# "History Rocks" **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 27, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641 "2007-06-27T15:18:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/1 "2007-06-27T15:18:04Z")
Has anyone watched this program on the History Channel? It’s basically regular HC-type tripe, except dumbed down even more, which I didn’t think was possible. It consists of 5 minute programs of file footage and title bars set to classic rock music. I suppose that the modern television audience just cannot follow a regular 23-minute program with continuous narration. Shit, people, if you can’t follow along on the regular Hitler Channel crap, you should probably just go to the nearest Safeway and get a job pushing shopping carts from one side of the parking lot to the other. I like to pretend that the country is NOT steadily slipping towards the situation in the movie “Idiocracy”, but things like this make it harder to maintain the illusion. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/2 "2007-06-27T15:25:30Z")
Well, sure, but I really loved the bit about how the Vikings colonized new lands, with kittens playing the Vikings, all set to Led Zeppelin’s “The Immigrant Song”. Oh, wait, that was Joel Veitch on [rathergood.com](http://rathergood.com)\*, never mind. - - He actually had to take down the video because Zeppelin complained about it, damn it. But you can still find it if you google for it. ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/3 "2007-06-27T17:12:09Z")
If you’re talking about the thing I’ve seen that Meat Loaf hosts, I couldn’t disagree more, and your characterization is completely misrepresentative. Compared to perhaps other formats and discussions of the various topics, what I saw wasn’t especially comprehensive, but it did cover the topics in an interesting and informative way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Hildo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/bbce88/32.png) [@Johnny\_Hildo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Hildo)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2007, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/4 "2007-06-27T20:22:46Z")
[QUOTE=CynicalGabe] Has anyone watched this program on the History Channel? It’s basically regular HC-type tripe, except dumbed down even more, which I didn’t think was possible. It consists of 5 minute programs of file footage and title bars set to classic rock music. [/QUOTE] Hmm, an “educational” show full of shitty, barely-relevant stock footage? [Sounds vaguely familiar.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0398574/) ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Don\_t\_Call\_Me\_Shirley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Call_Me_Shirley)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/5 "2007-06-28T15:03:49Z")
I liked the show. I have a degree in history from a Big Ten school. My wife liked it. She has a master’s degree. I feel that we are both overqualified for the position of pushing shopping carts around a Safeway parking lot. Perhaps only stupid people dislike the show. Or, perhaps different people have different tastes, and smart people as well as dumb people can like and dislike different shows without it saying anything about their intelligence level. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/6 "2007-06-28T15:37:51Z")
[QUOTE=Don’t Call Me Shirley] Or, perhaps different people have different tastes, and smart people as well as dumb people can like and dislike different shows without it saying anything about their intelligence level. [/QUOTE] People must not have different tastes! Not in America! 🙂 Anyway, at least someone liked it. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/7 "2007-06-28T19:14:09Z")
I haven’t seen the show. It doesn’t sound like my cup of tea. But learning _something_ is better than learning _nothing_. And some people who already know quite a bit might find it amusing. It’s only TV. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/8 "2007-06-28T19:32:49Z")
I actually rather enjoyed it. I think that people get turned off of history because it’s not perceived as “fun”, and any effort to make it fun and interesting is a good thing, especially if someone learns something from it. That said, I also like and can pay attention to a full two-hour documentary, particularly if there has been some effort to make it more than talking heads giving sound bites, like your usual HC documentary. Robin ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2007, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/9 "2007-06-28T20:03:59Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] But learning _something_ is better than learning _nothing_. [/QUOTE] I have to disagree with this. Only if what you’re learning is, you know, true. Otherwise, it’s better to learn nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Khan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3ab097/32.png) [@Khan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/10 "2007-06-29T05:53:25Z")
I love how The Hitler Channel had to, just HAD TO\* try to milk the Deadliest Catch cash cow and make a show about crab fi–… er, truckers in the arctic. Good Christ, just keep fondling Nazis, you hacks. It’s what you’re good at. Fuck the History Channel with an unexploded shell from the battle of Stalingrad. "me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too me too ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2007, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/11 "2007-06-29T07:08:33Z")
[QUOTE=Bridget Burke] But learning _something_ is better than learning _nothing_. [/QUOTE] Yes, in the same way that eating Funyuns is better than starving to death. Technically better, but not the best case scenario by far. EDIT: I was saving Ice Road Truckers for a time when I had watched an entire episode, but I don’t think I will ever be able to stomach it. So fuck the HC. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/12 "2007-07-01T16:01:57Z")
I learned all my history from Max, the 2000 year-old mouse. ---
**Author:** ![kung\_fu\_lola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f4b2a3/32.png) [@kung\_fu\_lola](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kung_fu_lola)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/13 "2007-07-01T16:32:52Z")
[_History Bites_](http://www.historybites.com/) is way better. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/14 "2007-07-01T16:43:30Z")
The show isn’t that bad - I knew more about Jim Jones and Guyana after watching than I did before. ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/15 "2007-07-01T16:45:57Z")
Ice Road Truckers is my new favourite thing in the world. Inconveniently, I don’t have a television. I saw the trailer at the cinema and just knew it was love. Fortunately, I have a friend willing to tivo it for me. It’s full of these awesome guys swearing in the most astonishing accents while playing big-dick games about who can haul the most cargo across the frozen waste. If I weren’t a total milquetoast who doesn’t happen to drive, I’d change careers in a heartbeat. Also, it is occasionally informative. There are diagrams. Of course as a non-television-owner, I have no idea if this is a diminishment from the usual high standards of the History Channel or not. All I know is it’s a damn fine piece of entertainment, if you like big sweary blokes and macho posturing. ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/16 "2007-07-03T19:22:51Z")
I think it was some HC show about the 1960s hippie phenomenon that mentioned the Beatles’ having already having begun their drug use during their grueling nightclub gigs in that well known German city of…MUNICH!! Maybe the HC had better just stick to Hitler. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/17 "2007-07-03T19:35:25Z")
Has anyone done a study comparing the total amount of stock footage from WWII to how much of it the History Channel has shown? Any bets on how close to 100% it is? ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/18 "2007-07-03T21:09:59Z")
[QUOTE=Idlewild] Also, it is occasionally informative. There are diagrams. [/QUOTE] This is the (perhaps unintentionally) funniest thing I’ve read all day. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/19 "2007-07-03T22:23:32Z")
[QUOTE=Spectre of Pithecanthropus] I think it was some HC show about the 1960s hippie phenomenon that mentioned the Beatles’ having already having begun their drug use during their grueling nightclub gigs in that well known German city of…MUNICH!! Maybe the HC had better just stick to Hitler. [/QUOTE] So sorry, but I don’t see what’s wrong with that statement. Are you implying that Munich isn’t in Germany? Are you refuting that the Beatles were popping pills while playing grueling nightclub gigs in Germany? I think both are true. ---
**Author:** ![Found\_In\_Translation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ebca7d/32.png) [@Found\_In\_Translation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Found_In_Translation)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2007, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641/20 "2007-07-04T00:21:26Z")
[QUOTE=Atomicktom] So sorry, but I don’t see what’s wrong with that statement. Are you implying that Munich isn’t in Germany? Are you refuting that the Beatles were popping pills while playing grueling nightclub gigs in Germany? I think both are true. [/QUOTE] They played in Hamburg in the early 60s, not in Munich. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/history-rocks/409641.md?page=2)