Cream takes a look at the year that was in pop culture.
Compiled by Antonino Tati
January:
Taylor Swift kicked the year off strangely, taking out some obscure legal precautions by filing trademarks on several of her lyrics – that is, tiny batches of words – from her popular-selling album ’1989′. The ‘Blank Space’ singer filled in forms stipulating that commercially-inclined folks cannot and will not adopt such phrases as ‘this sick beat’ and ‘nice to meet you, where you been?’ without the artist’s consent (and most likely a hefty price tag).
It was a tragic start to the year at the offices of indie satirical paper ‘Charlie Hebdo’ which were bombed in Paris, several journalists being killed. This didn’t deter the paper’s authors from continuing to critique negative militant actions in the Middle East, up to and beyond the second round of attacks by ISIS in Paris later in the year.
Queer culture enjoyed much prominence in 2015. In January, Tiffany’s released their very first ad campaign to feature a same-sex couple, and Lynx hair products released an advertisement featuring a brief same-sex kiss. Also this month, Stephen Fry tied the knot with Elliot Spencer (Fred Nile‘s team alluded to it being the ‘end of days’), and Gossip’s Beth Ditto wedding her long-term partner.
February:
Valentine’s Day proved to be a big one for a certain major pop star. Lady Gaga got proposed to by actor Taylor Kinney – and what else could the gal say on the most romantic day of the year but yes, Yes, YES.
Madonna stole the limelight at the Grammys in early February, donning her best B&D gear with a little help from trusty couturiers at Givenchy. Later in the month, she garnered unwanted (or perhaps wanted?) attention at the Brit Awards when she tripped on her cape, stacked it on six-inch heels, and fell off the stage.
Johnny Depp ‘secretly’ married co-star Amber Heard in a ceremony at their LA home, several days ahead of schedule.
Ellen Page came out as gay in a moving speech. After admitting she was ‘tired of hiding’, the actress announced her homosexuality during the ‘Time To Thrive’ conference.
February was also the month in which that dress left its mark. Was it blue and black or white and gold? was the question by anyone with a social media account. Mind you, it still has us kind of confused.
March:
Fallen ex-AFL star Ben Cousins got into trouble again, this time arrested for reckless driving and running away from the law. The former West Coast Eagles player was picked up for driving haphazardly, failing to stop after police signalled him, then continuing to run a series of red lights, later telling police he couldn’t halt due to “a family emergency”. A few weeks later, Cousins was caught running across the rooftop of a mosque (go figure).
Supermodels Derek and Hansel (aka: Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson) made a special appearanceat the tail-end of the Valentino show at Paris Fashion Week to confirm that – yes indeed – ‘Zoolander 2′ will be a reality. The film will hit screens in February 2016.
Miss Piggy & Kermit The Frog broke up. Taylor Swift & Calvin Harris hooked up.
Australia was introduced to Netflix which of course hosts one of the year’s biggies, ‘Orange Is The New Black’ and cult favourites ‘American Horror Story’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’.
Singer Kendrick Lamar had the honour of making the first No. 1 album with “pimp” in the title, and already began gracing 2015 best-albums-of-the-year lists for ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’.
April:
Selfie sticks were suddenly banned from music festivals. Said Soundwave founder AJ Maddah in a tweet: “Dear people with those fucking camera sticks: please have some consideration for people behind you trying to enjoy the show. Thank you.” Maddah would fall out of favour later in the year when it began to be leaked that he owed millions of dollars to touring artists.
All focus was on Caitlyn Jenner – who officially came out as transgender. Jenner appeared on the cover of ‘Vanity Fair’ (later in July) and was quoted as saying “For all intents and purposes, I’m a woman”, saying she looks forward to fighting for LGBTI rights.
Comedy Central favourite Amy Schumer revealed the third run of her edgy sketch series ‘Inside Amy Schumer’. Skits titled “Last Fuckable Day” and “12 Angry Men Inside Amy Schumer” proved that comedy could go, well, further into politically incorrect territory.
May:
Ireland became the first country to legalise gay marriage by popular vote. It lead to even the traditionalist likes of Italy to contemplate voting on the issue.
‘Imperator Furiosa’, the vigilante played by Charlize Theron in ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ stole the limelight from Mad Max himself and proved that smash-hit action films can be unapologetically feminist.
David Letterman waved goodbye to his global audience in May after 33 years in late-night television.
June:
The results of Focal Attractions’ annual most hated and loved Australian celebrities came out, with hideous shock jock Kyle Sandilands this year dethroned as the nation’s most hated public figure, the title going to disgraced veteran TV personality Rolf Harris. Ex-PM Tony Abbott debuted on the hate hit-list alongside controversial Paleo chef Pete Evans, whose book advocating the cave-man diet for children caused widespread outcry, was also among the most disliked. The most liked list looked a lot prettier, with Hugh Jackman topping it as the most popular celebrity, followed by fellow home-grown Hollywood success stories Cate Blanchett at number 2 and Eric Bana at number 3.
Taylor Swift proved she has enough business savvy to put tech gods Apple in their place. The artist wrote an open letter in which she condemned the company’s tactic to deny artists royalties during Apple Streaming’s three-month trial period and within hours Apple reversed its plans.
Boardgame favourite Scrabble got hip to postmodern lingo – introducing some 6,500 new words from the internet and texting era, some of these being ‘devo’ – short for ‘devastated; ‘obvs’ (for obvious, obviously…), ridic (ridiculous), wuz (was), and a host of exclamations (blech, eew, grr, waah, yeesh).
