<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></title><description><![CDATA[Your GenX childhood in a podcast! Saving all the pop-culture nuggets from our 70s and 80s childhoods. Over 225 episodes!]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!uRqQ!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fee7c25fd-4110-45e9-b98b-6e962e0bcaf4_2400x2400.png</url><title>PopCulturePreservationSociety</title><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Tue, 25 Aug 2026 12:22:22 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[Michelle Newman]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[popculturepreservationsociety@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[popculturepreservationsociety@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[popculturepreservationsociety@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[popculturepreservationsociety@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[The Official Preppy Handbook: The Original Influencer]]></title><description><![CDATA[Before Coastal Grandma and Grandmillenial, there was Preppy&#8212;and in the 1980s, it was practically a way of life.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-official-preppy-handbook-the-12e</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-official-preppy-handbook-the-12e</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 24 Aug 2026 10:30:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/212528676/2910c29dc95ff42d27319317133b35cf.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Before Coastal Grandma and Grandmillenial, there was <em><strong>Preppy</strong></em>&#8212;and in the 1980s, it was practically a way of life. From Izods and penny loafers to monograms, madras, and The Official Preppy Handbook, we&#8217;re revisiting the look, the lore, and the aspirational fantasy that defined a certain corner of our Gen X childhoods.</p><p>In this episode, we share your hilarious and revealing listener comments and take a look at how the preppy aesthetic went from Ivy League campuses to suburban malls, television screens, and closets everywhere.</p><p>Carolyn shares how she deeply, unapologetically loved this book&#8212;and it informed far more of her life than she probably realized at the time.</p><p>But where did Kristin and Michelle fall on the Preppy Spectrum? Were they true preps, mall preps, reluctant preps&#8212;or <em>no way in hell</em>?</p><p>So grab your Izod, pop the collar and join us in our Volvo wagon for this trip down Memory Lane.</p><p>Find <em>The Official Preppy Handbook</em> <a href="https://archive.org/details/the-official-preppy-handbook-pdfdrive/page/50/mode/2up">here</a></p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Benign Neglect: GenX Parenting Stories]]></title><description><![CDATA[They don&#8217;t say GenX was raised on hose water and neglect for nothing.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/benign-neglect-genx-parenting-stories-b14</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/benign-neglect-genx-parenting-stories-b14</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 17 Aug 2026 10:30:00 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/211538059/a9e389f165ecd30ba2d1c9825aa26bf0.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>They don&#8217;t say GenX was raised on hose water and neglect for nothing. Sit your baby in the sun to tan? Yep! Give your toddler a lip of chewing tobacco? Sure (and make sure to snap a picture)! Babysit an infant with a heart monitor when you&#8217;re 10 years old? What could go wrong?!? Join us as we save the free-range, often lackluster parenting we experienced in our GenX childhoods by sharing some wild and hilarious stories sent in by many of our listeners ... who we are <em>so</em> glad made it out alive.</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[AM RADIO GOLD: 1978 - Part 2]]></title><description><![CDATA[Another episode talking about the songs of 1978 -- because they were just that good!]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/am-radio-gold-1978-part-2-794</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/am-radio-gold-1978-part-2-794</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 10 Aug 2026 10:30:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/210582660/02582bda491bcbb4412dc25094c1565c.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Another episode talking about the songs of 1978 -- because they were just that good! This is where we get deep into the songs, one after another, with Kristin going rogue and read-singing a whole list of favorites at the end. It was the height of disco, the dawn of yacht rock, and the golden era of sweet, soulful ballads that made us cry in the backseat of the station wagon as we drove that ribbon of highway to the gulf stream waters. In 1978 we had radios and we had feelings and that might be the glue that held us together and made us who we are today. Tune in to see if any of our picks give you some big feelings, too.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[AM Radio Gold: 1978]]></title><description><![CDATA[Join us on the podcast for another installment of our very popular series, "AM Radio Gold." This time we're celebrating our favorites from 1978 ...]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/am-radio-gold-1978-ad0</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/am-radio-gold-1978-ad0</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 03 Aug 2026 10:30:38 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/209612697/68f23a69f36e3095ca5530458837d961.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Join us on the podcast for another installment of our very popular series, "AM Radio Gold." This time we're celebrating our favorites from 1978 ... so many, in fact, that we split the episode into TWO PARTS! It was the year of juggernaut cultural game changers like Saturday Night Fever, Grease and anything with the name Gibb attached to it. No wonder we couldn&#8217;t stop talking! Will your favorite '78 songs be mentioned? (Spoiler: if it's "He's a Dancer" by Jimmy and Kristy McNichol, the answer is yes).</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[10 Things I Took Away From the Wham! 10 Days in China Documentary (and 10 Reasons You Need to Watch It) ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Picture this: 15,000 young concertgoers in post-Mao China, sitting stone-faced in near-total silence while two very energetic lads from North London bop around the stage in almost fast-forward speed, singing joyfully about (of all things) Freedom.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/10-things-i-took-away-from-the-wham</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/10-things-i-took-away-from-the-wham</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[Michelle Newman]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 01 Aug 2026 22:09:12 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg" width="1000" height="1250" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/d562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1250,&quot;width&quot;:1000,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:118849,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/i/209424576?