Culture Dumps

This week we go back to 1990 to discuss one of the most bizarre trials in music history. After an attempted double suicide by two young friends, metal legends Judas Priest were put on trial for alleged subliminal messages in their music that were believed to have caused the tragedy. The trial was as ridiculous as the claim.

This trial was part of an ongoing cultural movement to censor musicians in the 80s (PMRC, 2 Live Crew, NWA, Satanic Panic). The heavy publicity of this trial introduced many to the practice of backmasking; listening to music played in reverse to attempt to find hidden messages.

Jeff Nucera is an accomplished television producer and documentarian who came to us by way of past guest Eddie Schmidt. Jeff is in the process of making a new documentary about a Weird Al themed burlesque troupe, a dream considering his life long obsession with Weird Al. Besides his latest endeavor, we discuss his work on The Osbournes, Girls Next Door, and much much more!

This week Ryan is joined by Eric D of Methsyndicate to discuss the immensely unfortunate early 2000’s video series “Bumfights.” What began as a shitty skateboard video quickly turned into a global monster. Worse than what was captured on camera for the videos are the many copycats that followed. File this under, really sad and fucked up shit.

LA Gear was an active wear brand started in the 1980’s that focused mostly on sneakers. What started as a women’s accessory company quickly became one of the most recognizable brands of its time. But how did a company that at one point was said to be the best performing company listed on the stock market become all but forgotten? In this episode we will break down what happened to LA Gear, run into Michael Jackson, and prove that brand visibility doesn’t always equal success.

This week we were lucky enough to get Academy Award nominated filmmaker Eddie Schmidt to chat with us. Eddie’s body of work is vast and awesome. We discuss several of the documentaries he produced and directed as well as his time as a writer for the very dumpable show Blind Date. He also gives Ryan a brief history lesson on the middle finger and tells us what it is like to lose at the Oscars.