In Popular Culture
The 1938 movie Algiers (a remake of the French film Pépé le Moko of the previous year) was most Americans' introduction to the picturesque alleys and souks of the Casbah. In 1948 a musical remake, Casbah, was released.
The invitation "Come with me to the Casbah," which was heard in trailers for Algiers but not in the film itself, became an exaggerated romantic overture, largely owing to its use by Looney Tunes cartoon character Pepé Le Pew, himself a spoof of Pépé le Moko. The amorous skunk used "Come with me to ze Casbah" as a pickup line. In 1954, the Looney Tunes cartoon The Cats Bah specifically spoofed Algiers, with the skunk enthusiastically declaring, "You do not have to come with me to ze Casbah.... We are already 'ere!"
The Casbah Coffee Club was a rock and roll music venue in West Derby, Liverpool, started by Mona Best in 1959 in the cellar of the family home. It became famous for being one of the locations where The Quarrymen/The Beatles started their musical career.
In the 1966 film The Battle of Algiers, all the main characters (other than Col. Mathieu) live in the Casbah.
In 1982 the English London-based punk rock group The Clash released the single "Rock the Casbah", about Iran's outlawing of music, particularly disco. The song reached #15 in the UK music charts. The following year the single was released in the U.S., reaching #8 in the charts. "Rock the Casbah" was also the first song played on the Armed Forces Radio during Operation Desert Shield. It became the unofficial anthem for the U.S. Armed Forces during the Gulf War operations. Rachid Taha, an Algerian singer based in France closely connected to The Clash, recorded "Rock el Casbah" in Arabic.
Read more about this topic: Casbah
Famous quotes containing the words popular and/or culture:
“The lowest form of popular culture—lack of information, misinformation, disinformation, and a contempt for the truth or the reality of most people’s lives—has overrun real journalism. Today, ordinary Americans are being stuffed with garbage.”
—Carl Bernstein (b. 1944)
“The future is built on brains, not prom court, as most people can tell you after attending their high school reunion. But you’d never know it by talking to kids or listening to the messages they get from the culture and even from their schools.”
—Anna Quindlen (b. 1953)