Amusing Anachronistic Bits of Culture

Cafe Society
1

I’ve been playing Fallout 4 recently, and one of the songs on the soundtrack is “Atom Bomb”, a catchy little tune comparing a hot chick to a nuclear weapon. I like it because I have a dark sense of humor, but I can’t imagine a jaunty tune openly about nuclear weapons being a hit in my lifetime. Sure, “99 luftballoons” was a big hit in the 80s, but it hides it’s subject matter (especially playing the German version in the US) and it’s actually more of a protest song. Other examples that I could think of either portray them in a negative light or are from obscure punk/metal/etc. bands that aren’t coming anywhere near being a ‘hit song’. Here’s a link to the song: Five Stars - Atom Bomb Baby - YouTube

What other weird songs/shows/books/etc. that sound really off now but were considered mainstream in their time have you encountered?

2

Run For Your Life-The Beatles

:eek:

3

Wishin’ and Hopin’ doesn’t exactly mesh with today’s more feminist sensibilities

“Show him that you care just for him
Do the things he likes to do
Wear your hair just for him, ‘cause
You won’t get him
Thinkin’ and a-prayin’
Wishin’ and hopin’”

Also, I believe the term ‘gypsy’ has been deemed derogatory since Cher sang about them,no?

4

Flanders and Swan’s “Madeira, My Dear” is not as funny as it once was.

5

Songs that are about the use of now-outdated technology are appropriate for this thread, I take it? If so then Party Line by the Kinks is a good example. You’d have to have grown up no later than the '70s to be likely to know what a party line was.

6

Butcher Pete from Fallout 4 and 3 is… interesting.

The Buoys - Timothy

7

Operator-Jom Croce

8

Billie Holliday, Ain’t Nobody’s Business if I Do

9

My wife always mutters about this song, not exacty full of female impowerment:

I will Follow Him, Little Peggy March:

10

Even more recently, the Cardigans recorded “Wishin’ & Hopin’”'s little sister, "Lovefool, " in 1996:

11

Any of these other Conalrad Radio songs from Fallout work.

12

I forgot the link…:confused:

CONELRAD 640-1240 - Civil Defense Radio at Fallout New Vegas - mods and community?

13

I Melt With You

14

Joe Tex’s I Gotcha sounds exactly like date rape to me now 40 odd years later.

15

I never never knew it was about Nuclear war. I had always assumed it was the high temps on the facing side of a tidally-locked planet.

Ok I didn’t really think that, but the lyrics “I’ll stop the world and melt with you” did make the thought occur to me with a giggle back then.

16

Well, I liked that one a lot, and now I have a new comedy team to check out, even though they’re quite obviously from the past. I had never heard of these guys before. Thanks RealityChuck!

17

And Sheryl Crow

Lie to me, I promise I’ll believe
Lie to me, but please don’t leave
“I Don’t Like Mondays” by Boomtown Rats was kind of a catchy tune about an active shooter.

18

I had never sat through “Having My Baby” long enough to hear this reference to abortion

Didn’t have to keep it
Wouldn’t put you through it
You could have swept it from your life
But you wouldn’t do it, no, you wouldn’t do it

19

Not amusing, but probably the all-time, drop-the-mic, make-you-most uncomfortable song is “He Hit Me (And It Felt Like a Kiss)” by the Crystals, under the direction of Phil Spector.

He hit me and it felt like a kiss
He hit me but it didn’t hurt me
He couldn’t stand to hear me say
That I’d been with someone new
And when I told him I had been untrue

He hit me (da-da-da-ah) and it felt like a kiss (felt like a kiss)
He hit me (da-da-da-ah) and I knew he loved me
If he didn’t care for me,
I could have never made him mad
But he hit me (da-da-da-ah) and I was glad

(Da-da-da-ah)
(Da-da-da-ah)

Yes, he hit me (da-da-da-ah) and it felt like a kiss (felt like a kiss)
He hit me (da-da-da-ah) and I knew I loved him
And then, he took me in his arms
With all the tenderness there is
And when he kissed me (da-da-da-ah), he made me his
(Da-da-da)

20

“Brick” by Ben Folds Five?