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Fucked-up pop culture you were exposed to as a young'in

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As mentioned on ILM: It is 1982. I am four years old, going on five. In the morning, I watch Sesame Street. In the afternoon, I ride with my mom in her Chevette for various errands... and she plays cassette tapes of Gary Numan.

On another note, or perhaps along the same path, I was simultaneously enthralled with the Repo Man soundtrack and Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions when I was eight or so.

I occasionally have a difficult time trusting authority figures.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:47 (twenty-one years ago)

boy george was a role model of mine briefly in my youth. draw your own conclusions.

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:50 (twenty-one years ago)

friends of the family gave me edward gorey books when i was 6 or so. i think my dad threw them out.

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:50 (twenty-one years ago)

My mom passed down her Xanth novels to me as a little kid. I think I enjoyed them more before I understand the depressing sex puns.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Warfare.

http://www.bwbmtransformers.com/generations/comics/tfjoe/dreamwave/gallery/posters/2bigger.jpg

― TOMBOT, Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

My grandmother had the entire Mandigo series of novels prominently displayed on her bookshelves. I also got my hands on her copies of VC Andrews novels at age 8.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:57 (twenty-one years ago)

the existence of john holmes

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

The entirety of Mel Brooks' film work.

― hstencil, Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

the transformers teamed up with gi joe?!?!?!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

h to the r to the motherfuckin' pufnstuf
http://home.att.net/~blackcatter/tv/puffjim2.jpg

― Shudders2Think (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:58 (twenty-one years ago)

http://members.aol.com/sgaisford/images/intro_pic.jpg

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Northern Exposure was the only TV I watched for an entire year around the age of 10.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 4 March 2004 05:59 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.lambic.co.uk/tv/nx/images/pilot12.jpg

God I was a fucked up kid.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:01 (twenty-one years ago)

HR Pufnstuf/whatever that British stop-motion thing is = evidence that sometimes stuff meant for kids is more just-plain-wrong than stuff that isn't

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

I did that with Twin Peaks.

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:02 (twenty-one years ago)

seriously, Sid and Marty Krofft did not abide by the Geneva Convention
http://home.earthlink.net/~verylongaddress/unfl/ssmonster.jpg
http://www.70slivekidvid.com/shrink/drhugo1.jpg

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah - Pufnstuf and the rest of the Sid & Marty Krofft --er-- oeuvre were pretty frightening in retrospect.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Aw I loved Sigmund. The rest of the seamonsters can go straight to hell, though. Assholes.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Is that Dr. Shrinker?!

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

zoinks!

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:04 (twenty-one years ago)

things Vonnegut taught me: when it comes down to it, inside we are all an unwavering band of light
things the Kroffts taught me: dune buggies can be MAGIC

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Dr. Shrinker, Dr. Shrinker, he's a madman with an evil mind

― Lil Jon (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I never got fucked and I never got kissed, I got so fuckin' pissed

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:06 (twenty-one years ago)

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/archive/hotfudgesmall.jpg

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:07 (twenty-one years ago)

The Kenny Everett show was a bit risque, on a recent second viewing.

Also, when in primary school we were taught to sing "they're coming to take me away, ho ho hee hee ha ha to the funny farm".

WTF was that supposed to teach us!?

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I was a big fan of "Walk like an Egyptian", anything Michael Jackson, and the Boss. Also Phillip Glass.

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

What in the holy name of Liberace is that thing, Diablo!?

― Trayce (trayce), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:08 (twenty-one years ago)

What about (for those who grew up in the NY Metro area):

Electric Company
Zoom
Magic Garden
Chiller Theatre on Saturday Nights

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah Diablo, that's on some serious Meet the Feebles shit (unless it actually is Meet the Feebles and I just forgot that bit)

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:10 (twenty-one years ago)

The "Hot Fudge" show, a local puppet/children's television show that used to be on when I was a kid. It was just really bizarre.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:12 (twenty-one years ago)

http://lion.ultinet.net/~kfo/bookletnew1.jpg

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:14 (twenty-one years ago)

check out #3, there

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Land of the Lost!

The first time I saw the hedgehog (Ron Jeramy) in action thanks to my Uncle's hidden porn stash. Still realing from that one...

Phoenix Saga in the X-Men comic

― hector (hector), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Gary Gnu and The Great Space Coaster.

http://www.bangitout.com/images/GaryGnu.jpg

― maypang (maypang), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:15 (twenty-one years ago)

OLLIE WANTS YOUR SOUL
OLLIE WILL EAT YOUR SOUL

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:16 (twenty-one years ago)

Gary later went on to shave his head and join Anthrax

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:17 (twenty-one years ago)

"Wax is for ibix / Still we can rock bells" --"Bring the Gnus"

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Watching Monty Python with my mom when I was small probably helped warp me a bit, as did going to pornos at the drive in with my parents. They thought I was sleeping.

