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Pop Culture

The Edmund Fitzgerald measured 729 feet long and had a gross tonnage of 13,632.

Nobody Knows What Sank the ‘Edmund Fitzgerald.’ But Its Doomed Final Voyage Will Always Be America’s Defining Shipwreck

Fifty years after the freighter disappeared into the depths of Lake Superior, the mystery of its demise—and the mournful ballad it inspired—still haunt the popular imagination

Friedrich Heyser's oil-on-canvas painting depicts a scene from William Shakespeare's Hamlet.

Why Hundreds of Taylor Swift Fans Are Flocking to See This 100-Year-Old Painting at a Museum in Germany

Painted around 1900, Friedrich Heyser’s “Ophelia” may have been an inspiration for a popular song on the singer’s latest album

Elsa Lanchester as The Bride in Bride of Frankenstein, 1935

This Designer Created Iconic Costumes for ‘Bride of Frankenstein’ and Other Classic Monster Movies. Her Mysterious Life Ended Tragically

Vera West made her mark on 20th-century horror cinema. Historians continue to ponder the sad circumstances of her story

For his roaring comeback, Knievel jumps 14 Greyhound buses at the Kings Island amusement park in Mason, Ohio, in October 1975.

After Motorcycle Daredevil Evel Knievel Failed to Clear 13 Buses on a Jump Attempt, There Was Only One Thing to Do: Try 14

A wreck in London broke his bones but not his spirit. So he got back on his two-wheeled horse and sailed through the Ohio sky, with half the country watching

Boris Karloff as Frankenstein's monster from the classic 1931 horror film Frankenstein

In Mary Shelley’s ‘Frankenstein,’ the Titular Scientist Laments His Nightmarish Creation. But the Real World Can’t Get Enough of His Monster

In the two centuries since the Gothic novel’s publication, the English writer’s tale of a science experiment gone wrong has captivated audiences around the world and taken on a life of its own

The original dye transfer print for David Bowie's Aladdin Sane album cover, shot by Brian Duffy

The Iconic Cover of David Bowie’s ‘Aladdin Sane’ Could Become the Most Expensive Album Artwork Ever Sold

Shot by Brian Duffy in 1973, the famous lightning bolt print is estimated to break the record currently held by Led Zeppelin’s self-titled debut album

From left to right: Director Paul Thomas Anderson and actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Benicio Del Toro on the set of One Battle After Another, a Warner Bros. Pictures release

Why Are Some of the World’s Best Directors Reviving This Special Film Format Created in the 1950s?

Paul Thomas Anderson utilized VistaVision to make his latest movie, “One Battle After Another,” which stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a bumbling, washed-up revolutionary trying to save his daughter

The Rocky Horror Picture Show debuted in theaters across the United States on September 26, 1975.

‘The Rocky Horror Picture Show’ Started Out as a Critical Flop. Fifty Years Later, the Beloved Film Is a Cultural Phenomenon

Creator Richard O’Brien reflects on how the 1975 movie musical became a haven for the “marginalized and disenfranchised”

David Lynch in his private movie studio at his Los Angeles estate in 2004.

David Lynch’s Sprawling Midcentury Compound in Los Angeles Could Be Yours for $15 Million

The “Twin Peaks” director worked on some of his most famous projects at the seven-building estate—which is also featured in the film “Lost Highway”

Director Steven Spielberg kneeling with a camera during the production of Jaws

Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of Steven Spielberg’s ‘Jaws’ With This Sprawling Exhibition at the Academy Museum

Visitors will learn about the making of the beloved summer blockbuster through more than 200 props, costumes, recreated sets and annotated script pages

Sweden's fans wave IKEA flags before a soccer game between Austria and Sweden in Vienna in 2023.

Sweden Releases an Official Cultural Canon That Features IKEA and ‘Pippi Longstocking’—but Not ABBA

Critics of the list, which features 100 artworks and other cultural creations from before 1975, say the selections are exclusionary

A listener selects “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley & His Comets on a classic Wurlitzer “bubbler.”  

The Colorful, Scandalous, True History of the Machine That Created American Pop

The jukebox got its start earlier than you might think, but it truly became iconic when rock ‘n’ roll took over in the 1950s

Young people in 1978 skateboarding at Kelvin Wheelies skatepark.

Archaeologists Are Digging Up Scotland’s Very First Outdoor Skatepark

Kelvin Wheelies skatepark, which hosted the country’s first national skateboarding competition, has been buried under rubble for decades

E.Y. “Yip” Harburg's sketch for the lyrics of “Over the Rainbow"

Want to See the Original Lyrics for ‘Over the Rainbow’? All You Need Is a Library Card

The Library of Congress has acquired a collection of musical manuscripts and other rare artifacts connected to “The Wizard of Oz”

Strongheart “was kind of a Jean-Claude Van Damme, Arnold Schwarzenegger [type] action hero,” says film studies scholar Kathryn Fuller-Seeley. 

Strongheart the German Shepherd Catapulted to Fame for His Heroics in Silent Films. Later, Spiritualist Writings Immortalized Him in Death

The beloved dog starred in six movies during the Roaring Twenties. After Strongheart died in 1929, author J. Allen Boone chronicled their enduring connection in a pair of nonfiction books

Fess Parker (left) played Davy Crockett (right) in a popular 1950s Disney TV show.

How Davy Crockett, the Rugged Frontiersman Killed at the Alamo, Became an Unlikely American Hero

During his lifetime, Crockett—who went by David, not Davy—shaped his own myth. In the 20th century, his legacy got a boost from none other than Walt Disney

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Before Meditation Apps, Listeners Were Hooked on Whale Songs, Rain Sounds and the ‘Scream of the Southern Leopard Frog’

We’ve been listening to the great outdoors from the comfort of our homes since the invention of the portable tape recorder. Can nature sounds drown out the cacophony of modern life?

A collection of CDs advertising AOL's dial-up internet services

The Sounds of AOL Dial-Up Defined the Early Internet. Now, the Service Is Shutting Down for Good

Many of today’s internet users remember browsing the web for the first time via AOL dial-up. But as subscribers dwindle, the service will be sunsetting on September 30

Artists Thom Yorke and Stanley Donwood

See the Abstract Artworks That Defined Radiohead’s Iconic Visual Style

A new exhibition explores the artistic collaborations between Thom Yorke, the rock band’s frontman, and artist Stanley Donwood, his longtime friend

The entrance to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

See Electric Aircraft, Rockets and Everyone’s Favorite ‘Star Wars’ Droid at the National Air and Space Museum’s Newly Reopened Galleries

Across five exhibition halls, the museum showcases the past, present and future of aviation and space travel

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