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!SokN!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fd562a9bf-69a6-4d6d-a242-027dd57e90bc_1000x1250.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Picture this: 15,000 young concertgoers in post-Mao China, sitting stone-faced in near-total silence while two <em>very</em> energetic lads from North London bop around the stage in almost fast-forward speed, singing joyfully about (of all things) Freedom. The contradiction is significant; the irony is palpable. The awkwardness? EXTREME. <br><br><em>Wham! 10 Days in China</em> captures one of the most improbable rock tour experiments of the 1980s, and the new film that played in theaters for just one night last week (July 28) is a <em>masterclass </em>in cultural anomalies, communist history (as it pertains to pop music and just JOY in general), rabid and rude reporters, iconic plaid blazers, and the often overlooked influence Wham! had in the early 80s. (Hey, don&#8217;t look at me, they had me at Go-Go.) The documentary not only captures the band&#8217;s historic visit to China (they were the first Western pop group to ever perform there) but is full of  heartwarming, heartbreaking, and yes, even hilarious glimpses of their unprecendented 10 day visit. <br><br>I (Michelle) arrived at the theater last week (with 1984 George and Andrew emblazoned on my chest, naturally) thinking I was going to watch a concert movie. Perhaps sing along with the people in my row I&#8217;d befriended over a pre-movie chat about our favorite Wham! deep cuts (it&#8217;s &#8220;Heartbeat&#8221; for me since no one asked). And while yes, there was a significant amount of performance, that&#8217;s not what moved me. Here are 10 things that did (and yes, #2 is a hill I&#8217;ll die on).</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg" width="1456" height="1941" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:1941,&quot;width&quot;:1456,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:3295162,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/jpeg&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/i/209424576?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!bymy!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1dc7cd70-f43f-45f7-ae7a-7cecfd42281b_3672x4896.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>10. &#8220;Be careful what you wish for&#8221; should have been the alternate title of this film. Many of us Wham! fanatics know that their April 1985 performances in China were groundbreaking, with them being the first Western pop group to ever perform in the country (again, people,<em> this was in 1985</em> &#8230; not 1965). But their reason for performing wasn&#8217;t as altruistic as we thought. <br><br>Wham! hadn&#8217;t broken the United States yet, and TBH didn&#8217;t have the patience to start at the bottom, playing small venues and working their way up to the level of success they&#8217;d already found in the UK. (To be fair, present-day Andrew Ridgeley says George Michael also had undiagnosed vocal cord nodules, which is much better optics than greed, isn&#8217;t it?) The two-city tour in China was all a publicity stunt to MAKE IT BIG (no pun intended, but it&#8217;s a good one) in America. They figured all the attention they&#8217;d get from the press would lay much of the groundwork they&#8217;d need to hit the American soil running &#8230; and they were right. <br><br>However, <strong>be careful what you wish for, boys</strong>, because &#8230;</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>9. The journalists, reporters, and media ate them alive. For real, they were rabid, and not in a FANTASTIC way (yeah, it&#8217;s another pun; this one was intended). And George and Andrew (especially) had ZERO patience for it, especially when they were forced to have a press conference where the reporters spewed lies and grilled them on communist police activities at their concert that the boys had no knowledge of. George and Andrew were carrying an enormous weight and responsibility throughout these 10 days without factoring in the media, which made it far heavier. They weren&#8217;t prepared for it. Full stop. And the documentary illustrates their frustration and (dare I say it?) regret at this entire endeavor. The road to hell is paved with good intentions, right? </p><p>8. On a different note, Andrew Ridgeley can be a salty, spicy little lad, and I&#8217;m HERE FOR IT. Scene: The boys are taken to the Great Wall for photo ops. There are probably 75 media folks crowding them as they are instructed to stroll along &#8230; gaze out at the hills &#8230; pose with small children in communist police uniforms (as you do). One reporter shouts out to Andrew, who has had on his very 1985 rounded, mirrored sunnies the entire time, &#8220;Andrew! Can we get one without the glasses?&#8221; And Andrew just stands there like a statue, making no move for the glasses. #ICON</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png" width="321" height="477" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:477,&quot;width&quot;:321,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:295936,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/i/209424576?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!cGmj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F83afa411-4480-4905-a473-05b6f68888c6_321x477.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><br>7. Speaking of Andrew, I&#8217;ll be waiting for his 1985 style to come back around, which it should be doing soon if I&#8217;m doing my fashion-math correctly (maybe it already has? Oh sh*t, did I miss it?!?). Think oversized plaid blazers paired with a crisp white button-up shirt (buttoned all the way up to the top), skinny black ankle pants, white socks and black flats (in Andrew&#8217;s case, make them velvet with a gold skull and crossbones on them). I would wear that outfit <em>today</em>.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png" width="326" height="325" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:325,&quot;width&quot;:326,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:213564,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/png&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/i/209424576?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!qiie!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F027e362b-4892-40c3-9301-1a6632ed7403_326x325.