Culture Dumps

The yellow silicone bracelet. Worn by many to signify they cared enough to stand up against cancer. The real dump (and reason why you don’t see them anymore) is because their creator, Lance Armstrong. The 7 time champion of the Tour De France, Armstrong had all of his titles stripped in a huge scandal involving performance enhancing drugs. Also a medical procedure called Blood Doping. Metal...

Valarie Jones is a legend in the world of true crime. In 1992 the notorious “True Crime Trading Cards” were released to the public and a wave of backlash followed closely behind. Valerie found themselves at the center of a media firestorm, being blamed for the decline of society and was deemed responsible for perpetuating the celebrity profiles that notorious murderers often acquire. Never to be o...

Tiny Tim was a true American folk hero. His distinct falsetto and ukulele playing found him the unlikely celebrity in the late 1960s. He was both a singer and a musical archivist; forever in love with the music from the 1930’s and before. Tiny Tim was often misunderstood; his love for the past could easily manifest into unintentional comedy for TV audiences. While some saw took his androgyno...

Smoking cigarettes is bad for you… unless you make it look as good as Joe Camel did! In the early 90s, images of this anthropomorphic bad boy, leather jacket, cig smoking camel were everywhere. Donning a range of costumes, from James Bond-esque tuxedo to recently divorced dad on a motorcycle, this ad campaign was a huge success. Funny thing is, kids love cartoons. Studies showed that the Joe...

Gary Glitter is a British Glam Rock star. His most famous song is “Rock and Roll Part 2” a song that probably have heard but might not have known who sang it. That ubiquity came in part from the song being adopted as a chant at major sporting events. Glitter established himself as a major UK celebrity in the 80s and 90s. However, the superstar had some dark secrets. His fall from grace...

The Passion of the Christ is a highly controversial 2004 biblical drama directed and produced by Mel Gibson. Gibson at the time was a huge A-list celebrity and had enjoyed success directing and starring in Braveheart. Yet with no prior Christian affiliations, his decision to depict the brutal crucifixion of Jesus Christ seemed odd. The film garnered controversy for its extreme violence and anti-Se...

The 1996 release of the Tickle Me Elmo doll created an outrageous consumer frenzy. Supply could not meet up with demand, causing fights and stampedes in department stores. Scalping occurred, even John Gotti had to pull some strings to get a box of these to fall off the back of the truck. The Dumpy Boys also dive into the disturbing allegations of Kevin Clash, the puppeteer in charge of Elmo.

Sean Beard owns the World’s largest collection of Beavis and Butthead memorabilia. From whoopie cushions to toilet seat covers and even after shave, Beard’s collection is impressive. Ryan conducts an interview that gets to the heart of this collector’s obsession. Plenty of pop culture to learn here; from the show’s early controversy to Beard’s very personal story of h...

This is the story of a 90s Irish traditional song and dance phenomenon that captivated a worldwide audience. Modern stage production mixed with traditional dance to create a dynamic for of entertainment that had mothers and Ren Faire geeks swooning. The rockstar of it all, Michael Flatley, eventually found himself dissatisfied under creator Bill Whelan’s wing. Flately broke off and created h...

Tila Tequila was one of the first internet celebrities and could very well be credited with being the first “influencer.” She is also one of the most controversial reality TV stars. MySpace changed the way we interacted with strangers, especially famous people. This was never more true than with the case of Tila Tequila. Her success landed her her own tv show and kept her in the spotlight just lon...

We are back in our favorite year, 1999! The boys breakdown Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace and try to make sense out of all of the hate. Was Jar Jar a racist character? Did young Anakin suck? All will be revealed on this week’s Culture Dump.

Parks takes the reigns with his special guest and friend Max. We dive deep into the XFL, a professional football league with huge ambition and a colossal ratings failure on national TV. The lovechild of WWE executive Vince McMahon and NBC sports titan Dick Ebersol, the XFL had serious potential to rival the NFL. But it appear that when you want to broadcast a professional football league on networ...

