# Enlighten us! Most important popular culture event the last 200 years
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [December 28, 2006, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810 "2006-12-28T00:01:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/21 "2006-12-29T16:38:02Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan]
but to her \*\*Anthony Edwards \*\* is as big a star. And she wouldn’t know about Bradgelina, even if they showed up and started slapping her with dead ferrets.
[/QUOTE]
hrmf.
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### Author:  [@Smooth\_Jack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smooth_Jack)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2006, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/22 "2006-12-29T16:51:02Z")
Since we can go back 200 years, shouldn’t Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 start the list?
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### Author:  [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2006, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/23 "2006-12-29T20:19:45Z")
I’ve heard that Shirley Temple movies gave people something to live for during the Depression.
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2006, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/24 "2006-12-29T21:10:51Z")
I remember the first time there was a live worldwide linkup of national T.V. stations around the globe where each country staged an event in turn.
As I recall the British segment had “The Beatles” singing "Love,Love,Love "on top of a rooftop.
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### Author:  [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)
#### Post date: [December 29, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/25 "2006-12-29T21:26:32Z")
Musically, Beethoven’s 3rd and 9th symphonies are landmarks.
However, there’s Lizstomania. It spread quickly all over Europe in 1824. Liszt was arguably the first superstar. Women screamed at his performances and “fought over his handkerchiefs and green silk gloves as souvenirs, which they often ripped to pieces in their struggle.” [Franz Liszt - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franz_Liszt)
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### Author:  [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/26 "2006-12-30T00:06:14Z")
Howard Stern’s move to satellite radio.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/27 "2006-12-30T00:33:59Z")
[QUOTE=Ethilrist]
The most important popular culture event, to me, would be the first person to become a global star due to music or movies. Not sure who that would be
[/QUOTE]
Probably [Enrico Caruso](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enrico_Caruso) and Charlie Chaplin, respectively.
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### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/28 "2006-12-30T00:49:01Z")
[QUOTE=Lust4Life]
I remember the first time there was a live worldwide linkup of national T.V. stations around the globe where each country staged an event in turn.
As I recall the British segment had “The Beatles” singing "Love,Love,Love "on top of a rooftop.
[/QUOTE]
The Beatles performed “[All You Need Is Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-6zix0YNg)” (in a studio, not on a rooftop) in the British segment of the first worldwide satellite television program. It was broadcast to 26 countries on 25 June 1967.
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### Author:  [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/29 "2006-12-30T01:44:01Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
The Beatles performed “[All You Need Is Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-6zix0YNg)” (in a studio, not on a rooftop)
[/QUOTE]
You’re probably confusing it with one of the Beatles’s last public performances together, singing from the rooftop of the Apple recording studio in 1969.
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### Author:  [@Cheesesteak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheesesteak)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/30 "2006-12-30T02:10:26Z")
Prior to radio and TV, I’d say the biggest cultural events you’ll find are the various World’s Fairs. If I had to pick one, I’d go with 1893 Chicago. Millions of visitors. Historical displays. Displays of future technology. Displays of worldwide culture. Those fairs had an impact on the world.
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/31 "2006-12-30T02:14:29Z")
Cecil Adams launches _The Straight Dope_.
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### Author:  [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/32 "2006-12-30T02:56:32Z")
Clearly it was Britney Spears and Keven Federline. Nothing else comes close.
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### Author:  [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/33 "2006-12-30T06:29:24Z")
[QUOTE=Walloon]
The Beatles performed “[All You Need Is Love](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef-6zix0YNg)” (in a studio, not on a rooftop) in the British segment of the first worldwide satellite television program. It was broadcast to 26 countries on 25 June 1967.
[/QUOTE]
Thanks for clearing the mists of time for me !but Inow feel incredibly ancient. 🙂
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/34 "2006-12-30T14:41:46Z")
[QUOTE=Lumpy]
The last **two** hundred years? 1807 to present? Since the first hundred years predates movies and radio, it would have to focus on print, opera and theatre. Sadly, I couldn’t tell you what was “hot” in say, 1867.
[/QUOTE]
Jenny Lind, baby! Hubba-hubba!
😉
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### Author:  [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/35 "2006-12-30T15:18:02Z")
George DuMarier’s book _Trilby_. Trilby was mass-marketed–there were trilby hams, trilby china, trilby soap, and trilby hats. AFAIK, it was the first time a piece of literature was hammered down the public’s throat on such a large scale, and provided an excellent promotion model for the film industry when it got started some 20-30 years later. Disney sure knows how to crank out movie tie-in junk… and they learned how from Trilby.
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### Author:  [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/36 "2006-12-30T15:24:44Z")
Well, in terms of having far-reaching cultural effects, it’s hard to beat the American Civil War.
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### Author:  [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/37 "2006-12-30T15:31:11Z")
The accession in 1940 of [James C. Petrillo](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Petrillo) to the presidency of the American Federation of Musicians.
His most significant achievements:
1. Through stronger bargaining on behalf of his members, he helped break the stranglehold on popular music held by radio, records, movies, and large, live, dance-oriented orchestras. This cleared the way for lower-cost, more accessible music like rock & roll and youth-oriented deejay shows.
2. By allowing musicians to work live on the infant commercial TV (they had been banned from doing so until 1948), he indirectly gave the green light for that medium to become a commercial success.
Ironically, Petrillo’s years improved conditions for a small fraternity of music professionals, while greatly diminishing the amount and importance of live music in American culture.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/38 "2006-12-30T18:00:50Z")
I’ll venture the [Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Exhibition).
Of particular note:
> [@Wikipedia](#):
>
> Six million people - equivalent to a third of the entire population of Great Britain - visited the Exhibition
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/39 "2006-12-30T18:07:25Z")
[QUOTE=Clothahump]
Well, in terms of having far-reaching cultural effects, it’s hard to beat the American Civil War.
[/QUOTE]
Umm… what about WW1, WW2, and the Russian Revolution? And the Napoleonic Wars sealed British dominance of the oceans for over a century, leading to an explosion of trade under the safety of the Pax Britannica.
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### Author:  [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)
#### Post date: [December 30, 2006, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/enlighten-us-most-important-popular-culture-event-the-last-200-years/385810/40 "2006-12-30T18:17:02Z")
For the art world at least, the 1913 Armory Show in NYC.
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