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>6. The boys&#8217; fashion (and the band&#8217;s, which was equally fab), was in <em>stark</em> contrast to the Chinese concert attendees, who arrived at the venues in drab, gray slacks paired with long-sleeved shirts (also gray) for the men, and gray skirts and button-ups for the gals. Once again for the people in the back, this was <strong>1985</strong>, not 1965. And again, these people had <em>never heard</em> pop music. It was heartbreaking &#8212; and a little humorous &#8212; to watch them listen to &#8220;Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go&#8221; for the very first time. The looks of complete astonishment on their faces! They didn&#8217;t know what to do! But by the end of the song, these sheltered Chinese teens were bopping around the gigantic boombox in the store even though they had no idea what George was saying. Which segues nicely into &#8230;<br><br>5. Music, man. It&#8217;s a drug. It has the power to bridge cultural differences and change lives, even if you can&#8217;t understand the lyrics. <br></p><p>4. A good sax solo can make you cry. Go listen to the opening of &#8220;Careless Whisper&#8221; again. Now imagine that sax solo extended to about 4 minutes, in a dark arena filled with people who&#8217;ve <em>never heard</em> music like that before or have probably never seen a black musician in front of their very own eyes playing music that is so soulful it makes you cry. That. Is. Powerful. Stuff. <br><br>3. I&#8217;m not proud of it, but my knowledge of the political structure of China in April 1985 is not great. Example: I was surprised that the Beijing show was highly patrolled by the police, who were so concerned with FROLICKING and DANCING and general ENJOYMENT that they <em>arrested</em> a man for feeling the music and the joy so much that he did the unthinkable crime of getting up on his seat and dancing. Yet a couple of days later in Guangzhou, things were much more relaxed. The crowd screamed, clapped along, danced, and basically lost their minds. And it was not only okay, but celebrated. (Don&#8217;t bother schooling me about 1985 communist China in the comments. I promise I will not retain it.)</p><p>2. The #2 thing that moved me? The top of George Michael&#8217;s bare butt that you get a looong glimpse of when he&#8217;s being interviewed while getting a massage (see #9). That man was a piece of art. A PIECE OF ART. And no, that&#8217;s not me objectifying him; it&#8217;s me <em>appreciating</em> him. I think if you&#8217;ve made it this far, it goes without saying that I appreciate him for far more than his butt. His voice and his music are a gift that keeps on giving.<br>Exhibit A:</p><div id="youtube2-kIb4gM84-o0" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;kIb4gM84-o0&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/kIb4gM84-o0?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><p><br>And the #1 thing I took away from the documentary? It&#8217;s something I&#8217;ve known since 1984, but was illustrated so beautifully through this film:  Wham!&#8217;s music &#8212; and their unbridled <strong>JOY</strong> in performing &#8212; transcends politics, cultures, and decades. It <em>connects</em>. <br><br>Damn, we need more Wham! right now. Go push play on &#8220;I&#8217;m Your Man.&#8221; I dare you not to smile and clap and dance on your chair. As George Michael says, &#8220;do it with me.&#8221;<br><br>The <em>Wham! 10 Days in China </em>documentary was only in theaters for one day, but I&#8217;d bet it will be streaming soon. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer here. </p><div id="youtube2-buJaVlIE2_k" class="youtube-wrap" data-attrs="{&quot;videoId&quot;:&quot;buJaVlIE2_k&quot;,&quot;startTime&quot;:null,&quot;endTime&quot;:null}" data-component-name="Youtube2ToDOM"><div class="youtube-inner"><iframe src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/buJaVlIE2_k?rel=0&amp;autoplay=0&amp;showinfo=0&amp;enablejsapi=0" frameborder="0" loading="lazy" gesture="media" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowautoplay="true" allowfullscreen="true" width="728" height="409"></iframe></div></div><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">This Substack is reader-supported. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The One About Our 90s Era Weddings]]></title><description><![CDATA[In celebration of Carolyn&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s recent wedding, we&#8217;re taking you down the aisle with us as we reminisce about our own weddings and how wildly different the ceremonies, receptions, dresses, and all the accoutrements (or lack of) were from the weddings today.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-one-about-our-90s-era-weddings-c81</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-one-about-our-90s-era-weddings-c81</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 27 Jul 2026 10:30:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/208668328/0d5266ea0b91f2ba997842093589ef48.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In celebration of Carolyn&#8217;s daughter&#8217;s recent wedding, we&#8217;re taking you down the aisle with us as we reminisce about our own weddings and how wildly different the ceremonies, receptions, dresses, and all the accoutrements (or lack of) were from the weddings today. Which of us had an ice sculpture? Who made sure &#8220;(I&#8217;ve Had) The Time of My Life&#8221; was played at her reception? And which of us didn&#8217;t really want a wedding at all? Puff up those sleeves, slip on your dyed-to-match pumps, and join us for a fun chat about the days we all said, &#8220;I do.&#8221;</p><p>Enter the Hallmark+ ValPak Sweepstakes <a href="https://www.valpak.com/walkon">here</a></p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Mind The Gap: Testing our GenX Trivia Knowledge]]></title><description><![CDATA[What show starred Dixie Carter, Jean Smart, Annie Potts, and Delta Burke?]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/mind-the-gap-testing-our-genx-trivia-a4a</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/mind-the-gap-testing-our-genx-trivia-a4a</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 20 Jul 2026 10:30:01 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/207760012/994bc858706d3410569e09244dac23cc.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What show starred Dixie Carter, Jean Smart, Annie Potts, and Delta Burke? Can you name three of Mrs. Garrett&#8217;s charges in &#8220;Facts of Life?&#8221; Sure you can! But can we? Join us today as we test our GenX pop-culture knowledge &#8212; and yours &#8212; with one of our most recommended family games, Mind The Gap. Think all the questions are this easy? Think again. And when you&#8217;re shouting out answers at whatever device you&#8217;re listening on &#8212; or just shouting AT us &#8212; remember, we can&#8217;t hear you.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[How Costco Sparked a GenX Pandemonium]]></title><description><![CDATA[and Why it&#8217;s Okay to be Panic-Buying ESPRIT Sweatshirts]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/how-costco-sparked-a-genx-pandemonium</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/how-costco-sparked-a-genx-pandemonium</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 17 Jul 2026 14:57:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/435878c9-9251-4551-a17a-5f442c6c383a_1650x1275.jpeg" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Attention, children of the &#8216;80s. Put down your Sprunch Spray, pause your mixtape, and step away from The Love Boat. We need to talk about what is currently happening in the clothing aisle of Costco.