and relatively benign super-state that nevertheless allows very little in the way of political power of autonomy for most individuals) 14 was more like today that 1014 was like either.
Wow…I’m so depressed now. 1974 seems so far away now 
In this context, I heartily agree, 1994 is closer to 2014.
But even in most technology, it’s still 1994.
In 1974 I could not imagine I would ever want or have a computer. By 1994, I had owned a computer for 12 years, had used email (bitnet) for 10 and used archie regularly for finding useful stuff. Of course, I used dialup and had not ever surfed the web, although I did frequent a couple of bulletin boards. I helped found an online journal about then. That journal is now doing very well. In 1974, getting a paper typed was a constant battle with the office typists; by 1994 I was already an experienced latex user and still am. In 1974, I enjoyed at least some popular music (Beatles, Stevie Wonder). By 1994, I could not abide any pops and still cannot. In 1974, I had a 14" B&W TV and no cable. By 1994, I had a 20" color TV with a CRT screen and cable. Now I have a 26" LED TV and still use cable. I had no cell phone in 1994 and have one now that I rarely use. For me, there was a bigger change from 1974 to 1994 than from 1994 to 2014.
Sorry for changing the thread, but I once remarked that there was a much bigger change from 1900 to 1950 than from 1950 to 2000, at least in homes. If you looked around my house in 2000, there wasn’t much that would have been totally astonishing to someone in 1950. A bigger, more colorful TV, but a TV is a TV. We nearly all had telephones, refrigerators, and cars in 1950. We had a improved all three, but only the telephone was even around in 1900 and only about 1% of US households had one. In 1950, automatic washing machines, TVs, dishwashers were on the horizon. They would have been unimaginable in 1900. They would have been comprehensible in 1950. The computer in my LR is the only thing in my house that would be incomprehensible to someone from 1950. Then there are things like indoor toilets, hot running water, central heating, and, above all, electric power. All on the way, but common in 1900 and well nigh ubiquitous by 1950.
Not really, in both AD 14 and 1014, the overwhelming majority of the population in Europe and elsewhere were poor, illiterate farmers.
Do you think in a place like China or India (really anywhere in the 3rd world), the difference between 1950 and 2000 would be a lot more drastic though?
Yep, this is indeed true.
Diesel? Where did you get that from? I was around in 1974 and cars did not use diesel I guranteee that. They used leaded gasoline. Later on Oldsmobile introduced a line of diesel cars but it was after 1974 and they were not the majority. The majority of cars used leaded gasoline in 1974.
As pointed out two posts later.
1994 is much closer to 2014.
I mean really-in 1974 computers were confined to their own room, the concept of the internet hadn’t been implemented at all, a 1974 car seems closer to a Model-T than to a 1994 model, the US was just beginning to get over the Vietnam war, inflation was 11.3% vs 2.6% in 1994, the list goes on.
1994 was much closer to 1974. Yes, the internet and cell phones existed in 1994, but they were oddities, accessed only by a small number of people, and had yet to change the world.
The internet/digital revolution had barely begun in 1994; most of us were living the same sort of life we were in 1974. We were connected to each other via telephone and the yellow pages. We made plans before we went out, because you couldn’t get in touch with someone if they weren’t at home or at work.
Frankly, I think the world now compared to 1994 is pretty alien in many respects. The fall of the Soviet Union is a major difference between 74/94, but I don’t think that holds a candle to the universal technological changes that happened in the last twenty years.
Really? I don’t see 1974 and 1994 cars as being all that different at all. I’d say the difference between a 1994 car and a 2014 car is more vast.