Don't Be Mad, Join the Fad Trivia Quiz

Answer: Goldfish

The swallowing of live goldfish as a stunt started in the 1920s but became a very popular part of college life in the 1930s. Who started this fad is hotly debated, as is where the fad started. There were even claims that this silly activity increased the levels of iron in the blood.

Adults at the time attempted to stop this fad by claiming that the students could die from tapeworms contracted from the goldfish. In today's world, animal rights activists would be screaming about animal cruelty. I wonder if they are easier to swallow than a fish oil capsule?

Answer: Rocks

In early 1975, California advertising executive Gary Dahl came up with the idea of gluing little eyes and some hair on rocks and selling them as "pet rocks". The basic idea was that a pet rock was the perfect pet since it did not need to be fed, taken to the vet, or go for a walk.

He sold them in little crates that had air holes so that the pet could breathe, and in the space of a year he sold over 1.5 million, becoming a millionaire. His hard-headedness and determination took a simple idea a turned it into a cultural icon for that decade.

Answer: Sitting atop a flagpole

Flagpole sitting was very popular during the 1920s and is related to the ancient discipline of Stylitism, also known as column-sitting. This name was derived from St. Simeon Stylites the Elder (c.388-459) who was said to have sat on top of a column meditating for over thirty years.

Some sitters had small platforms upon which to sit, and many sitters pulled this publicity stunt for a variety of reasons. Flagpole sitting was not the safest fad of the last century, and there were at least half a dozen deaths due to falls or being struck by lightning.

Answer: Streaking

Streaking became a major fad of the 1970s and was often seen at major sporting events. A streaker ran across the stage of the 1973 Oscars while the show was being broadcast live on television, and there was even a song entitled "The Streak" by Ray Stevens, which made fun of this fad. Streaking was popular for only a few years, quite possibly because most of the people that were caught were usually arrested.

Answer: England

The "Lava Lamp" was a mesmerizing lamp originally invented by Edward Craven-Walker of Dorset, England in 1963. The classic lamp was tall, usually tapered glass bottle that contained a mixtures of mineral oil and paraffin wax. An incandescent bulb or halogen lamp was situated at the bottom of the light, which heated the contents and kept the wax in a semi-liquid form which would flow up and down in the mineral oil. Along with the black-light, the "Lava Lamp" was a common object found in any groovy hippie pad.

Answer: False

Coco Chanel, the creator of the 'little black dress', would probably turn in her grave to be credited with saggy pants. This style of dressing is definitely not one of her creations.

Where this style came from is not really known, but some believe that it may have started as a prison style in the U.S. This term refers to the practice wearing pants that are too big and wearing them so low that your underwear is visible, or occasionally parts of a bare bottom. Most of the wearers of this fashion are not movie star sex symbols, but rather acne-faced teenagers with sour attitudes who might look a little better if they wore their pants on their heads.

Answer: Beanie Babies

Beanie Babies were simply stuffed animals filled with small beans instead of cotton. They became extremely popular due to their low cost and the marketing gimmick of retiring certain designs. This practice created a collector's frenzy which proved to be extremely profitable for the company.

At one point racks of Beanie Babies were found in millions of stores, but they faded into oblivion as quickly as they rose to prominence. By 1999, the company had almost quit making the Beanie Babies as there was very little profit to be made.

In subsequent years they did make other similar toys, but none ever caused the public sensation that the originals did.

Answer: Zoot Suits

Zoot suits were a popular clothing that originated in the African-American dance halls and before spreading to other ethnicities. Usually worn with a fedora hat, this was a man's suit with baggy, tightly cuffed trousers. The pants were usually high-waisted and worn with suspenders.

The oversized jacket featured wide lapels as well as heavily-padded shoulders. The amount of fabric used to make one of these suits was approximately twice the amount used to make a regular man's suit, leading the American government to ban zoot suits by the time World War II rolled around.

They claimed the fabric was needed for the war effort. There are others who believe it was simply an attempt by the government to quash possible African-American influence on the "white" culture.

Answer: Sony

While to some people the Sony Walkman might look ancient, at the time of its first production it was the iPod of its time. When first introduced in 1979, its magnetic cassette technology had already been around for over a decade. They hoped to sell about 5,000 units in a month and were overwhelmed when they sold 50,000 in the first two months after it was released. Consumers loved the portability of the device as well as the privacy its headphones offered. But, as with most technology, as new and improved models were produced by other companies, the Walkman quickly became a thing of the past.

Answer: False

While this sounds plausible, it is completely false.

The mood ring was the creation of two American inventors who bonded liquid crystals together before setting them into clear quartz. These crystals change color according to the temperature and were marketed as displaying the wearer's mood, when worn. They were usually set in silver or other less expensive metals but could be bought set in gold. These rings were very popular in the 1970s and were one of the decade's most unique fads, but they were NOT created by Army Intelligence, nor were they a part of any attempt to make a lie detector ring. But it does sound like something out of a "James Bond" movie...don't you think?