― Kenny Blankenship (Bryan), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:22 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.bigreds.com/playhouseDeluxe2.gif

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:24 (twenty-one years ago)

Kenny/Bryan wins.

― miloauckerman (miloauckerman), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:25 (twenty-one years ago)

CHILLLLLLLLLLERRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! (and the hand w/ 6 fingers!)
"pix! pix!! pix!!!"

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:29 (twenty-one years ago)

watching the kung-fu film that became the basis for wu-tang's whole schtick on channel 17's saturday-afternoon kung-fu fest

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:30 (twenty-one years ago)

that Prince guy was kind of weird too

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:30 (twenty-one years ago)

I think I must have been comparatively normal. I mean, I remember seeing Lidsville when I was three, so maybe that counts.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 4 March 2004 06:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Klaus Nomi doing backing vocals for Bowie on SNL; Bowie doing same for Rolling Stones on Emotional Rescue, same show.

My college friend Brooke used to be on Zoom. She is now married to an artist called Evan Parker.

― suzy (suzy), Thursday, 4 March 2004 09:16 (twenty-one years ago)

http://photos.goldmarkart.com/art/28/28_666_m.jpg

― Cathy (Cathy), Thursday, 4 March 2004 10:04 (twenty-one years ago)

That's from the David Hockney illustrated Grimm's Fairy Tales. I had it when I was about seven, I think. I still find it terrifying.

― Cathy (Cathy), Thursday, 4 March 2004 10:06 (twenty-one years ago)

cockfighting!!

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 4 March 2004 11:33 (twenty-one years ago)

That reminds me, seeing Bowie in a skirt on SNL had a big effect on me. I think it had a lot to do with a lot of the things I like musically and aesthetically to this day.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:53 (twenty-one years ago)

seeing some har*cor* Pno*gfy involving sx, bj * wee)

(Is that what they do?)

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Skipping 39 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.
Have you all been to tvparty.com?

Here's a scary one:

http://www.tvparty.com/bgifs3/romperclownsillo.jpg

I actually had this, and I used to scare my sister with it.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.tvparty.com/bgifs3/rompermirror.jpg
creepy

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck E Cheese

― A Nairn (moretap), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:34 (twenty-one years ago)

chicago must've been chock fulla fucked-up pop-culture stuff.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:36 (twenty-one years ago)

*shudder*

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00006JKON.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg

― Pleasant Plains (Pleasant Plains), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh hell yes. We had a ton of weird shit coming out of Chicago. Here is 'the blob'.

http://www.dirtydragon.com/Blob%20smiling.jpg

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:40 (twenty-one years ago)

we got cable at age 6, and i'm pretty sure the Playboy Channel came soon afterwards, before they started scrambling it.

i remember the GI Joe eps where they go to an alternate dimension, and the dude finds his doppelganger's body, or when they defeat the amorphous blob by leading it into an apple orchard cuz apple seeds have cyanide(apparently, they couldn't have just dosed the thing with it).

oh yeah, also "Rock n' Rule"

(p.s. "Body massage! Body Massaaaaaage!")

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:41 (twenty-one years ago)

im pretty sure the movies Dark Crystal and Labrynth fucked with my head as a kid.

― Felonious Drunk (Felcher), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:44 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.stcsig.org/oi/hyperviews/archive/00Winter/001cedg4.gif
did anyone watch this one?

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:46 (twenty-one years ago)

oompa Loompas

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:48 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.findcoolmovies.com/coversus/wizar.jpg

― David Beckhouse (David Beckhouse), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:55 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/carter/gallery/images/09.jpg

― Begs2Differ (Begs2Differ), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:20 (twenty-one years ago)

i dunno if jess or casuistry chris are old enough to remember this guy, but surely rockist scientist (and mr appelstein?) are. this guy was pretty scary as a pre-teen:

http://www.geocities.com/bppioneering/ben1.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/bppioneering/ben2a.jpg

http://www.geocities.com/bppioneering/ben3.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:23 (twenty-one years ago)

and my childhood memories are correct -- maury povich WAS a newscaster in philadelphia before he moved on to bigger things. here he is on KWY w/ gore vidal (circa 1982):

http://www.geocities.com/bppioneering/maury1.jpg

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:25 (twenty-one years ago)

I used to but the 'Lobo' comics when i was 10 and 11.
'Jabberwocky' scared me when i was about 6 or so.

