[...] A 1973 rock music album by the British group Pink Floyd, ‘The Dark Side of the Moon,’ stayed on Billboard’s top 200 albums sales chart for 741 consecutive weeks, from March 1973 to April 1988, setting an all-time record….But the album’s Billboard chart heroics is less than half the story, as ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ – now in its 40th anniversary year – continues to be popular. This article explores the long-standing appeal of Pink Floyd ‘Dark Side’ album, how it enriched the members of its band, and how its has moved its listeners… Song samples included [...]

[...] “Life is Beautiful” is the name of a 2006 song by the U.K. group Vega 4… The song is filled with emotionally powerful sentiment and moving lyrics, and has been used in PBS advertising, TV episodes of “Grey’s Anatomy,” and various films…The group’s style is in the mold of Coldplay and Snow Patrol, but they have since disbanded [...]

[...] Yogi Berra, the famous Hall-of-Fame, New York Yankee baseball player, in addition to becoming a sports celebrity of his day, also became something of cultural icon know for his “famous sayings” – sparking a bit of cottage industry in book publishing… Berra’s story not only captures the baseball aura of his times, but also shows how his sports popularity seeped into popular culture in a novel way, as Yogi Berra’s celebrity is now in its eighth decade [...]

[...] Advance Publications is a sprawling media empire of leading magazines, newspapers, cable TV and websites owned by the Newhouse family of Long Island, New York. In recent years the Newhouse/Advance empire has ranked among the 50 largest privately-held companies in the U.S. This article dips into the 90 years of Newhouse empire-building history, with some focus on the newspaper and magazine parts of the story, celebrity and political issues, and the Newhouse publishing and media impact on America culture…[...]

[...] Brian Lamb is the founder and creator of the C-SPAN public affairs TV network that covers Congress and a lot more… Lamb has consistently shown with his eclectic range of subjects and guests, how television can be used to inform citizens and elevate learning, doing so without bombast or celebrity fanfare. Lamb and C-SPAN have created a valuable “public learning commons” for millions. That story, and Lamb’s career, are explored in this article [...]

[...] Steve Jobs, Apple, and TBWA/Chiat/Day created a memorable advertising campaign & enduring set of cultural images with their iPod-attired silhouette dancers… These ads, used to sell digital music players & digital music, appeared in print, TV, and outdoor venues all over the world… The ads had a “pied piper” effect on consumers, transforming Apple into a digital music giant, sending it in into the superstar stratosphere of the world’s most elite and profitable companies [...]

[...] Part 2 of the history of Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack and their dealings with the 1960 presidential campaign of John F. Kennedy and his presidency thorugh 1963…. The story picks up at 1961 JFK inauguration and also covers Sinatra’s falling out with JFK, some history on Rat Pack & JFK friends such as Marilyn Monroe, and ends with a “Rat Pack Postscript” on lives & careers beyond the Rat Pack years [...]

[...] In the mid-1960s, a young actress named Mia Farrow was the TV celebrity de jour starring in a new kind of prime-time soap opera called “Peyton Place”…It now seems light years away from that earlier time, and Ms. Farrow, with an impressive film career behind her, has lived a life full of twists & turns, interesting people, and now international activism… Some of her story is offered here [...]

[...] In 1976-1977, Rupert Murdoch, then a little-known Australian newspaper mogul, made a “big news” New York media grab, acquiring two premier New York media companies: the New York Post newspaper and New York Magazine Co., which then held three publications — New York magazine, The Village Voice, and New West… Story, deal history & personalities involved are covered, as well as hints of what followed with the Murdoch global media empire [...]

[...] In the 1981 stage production, Cats, there is the very poignant song, “Memory,” performed by the aging female feline, Grizabella, who has seen better days. Cats – the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber musical that was originally produced in London – became one of the all-time theater box office successes, with “Memory” as one of its most beloved and signature tunes [...]

[...] In the early- and mid-1960s, the Beach Boys became one of America’s hottest and most successful groups, credited with inventing “California rock” and “sunshine pop.” Along with the Beatles, they also pushed out the boundaries of contemporary music on a new and imaginative front of songwriting and pop composition. Their music was happy, fun-loving and filled with beautiful harmonies – and it appealed to millions, then and 50 years later [...]

