# Rewrite Pop Culture History **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 12, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727 "2005-08-12T14:27:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![well\_he\_s\_back](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/3ab097/32.png) [@well\_he\_s\_back](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/well_he_s_back)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/1 "2005-08-12T14:27:05Z")
Inspired by the person who frequently posts here and says “There was only one Matrix movie”: "It’s great how the Academy recognized comedy with Johnny Depp’s Oscar for “Pirates” " “James Dean really was a good driver and never had an accident in all his years of making many movies.” “Elvis? Fat?” “I loved the accurate Houses of Healing and Scouring of the Shire in the 4th Lord of the Rings movie” “It’s super how Charles and Camilla married when they were so young and stayed so true to each other” I’ve got more but I want to read your personal wishes/delusions. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/2 "2005-08-12T14:33:30Z")
It’s so great they finally sainted Richard Nixon. They’ve discovered through DNA testing that Strom Thurmond was a descendant of Thomas Jefferson – by way of one of his slaves – thus making the circle unbroken. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/3 "2005-08-12T14:38:28Z")
Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Brian Jones, Eddie Cochran, Buddy Holly, Jim Morrison, Kurt Cobain, John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Bobby Fuller, Sid Vicious, Keith Moon, John Entwhistle, John Bonham, George Harrison, Bon Scott, Lowell George, Gram Parsons, Warren Zevon, Chris Bell, Marc Bolan, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Jeff Buckley, Howie Epstein, D. Boon, Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny Ramone are aging rockers still plying their craft one way or another. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/4 "2005-08-12T14:42:22Z")
I thought it was really brave of Britney and Christina to admit that they really didn’t have what it took to be professional performers after their runs on the Mickey Mouse Show. I hear they’re both very happy as soccer moms now, with the occassional solo in their church choirs. ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/5 "2005-08-12T14:45:39Z")
Did you see the recent article in The New York Times about the retirement of Rear Admiral Robert A. Heinlein? The history of the US Navy would’ve been very different if the lung problems he’d had early in his career had forced him to leave the service. We’ might’ve been drawn into along and bloody war if he hadn’t insisted that there be an early warning defense screen around the base at Pearl Harbor, I wonder what he would’ve done if he’d been forced to resign his commission because of health concerns. ---
**Author:** ![rayh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@rayh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rayh)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/6 "2005-08-12T14:45:55Z")
Isn’t it great how the Pop Idol shows uncover great new talent. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/7 "2005-08-12T14:50:40Z")
It’s kind of deplorable how Rick Berman and Brannon Braga have been dragging reality TV to new lows. Oh, well, it would be a lot worse if they got their hands on a genre that wasn’t hopeless crap to begin with. ---
**Author:** ![zamboniracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e9a140/32.png) [@zamboniracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zamboniracer)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/8 "2005-08-12T14:54:45Z")
Richard and Kathy Hilton are pleased to announce that their daughters, Paris and Nikki, joined St. Mary’s Convent and have taken vows of celibacy and poverty. ---
**Author:** ![Scott\_Plaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Scott\_Plaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scott_Plaid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/9 "2005-08-12T15:07:39Z")
You know, I am so glad that Doctor Who is still on the air. It is really good TV. [sub]Oh, wait a minute…[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/10 "2005-08-12T16:17:36Z")
Talk about Dynasties! The Washington Redskins are going to be contenters for their 5th consecutive Super Bowl this year. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/11 "2005-08-12T16:48:00Z")
After decades as the doormat of the American League, the New York Yankees finally admitted that the organization didn’t have the bankroll or the fan base necessary to stay in the Major Leagues. The team is moving to Keokuk, Iowa, where they will join the Brewer’s Farm system as a Class A team. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/12 "2005-08-12T16:48:40Z")
Liverpool Intelligencer and Times-Picayune June 23, 1958 Two Area Lads Killed in Lorry Crash Area youngsters John Lennon and Paul McCartney were both tragically killed yesterday morning when the car they were travelling in was struck by a lorry outside of Liverpool. Funeral arrangements were incomplete at press time. ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/13 "2005-08-12T16:49:49Z")
And that is certainly not my wish, but would have changed pop culture. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/14 "2005-08-12T18:38:00Z")
Thomas Alva Edison, while experimenting with all sorts of gadgets to record sound, display moving pictures, and do away with the obvious advantages of oil lamps, decided that none of these gizmos had any viable future and returned to finding ways to make hamburgers fattier and more cholesterol intense, thus cutting back on the indecent old age factor creeping into medical history. He also dabbled in some early efforts to produce locomotion devices that others like Olds and the Wright Brothers were tampering with, but managed to convince these people that such folly was sinful and persuaded them instead to improve on horse feed. This led to a maintenance of the lifestyle of the Nineteenth Century lasting another two hundred years. ---
**Author:** ![Murcielago](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@Murcielago](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Murcielago)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/15 "2005-08-12T19:05:37Z")
In the 1930’s, musicians were experimenting with ways to amplify guitar sound in order to perform before larger audiences. One such “electric guitar”, a little round model, was known as “Rickenbacker’s Frying Pan.” The idea never took hold of the public, but it was the first step toward the development of the electric zither, a dominant instrument in the pop music scene since the 1950s. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/16 "2005-08-12T19:17:00Z")
**The Washington Post, August 12, 1926** David Sarnoff, president of the Radio Corporation of America, addressed the Department of Commerce yesterday on the topic of “Taming the Wild Horses of Broadcasting.” Radio has grown so fast without adequate regulation, said the electrics magnate, that the nation is ill served by the tangle of interlocking wavelengths and stations. In addition, he said, “few of radio’s offerings educate or inform the public.” His proposal that the Government form a “National Broadcasting Company,” along the lines adopted by the British Government three years ago, is being studied seriously by Secretary Hoover and the Department, with Congressional hearings likely to follow soon. ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/17 "2005-08-12T19:30:17Z")
“While it’s amazing that Pixar’s animated movies have won ‘Best animated feature’ every year they’re up for the award, I’m still boggled by the fact that _The Incredibles_ won ‘Best Picture.’” ---
**Author:** ![marque\_elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/71c47a/32.png) [@marque\_elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/marque_elf)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/18 "2005-08-12T19:46:46Z")
Olmpic decathlete Jackie Robinson was killed today in an auto accident in Los Angeles this morning. He was hit while crossing a street near the UCLA campus by a car who’s brakes had failed. He was pronounced dead at the scene. ---
**Author:** ![betenoir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@betenoir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/betenoir)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/19 "2005-08-12T20:03:08Z")
"Pop star Charles Manson is currently facing charges for public lewdness and creating a disturbance. As is well known, his career has been a rocky one since his early sucess on the Beach Boys’ label. However many of his most dedicated fans (or as they are often know as, his “Family”) will be protesting outside the courthouse and petitioning for his release. In related legal news, John Lennon may be facing deportation once again, which authorities say is in no way related to his vocal opposition to the Iraqi war. On a happier note, John Simon Ritchie will celebrate his 48th birthday with the opening of a choral song cycle at the Lincoln Center." ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2005, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727/20 "2005-08-12T20:08:57Z")
I addition to an extensive series of paintings by one-time government official Winston Churchill, President Red Skelton also has a large collection of sketches by obscure German/Austran artist Adolph Hitler. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rewrite-pop-culture-history/316727.md?page=2)