</p><p>No, it&#8217;s not a sale on 20-pound tubs of guac. It is something far more important. Dare we even say &#8230; <em>sacred?</em></p><p>This is not a drill, people: ESPRIT is back, and it&#8217;s (strangely) at Costco&#8230;and Generation X is currently losing its collective mind.</p><p>Imagine our surprise and delight when we recently perused the middle aisle of Costco and discovered throwback, colorful ESPRIT logo sweatshirts nestled right between the bulk K-cups and industrial-sized bottles of maple syrup, for the low price of $16.99.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg" width="1456" height="1477" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!hiYA!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fe3c27a76-0af7-4336-9ca8-4dcc8ee6b832_3024x3067.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Did we lose our minds? Did we race-walk like a 5th grader on their way to recess? Did we perhaps let out a scream that was more than a little alarming for the old man shopping for Levis at the next table? Yes, yes, and definitely &#8212; and apologetically, sir &#8212; yes.</p><p>If you didn&#8217;t grow up in the era of neon, cassette tapes, and iron-on t-shirt decals, it&#8217;s hard to explain the absolute chokehold ESPRIT had on us. Walking the halls of your middle or high school wearing that instantly-identifiable logo (you know, the one with the missing vertical bar on the capital E) or carrying your Trapper Keeper in a multi-colored ESPRIT tote, you walked a little taller; you were the fashion north star. </p><p>And we all have an ESPRIT story! Maybe you, like Michelle, were lucky enough to visit one of the gigantic ESPRIT outlet stores &#8212; the mecca, the Disneyland, the Taj Mahal of 80s fashion &#8212; and stock up on school clothes, shoes, and totes galore (as long as you shared them with your sister).</p><p>Maybe you have memories of flipping through the iconic, glossy catalogs, or scouring the pages of your Seventeen magazine for the colorful, whimsical ads, perhaps even tearing them out (with great care) to pin to your bulletin board or decoupage your PeeChee folder. </p><p>Maybe your mom told you you didn&#8217;t <em>need</em> to wear a clothing brand ON THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR CLOTHES, KIMBERLY to look cool, no matter how much you coveted that stenciled logo.</p><p>Maybe you saved all your babysitting money for the hugely-popular multi-colored logo tee and wore it in your school picture for three years in a row.</p><p>Whatever your ESPRIT story is, it&#8217;s time to write a new one. Yes, one that stars your 45, 55, even 60 year old self &#8230; <em>if</em> you&#8217;re lucky enough to snag one right now at Costco.</p><p>No lie, GenXers around the country are in a panic, calling in sick to hit all the Costcos in a 3-state radius, creating text-trees (like phone-trees but make it 2026) so when Lisa M. finds the sweatshirts in stock she can get enough for Lisa J., Lisa P., Jennifer L., Jennifer B., and Amy. It&#8217;s chaos. It&#8217;s panic. And it&#8217;s <em>joyful</em>. Full-on friendships are being cultivated at the sweatshirt stacks! When Michelle was furiously rummaging through the sizes at her local Costco (which still has plenty if any of you want to make a trip to Denver) and panicking because she couldn&#8217;t find any size Large, a woman balancing a stack of about five sweatshirts in one hand and texting with her friend in California in the other kindly pointed her in the direction of the right stack. This led to both of them trying on various sizes for each other to assess the fit, the woman snapping photos of Michelle in both a size L and XL (seems her CA friend is about Michelle&#8217;s size), and a fun discovery of shared early-80s visits to the ESPRIT outlet. If Michelle hadn&#8217;t had to be at an appointment they&#8217;d probably still be there, reminiscing about the different styles of tote bags over a hot dog/Coke combo.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg" width="1456" height="1941" 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srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mvTo!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa925fcb2-df8b-499f-81a3-6918aa2463d5_3672x4896.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>Some GenXers are even healing their inner (still bitter) child to be able to buy one now for just $17 when their family couldn&#8217;t afford the pricey brand in the 80s. Heartwarming stuff.</p><p>Sure, some may say it&#8217;s just a sweatshirt. But is it? As we navigate the complexities of mid-life and menopause, these Costco ESPRIT sweatshirts are wrapping us up in more than (moderately) cozy fleece. They&#8217;re hugging us with their colorful joy. They&#8217;re a reminder of a time when we didn&#8217;t wakeup in the middle of the night in a pool of our own sweat.</p><p>When our knees didn&#8217;t betray us unexpectedly while climbing up our own stairs. </p><p>When we&#8217;re smack in the middle of losing our kids to life and our parents to death.</p><p>When we had departments in our country that helped make sure raspberries didn&#8217;t give us explosive diarrhea for three weeks.</p><p>When <em>life was simpler.</em></p><p>After all, Esprit de corps translates literally to &#8220;spirit of the body.&#8221; In practice, it describes a shared feeling of camaraderie, enthusiasm, and devotion to a cause among the members of a group. And when you find a $17 piece of clothing that can do all that? Magic.</p><p>So join the hunt.</p><p>Go to Costco.</p><p>Get the sweatshirt, if you can.</p><p>Just make sure to leave one for that sweaty-faced GenXer race-walking up behind you.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Your TOP 10 Favorite Shows from Sid & Marty Krofft]]></title><description><![CDATA[Welcome to part 2 of our deep dive on the shows of Sid & Marty Krofft, the pioneers of children's television who put a little psychedelic puppetry in your Saturday morning TV.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/your-top-10-favorite-shows-from-sid-d35</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/your-top-10-favorite-shows-from-sid-d35</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 13 Jul 2026 10:30:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/206823779/4d5b99b5142f4d863000ac75efba7089.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Welcome to part 2 of our deep dive on the shows of Sid &amp; Marty Krofft, the pioneers of children's television who put a little psychedelic puppetry in your Saturday morning TV. This time we're counting down the 10 best Krofft-created shows according to YOU, from standalone shows like The Bugaloos and Land of the Lost to the short features on The Krofft Supershow and The Bay City Rollers Show. There were aliens, dinosaurs, genies, bigfoots (bigfeet?), flying dune buggies, flying monkeys, flying cars, flying bikes and, much to Carolyn's horror, lots of inanimate items that can somehow talk and make facial expressions -- and our followers and listeners had opinions about all of them! Which show got -1 votes? And which one landed in the #1 spot? Join us to find out.