Browsing: Fads
As the seventies began, the search for self-awareness became an increasingly mainstream concept. After the rampant consumerism of the ’50s and early ’60s, and the…
If you went to see Earthquake (1974) at a cinema, chances are that it was in “Sensurround”. The Sensurround system was designed to envelop the audience with…
No one knew what it was made of – in fact, people still don’t know what it’s made of! Certain cities have banned it, and…
“Imagine a vehicle that can drive you five miles for a penny. A vehicle that needs no petrol – just a battery. And that takes…
Back in the days before protective padding and fibreglass helmets were ever dreamt of, the first skateboarding craze took off. Grazed knees, concussion and splintered bones…
Smash Hits was a pop music magazine aimed at teenagers and young adults, featuring lyrics, photographs, interviews and news related to music acts in the…
Manhattan button manufacturer NG Slater brought out his new line of yellow “smiley face” buttons in 1969, but nobody seemed to want them. Perhaps it…
In 1967, Hasbro introduced its little icy treat factories to sweaty summer cities and suburbs everywhere. The Frosty Sno-Man Sno-Cone machine was the first. Just…
Nobody ate Space Dust because it tasted nice. In fact, most people probably couldn’t tell you what it tasted like. It wasn’t intended to be savoured though.…
In the 1950’s and 1960’s, the USA and the Soviet Union raced each other to be first into space. The Soviet Union won. On 4…
The Star-Club opened as a music club on Friday 13 April 1962 at Große Freiheit 39, just off the Reeperbahn in the St. Pauli quarter…
Streaking first appeared in the early 1970s when students in the USA used it during protests and demonstrations. They streaked the Lyndon Johnson Library, making…
The late 1970s saw a huge Disco boom across the world, fuelled by the success of the 1977 movie Saturday Night Fever. As the records…
Once the ancient sport of Hawaiian kings, modern surfing became synonymous with the slacker lifestyle. But it wasn’t laziness that drove these surfers to a…
July 1979 saw the introduction in the USA of the new Susan B Anthony dollar coin, stamped at the Philadelphia Mint. The first US coin…
Swiss watch company SSIH scored a hit in 1983 with its low-priced Swatch range of brightly coloured watches. Ernst Thomke and Nicolas Hayek developed the…
“The Talkboy” was originally a cassette recorder and non-working prop designed and built for the 1992 blockbuster Christmas film Home Alone 2: Lost in New…
Already hugely popular in Japan, Bandai’s Tamagotchis – or “virtual pets” – were all the rage in the US in 1997. Attached to a keychain,…