Flushed Away From Memory
We are back in our favorite year, 1999! The boys breakdown Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace and try to make sense out of all of the hate. Was Jar Jar a racist character? Did young Anakin suck? All will be revealed on this week’s Culture Dump.
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Parks takes the reigns with his special guest and friend Max. We dive deep into the XFL, a professional football league with huge ambition and a colossal ratings failure on national TV. The lovechild of WWE executive Vince McMahon and NBC sports titan Dick Ebersol, the XFL had serious potential to rival the NFL. But it appear that when you want to broadcast a professional football league on network TV, you need a plan!
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The 2003 television special “Living With Michael Jackson” promised to deliver an inside look at the life of the world’s most famous person. Not only was the special completely bonkers but it also led to the second child abuse scandal for the singer and unveiled some of the star’s darkest secrets. Warning! This episode contains some greasy stuff. YOO HOO!
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Competitive eating is one of the most bizarre and challenging sports in the world. The sheer amount of food consumed professional competitive eaters is mind boggling, but one man made it look like an afternoon snack. Takeru Kobayashi is the Michael Jordan of competitive eating and in the early 2000’s he captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, as with many professional athletes, he fell victim to an unfair contract that ultimately led to his retirement from Major League Eating. This is a real HOT DOG of an episode!
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All Star by Smash Mouth was always too easy of a dump, too low hanging of a dump, but with the news of Smash Mouth lead singer Steven Harwell’s retirement flooding the airwaves we decided to dissect what might possibly be the most perfect song ever written. This is a feel good dump, mostly. We talk Shrek, neurological disorders, and bread throwing.
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We have arrived at the scandalous and shocking conclusion of our Dumps of Love series. In part 2, we tackle the Rock of Love branch of this reality tv sensation. Basically a rock n roll (aka whiter) version of Flavor of Love, this show took rocker clichés to unprecedented absurdity. Leather, leopard print and stripper poles helped introduce Bret Michaels (of Poison infamy) as a bonafide reality tv star . However, as these spin offs continued to rule VH1’s programming, a dark turn would bring this dump to an abrupt halt. The spin off Megan wants a Millionaire ended in the death of a contestant and permanently ended the production of these shows. We did not expect for true crime to enter the picture, but that is exactly why we love Culture Dumps.
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We have reached 50 episodes! For our one year anniversary special we are bringing you a juicy two part dump. The “Of Love” series of reality shows on VH1 shaped the landscape of reality television the early 2000s. These shows were inspired by the success of the “Bachelor” franchise, but took the drama to unprecedented heights. Add in excessive alcohol consumption and you have the perfect train wreck. Some felt this was the best entertainment TV had to offer; while critics saw it as an morally bankrupt sign of society’s demise. There are so many shows to cover so we have broken them down into two branches. This week we cover the show that started it all: Flavor of Love
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Pogs were an absolute sensation in the early 1990’s, but why? The Culture Dumps team examines the cardboard discs and their popularity and discover that POGS were kind of bullshit.
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The Grammy Awards have often dealt with a reputation of being out of touch. To some, they represent a huge institution that is always years behind the trends. The 1988 Grammys featured several new categories to keep up with the turning tide of music. The category “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental” made its debut that year. Metallica was heavily favored to win with their groundbreaking album …And Justice For All. Metallica was arguably the most popular metal band of the late 80s. However, in a complete upset, the winner went to Jethro Tull. Known for their early 70s song “Aqualung,” Tull was not exactly known as an 80s chart topper. This is one of the most controversial moments in Grammy history.
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From 2000 to 2003 it was impossible to avoid seeing a commercial for Dell Computers. The tech market was booming and Dell had a killer spokesperson, Steve. Steve was a stonerish teen who pleaded with parents to get him and his friends a Dell. Well, this episode we got Steve. Ben Curtis played the character and lost the gig over a bullshit scandal. Fascinating stuff with a positive outcome. Dude! You’re getting a Dell!
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