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Friday Feel-Good Three]]></title><description><![CDATA[A prescription for nostalgia, joy, and analog living]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-friday-feel-good-three</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-friday-feel-good-three</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 10 Jul 2026 19:48:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At the Pop Culture Preservation Society, we believe nostalgia isn&#8217;t about living in the past&#8230;it&#8217;s about borrowing a little joy from it. Sometimes all it takes is a familiar song, the smell of fresh magazine pages, or revisiting a favorite pop culture memory to remind us who we&#8217;ve always been.</p><p>So every Friday, we&#8217;re sharing three simple ways to reconnect with the little things that made life feel magical. Think of this as your weekly prescription for a hit of nostalgia, a boost of dopamine, and a weekend that&#8217;s a little less digital and a lot more delightful.</p><p><strong>1. Listen to a song from the summer you were 12.</strong></p><p>There&#8217;s something about the music from that magical age that instantly transports us back to bike rides, swimming pools, sleeping bags, and endless summer evenings. Find one song from the summer you were 12, turn it up louder than necessary, and let your brain do the rest.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png" width="1200" height="1800" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:1800,&quot;width&quot;:1200,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:0,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!M4dj!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F11929326-fe1f-4441-8ee1-79d63791fae2_1200x1800.png 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>2. Buy a real, honest-to-goodness print magazine.</strong></p><p>Not a website. Not a PDF. The actual paper kind. Wander into a bookstore, grocery store, airport, or drugstore and pick one up. Flip the pages slowly. Read an article you didn&#8217;t know you needed. It feels wonderfully rebellious in 2026.</p><p></p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg" width="710" height="952" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:952,&quot;width&quot;:710,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:0,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!73Xs!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F45f66545-9d41-4cbe-be1b-ebfa28e4d634_710x952.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a><figcaption class="image-caption">Oh&#8230;that coveted Back-To-School issue of Seventeen</figcaption></figure></div><p><strong>3. Queue up a Pop Culture Preservation Society episode.</strong></p><p>Might we suggest our <strong><a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/6dOkJL8NuLnsqxHvYQg3VF?si=7r7a-3ulQTG9lAgEtVuPEQ&amp;utm_source=copy-link">Summer Blockbusters</a></strong> episode? It&#8217;s the perfect companion for a walk, a road trip, folding laundry, or simply soaking up a little cinematic nostalgia.</p><p>Three tiny assignments. Zero pressure. Maximum joy.</p><p>We&#8217;ll see you next Friday with three more ways to create a little happiness by revisiting the things that have been making us smile all along.</p><p>Now go make some future nostalgia.</p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Krofft Supershow Universe]]></title><description><![CDATA[HR Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and so many more giant foam puppet-like things haunt the dreams of our 1970's childhood.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-krofft-supershow-universe-de1</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-krofft-supershow-universe-de1</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 06 Jul 2026 10:30:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/205483628/91c728c8bddf2679f6b2d3327bd9c760.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>HR Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and so many more giant foam puppet-like things haunt the dreams of our 1970's childhood. The world of Sid and Marty Krofft dominated Saturday morning TV from 1969 until the mid 80's and left a unique and psychadelic mark on television history. The Krofft universe was both drug-induced AND for children and featured things like a faux glam rock band with the unfortunate initials KKK, Gomer Pyle as an alien from outer space, another faux band who could fly (because they were bugs), a flute who could talk, another faux band made up of sea monsters, some enormous hats walking around on tiny feet???? An evil madman with a shrinking machine, TWO LADY SUPERHEROES, a witch who was way too scary for children, and &#8211; I only have to say this once to send shivers down the spines of every Gen Xer &#8230;SLEESTAKS.</p><p>For some, the world of Sid and Marty Krofft is anchored by Krofft Supershow but for others that universe is anchored by HR Pufnstuf. But suffice it to say &#8212; this world could only happen once in human history. And it was the 1970s.</p><p>Join us today for part one of a two-part deep dive on the shows created by Sid &amp; Marty Krofft and the legacy they left behind.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Our Sponsors:<br>* Check out Kensington Publishing: https://www.kensingtonbooks.com<br><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Stars' Second Acts and Greg Evigan Like You've Never Heard Him Before]]></title><description><![CDATA[What do Shirley Temple, Jonathan Knight, Phoebe Cates, Christopher Atkins, Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, and Greg Evigan all have in common?]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/stars-second-acts-and-greg-evigan-c13</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/stars-second-acts-and-greg-evigan-c13</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 29 Jun 2026 10:30:22 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/204093768/51036abb348e1f5f7502cb2d3b01c9c2.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>What do Shirley Temple, Jonathan Knight, Phoebe Cates, Christopher Atkins, Matt Dillon, Andrew McCarthy, and Greg Evigan all have in common?</p><p>They proved that life doesn&#8217;t end when the closing credits roll.</p><p>This week, we&#8217;re celebrating the glorious second act&#8212;those moments when our favorite stars traded fame for fulfillment, discovering that sometimes the best role of your life comes after the one that made you famous. From diplomats to furniture makers, painters to farmhouse restorers, boutique owners to orchestral composers, these former teen idols remind us that it&#8217;s never too late to become who you were always meant to be.