The biorhythm arcade machines of the 1970s were certainly akin to fortune-telling machines, but with all those lines and numbers, they gave the impression that…
Browsing: Fads
During the sexually liberated ’70s, when the rule of thumb was “if it feels good do it”, gay sexuality seemed a lot less taboo. Rock…
In the late 60s and early 70s, the Black Light brought a new dimension to our world. White T-shirts and teeth suddenly would glow in…
Hollywood saw major dollar signs, so a machine was quickly invented which churned out movies showcasing the style, rhythm and badness which Whitey could never…
A British icon in the 1990s, Mr Blobby was the pink-and-yellow-spotted sidekick of Noel Edmonds. The character starred in many episodes of Noel’s House Party, released…
The white anklets known as bobby sox (socks) rocked the conservative world when teenagers began wearing the socks with saddle shoes as a form of…
A boombox (or Ghetto Blaster) – basically a large but portable cassette player with two or more loudspeakers – was first developed by Philips who…
When young actors like Emilio Estevez, Molly Ringwald, Matthew Broderick and Rob Lowe moved out of obscurity and into films like The Breakfast Club, Ferris Bueller’s Day…
A major component of the budding hip-hop culture of the early 80s, break dancing was a physically demanding, youth-oriented dance activity involving complex, improvisational manoeuvres…
Before 1964, America’s worldwide domination of the pop music industry — and youth culture in general — was virtually total. Few British artists made much…
The mid-90s was a golden era for British music, with several fine bands all coming good at the same time. There was, though, little camaraderie…
Prior to World War II, cigarette cards (small rectangles of coloured pasteboard inserted in cigarette packets) had been collected in Britain in their millions. The…
My other car is a . . . I brake for . . . Love is . . . Honk If You Love Jesus Jesus…
South African-born William (“Billy”) Butlin spotted two things in the 1930s: First, British holidaymakers were routinely turfed out of their boarding houses and not allowed back…
Skegness on the Lincolnshire Coast is where the Butlin’s story began. Founded in 1936 by Billy Butlin, it was the UK’s first-ever holiday camp. Construction…
From his first appearance in the surfing newspaper Tracks, in 1973, Captain Goodvibes was a major hit with young Australian readers. The “pig of steel”…
By 1965, London had become the world’s fashion capital for young people. At its centre were three streets: the Kings Road in Chelsea (put on…
Citizens Band Radio had been around for years, but few people knew about it. Twenty-three channels of two-way communication with a limited range (usually just…
“This chain letter was started in 1972 by a man in Campbell, Missouri, who was completely broke. In less than one year he became extremely…
Chu-Bops were packs of record-shaped pink bubblegum that came housed in a small 3″ X 3″ replica album cover. The Amural Products Company of Naperville,…