Top 50 Pop Culture List (Final Ten)

Today I reveal the final ten items of my Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years list. But before I give the top of the top, let’s review the list thus far:

Top 50 Pop Culture List (20-11)

The first thirty items of my Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years list have been revealed. Today I will divulge the next ten items. Again, I have to mention how fascinating and peculiar this project became, as I had to decide how to lump and split so many things and further how to rank them. Was the Pet Rock more popular than the Magic Eightball? How do Rickie Tickie Stickers compare to Big Hair of the 80s? Was the Slacker Movement more influential than Tupperware Parties?

Top 50 Pop Culture List (35-21)

Today I continue with the list of the Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years. Of course, I will impose a bit of trivia first that I gained while researching this project. The average cost for a domestic car in 1970 was $3,700; in 1980 was $7,600; in 1990 was $14,500; and in the year 2000 it was $18,700.
 

As Casey Kasem used to say: “And now on with the countdown…”

Top 50 Pop Culture List

Here begins my list of my personal ranking of the Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years. It was a fascinating processing gathering ideas, grouping them, splitting them and finally ranking them. And I uncovered some interesting details about the past fifty years as well. What started as a personal project for fun became a real education.

Pop Culture Top 50 – The Preface

What started as a fun mini-project has quickly become work. I have come across some fascinating research and found a ton of nostalgic websites and wikis. But with so much information, I’ve started to have difficulty even defining how to score my list. After all, what is pop culture? What’s just a fad? Can something be both?

Mini Project

And you can help. The last two months or so of my life, while still being wonderful, have been filled with their fair share of stress…and more. I lost my job and went through a failed IVF cycle with my wife. Between hormone shots, filing for unemployment insurance and interviewing for new positions, things have been a bit trying lately. Not to mention, this election year hasn’t made things any less stressful.
 

So, I’ve decided to fight back by doing something fun. And as I said in the opening, you can help. I’m going to compile a list of the Top 50 Pop Culture Items of the Past 50 Years. I’ve often told my daughter it is important to understand what America looked like to the generation before, and now I’m going to compile a list.

Piracy in the Free Market

Anyone remember those Microsoft Windows jokes about if the highway system were like software? “Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car” was one of the listed gripes. The response from sensitive software engineers was something like “A computer is an interactive piece of machinery that evolves; it’s not passive like popping in a movie.”