[...] Warren Buffett, the businessman-investor from Omaha, Nebraska, known for his stock picks and investment strategies, is one of the wealthiest persons on the planet. Although famous for years in the investment community, Buffett became more of a mainstream celebrity as his wealth grew and also as stories became known about the millions he made for folks of modest means. …Buffett’s story also shows that once he arrived in the media glare, he moved to use his fame, the media machine, and his philanthropy in ways to benefit society [...]

[...] Hollywood imagery sometimes survives long after its initial introduction, moving its characters and message into mainstream culture… Hollywood’s big time deal-maker, Gordon Gekko, played to a tee by Michael Douglas in the 1987 film “Wall Street,” made “greed is good” the catch phrase of the go-go 1980s… Gekko is a character who has stayed with the culture for some years now, and is periodically mentioned whenever Wall Street excesses flow… This piece looks at the film’s history, the Gekko character, & their effect today as a 2010 sequel arrives [...]

[...] “Be My Baby” by the Ronettes was one of the defining rock ‘n roll songs of the early 1960s — a song notable for advancing a new sound that changed pop music…“Be My Baby” is also a bigger story — of lives entangled in the business of making music during 1963-66 and the fallout years later, including the demise of the group, ill health for one member, a prominent divorce for another, and a protracted legal battle over royalties and song rights[...]

[...] In the 1996 U.S. Presidential campaign, Republican candidate Bob Dole, former U.S. Senator from Kansas, became involved in a controversy over the use of the 1960s’ song “I’m a Soul Man” at his campaign rallies… A lawsuit was threatened, and Dole’s campaign then tried using other music, including some by artists Bruce Springsteen and Eddie Rabbitt [...]

[...] In 1995, Bill Gates of the Microsoft Corporation paid millions to use a popular Rolling Stones rock ’n roll song from the 1980s named “Start Me Up” to help launch and promote his company’s new Windows 95 computer software… The song’s use in TV advertising was part of Microsoft’s $300 million global PR campaign to launch and promote its new computer software [...]

[...] In 1988, Carly Simon wrote a popular song “Let the River Run” for the Mike Nichols film, “Working Girl” – a song that has had resonance beyond the film, not only for millions of young women in their careers, but also for others who find it powerful and inspirational… Simon’s song-writing and hit-making career in the 1970s, 1980s and beyond is also covered [...]

[...] In the 1950s and 1960s, Timex, a brand-named wristwatch, became some- thing of an iconic American product through a long-running advertising campaign that used sports newscaster John Cameron Swayze as well as sports celebrities such as Mickey Mantle, Rocky Marciano, Ben Hogan, Babe Didrikson and others to pitch the product…. Swayze hosted 20-years of TV ads featuring various “torture tests” of Timex watches [...]

[...] In 1993-94, a Bruce Springsteen song about the plight of an AIDS victim in the film Philadelphia with Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington, becomes an international hit and Oscar winner while helping audiences understand and empathize with the victims and families of AIDS disease. Director Jonathan Demme’s use of contemporary music in the film, including an ending Neil Young song, proved to be quite moving [...]

[...] In 1982, Sylvester Stallone, Hollywood movie star and producer of the Rocky film series, donated a statue of his Rocky Balboa movie character to the City of Philadelphia. It was left near the entrance to the Philadelphia Art Museum, where it touched off a controversy over the appropriateness of its location that would flare up several times over the course of more than 20 years [...]

[...] In the early 1980s, Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney teamed up for some joint music projects. Their friendship led to Jackson’s discovery of the music publishing business, and ironically, his $47 million acquisition of a large and important Beatles music catalog… That catalog became an important asset for Jackson and a much sought-after prize in the music industry [...]

[...] In 1995, Michael Jackson and Sony Music embarked on a $30 million album promotion campaign that included nine giant Michael Jackson statues used for marketing, publicity, and a video promo [...]

[...] In 1990, the Irish rock group U2 went looking for their muse, and part of what they found was one of the top songs of the 1990s – “One” [...]

Close-up of Ralph Kramden-Jackie Gleason statue at the August 2000 ‘TV Land’ unveiling in New York city.      Ralph Kramden is the name of a fictional New York City bus driver who starred in the popular 1950s television comedy The Honeymooners.  Actor Jackie Gleason played the role of Ralph, who was a memorable, one-of-a-kind character.  [...]

