Greatest Icons of the 20th century

I love Dalida . I only heard about her , a month ago .
There was a poll in France to find the person who had the greatest
impact on French society , and she only finished behind one person,
Charles De gaulle .
She had many tragedies in her personal life .
She took her own life in 1987 .

Rest In Peace . Iolanda.

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Hey , trilb  .Thanks for reminding me that i need to buy some lemmy , today . Lemsip , ive got a bit of a cold .

She looks a lot lougher in the final trilby picture.

*rougher

Ghandi or Mandela
Einstein
Elvis Presley
Muhammad Ali

But that's from a rather Anglo-American perspective and doesn't include any women so probably wouldn't be the shortlist.

What do they mean by greatest? Most recognisable? Famous?
Knowing the BBC it'll be right on, as you suggest.
Hitler (who was total scum but that's no the point) was quite an icon in his day and instantly recognisable, did he make it? :)

FFS I see Churchill (who saved Europe and many countries further afield not just Britain) from mass murder and brutal oppression and changed the world immeasurably from what it would have been if he hadn't done it, been the leader he was, the rock that lead the country .. was beaten by Mandella. How virtuous, how BBC, how 2018...

OR even 2019 Takes me a couple months to adjust

But I stand by my orignal comment. Overal winner should be the Floppy Disk.

An honourable mention to Pfizer who also had a large input into the floppy market

Oddly enough .. In South Africa they called 3.5" floppy disks a "stiffy" which is so funny it's the greatest thing to come out of the country.

And I include Mandella in that. Maybe level with Sid James.

Probably unpopular on here, but it should surely be a woman.

Compared to (white) males, the female of the species made immeasurable strides from 1899 to 1999.

(You could say the same of black people, also.)

So you should make the "greatest icon" not the actual "greatest icon" but award it based on gender as a sort of gender pat on the back to signal how inclusive we are now?

FFS..

Margaret Thatcher     
Madame Curie (just 20th century I think )
Marilyn Monroe     
Simone de Beauvoir


Hmmmm. They're all white.   

A quite excruciating programme about 'Icons' of Entertainment last night.

Even in supposed 'documentary' programmes like this, the BBC still can't stop peddling the compulsory narrative and virtue-signalling agenda we see in virtually every drama programme.

Last night's 'Icon" candidates all battling for your vote were :

MARILYN MONROE : selected because "she empowered women and beat the male-dominated system". (Huh? That's quite a stretch by any standard of historical re-writing. A beautiful, funny but tragically messed-up woman who met a terrible ending. She also famously admitted to having got her breaks in the Entertainment via sex on the Casting Couch, so no place for her in the MeToo Movement that's for sure).

BILLIE HOLIDAY : any viewer under them age of 50 would probably be saying 'Who the hell is she and what did she do?". She was selected purely because she was a victim of NASTY EVIL WAAAAYCIST WHITE PEOPLE, so by Modern Lefty Thinking she must automatically therefore qualify as a Great Talent. Another mess of a person who got involved with drugs and lived to regret it.  Her records remain unheard by millions. 

DAVID BOWIE : selected not for his songwriting, his musicality, his performances or global success. No, his case was advanced because in stale pale male 1972 Britain he made it OK to look unusual and be gay. (That will come as little comfort to the gay people in the Middle East thrown off roofs by Peace-Loving Religious People).

CHARLIE CHAPLIN : the token white heterosexual man, chosen for his impact way beyond most living people's memories, but he did make a satire about Nazis so that's a feather in his cap. (One of his very worst films btw). 

Are all of these Icons programmes as bad as this one. Kathleen Turner surely has better things to do than present dross like this? How the mighty are fallen.

I didn't watch it just saw the trailer and a mention on the one show. I know what the BBC is like these days and it looked awful .

So their 4 entertainment icons of the 20th century are those 4? Gender ballanced of course.

So ****Elvis**** isn't there? White heterosexual male who reached middle age, he had the cards against him at auntie didn't he.

You just have to shake your head. I'm not a big Elvis fan, not at all, but the idea Billie Holiday is a bigger Icon than him is absolutely ****ing ludicrous.

I'd imagine 95%+ of the planet above say 12 would regognise a picture of Elvis. Korea and Japan are full of impersonators. I'd imagine 10% of the world max (probably a LOT lower) would recognise Holiday.

I really starting to utterly despise that propaganda organisation.

Tbf alun,though you're right about Holiday's private life,her singing style has been very influential.
You're largely right about Monroe though she was undoubtedly an icon (as I understand the term ).
I'm not a great Bowie fan but a lot are. Funnily enough though he may have been bisexual he seems to have been predominantly straight most of his life. Perhaps they should have gone for Liberace,no doubts there.
Chaplin tbf was THE major comic star ,probably THE star of the silent movies and he was 20th century just as much as Bowie. I agree about The Great Dictator ( much overrated despite the physical resemblance ).