In a landmark ruling in the US, gay marriage became legal in all 50 states. The US Supreme Court ruled that the US Constitution provides same-sex couples the right to marry, handing a historic triumph to the American gay rights movement. Immediately after the decision, same-sex couples in many of the states where gay marriage had been banned headed to county clerks’ offices for marriage licenses as officials in several states said they would respect the ruling. Said a sensitive (and sensible) Supreme Court Justice, Anthony Kennedy, “No longer may this liberty be denied.” After the ruling, the hashtag #LoveWins took the internet by storm and Facebook users the world over adopted Rainbow Flag tints over their profile pics.
Also in June, transgender icon Laverne Cox slipped back into her beige prison uniform for the third season of Netflix’s ‘Orange Is the New Black’. She also appeared in Trudi Styler’s film ‘Freak Show’ – about trans life in LA, and in a CBS series ‘Doubt’ in which she plays a defense attorney. Plus she appeared on the cover of ‘Variety’ magazine looking resplendant in a three-piece suit, and the cover of ‘Time’ magazine in her own ‘is it blue and black?’ dress. To top off a great year for Laverne, she landed a Daytime Emmy for producing the MTV doc ‘Laverne Cox Presents: The T Word’ and continues to be a shining LGBT activist.
On TV, ‘Empire’ was the word on every pop-culture-loving viewer’s lips, scorring a whopping 17 million viewers over the course of its first series alone. The show, which took an inside look at the recording industry, soon had real-life musicians begging to cameo in it.
July:
Madame Tussauds got their prop game on, putting a functioning camera in the hand of its wax replica of Kim Kardashian. Visitors were welcome to pose with the dummy of KK – she who is infamous for taking non-stop selfies.
Caityln Jenner appeared on the cover of ‘Vanity Fair’ magazine. ‘Trans’ was the word on every gossiper’s lips.
In literature, Harper Lee, the author of classic novel ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, had good reason to celebrate; the sequel ‘Go Set A Watchman’ had the most Amazon print pre-orders since the last ‘Harry Potter’ instalment while ‘Watchman’ sold over 1.1 million copies in its first week.
August:
Fast food giant Burger King (you’d be more familiar with it as Hungry Jacks in Oz) proposed to fellow international fast food giant McDonald’s that the brands combine their trademark burgers to create one big, fat one in celebration of ‘Peace Day’ dubbed the ‘McWhopper’. McDonald’s rejected the offer.
In further fast food news, Kentucky Fried Chicken in the Philippines took junk food grafting to new heights with the release of the ‘Chizza’ – that is a pizza with a fried chicken crust.
‘Game Of Thrones’ scooped the Emmy nominations with 24 nods in total – the most of any show.
September:
Spring saw a sudden fascination of adults doing colouring-in – for odd psychological reasons, some referring to it as a kind of ‘therapeutic pastime’. That’s right, sitting at their desks, Faber Castells in hand, prettying up black-and-white drawings with bright bursts of colour – all in the name of therapy.
Australian electronic duo Peking Duk issued an absurd challenge to ‘Today Show’ presenter Karl Stefanovic to get involved in volunteer project, Optus RockCorps. If he did, Reuben would get a tattoo of Karl and Richard Wilkins spooning, and if he didn’t, Adam would get a tattoo of Karl on his chest (go figure).
Author Jackie Collins dies after six-year battle with breast cancer. While not so seriously taken in the literature fraternity (ie her books were no ‘War & Peace’), Collins’ novels had been the inspiration to many – from the melodramatic telenovela to comedy sketches by the likes of Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.
The Western Australian Ballet hosted their special 30th Anniversary awards, for individuals and organisations who have played a significant role in the response to HIV/AIDS over the past three decades. There was also record support for Perth’s STYLEAID this year.
October:
Star Wars fans began shaking in their Ewok boots in anticipation of the release of ‘The Force Awakens’ when the trailer was unleashed in October. Three months of solid hype followed.
November:
Perth band Tame Impala cleaned up at this year’s ARIA awards, picking up no less than five trophies for their musical output in the past 12 months. The band were nominated for a total of seven awards, acknowledging their latest album ‘Currents’. Another big winner at this year’s ARIAs was Courtney Barnett with three trophies including the award for Best Independent Release for ‘Sometimes I Sit And Think, And Sometimes I Just Sit’. Barnett and Tame Impala are also favourites in the Grammy Award nomination lists.
Actor Charlie Sheen announced his HIV-positive status on the US ‘Today Show’. The actor said he was diagnosed HIV positive around four years ago, which lead to a downward spiral of drinking and drug-abuse, adding that he always told his partners about his positive status before sex. A primary reason for his admission was to put an end to rumours and “a barrage of attacks” that have been circulating about him. He called them “sub-truths”. We discussed on the show whether his iconic status was positive or possibly detrimental to the progress of HIV destigmatisation.
Also in November, Michelle Payne became the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup. Payne rode to victory as the first girl to win the famed cup in history.
December:
Causing a stir across the world wide interwebs, the video for M.I.A.’s single ‘Borders’ brimmed with images of what look like asylum seekers sailing (to quote the song) “north, south, east and west”, the allusion being that refugees ought to be free to venture to other parts of the world, away from the terror and various dilemmas of their birthplaces.
Google’s top searches’ include online streaming service Netflix, the Rugby World Cup, the Paris terrorist attacks, along with Australian American footballer Jarryd Hayne, dinosaur movie sequel Jurassic World, actor Charlie Sheen, transgender icon Caitlyn Jenner, the Mick Fanning Shark Attack and, kookily enough, Thermomix recipes for pancakes.