hrmf.
Since we can go back 200 years, shouldn’t Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 start the list?
I’ve heard that Shirley Temple movies gave people something to live for during the Depression.
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.
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
Howard Stern’s move to satellite radio.
Probably Enrico Caruso and Charlie Chaplin, respectively.
The Beatles performed “All You Need Is Love” (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.
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.
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.
Cecil Adams launches The Straight Dope.
Clearly it was Britney Spears and Keven Federline. Nothing else comes close.
Thanks for clearing the mists of time for me !but Inow feel incredibly ancient. 
Jenny Lind, baby! Hubba-hubba!
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.
Well, in terms of having far-reaching cultural effects, it’s hard to beat the American Civil War.
The accession in 1940 of James C. Petrillo to the presidency of the American Federation of Musicians.
His most significant achievements:
- 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.
- 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.
I’ll venture the Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace.
Of particular note:
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.
For the art world at least, the 1913 Armory Show in NYC.