The Revolution Will Not Be Televised - Cultural References

Cultural References

• "Plug in, turn on, and cop out", a reference to Timothy Leary's pro-LSD phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
• "Skag", slang term for heroin
• Xerox, best-known manufacturer (at the time of the poem's writing) of photocopying machines
• Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States
• John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General under Nixon
• General Creighton Abrams, one of the commanders of military operations in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War
• Mendel Rivers, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee during the period of the Vietnam War
• Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president of the United States under Nixon
• "Hog maws", sometimes misheard as "hog moss", soul food made from the lining of the stomach, or maw, of a pig
• Schaefer Award Theatre, an anthology of theatrical films that aired on several U.S. TV stations
• Natalie Wood, film actress
• Steve McQueen, film actor
• Bullwinkle, cartoon character
• Julia, a TV half-hour sitcom series starring Diahann Carroll.
• "Give your mouth sex appeal", from Ultra Brite toothpaste advertising
• "The revolution will not get rid of the nubs", the nubs being beard stubble, from a Gillette Techmatic razor advertisement of the period
• Either Willie May, a sprinter, or Willie Mays, a baseball player; the context is unclear from the line which has "you" and May(s) "pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run."
• "NBC will not be able to predict the winner at 8:32", a reference to television networks predicting the winner of presidential elections shortly after the polls close at 8 pm.
• Whitney Young, civil rights leader
• Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP
• Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, alluding to the Watts Riots of 1965
• "Red, black, and green", the colors of the Pan-African flag
• Green Acres, a U.S. television sitcom
• The Beverly Hillbillies, a U.S. television sitcom
• "Hooterville Junction" (a corruption of Petticoat Junction, a U.S. television sitcom)
• Dick and Jane, white children, a brother and sister, featured in American basal readers
• Search for Tomorrow, a popular U.S. television soap opera
• "Hairy-armed women liberationists", a reference to mid-century members of the feminist movement
• Jackie Onassis, the late U.S. President John F. Kennedy's widow, seen during the period in television broadcasts of John F. Kennedy memorials
• Jim Webb, U.S. composer
• Francis Scott Key, lyricist of "The Star-Spangled Banner"
• Glen Campbell, U.S. pop music singer
• Tom Jones, Welsh pop music singer
• Johnny Cash, U.S. country music singer
• Engelbert Humperdinck, British pop music singer
• Rare Earth, all-white U.S. pop music band signed to Motown Records
• "White tornado", advertising slogan for Ajax cleanser, "Ajax cleans like a white tornado"
• "White lightning", a slang term for moonshine, the name of a 1950s country and western song by George Jones, and an American psychedelic rock band.
• "Dove in your bedroom", an advertising image associated with Dove anti-perspirant deodorant
• reference to "Put a tiger in your tank", an Esso (now Exxon) advertising slogan created by Chicago copywriter Emery Smith
• "Giant in your toilet bowl," a reference to Liquid-Plumr commercials saying that it cleared so well it was like "having a giant in your toilet bowl" with an animation of a large arm using a plunger on your toilet.
• reference to "Things go better with Coke", a Coca-Cola advertising slogan
• reference to "Fights germs that may cause bad breath", from Listerine advertising
• reference to "Let Hertz put you in the driver's seat", advertising slogan for Hertz car rental