The 2003 television special “Living With Michael Jackson” promised to deliver an inside look at the life of the world’s most famous person. Not only was the special completely bonkers but it also led to the second child abuse scandal for the singer and unveiled some of the star’s darkest secrets. Warning! This episode contains some greasy stuff. YOO HOO!

Competitive eating is one of the most bizarre and challenging sports in the world. The sheer amount of food consumed professional competitive eaters is mind boggling, but one man made it look like an afternoon snack. Takeru Kobayashi is the Michael Jordan of competitive eating and in the early 2000’s he captured the imagination of millions of people around the world. Unfortunately, as with many&nb...

All Star by Smash Mouth was always too easy of a dump, too low hanging of a dump, but with the news of Smash Mouth lead singer Steven Harwell’s retirement flooding the airwaves we decided to dissect what might possibly be the most perfect song ever written. This is a feel good dump, mostly. We talk Shrek, neurological disorders, and bread throwing.

We have arrived at the scandalous and shocking conclusion of our Dumps of Love series. In part 2, we tackle the Rock of Love branch of this reality tv sensation. Basically a rock n roll (aka whiter) version of Flavor of Love, this show took rocker clichés to unprecedented absurdity. Leather, leopard print and stripper poles helped introduce Bret Michaels (of Poison infamy) as a bonafide reality tv...

We have reached 50 episodes! For our one year anniversary special we are bringing you a juicy two part dump. The “Of Love” series of reality shows on VH1 shaped the landscape of reality television the early 2000s. These shows were inspired by the success of the “Bachelor” franchise, but took the drama to unprecedented heights. Add in excessive alcohol consumption and you have the perfe...

Pogs were an absolute sensation in the early 1990’s, but why? The Culture Dumps team examines the cardboard discs and their popularity and discover that POGS were kind of bullshit. 

The Grammy Awards have often dealt with a reputation of being out of touch. To some, they represent a huge institution that is always years behind the trends. The 1988 Grammys featured several new categories to keep up with the turning tide of music. The category “Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrumental” made its debut that year. Metallica was heavily favored to win with their groun...

From 2000 to 2003 it was impossible to avoid seeing a commercial for Dell Computers. The tech market was booming and Dell had a killer spokesperson, Steve. Steve was a stonerish teen who pleaded with parents to get him and his friends a Dell. Well, this episode we got Steve. Ben Curtis played the character and lost the gig over a bullshit scandal. Fascinating stuff with a positive outcome. Dude! Y...

This week we have a double dump! Ryan is joined by Eric D of Methsyndicate to discuss the rise of two of the most groan worthy apparel brands of all time, Big Dogs and Big Johnson. What were both once multi-million dollar companies are now all but extinct, but how? But why? This episode is not only packed full of bootlegging, rebranding, and head scratchers, but also tons of dick jokes!

We pick up from last week on the salacious sensation from the early 2000’s. This episode focuses mainly on the numerous lawsuits involving Joe Francis, the infamous creator of Girls Gone Wild. This dude has managed to get himself into court for a cornucopia of offenses. Turns out the guy making millions by filming naked drunk college girls is a bit of a scumbag! Also stick around as the Dump...

Culture Dumps examines one of the most controversial success stories of all time. Girls Gone Wild rose to fame in the late 90s, with their infamous advertisements littering late night TV. The phase “___ Gone Wild” became something of a meme. In the era of celebrity sex tapes, GGW perfectly fit into the burgeoning genre of reality porn. There is an undeniably exploitative theme to the e...

Israel Kamakawiwoʻole is one of most successful Hawai’ian singers of all time. His ukulele cover of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” sold millions worldwide and appeared in over 50 movies. His huge physical presence made him instantly recognizable. His death at the age of 38 was mourned by all of Hawai’i. The irony of IZ was the success of his version of “Rainbow.”...

Celebrity boxing is a catch all of bad taste and primal desires. You got violence, seeing successful people fall from grace, endless jokes at the expense of celebrities, it’s got it all. In 2002 Fox aired two nights of celebrity boxing that forever lowered the morality of everyone who watched and participated.