About Pop Culture Gangster

This blog used to go by the very generic name “A Mad Man’s Ramblings on Music and Marketing” but I changed it since I was rarely ever a mad man and I wrote about a lot of things other than music and marketing. And very rarely about marketing.

So now the focus is on all aspects of pop culture, and quite often culture that isn’t necessarily popular. (But “obscure culture gangster” doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue!)

Basically I am a fan of human behavior, which is why my profession is marketing. My job is getting people to like what I want them to like, but my hobby is following what it is they like and how people behave.

My tastes tend to run just outside of the mainstream – I’m not a “Top 20/Summer Blockbuster/Bestseller List” type of person. However, I always keep an eye out for what’s going on in those worlds so I can try to compare it to what else is out there. I believe there is a lot of great art being made – whether it be music, books, movies, or TV – that most people don’t know about.

At the same time, I hate artiness for the sake of being artsy, and I can’t deny that I’m a child of a media-saturated age. I can still rattle off trivia about Star Wars and The Transformers, get a kick out of seeing old Saturday morning cartoons and have seen a wide selection of 80’s “hair metal” bands that is almost embarrassing to admit (Poison? Check. Motley Crue? Check. Bon Jovi? Check. The list goes on.)

So I hate shallow, meaningless art… unless it has a really good hook, then I’ll rock out to it in my car. There’s brilliant songwriting of the Bob Dylan kind, and then there is just brilliantly catchy pop songs, and who am I to deny genius?

I’m a bit of media junkie, with a penchant for trying to work my way through lists like “The 100 movies you should see before you die” or “the top 50 coolest albums of the last 20 years” etc. This means I listen to a lot of music, watch a lot of movies, read too many magazines, have bookshelves that are sagging from too many books and have a Tivo that is very angry with me most of the time.

If you’ve ever watched the Simpsons, South Park or Family Guy and laughed because of an obscure, random reference to a classic movie, TV show or commercial, then we’ll get along just fine.

You should also know that I abhor celebrity gossip – I really don’t care who’s marrying who while carrying who’s child – but find the fact that so many people such trivia with such great intensity absolutely fascinating.

Out of all the variations of pop culture out there, I’m mostly a music fan. While I love to read books and watch movies or TV, when it comes to music, I’m much more intense. I’m a “deep” music listener – music is something to be experienced, not just played in the background. I like to think about the music I listen to, and feel it. People know me as a music geek, and I’m OK with that.

I hope you enjoy my blog and the sheer randomness of it. I encourage you to leave comments and start discussions!