The Fifty Most Important Phenomena in
Twentieth Century American Popular Culture History

50) Camping Culture
-The Millions in Our National Parks

49) The Resort Vacation Fantasy
-From Hotel del Coronado to Key West to South Beach to Hawaii

48) Youth and Extreme Sports
-From Skateboarding to Snowboarding

47) Warhol, Lichtenstein, and Pop Art
-Even the Desert Arts Communities Popularized by Georgia O'Keefe

46) The Mall
-And What about the Department Store?

45) Self-Alterations
-From Tattoos (纹身）to Piercings to Plastic Surgery

44) Talkies （有声电影）
-Who Could Forget Al Jolsen's Rendition of "Sonny Boy"?

43) CDs

42) American International and Teen Pics

41) Surf Culture
-From the Beach Boys to Annette

40) Film Noir 具有悲观(或宿命论)色彩的影片

39) The Seattle Sound
-How Nirvana Changed Rock

38) The Workout Culture
-Remember John Travolta and Jamie Lee Curtis in Perfect?

37) Video Games
-The Road from Pinball

36) The Musical Film
-From the Golden Age of Hollywood to Moulin Rouge

35) The Children's Book Serial
-From Dr. Suess to Harry Potter

34) Cartoons (Print and Television)
-What Is American Popular Culture without Snoopy in Our Newspapers or the Roadrunner on Saturday Morning?

33) The Kid Show
-From Sesame Street to Barney

32) MTV and the Music Video

31) The College Sports Phenomenon
-Especially Saturday Football!

30) Disney

29) National Tabloids （小报）and Newspapers
-From The National Inquirer to USA Today

28) The Space Obsession
-From the First Man on the Moon to UFOs
-From I Dream of Jeannie to The X Files

27) The Super Hero
-From Comic Books to Feature Film

26) The Western and the Cult of the Cowboy

25) The Soap Opera

24) Pop and Pulp Fiction Novels/Novelists

23) Max Factor and Make-up

22) The Television Talk Show
-From Phil Donahue to Jerry Springer to Oprah

21) The Pop Music Star(s)
-Who Could Ignore Madonna, Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, and the
Omni-present Boy Bands like N Sync?

20) The Explosion of Mass Advertising and Marketing
-From Major Labels (Coke and Levis) to Infomercials to Shopping
Channels to the Japanese Marketing Explosion (Hello Kitty, Pokemon)
-Remember Darren on Bewitched?

19) Disco (The 1970s)
-The Night Lifestyle
-The Bee Gees
-Cocaine
-Studio 54

18) The Situation Comedy

17) The Video Revolution (1970-2000)

16) The Nickelodeon Boom (1905-7)

15) The Culture/Class/Race/Sex Revolutions of the 1960s and 1970s
-Civil Rights Movement
-Feminist Movement
-War Protests
-Marijuana
-Long Hair

14) The Gramophone/Record Making/Tin Pan Alley Songwriters

13) Big Band and Swing
-And the Crooners During That Time and Following…Bing Crosby,
Dean Martin, Tony Bennett, Frankie Laine, Frank Sinatra
-And What about the Ladies? Kay Starr? Jo Stafford? Doris Day?

12) Fast-food Restaurants

11) Cable Television
-The Channel Explosion of the 1990s
-Satellite Dishes

10) The Jazz Age
-Jazz and Blues Influences on Music
-Speakeasies and Gin Joints and Mobs and Prohibition
-F. Scott Fitzgerald and, of course, Zelda
-The Harlem Renaissance

9) The Development of "Hollywood" and the "Cult" of the "Star"
-Starting with the Silent Film
-Polished Up in the Fifties with Figures like Elvis Presley and Marilyn
Monroe

8) The Love Affair with Cars
-What about That Man Named Ford and His Assembly Line?

7) The Proliferation of Professional Sports
-MLB, NBA, NFL, Wrestling, Nascar etc.
-And Finally...Women's Professional Sports

6) The Personal Computer and the Internet

5) The Rise of Radio
-From Serials to Live Music Shows to Rock
-DJs!

4) The Sexual Revolution
-Mini Skirts
-Helen Gurley Brown and Cosmopolitan
-The Birth Control Pill
-Pornography (Especially Playboy and Hustler)
-Boob Jobs
-Strip Clubs

3) Feature Length Films
-Who Was That D. W. Griffeth Anyway?

2) The Advent of Rock and Roll
-1950s Motown...Chuck Berry, Little Richard (Black Impact on Music Still Lives Today with Rap and Hip-Hop)
-Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly etc.
-1960s British Invasion (From the Beatles to the Rolling Stones)
-The American Counter with Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Woodstock etc.

...And the Most Important Moment in Twentieth Century American Popular Culture History (Drumroll Please)...

1) The Invention of Television