Norman Rockwell’s ‘Rosie The Riveter’ cover for the May 29, 1943 edition of The Saturday Evening Post, was the first visual image to incorporate the ‘Rosie’ name.     “Rosie the Riveter” is the name of a fictional character  who came to symbolize the millions of real women who  filled America’s factories, munitions plants, and shipyards during World [...]

Poster for the 2006-2007 stage play ‘Frost/Nixon’ based on the 1977 television interviews of former President Richard Nixon by British talk show host, David Frost.     In 1975, former U.S. President Richard Nixon – who had been driven from office the previous year by the Watergate scandal – made a business deal with British celebrity talk show host [...]

October 1989 edition of Forbes business magazine featuring Mick Jagger & Keith Richards among the world’s ‘highest paid entertainers’.     In October 1989, Forbes magazine featured rock ‘n roll stars Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones on its cover.  The story’s headline asked “What’ll They Do With All That Money?”  Forbes writer Peter [...]

Ted Turner on cover of 9 August 1986 Time magazine, which said of his up-and-coming 24-hour news network: ‘…By any measure, CNN is in the big leagues of news.’     Ted Turner was vilified by the press in the late 1970s and early 1980s — called the “mouth from the South,” “Captain Outrageous,” “Terrible Ted,” and all [...]

Rock star ‘Sting,’ especially popular through the 1980s and 1990s, cut a deal with the Jaguar car company in 2000 to use his ‘Desert Rose’ song in their TV commercials, helping make the song & its album top hits.     Sting, the rock star, whose real name is Gordon Sumner, is a U.K. musician, popular since [...]

Bette Davis captured by photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt for Life magazine, January 23, 1939.      In May and June of 1981, the most popular song around was a tune about a Hollywood actress — or more precisely, about her eyes. “She’s got Bette Davis eyes” was the refrain made famous by the top-selling song of 1981, appropriately [...]

[...] A surprise best-selling book in 1992-94 was “The Bridges of Madison County,” a story about an Iowa farm wife who meets a National Geographic photographer by chance while her family is away at the Illinois State Fair. The book became a word-of-mouth sensation and was followed in 1995 by a well-received Hollywood film starring Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood….This story covers both the book and the film, their success & popular reception [...]

“Candle in the Wind” is a name of a song performed by Elton John and written by he and collaborator Bernie Taupin in 1972. The song was originally written as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe who died at the age of 36 [...] Following the death of Princess Diana, John and Taupin did a remake of “Candle in the Wind” as a tribute to Diana, a version which sold wildly throughout the world [...]

[...] In 1978, an all sports cable TV network was hardly a “no brainer.” The three major TV networks combined then broadcast only about 20 hours of sports a week [...] But Bill Rasmussen, a former sportscaster and recently fired communications man for the New England Whalers ice hockey team, came up with the idea [...]

In 1995, Mercedes-Benz, the luxury German automaker, used a song by ‘60s rocker and blues singer Janis Joplin in one of its TV ads. The Joplin tune — which includes the famous refrain, “Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz” — was used by Mercedes to push a new line of sedans [...] Mercedes’ method was aimed squarely at the “maturing” Baby Boomer market [...]

In the early 1980s, as the home video market began to emerge, the Walt Disney Company was reluctant to release its classic animated movies into that market [...], regarding them as a kind of Disney gold, only to be “marketed” through controlled release to movie theaters. But that philosophy would soon change as Disney began to see the huge sales potential [...]

“The Grapes of Wrath” is a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel written by John Steinbeck in 1939. Not only was this book a landmark social commentary in its day and a major publishing success, it became an award-winning and profitable Hollywood film, and also inspired at least two rounds of music — one by Woody Guthrie in 1940 and another by Bruce Springsteen in the 1990s [...]

[...] “Profiles in Courage” became a best-seller and was ground-breaking in its day, becoming one of the first books used to advance a political career aimed at the White House [...] The book gave Kennedy a certain political gravitas and national recognition he did not have before, lifting him from the ranks of unknown senators [...]

In 1993, before she graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine at right, Gisele Bündchen was a skinny 14 year-old kid in southern Brazil who aspired to play professional volleyball [...] Photo: Supermodel Gisele Bundchen, on cover of the September 14, 2000 issue of Rolling Stone magazine, then naming her, ‘the most beautiful girl in the world.’