</p><p>Plus, we sit down with the endlessly talented Greg Evigan (BJ and the Bear, My Two Dads) about living a dream and recording an original orchestral album with London&#8217;s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. It&#8217;s a conversation about creativity, passion and persistence.</p><p>Along the way we wonder: Is Gen X finally entering its own second act? Should you become a potter? A cobbler? A woodworker? (Christopher Atkins says yes.) And why does Jonathan Knight make us all want to buy a fixer-upper and adopt a donkey?</p><p>Because maybe the biggest lesson of all is this: we are never just one thing.</p><p>So grab your Shirley Temple, dust off your dreams, and join us for an episode that&#8217;s equal parts nostalgia, inspiration, and proof that the best chapters sometimes begin after page 50.</p><p>Purchase Greg Evigan's new album on his website <a href="https://www.evigan.com/shop/">here</a> or on Bandcamp <a href="https://gregevigan.bandcamp.com/album/greg-evigan-with-londons-royal-philharmonic-orchestra">here</a></p><p>Find Christopher Atkins' driftwood creations on his Instagram profile <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DN06i3jYmSB/?img_index=1">here</a> and reach out for more information at driftwoodcreations@yahoo.com.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Bicentennial Bonanza: Party Like It's 1976!]]></title><description><![CDATA[For us GenXers born before about 1972, the build-up to our nation&#8217;s Bicentennial was truly one of the most anticipated events of our young lives.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/bicentennial-bonanza-party-like-its-1b0</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/bicentennial-bonanza-party-like-its-1b0</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 22 Jun 2026 10:30:34 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/203070976/f3c591fae79915fb1939f21883e4f0e4.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>For us GenXers born before about 1972, the build-up to our nation&#8217;s Bicentennial was truly one of the most anticipated events of our young lives. Join us as we celebrate the Spirit of '76 through <em>your</em> eyes, with a collection of special, star-spangled Bicentennial memories straight from our listeners &#8212; from getting pennies smashed by the passing Freedom Train to collecting those treasured Bicentennial quarters to costumes &#8212; SO. MANY. COSTUMES. (Special shoutout to the Tricorn hat.) Let&#8217;s celebrate our collective patriotic memories together as we get ready for the 50th anniversary of the unforgettable Bicentennial and that undeniable SPIRIT of '76!</p><p>Get Mike Derrico's book "Bicentennial Chic: Bronx Bombers, KISSteria &amp; the Birth of Saturday Night Fever" <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/bicentennial-chic-bronx-bombers-son-of-sam-kissteria-the-birth-of-saturday-night-fever-mike-derrico/45907f17731cb62e?ean=9781735476766&amp;next=t">here</a></p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[The Fountain of Youth Tastes Suspiciously Like Froot Loops]]></title><description><![CDATA[Why Saturday morning cartoons, Scholastic Book orders, and old mixtapes might be better for your wellbeing than any wellness trend.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-fountain-of-youth-tastes-suspiciously</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/the-fountain-of-youth-tastes-suspiciously</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 20 Jun 2026 03:22:25 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/596ec04d-9218-480b-b124-889a47330178_1200x630.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey guess what? It turns out the fountain of youth isn&#8217;t a fountain at all&#8230;or a pill, or a cream or an uncomfortable laser procedure. There are no hormones or adaptogens or reps or kegels and we don&#8217;t give a sh*t about your cortisol. If you want to stay youthful and vibrant forever, it&#8217;s as simple as revisiting that feeling you got when your Scholastic Book order arrived. Not even kidding! Or listening to The Carpenters Greatest Hits or rewatching &#8220;The Boy in the Plastic Bubble&#8221; or pouring yourself a bowl of Froot Loops and watching a few episodes of Underdog. We&#8217;ve learned this first hand as hosts of the Pop Culture Preservation Society podcast where we, Carolyn Cochrane, Kristin Nilsen and Michelle Newman, discuss and dissect the crushes, clothes, books, movies, songs, tv and toys that shaped our Gen X youth.&nbsp;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg" width="717" height="403.4701055099648" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:480,&quot;width&quot;:853,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:717,&quot;bytes&quot;:0,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!F9Gh!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9c5a4c58-23d6-4b88-8835-c224e9b05a8c_853x480.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>We&#8217;re not here to convince you that everything was better when we were kids. It wasn&#8217;t! People were a**holes back then, too! Our only two beverages were Kool Aid and hose water! Instead we&#8217;re here to examine our Gen X childhoods, laugh hysterically, cry unexpectedly, and see how all of that informs who we are today. </p><blockquote><p>Every generation has a story. Ours happened to be told through Saturday morning cartoons, shopping malls, mixtapes, sitcoms, and the last great analog childhood. </p></blockquote><p>And &#8211; stay with us here &#8211; what if nostalgia wasn&#8217;t just about going backward? What if it was about bringing our younger and older selves together in the same room? And what if that actually helped us live a happier life? THIS is what we do.&nbsp;</p><p>Psychologist and nostalgia researcher, <a href="https://www.clayroutledge.com/">Clay</a> <a href="https://www.clayroutledge.com/">Routledge</a>, believes that nostalgia is one of the most underrated psychological resources we have. Author Kate Bowler just wrote about his work in a recent Substack <a href="https://open.substack.com/pub/katebowler/p/nostalgia-you-sneaky-thing?r=2jj8c9&amp;utm_medium=ios">post</a> and she says, &#8220;His (Routledge) core move is to flip the orientation. Nostalgia looks backward, but it functions forward. It is not retreat; it is preparation. It is how we pull the past into the present in order to imagine a future that has us in it. Nostalgia, Routledge argues, puts us on the offense.&#8221; YES YES YES!!! We&#8217;re not wallowing in Happy Days, we&#8217;re accessing those feelings we had for Fonzie and getting a little boost of dopamine so we can function like rational adults in this irrational world.</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg" width="447" height="447" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:447,&quot;width&quot;:447,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:0,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n4QG!