Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos • Hacker News Board

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#71

Post by 1970-01-01 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:09 PM UTC

>That feeling part of a larger anti-consumerist vibe percolating through culture at the time.

No, now this is not how I remember it at all. It was entirely limited to that era of music. Back then, Michael Jordan got hundreds of millions on just his sneakers. Nobody dared to think he was "selling out". George Foreman grills were hot. Gretzky was into selling you quite a lot of stuff. Shaq has never stopped doing TV commercials since the 90s.

https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/19950219/2105837/gr...

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#72

Post by Retric » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:10 PM UTC

micromacrofoot wrote: post #64

tptacek wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was alert to popular culture by the time Thriller happened and I don't recall anybody thinking Michael Jackson was a "sellout". Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson did not one but two duets together.

if you were into indie music scenes at the time, basically anyone in the pop genre was considered a sellout

Indie music isn’t a unified entity, there’s always been a lot of different cultures under that label.

Some define themselves in relation to mainstream, but others just don’t care about what is or isn’t popular.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#73

Post by pimlottc » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

gkoberger wrote: post #12

SV_BubbleTime wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And in those examples you don’t see any difference to: >Maroon 5 is covering Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds” as a tribute to Hyundai Because that sentence hits hard in the smh.

A band covering a song for a Hyundai ad? Michael Jackson did a parody of his own song Billie Jean for Pepsi ("You're the Pepsi generation")

Michael Jackson was a pop star. Selling out was never a sin in pop music.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#74

Post by ChoGGi » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:11 PM UTC

parsimo2010 wrote: post #33

nxc18 wrote: post #18

Author is way off base. Might as well tell me to stop breathing air, except they stopped selling air 6 years ago and I’ve been gasping ever since. Chromatica Oreos were absolutely wonderful (as far as mass produced garbage that is unfit for human consumption is concerned) and I miss them dearly. Telling me to stop eating them is like telling me to stop seeing a boyfriend who died tragically years ago. Worse, it bring…

I really liked Selena Gomez's Oreos, but I would prefer that Oreo brought them back as "horchata flavored" or "cinnamon cream flavored" so I didn't have awkward conversations every time I accidentally said, "I like Selena Gomez flavor" and people would ask how I knew what Selena Gomez tasted like.

I would also like to know the flavour of Selena Gomez (Oreos), those sound tasty.

Yea, that's a little awkward, but what is life for if not the awkward enjoyment of a musician's flavour.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#75

Post by ChoGGi » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

sharadov wrote: post #60

I was in Vegas a few years back with friends. While walking the strip, notice this massive throng of kids all around us. I learned they were in town for the BTS concert. I noticed this young girl, no older than 20, wearing a Pink Floyd "Dark side of the Moon" t-shirt, I asked her what she thought of the band. To my abject dissatisfaction she responded "I bought the T-shirt because it looked cool". In that moment I a…

The big tongue? Yea, people do enjoy pop art.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#76

Post by bitwize » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:13 PM UTC

I thought this was going to be some anecdote about how a rival (or maybe a group of rabid fans) found a bowl of Oreos backstage at a Lady Gaga concert and ate them all just to spite her.

One of the reasons why I knew the video game Mixtape was made by phonies, most of whom did not understand actual 90s culture and may not have been alive during the 90s, is because while the main characters adopt grunge aesthetics, they do not have that hyperawareness of authenticity (or lack thereof) that characterized being a teenager back then. Which is kind of fitting for a game made during an era where everything is boiled down to an "aesthetic". Being a kid in the 90s was a stance of mind, it wasn't just about what you wore or what bands you listened to. A lot of us thought we were Holden Caulfield back then, able to spot phonies and waging a quiet, desperate struggle against them for our own minds.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#77

Post by fortran77 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:15 PM UTC

Colorful oreos are fun. A tray of these at a party would make people smile. I'm ok with it.

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#78

Post by kennyadam » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:16 PM UTC

moomin wrote: post #51

There’s a very simple reason that artists don’t worry about selling out anymore (a phenomenon that was much more widespread than just the early 90s): the music industry finally finished their project of extracting nearly all of the money. These days, you’re more likely to have a hit because your song was in an advert than have your hit song used in an advert. Merchandising and the rest is pretty much your principal r…

This 2014 song nails that: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQt9N4Dsok

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#79

Post by cm2012 » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:17 PM UTC

willchis wrote: post #56

cm2012 wrote: post #36

I read and enjoyed this article but strongly disagree with the thesis. Oreos are as important a part of life as anything else. People have feelings, memories, and good experiences with it. Just because a big company makes them instead of a small doesn't make that any less valid. Hell, michaelangelo had to balance the art of his soul with what his patrons wanted. And the same artist can make one spiritually deep, unto…

But that makes them a hypocrite and undermines their previously produced works, no?

I dont see how that follows at all

Re: Stop eating Lady Gaga's Oreos

#80

Post by gkoberger » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 9:18 PM UTC

xhevahir wrote: post #70

gkoberger wrote: post #5

I don't know if I buy this framing. The intro Pearl Jam story is only noteworthy because it's unique. Cobain wasn't one of a million examples of counter-culture; we still talk about him today because it was uniquely his brand (to be incredibly famous while seemingly rejecting the fame). Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire filming a Pepsi commercial in 1984. Bill Cosby famously hawked Jell-O Pudding. Sports stars we…

I think you're overstating the uniqueness of Cobain's "brand" and underestimating the size of the anti-corporate movement in the popular culture of the 1990s. First, it wasnt really Cobain per se—Nirvana were huge for a few years, but Cobain really only became a household name in death. More importantly the rejection of corporate influence and "mainstream" art was the guiding ethos of that whole genre, and eventually…

Not overstating his uniqueness in being anti-corporate, as much as his uniqueness in being both anti-corporate AND mainstream. And you might be right that his mainstream appeal came later, but I think the point still stands.