Flushed Away From Memory
We go back to the ballpark this week with Ten Cent Beer Night! One of the wildest nights in baseball and sports history in general. What could go wrong giving thousands of heated baseball fans unlimited ten cent beers during a grudge match? Well, a riot for one. Also stick around for the end to hear a drunk Eddie Vedder sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame!”
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The swing revival movement of the 1990’s was one of the biggest alternative movements in pop culture history. Big bands, gin, dancing, fedoras, and pretentious older punk rockers, it had it all! We dive into what Swing was and what it became, get your truckin’ shoes on and get ready to go back in time to the 1940s, in the 1990s, we guess. This is also one of the most fan-requested dump topics.
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The Culture Dumps crew tackles our first book, Go Ask Alice. “Alice” is the supposedly real diary of a teenage girl lost in a downward spiral of drug addiction. The book was a huge success upon its release in the 1970’s; at a time when drug use and experimentation was peaking. The harrowing details from an “anonymous” author capitalized on the fear that these tragic circumstances could happen to any average American. The book remained popular among teenagers for many generations, as the controversial contents of the book guaranteed its “banned” book status. However, this was also at a time when people were more willing to take things at face value. Culture Dumps peaks behind the curtain of Alice, and finds that the whole story was a bunch of baloney!
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Ryan and Andy dissect one of the most notorious menu items in fast food history. The mad scientists of KFC pushed the limits of fast food excess, laughing in the face of anyone attempting to be conscientious of their health. The lesson to be learned from this? If you are met with opposition in your life, double down and do your own damn thing.
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As the year 2000 approached, the world was in a panic. It was believed that the computer systems that were heavily relied upon for almost all basic functions of modern society would seize to exist. Planes would fall from the sky, banks would lose all their money, nuclear reactors would fail. Well, that didn’t happen. Guess it’s good thing canned foods last a long time, because people had tons of it in their at home bunkers.
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If you lived in the suburbs in 2001 chances are you owned or wanted a pair of Osiris D3’s. The most infamous skate shoe of all time was not so well known for its design or usefulness in the world’s most popular extreme sport, it was well known for being the biggest most god awful shoe the booming skate apparel market had ever seen. But, as with all our dumps, there is much more to the story. Ryan is joined this week by Hardtimes co-founder Bill Conway to discuss.
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Janet Jackson was one of the biggest stars on the planet in 2004. She was also booked to perform at the biggest annual televised event America has to offer. Millions upon millions of album sales and her established reputation of being an icon were not enough to protect her from public scrutiny after the most notorious “wardrobe malfunction” of all time. This is Nipplegate!
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The success story of Scatman John is truly an anomaly. A struggling jazz singer records a novelty dance song centered around an incredibly polarizing style of vocalization. Suddenly in his 50s, the Scatman finds himself an international superstar. While technically a one hit wonder, John’s positive outlook makes his road to stardom truly unique. Ski-Ba-Bop-Ba-Dop-Bop!
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The world’s biggest metal band is hardly a Culture Dump, but their 2002 documentary “Some Kind of Monster” and the album that followed “St. Anger” are definitely Culture Dumps. A high paid therapist, aging rock stars, a massive societal shift in how music is consumed, what could go wrong???
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Live television is risky, especially when gangsters are involved. In 1986 Geraldo Rivera entered the basement of a run down Chicago hotel in hopes of discovering lost treasures of the golden age of gangsters. What he found was a successful career and the biggest joke in live television history. Spoiler alert, THERE WAS NOTHING THERE!
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