Tag: DragonKing Dark
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DragonKingKarl Classic Wrestling Show: What’s so special about 1983?
Karl Stern looks at one of the most important years in pro wrestling history. 1983 was one of the most important years in the history of professional wrestling. Here’s some examples: The building of the WWF national expansion The fall of the territories The eventual birth of the major yearly event Hulkamania The fall of…
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DragonKing Dark: Death of Chester Bennington
Continuing our 100 darkest moments in pop culture series we take a look at the tragic death of Linkin Park frontman Chester Bennington. Bennington was one of a series of high profile musicians who died very young after a life of battling mental illness and addiction. The tragic story of Chester Bennington touched many in…
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DragonKing Dark: The Harvey Weinstein scandal
My ongoing series examining 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history continues with a look at the movie scandal that spawned the #MeToo movement and the many crimes of producer Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein was a powerful movie producer in Hollywood who is accused of numerous heinous sexual assaults against a large number of…
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DragonKing Dark: The Bill Cosby scandal
Bill Cosby was “America’s Dad.” He was a mega-popular comedian and actor with his NBC TV sitcom The Cosby Show holding the spot as the biggest television show of the late 1980s. Then, it all came crashing down a few years ago when allegations of rampant sexual misconduct and assault began to surface which ultimately…
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DragonKing Dark: Tonya Harding vs. Nancy Kerrigan
Our Dark 100 series looking of the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history continues with a look back at the 1994 sports scandal involving U.S. Olympic skaters Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan. Harding was accused of being involved in a physical assault of Kerrigan in order to increase her Olympic medal chances. The attack…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of John Belushi
Continuing our series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history, we take a look back at the death of young comedic star and a Saturday Night Live original, John Belushi. Belushi was a star still on the rise with multiple hit movies and an iconic stint on SNL. However, drugs gained a…
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DragonKing Dark: What happened to Glenn Miller?
If you know any big band swing music, then it is probably by Glenn Miller and his orchestra. Some of the most recognizable instrumental hits were arranged and recorded by the biggest pop star of the early 1940s, Glenn Miller. He was every bit as big of a star as Elvis or The Beatles in…
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DragonKing Dark: The ‘Twilight Zone’ movie disaster
The Dark 100 rolls on. In July 1982, actor Vic Morrow and two child actors were killed by a helicopter crash while filming a scene for “The Twilight Zone” movie. The accident revealed numerous shortcuts and safety protocols that were bypassed which contributed to the tragedy. The Twilight Zone movie disaster is one of our…
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DragonKing Dark: Napster Kills the Music Business
Nothing is free. Everything has a cost, including music. Our series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history continues with an entry you might not expect. In the late 1990s through early 2000s, file sharing services like Napster and Limewire were all the rage. People justified stealing music by pointing out the…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Bruce Lee
We continue our series on the 100 darkest moments in pop culture by examining the death of action movie star and perhaps the world’s most influential martial artist: Bruce Lee. The name Bruce Lee stirs up almost mythological images. One of the most skilled martial artists ever, Lee was even more than that. He was a…
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DragonKing Dark: The AIDS crisis impact on pop culture
I continue my series on 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history and this week’s DarkongKing Dark is a little different in that respect as I take a look at the profound impact the AIDS epidemic had on pop culture in the 1980s into the 1990s. Numerous important entertainment figures like Freddie Mercury, Rock…
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DragonKing Dark: What have we learned after 300 episodes?
We take a break from our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history to reflect back on what I have learned after 300 episodes of the DragonKing Dark podcast. Have any of our shows changed my opinion on UFOs, cryptids, ghosts or societal issues? The answer is yes as I feel less convinced of some…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of ‘Superman’ actor George Reeves
He was Superman for an entire generation. He was faster than a locomotive and could leap a tall building in a single bound, but George Reeves was dead at the age of 45. There has been much mystery around the his death which was officially ruled a suicide. Many people were skeptical and it seems…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Chicago’s Terry Kath
Who was Terry Kath? He was one of the most influential singers and guitarists of the early 1970s, starring with the band Chicago. If all you know about Chicago are the Peter Cetera-era ballads, let me introduce you to a time when they were experimental, influential, and led by one of the most dynamic guitarists…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Len Bias
While this series focuses on the 100 darkest moments in pop culture history, the death of Len Bias is even more than that as it’s one of the 100 darkest moments in American history because of what came next. Bias was the Boston Celtics’ no. 2 overall draft pick in 1986, but died two days…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of AC/DC singer Bon Scott
The rock music world was shaken in February 1980 when the distinctive lead singer of the rising rock group AC/DC was found dead in a car. The cause of death was apparently alcohol related though specifically how has been debated for 40 years now. It seemed impossible that a rising rock group with such a…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Bob Marley
The death of Jamaican music legend Bob Marley is our next entry into our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history. Marley was more than just a singer who popularized reggae music: he was a culture icon and heavily influenced the music world and beyond. At 36 years old, he died of an aggressive, but…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of River Phoenix
This is the tragic story of a young life snuffed out too soon, part of my 100 Darkest Moments in Pop Culture History series. Actor River Phoenix was only 23 years old when he died of a drug overdose on Halloween morning 1993 outside of the nightclub belonging to Johnny Depp where he had been…
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DragonKing Dark Podcast: The death of Heath Ledger
We continue our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history by looking at the death of 28-year-old actor Heath Ledger. He had a couple of breakout moments: first in the movie Brokeback Mountain and then in an even more iconic portrayal of the Joker in the The Dark Knight. Then, he died suddenly from a drug…
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DragonKing Dark: The death of Paul Walker
A staple of the popular Fast and The Furious movie franchise, actor Paul Walker still likely had a tremendous film career ahead of him when he was tragically killed at the age of 40 in a car accident in California. The grisly details of the fiery car crash were blasted all over the celebrity news…