When It Was Cool Dark

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 websites in 2013 when the car he was a passenger in crashed at a high rate of speed and burst into flames. As one of our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history we will look at the movie career of Paul Walker, his death, and what may have lay ahead for the popular actor.

We continue our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history podcast series with a look at the shocking, sudden, accidental death of worldwide television star "The Crocodile Hunter" Steve Irwin. Steve Irwin gain worldwide fame with his various TV shows and specials looking at the animal kingdom and his work with the Australia Zoo. He was charismatic and loveable. While on a trip filming footage for one of his specials and his daughter's new show, he became one of the few known human fatalities from a Stingray strike.

After a long hiatus, NoFriender returns with a new edition of the Thrash Metal Show Podcast. He was kind enough to let me know "It's about Cliff Burton" but too lazy to write a show description so here I am doing it for him. Cliff Burton was a founding member of Metallica who was tragically killed in a tour bus accident in 1986. Instrumental to early sound of Metallica he was replaced by Jason Newstead whom Metallica completely cut his bass out of his first album with them.

Continuing our look at 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history, Karl is joined by Tonya from WhenItWasCool.com to discuss the death of starlet Jayne Mansfield who was killed in a car accident in 1967. The events leading up to her death are quite dark and mysterious including a stint in the Church of Satan and possibly a romantic fling with the Black Pope himself Anton Levay. Poor career choices, comparisons to Marilyn Monroe, and more make for a sad but captivating story.

Our continuing series of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history takes a look at a moment where nobody died but it completely effected Major League Baseball. The Black Sox Scandal was a gambling and game-fixing scandal where members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series. Despite acquittals in a trial, Judge Landis permanently banned all eight men from professional baseball. The punishment was eventually defined by the Baseball Hall of Fame to include banishment from the Baseball Hall of Fame. Despite requests for reinstatement in the decades that followed (particularly in the case of Shoeless Joe Jackson), the ban remains.

Our series of 100 darkest moments in pop culture history continues this week with the murder of John Lennon. The Beatles were icons of pop music. Having broken up years earlier the individual members of The Beatles had gone on to various other solo projects and John Lennon had already had a brilliant solo career and was now staging a comeback when a deranged fan shot him down in cold blood in front of his New York apartment.

Legendary baseball star Roberto Clemente spent much of his time involved in charity work. Managua, the capital city of Nicaragua, was struck by a massive earthquake on December 23, 1972. Clemente arranged emergency relief flights. He soon learned, however, that the aid packages on the first three flights had been diverted by corrupt officials of the Somoza government, never reaching victims of the quake. He decided to accompany the fourth relief flight, hoping that his presence would ensure that the aid would be delivered to the survivors. The airplane he chartered a Douglas DC-7 cargo plane, had a history of mechanical problems and an insufficient number of flight personnel and was overloaded by 4,200 pounds. It crashed into the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Isla Verde, Puerto Rico immediately after takeoff due to engine failure.

Our list of 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history continues with the killing of Marvin Gaye. Marvin Gaye was an influential singer and musician who gained worldwide fame for his work with Motown Records. He was fatally shot by his father, Marvin Gay Sr., on April 1, 1984, at their house in the West Adams district of Los Angeles, California. Gaye was shot three times following an altercation with his father after he intervened in an argument between his parents. The wounds were fatal and he was pronounced dead on arrival at the California Hospital Medical Center.

DragonKing Dark continues our look at 100 of the darkest moments in pop culture history by looking at the killing of legendary singer Sam Cooke. On December 11, 1964, singer Sam Cooke was gunned down in Los Angeles, CA. The original story and the one most commonly told is the 33 year old had taken a 22 year old girl to a seedy motel, attempted to rape her, she then escaped carrying his clothes, he chased after her and got into a physical altercation with the motel manager who then shot and killed him. Since his death in 1964 the story has gotten more complicated.

Continuing our 100 darkest moments in pop culture history at least this time nobody died... well, I guess one person did though the circumstances of his death are nebulous, numerous sexual assaults took place, lots of arson, and a general mockery of popular culture and toxic fandom displayed itself at the peace and love festival known as Woodstock. Woodstock '99 put the worst of us on display and killed the iconic name of Woodstock which had been a touchstone of pop culture 30 years earlier.