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F04873a71-1f42-4796-a260-6694c554f94e_447x447.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p></p><p>Several years ago, we attended a Barry Manilow concert in Palm Springs (and, yes, we did bring the average age of the audience down by about 10 years). At one point in the show, a large screen descended over the stage and we saw video of the first time a then thirtysomething-year old Barry sang &#8220;Mandy&#8221; on television. After the chorus&#8230;the real, present day, 78-year-old Barry strolls on stage to sit at his piano and join his younger self in a &#8220;duet&#8221; of that epic song. At that exact moment, we were our little girl selves AND our present day selves. As Carolyn likes to say, &#8220;My 11 year-old self and 55 year-old self were holding hands and belting out Mandy together!&#8221; We&#8217;ve come to refer to these kinds of experiences as being &#8220;Manilowed.&#8221; We guarantee you that there is no better anti-aging drug that is as powerful as being &#8220;Manilowed.&#8221;</p><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg" width="462" height="462" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:&quot;normal&quot;,&quot;height&quot;:736,&quot;width&quot;:736,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:462,&quot;bytes&quot;:0,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:true,&quot;topImage&quot;:false,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:null,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!n1Wl!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F34ae5697-29cd-4a3b-9554-1bad7e439d15_736x736.jpeg 1456w" sizes="100vw" loading="lazy"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p>This is legit, people. Research shows that flipping through an old issue of Tiger Beat while listening to the &#8220;Grease&#8221; soundtrack is <em><strong>good for you</strong></em>. These trips down Memory Lane increase our wellbeing, our sense of self, and our connection to one another. And really, isn&#8217;t that something we could all use a little more of right now?</p><p>So rev up that DeLorean, buckle up and give the Pop Culture Preservation Society <a href="https://www.poppreservationists.com/episodes">podcast</a> a listen. </p><div class="native-audio-embed" data-component-name="AudioPlaceholder" data-attrs="{&quot;label&quot;:null,&quot;mediaUploadId&quot;:&quot;4baf1596-d503-4b7f-8ce0-8fc45863f318&quot;,&quot;duration&quot;:80.32653,&quot;downloadable&quot;:false,&quot;isEditorNode&quot;:true}"></div><h3></h3><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption"></p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Sailing Away to The Summer of 1980]]></title><description><![CDATA[We're kicking off Season 19 AND summer by saving the summer when the galaxy got a lot darker, the music got a lot smoother, and we wore out the stickers on our Rubik's Cubes waiting to find out who shot J.R.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/sailing-away-to-the-summer-of-1980-1ce</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/sailing-away-to-the-summer-of-1980-1ce</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 15 Jun 2026 10:30:09 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202105070/17aba97eeee9de81584df1da7f91719a.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>We're kicking off Season 19 AND summer by <em>saving</em> the summer when the galaxy got a lot darker, the music got a lot smoother, and we wore out the stickers on our Rubik's Cubes waiting to find out who shot J.R. -- the summer of 1980! Relive the movies (&#8220;Luke, I am your father&#8221;), the music (&#8220;What&#8217;s the matter with the clothes I&#8217;m wearing?&#8221;), the (Incredible!) TV shows, and so much more as we take you on a journey back to a summer when chasing the ice-cream truck and making up dances to the Grease soundtrack were all that really mattered.</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Season 19 Preview: Krofft Supershows, "Airplane," Preppies and so much MORE]]></title><description><![CDATA[It&#8217;s one of our favorite episodes of every season&#8212;the one where we pull back the curtain and give you a sneak peek at what&#8217;s ahead.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/season-19-preview-krofft-supershows-194</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/season-19-preview-krofft-supershows-194</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 08 Jun 2026 10:30:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202007916/a9153fd8d52062f33212f9fead1865b1.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>It&#8217;s one of our favorite episodes of every season&#8212;the one where we pull back the curtain and give you a sneak peek at what&#8217;s ahead.</p><p>In this preview episode, we're sharing the "coming attractions" for Season 19. From a summer that helped define a decade to a pop culture movement that inspired both admiration and eye rolls, we&#8217;ve got nostalgia, laughter, trivia, deep dives, and a few long-awaited topics that have been sitting on our wish list for years.</p><p>So grab a Ding Dong, a frozen slice of pound cake, or whatever snack instantly transports you back to childhood, and settle in to learn what's in store for Season 19.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p>Public</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Why Summer Reading Programs Were The Best ... and Our Picks For YOUR 2026 Summer Reading List]]></title><description><![CDATA[Kick off summer with us by remembering the summer reading programs or our youth and the excitement we felt to read our way to a super ball &#8230; or a Garfield pencil &#8230; or a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/why-summer-reading-programs-were-9a8</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/why-summer-reading-programs-were-9a8</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 01 Jun 2026 10:30:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202007917/db2f68e7dd07288afc94e8f5daaccb7a.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Kick off summer with us by remembering the summer reading programs or our youth and the excitement we felt to read our way to a super ball &#8230; or a Garfield pencil &#8230; or a Pizza Hut personal pan pizza. (And bonus if you got a mimeographed certificate!) Then we&#8217;re helping you create your own 2026 summer reading program by giving you a plethora of our own reading and listening recommendations, PLUS a way to print off your very own PCPS-created reading log. Sorry, super ball or personal pan pizza not included.</p><p>Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[Gen X As Punching Bag: Why The Internet Is Beating Up On The Most Overlooked and Underestimated Generation]]></title><description><![CDATA[In today's PCPS Light episode, we three proud Gen Xers try to have a quick, refreshing conversation about an emerging trend in our culture; but it's hard to be brief when you feel unfairly attacked.