Bob Dylan when he went electric at the Newport Folk Festival early sixties
Parts of the crowd booed him and he was criticised by other leading folk musicians for abandoning folk music and political songs and for performing with an electric band instead

Was perhaps the most important musical event in 20c musical history ( and indeed 20c history)

^ you a bob dylan fan? you are full of surprises. i suspect you would disagree on a lot of things tho

That year Dylan released the song ‘Like a Rolling Stone ‘
No one had heard anything quite like that before

I would agree with that lfc,but I think Presley was more of an "Icon" though not as great a talent.
However I suspect there are a lot of interpretations of the word icon.
Tbh I've just noticed that the resident TV critic in the Radio Times has called the whole idea fatuous as you can't compare political activists with entertainers,scientists with sportspeople etc. I'm inclined to agree.

Love Dylan northanlite , remember listening to one of his records when I was about 12 , a little older
I though gosh that sounds terrible , his voice the noise
Listened to it again about 6 months later and then it clicked , it was wonderful :)

Yes salmon Presley was tremendously important as an icon

can you imagine what a shock to the system it was in the 1950's conservative USA
when Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis & Little Richard came along.
A whole lot of shaking going on

Plus again Presley had to invent himself , something no one had ever seen before
That’s not easy

Jan 16, 2019 -- 1:26PM, lfc1971 wrote:

Love Dylan northanlite , remember listening to one of his records when I was about 12 , a little older I though gosh that sounds terrible , his voice the noise Listened to it again about 6 months later and then it clicked , it was wonderful :)

very similar experience. my sisters boyfriend left his copy of desire at our house when i was 12,
i put it on and was unimpressed. he left it again about 6 months later & blood on the tracks too.
listened again and was blown away. i hid them so he wouldn't take them back

If people aren't aware of the changing career of Elvis I suggest this in depth documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BGOkVaJ8Pg

"Was perhaps the most important musical event in 20c musical history ( and indeed 20c history)"
I think your fan goggles are overpromoting this. So important pretty much nobody knows about it!

JC you don’t have to know about it , it changed music from that point on and led from pop music like the Beatles to what they became and what groups like the velvet underground became
The velvet underground helped bring down communism
No Dylan , because he was so good   , and because he changed at that time
Very important   , you lived through the consequences

it was a big deal but "the most important musical event in 20c musical history" is impossible to quantify.
of course bob was right. everyone should strap a strat on at some time

From the point on if Dylan changing to electric , everyone became electric , every musician there was only electric music that really counted and everyone knew that

Next you'll be saying the times, they are a changin'!

the reason dylan went electric was partly practical. bigger audiences and limited amplification

You see even a group like the eagles for example , they were a country folk group whatever
But because they didn’t stay in that genre and became an electric band
Everything changes

We are talking about icons , the important figures ( not necessarily the most takanted )
But the ones who were so influential , there at the start
That’s Presley and Dylan
People like that

Springsteen ? He heard Dylan when he was growing up
That’s all you need to know

bruce loves dylan, not so sure dylan loves bruce back

i freeking adore bruce. not claiming he is an icon, he is to me tho

Love Springsteen as well , remember a friend at school when we were about 14 lending me the Born To Run album ,I had never heard of him , can remember that day clearly even today :)

I remember walking through a graveyard in Paris (like you do) & wondering - who is Dalida? I'd never heard of her

Jan 16, 2019 -- 1:50PM, lfc1971 wrote:

Love Springsteen as well , remember a friend at school when we were about 14 lending me the Born To Run album ,I had never heard of him , can remember that day clearly even today :)

i'd never heard of him when i heard the river on the radio, missed them saying who it was. had to go to my local record shop
and recite the lyrics. the guy laughed and although i only had enough for the single gave me the (double) album & let me
pay 50p a week off my paper round money. how f***ing great of him was that????
had the whole back catalogue a few months later. got born to run as an xmas pressie. nearly passed out the first time
i heard thunder road. happy days

Yes sometimes when you listen to music you feel that something is missing
And then when you haven’t heard any music for some time , years maybe
You feel that something is really missing

That’s the best way I can think of to describe music

Have to go I’m in the library and am meant to be reading the free newspapers !

you do surprise me tho lfc. dylan & springsteen don't really seem an obvious choice.
mind you i went to see him in Houston and chatted to a few punters who clearly didn't
approve of his political stance but forgave him as, in their words, "he f***ing rocks"
when he sang 41 shots some people booed.