― pete s, Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:28 (twenty-one years ago)

This Is The Thread Where Dan Feels Old.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:33 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah. Northern Exposure? Lobo? Jeesus.

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:40 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd been thinking "the only time I remember watching Northern Exposure, I was having sex, and I wasn't watching Northern Exposure," so feel not alone.

― Tep (ktepi), Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Jokes From the John, Laffs From the John, and another something-or-other from the John hung in my bathroom when I was a little kid. I was telling everyone in my school dirty jokes from age five. Later came my grandfather's copy, passed around the family like a sacred text, of some 200 photocopied-and-stapled-at-the-top-left-corner pages of dirty jokes. I think I was eight then.

― Matos W.K. (M Matos), Thursday, 4 March 2004 23:22 (twenty-one years ago)

This Is The Thread Where Dan Feels Old.
-- Dan Perry

this's also a tread where t''t feels as if that iron curtain were erecting itself now and again

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 4 March 2004 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Just think of all the kids who'll be contributing to this thread ten-fifteen years from now, talking about the time their parents dragged them to see The Passion.

― Michael Daddino (epicharmus), Friday, 5 March 2004 00:08 (twenty-one years ago)

God, how could I have forgotten THIS!

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Viewmaster was childhood joy.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Those 3-D Looney Tunes ones struck me as really disturbing for some reason. Bugs + a third dimension = er uh.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Friday, 5 March 2004 03:59 (twenty-one years ago)

Nothing like the 3-D fairytale and cartoon character dioramas. I still have all my old reels and viewer somewhere.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:00 (twenty-one years ago)

bullriding. i was forced to watch this at rodeos until some poor bastard had his chest stomped in, and my my mother put a stop to my brother and i having to attend these weird rituals.

The draft horses pulling weighted sledges were pretty cool though.

Rikki Tikki Tavi. Cartoon messed me up. I still look for snakes underfoot constantly.

Gollum from the Rankin-Bass cartoon made deep impression on me.

Read all of the UFO and conspiracy books that i could understand. Worried about the crab-clawed men who grabbed guys in nearby Pascagoula. Worried about the Honey Island Swamp Monster (Sasquatch) Got into Robert Anton Wilson around 11 or 12.

― badgerminor (badgerminor), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:01 (twenty-one years ago)

i have many fond childhood memories of viewmaster.

and what was that electric thing that you used to stick tiny colored pegs into and make pictures?

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:02 (twenty-one years ago)

LITE BRITE, MAKIN' THINGS WITH LIGHT

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:03 (twenty-one years ago)

(1) that 1975 (?) xmas special from whence came david bowie's "little drummer boy" duet w/ bing crosby. my mum: "what's a nice man like bing crosby doing singing with a FREAK like david bowie?" me: interest peaked.

(2) alice cooper on the muppet show, several years later. again, my mom: "what's a freak like alice cooper doing on the muppets?" me: interest peaked.

(3) all those nightly updates, circa 1978-79, of sid vicious on his downward-spiral rampage in NYC. both mom and grandma (who was living with us at that time) freaking out about sid vicious. again, my interest peaked.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:05 (twenty-one years ago)

LITE BRITE, MAKIN' THINGS WITH LIGHT

I KISS YOU WITH KEVIN SHIELDS'S LIPS!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:06 (twenty-one years ago)

My 3rd grade teacher (nun) warning us kiddies about those "horrible *sputter* Sex Pistolsss".

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:07 (twenty-one years ago)

I'd originally intended this to be a "things you discovered that weren't really meant for kids" thread but I'm sort of glad it spiralled away from that.

Also, every single early-mid '80s Saturday morning cartoon ever to thread. Especially Turbo Teen. And Galaxy High.

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:08 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, Nate -- when I was a li'l kid one of the two NYC Hispanic TV stations used to broadcast the "Iris Chacon" variety show around 9 pm on weeknights. The hostess was a remarkably sexy, incredibly well proportioned Puerto Rican entertainer in nothing but glittery bikini outfits shakin' it to salsa. All the time. Oh, and her dancers were just as hot. My mom would flip if she caught me watching the program, but I always managed to sneak a peek.

― Jay Vee (Manon_70), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:15 (twenty-one years ago)

i didn't know that gary numan tapes were inappropriate for kiddies. i mean, i guess he is insofar as some of his lyrics are about cruising and have gay overtones and gettin' it on with robots. but i know that i would've been totally oblivious to that had i heard those numan songs when i was nine or ten.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:17 (twenty-one years ago)

Well it's just that the music itself, even without the consideration of the lyrics, is kinda creepy and seedy and paranoid and alienat(ing/ed).

