“The VW Bus” and “MTV’s Beavis and Butthead,” - This Day in History – Mar 8th

The Groovy VW Bus is Placed in Production

Back in 1950, Volkswagen developed a spacious vehicle that was a microbus, known as the, “Volkswagen Type 2 (the Beetle was the Type 1) or the Transporter,” that became a popular vehicle for the hippies during the 1960’s. 

History.com stated that, “The VW bus was reportedly the brainchild of Dutch businessman Ben Pon, an importer of Beetles to the Netherlands, who saw a market for a small bus and in 1947 sketched out his concept. Volkswagen engineers further developed the idea and in March 1950, the vehicle, with its boxy, utilitarian shape and rear engine, went into production. The bus eventually collected a number of nicknames, including the "Combi" (for combined-use vehicle) and the "Splittie" (for its split windshield); in Germany it was known as the "Bulli." In the U.S., it was referred to by some as a hippie van or bus because it was used to transport groups of young people and their camping gear and other supplies to concerts and anti-war rallies. Some owners painted colorful murals on their buses and replaced the VW logo on the front with a peace symbol. According to "Bug" by Phil Patton, when Grateful Dead musician Jerry Garcia died in 1995, Volkswagen ran an ad featuring a drawing of the front of a bus with a tear streaming down it.” 

This microbus has been featured in the 2006 movie, “Little Miss Sunshine.”

According to imdb.com, the premise of the film is about, “A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.”

MTV’s Beavis and Butthead premiere with huge ratings

Back in 1993, an interesting, yet odd cartoon from the mind of animator, Mike Judge premiered on MTV as “Beavis and Butthead,” which would become this network’s highest rated series. 

According to history.com, “Beavis and Butthead offered audiences rude and crude buddy humor in the tradition of The Three Stooges, Cheech and Chong, and Wayne and Garth of Saturday Night Live and the Wayne’s World movies. The titular main characters were two teenage boys living in the fictional town of Highland; they attended Highland High (based on a real school in creator Mike Judge’s hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico) but spent most of their time eating junk food, talking about girls and--most importantly--watching music videos. Beavis and Butthead alternated between animated storylines and clips of actual music videos, which Beavis and Butthead commented on in their signature bone-headed style, punctuated by sarcastic comments and grunt-like laughter.” 

Controversy developed among younger viewers of this animated series.  In fact one cartoon, which displayed pyromaniac tendencies, inspired deadly results.  History.com stated that, “It also sparked a heated controversy over the influence of TV programs on impressionable young children, especially after an incident in 1993, when a mother blamed Beavis and Butthead’s well-documented pyromaniac tendencies for inspiring her five-year-old son to set a fire that killed his two-year-old sister.”  This show was pulled for four episodes and moved the show to a later time slot for adult viewers. 

Bevis and Butthead ended their run in 1997.  After 14 years, MTV has revived this animated series in October 2011.

All History facts provided from the link below:

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/mtvs-highest-rated-series-premieres?catId=12