4 ms·

> It's hard to believe that show was so controversial. I guess you don't know about the kids who set their houses on fire (allegedly) because Beavis was burnin

> It's hard to believe that show was so controversial. I guess you don't know about the kids who set their houses on fire (allegedly) because Beavis was burning stuff and saying "Fire!, Fire!" on air, or the accompanying congressional hearings on the state of the media. The show was on at 7pm when it first came out I think; after that shit it went to a 11pm "adult-only" show with lots of disclaimers about how you shouldn't do what the characters do. No more fire references, no huffing glue, etc. MTV was seriously worried they'd lose their license I think.

dmitryminkovsky 5y ago
I heard about those (probably-not-so-alleged) incidents at the time. The overpass rock throwing was a particularly bad one, too. I have a friend, a person who's far from your typical "square" who's a bit older than me and absolutely hates B&B because he knew lots of kids who emulated them and did stupid things, and it really bothered him at the time. That would probably be me if that had been my experience. That said, I don't think it's fair to judge something by how some tiny cohort responds to it, especially when we're dealing with extremes like setting your house on fire or throwing rocks from an overpass. There may be an argument to be made that if you're setting your house on fire, maybe a television show wasn't the root problem?
- deelowe 5y ago
  And yet, where I live, we had our own "overpass rock throwing" incident just a few years ago. No Bevis or Butt-Head involved. Who's to say the people who do these things wouldn't have found another equally horrifying outlet for their frustrations if Bevis and Butt-Head weren't a thing?
  - NullPrefix 5y ago
    Could those recent rock throwers be dnd players? Maybe satanists too?
wil421 5y ago
B&B gave me some interesting ideas as a young boy. I distinctly remember watching it and my Grandma asking me if my mom approved that kind of show. I said yes with no hesitation as she turned it off. To make it better MTV spring break was happening near my family vacation house and they made a special appearance. CKY, Tom Green, random Skater VHS interludes, and later Jackass sealed the deal on my juvenile delinquency.
- johnebgd 5y ago
  I recall bum fights being shared in the same circle as the CKY videos... Terrible how they got a few videos out before they went to jail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumfights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumfights
  - jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
    The DVDs were pretty widely available, sadly. I knew someone with one through the local university snowboard club. Not my favorite person to put it mildly.
zxcvbn4038 5y ago
Stuff like that always happens. Remember all the outcry against the Grand Theft Auto video games inciting children to commit crimes? People still blame "The Warriors" for teaching teens to jump turnstiles in the subway and get involved in gangs. There is an entire chapter of Mein Kampf dedicated to how the youth play their music too loud and spend too much time partying. I'm sure vaudeville was the work of the devil before that.
LocalH 5y ago
Small nitpick - cable broadcasting isn't "licensed" by the FCC in terms of content. Now whether lawmakers would have passed explicit legislation regarding such content, is another story (the 90s was full of threatening to do just that, with video games getting some heat too thanks to Mortal Kombat and Night Trap).

dmitryminkovsky 5y ago

I heard about those (probably-not-so-alleged) incidents at the time. The overpass rock throwing was a particularly bad one, too. I have a friend, a person who's far from your typical "square" who's a bit older than me and absolutely hates B&B because he knew lots of kids who emulated them and did stupid things, and it really bothered him at the time. That would probably be me if that had been my experience. That said, I don't think it's fair to judge something by how some tiny cohort responds to it, especially when we're dealing with extremes like setting your house on fire or throwing rocks from an overpass. There may be an argument to be made that if you're setting your house on fire, maybe a television show wasn't the root problem?

deelowe 5y ago
And yet, where I live, we had our own "overpass rock throwing" incident just a few years ago. No Bevis or Butt-Head involved. Who's to say the people who do these things wouldn't have found another equally horrifying outlet for their frustrations if Bevis and Butt-Head weren't a thing?
- NullPrefix 5y ago
  Could those recent rock throwers be dnd players? Maybe satanists too?

wil421 5y ago

B&B gave me some interesting ideas as a young boy. I distinctly remember watching it and my Grandma asking me if my mom approved that kind of show. I said yes with no hesitation as she turned it off. To make it better MTV spring break was happening near my family vacation house and they made a special appearance. CKY, Tom Green, random Skater VHS interludes, and later Jackass sealed the deal on my juvenile delinquency.

johnebgd 5y ago
I recall bum fights being shared in the same circle as the CKY videos... Terrible how they got a few videos out before they went to jail. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumfights https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumfights
- jasonwatkinspdx 5y ago
  The DVDs were pretty widely available, sadly. I knew someone with one through the local university snowboard club. Not my favorite person to put it mildly.

zxcvbn4038 5y ago

Stuff like that always happens. Remember all the outcry against the Grand Theft Auto video games inciting children to commit crimes? People still blame "The Warriors" for teaching teens to jump turnstiles in the subway and get involved in gangs. There is an entire chapter of Mein Kampf dedicated to how the youth play their music too loud and spend too much time partying. I'm sure vaudeville was the work of the devil before that.

LocalH 5y ago

Small nitpick - cable broadcasting isn't "licensed" by the FCC in terms of content. Now whether lawmakers would have passed explicit legislation regarding such content, is another story (the 90s was full of threatening to do just that, with video games getting some heat too thanks to Mortal Kombat and Night Trap).