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:22 (twenty-one years ago)

hell, by that standard then my dad playing johnny cash's "folsom prison blues" or those merle haggard songs about being in jail are also inappropriate for kiddies. but i think i gotcha now.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Friday, 5 March 2004 04:27 (twenty-one years ago)

(piqued)

― Andrew Farrell (afarrell), Friday, 5 March 2004 09:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Dragonslayer totally upset me when I saw it as a 7 year old. There were virgins being EATEN!! Fuck! I was totally disturbed.

Also, Chorlton and the Wheelies. I'm shivering at the thought.

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 5 March 2004 10:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Some more: Bowie and Bing - stapled completely to my brain by watching it with my grandfather, who went to Hollywood at 19 to 'make it' (he didn't, his flatmate Marion Morrison did) and knew Bing then. There are lots of alien Bowie sightings for under-10 me. I'd have probably exploded with glee to have seen Cracked Actor.

Oscar Wilde short stories in a kids'-story book my aunt had.

My Fair Lady ensured I'd tried to read all Shaw by the time I was 12 ('Man and Superman' - hmm he must know who that Nietzche fella is, maybe I'll read that next mulls young Suzy before thinking better of it). Rex Harrison was in quite a few Shaw film adaptations on local PBS for whatever reason and seen today, young Rex is like watching Tony Blair have a seizure, plus irritated professorial misogyny at no extra charge. Then I went through a distressing Paddy McBoomerang 'oh I have an Irish surname, shall I journey to the Gaeltacht?' phase and went for Swift and Finnegan's Wake on the back of a vicious Peter O'Toole fixation.

Dan may be just a hair too young to remember this, but I got to be the Birthday Girl when our Campfire troop went to be on the Clancy and Willie show (Minneapolis kids' TV 'jamboree' on the Howdy Doody model). They made a joke about my surname and I waved a fist or middle finger or something, remember feeling frustrated that someone I hadn't even met was teasing me ON TELEVISION. FFS I was eight.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 5 March 2004 10:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Minneapolis kiddie-show hosts being passive-aggressive? Shock of shocks!

― Nate in ST.P (natedetritus), Friday, 5 March 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think the Twin Cities had those kids-on-bleachers shows after 1980. I remember my mom wanted to smack me for it, so I'm pretty sure 'Willie Ketchum' got given The Finger for teasing me.

With regard to local talk shows, I find host = parasite in most cases. My uncle had loads of dealings with the TC media and was very fond of saying what a pair of wankers Steve Edelman and Sharon Anderson were. When there was a press screening here for Fargo, nobody could understand why I was laughing my head off at the 'Good Company' pastiche.

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 5 March 2004 15:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Tales of the City..... I mentioned watching this

Wasn't Tales of the City just on about three years ago?

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:18 (twenty-one years ago)

Shock yersel by seeing how long ago it was...

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

grunge

― jeremy jordan (cruisy), Friday, 5 March 2004 16:24 (twenty-one years ago)

I think i might have the ultimate answer for this.

WATERSHIP DOWN.(animated version)

the blood & gore & violence is one thing, but that black rabbit spirit thing freaked THE FUCK out of me for years.

― Kingfish Cowboy (Kingfish), Friday, 5 March 2004 17:37 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.thataintnormal.com/images/hitit.jpg

― Chris 'The Velvet Bingo' V (Chris V), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:10 (twenty-one years ago)

Even more than Don Knotts, the Black Rabbit of Inlé freaks EVERYONE out FOREVER. Bright Eyes indeed.

(actually I remember being very embarrassed by my WD phase whilst in the midst of it)

― suzy (suzy), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:13 (twenty-one years ago)

I still read the book every couple of years, I think it's quite something. The Black Rabbit is indeed pretty unsettling, but the most horrifying moment in the film has to be the sheer terror of the destruction of the old warren.

At the rate CGI is going, a couple more years and one could come up with a fantastic new film of this.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 5 March 2004 18:16 (twenty-one years ago)

My parents took me along to see "The Boys From Brazil" when I was six--I don't really remember it beyond the fact that it upset me and that my mom covered my eyes fairly often.

At age nine I thought I'd tricked my mom into taking me to see "Stripes"--but I was confused and we actually saw "Taps" instead. Not really the same movie at all.

― mookieproof (mookieproof), Friday, 5 March 2004 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

my father took me to see "all the president's men" when it came out in the theater ... i was, maybe, five? he later told me that he did it so that i could see what a crook nixon was and that bad guys got punished ... which would be nice, if i could remember anything from the film other than being bored and upset that there weren't any cartoons.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Saturday, 6 March 2004 00:56 (twenty-one years ago)


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