I think filters came first. Both filtering amongst ISPs (quickly adopted) and for end-users (perhaps earlier, I'm not sure, but more slowly adopted).
Then followed the drop.
Of course, much of this drop is due to spammers finding targets other than e-mail. Web forums of various kinds ... even wikis ... and recently Facebook, Twitter, G+ ...
I think I first received spam and/or attack email back in 1994. By 1997, I had at least four different e-mail accounts, about as many aliases, and I had left behind at least two accounts (moved on).
The only reason I even vaguely remember ILOVEYOU &c was there was talk about them. I didn't read any of them. If there'd been a Gary-mail, I'm sure it would have been a notorious subject – even without the spreading to offline machines. The contents would not even matter: Any geek would remember the event.