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/gen-x-as-punching-bag-why-the-internet-c62</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/gen-x-as-punching-bag-why-the-internet-c62</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 25 May 2026 10:30:58 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202007918/4276af50d6c6f01452cc52d7f9ae4aa5.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In today's PCPS Light episode, we three proud Gen Xers try to have a quick, refreshing conversation about an emerging trend in our culture; but it's hard to be brief when you feel unfairly attacked. Especially when the attacks seem to originate from extreme misunderstandings about who Gen Xers are and how they got this way. Perhaps this is because Gen Xers don't share much about the unique circumstances of their unsupervised childhoods. We're just not complainers or finger pointers. WHY? Because no one is home and you've let yourself into the house with the key around your neck and you're going to heat up some Spaghettios for dinner and it's FINE. We're all FINE. What's to tell? As a result, younger generations seem to have us mixed up with Boomers (WHAT?!). No disrespect to young Boomers but those elder Boomers (plus Silent Gen) are the ones who made us latchkey kids in the first place! Sometimes our Boomer/Silent parents were busy putting food on the table and keeping a roof overhead and sometimes they were busy with Jazzercise but, either way, Gen Xers figured it out and grew up to be helicopter parents. Coincidence? HA! Join us today for an exploration of what the F is actually going on&nbsp;-- come on, vent with us!Subscribe to our favorite magazine and get 83% off just by being a PCPS listener. Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[PCPS Light-Listen To Your Meds: Why Music is Medicine, and Our Reset Playlists]]></title><description><![CDATA[Next time you&#8217;re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, try listening to your favorite music from your adolescence!]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/pcps-light-listen-to-your-meds-why-0d2</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/pcps-light-listen-to-your-meds-why-0d2</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 18 May 2026 10:30:54 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202007919/9117eab389c3b0596d32725b70de28b5.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Next time you&#8217;re feeling overwhelmed or anxious, try listening to your favorite music from your adolescence! Today we&#8217;re talking about how the music of our youth can act like a weighted blanket and is proven to help you CALM THE EFF DOWN. Then we&#8217;re sharing our own &#8220;cortisol cleanse&#8221; playlists with you (NO JUDGMENT!) and telling you why we go to artists like Prince, the Carpenters, Wham!, and Phil Collins as easily (and as often) as we do our medicine cabinets.</p><p>Subscribe to our favorite magazine and get 83% off just by being a PCPS listener. Click <a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a> for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at <a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a> to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel <a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a> an <a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get <a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation <a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" <a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[PCPS Light: The Analog Comeback We've Been Waiting For]]></title><description><![CDATA[In this PCPS Light, we&#8217;re talking about something we can&#8217;t stop noticing: analog is having a moment, and Gen X saw it coming.]]></description><link>https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/pcps-light-the-analog-comeback-weve-d24</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://popculturepreservationsociety.substack.com/p/pcps-light-the-analog-comeback-weve-d24</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PopCulturePreservationSociety]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Mon, 11 May 2026 10:30:40 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/202007920/5967d56b335940a194f1ae049f38411b.mp3" length="0" type="audio/mpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>In this PCPS Light, we&#8217;re talking about something we can&#8217;t stop noticing: analog is having a moment, and Gen X saw it coming.</p><p>From writing by hand to creative hobbies to simply slowing down, we explore why so many people (including our kids) are craving a break from constant screens. Is it nostalgia? Maybe. But it also feels like something deeper. It's like our brains and bodies asking for a different pace.</p><p>This episode is part cultural observation, part personal reflection, and full of the usual tangents. If you&#8217;ve been feeling a little digitally overwhelmed, consider this your gentle nudge to pick something up&#8230; that isn&#8217;t your phone.</p><p>Gabrielle Blair's Substack <a href="https://altsummit.substack.com/p/the-analog-revival-has-arrivedis">"The Analog Revival Has Arrived"</a></p><p><a href="https://www.instagram.com/tinypricksproject/">The Tiny Pricks Project</a></p><p><a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/crafting-a-better-world-inspiration-and-diy-projects-for-craftivists-diana-weymar/0303ee8eed8219cd?ean=9780063389281&amp;next=t">Crafting a Better World </a>by Diana Wymar</p><p><a href="https://www.geezermagazine.com/">Geezer Magazine</a></p><p>Subscribe to our favorite magazine and get 83% off just by being a PCPS listener. Click&nbsp;<a href="http://www.remindmagazine.com/pop">here</a>&nbsp;for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.</p><p>Shop our link at&nbsp;<a href="https://bookshop.org/shop/pcps">bookshop.org</a>&nbsp;to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.</p><p>Subscribe to our YouTube channel&nbsp;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@popculturepres1">here</a></p><p>Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Instagram</a>,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/popculturepreservationsociety/">Facebook</a>&nbsp;an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.tiktok.com/@popculturepressociety">TikTok</a></p><p>Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on&nbsp;<a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">Patreon</a>. Check all the extra perks you get&nbsp;<a href="http://patreon.com/popculturepreservationsociety">here</a>.</p><p>Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation&nbsp;<a href="https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=QGGLBTMERYBPJ">here</a></p><p>Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader"&nbsp;<a href="https://view.flodesk.com/pages/6130f219d0d5896caac5ff29">here</a></p><p>Send us an email at hello@poppreservationists.com</p><p><br><br>Advertising Inquiries: <a href="https://redcircle.com/brands">https://redcircle.com/brands</a></p>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>