Mental Floss

MUSIC

Dolly Parton will always love you, but she doesn't love you love you.

Love songs are like Rorschach tests—or, to put it more romantically, puffy clouds. We hear in them what we want, and that leaves lots of room for misinterpretation.

Kenneth Partridge








The Ramones—Johnny, Joey, Marky, and Dee Dee—in 1979.

By stripping rock and roll down to its four-chord essentials, the Ramones helped pioneer the punk rock movement of the 1970s.

Scott Beggs
sssss1gmel/iStock via Getty Images

Based on our most popular stories of 2021, it seems safe to say that our readers adore their pets, are fascinated by the strange features they see on motor vehicles, and really want to know what happened to all that white dog poop they used to see.

Editorial Staff
The Hanson brothers photographed in 1997, when "MMMBop" was topping the charts.

In 1997, the first Harry Potter book was published in the U.K., 'Titanic' arrived in theaters, and you probably had Hanson's "MMMBop" stuck in your head—whether you liked it or not.

Todd Gilchrist


Matayang (pool), Bun_Visit (arm)/iStock via Getty Images Plus

From Universal Orlando's wild (and usually inoperable) 'Jaws' ride of the '90s to the very real—and very captive—tiger shark that threw up a human arm and sparked a 1935 murder investigation, the Mental Floss team is sharing some of our favorite stories f

Editorial Staff




Run-DMC pictured in 1987.

It took a little convincing, but in 1987—fresh off their smash hit album 'Raising Hell'—Run-DMC agreed to record a holiday song for the star-studded charity album 'A Very Special Christmas.' And a Christmas classic was born.

Kenneth Partridge




Madonna in 2016.

Madonna has been an innovator in music for four decades and counting, but doesn't mean she still doesn't get called for jury duty.

Jake Rossen