Memorable Fads and Speculative Bubbles

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sudsmaster

sudsmaster

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I'm moving this topic to its own thread... cause I think it would be fun!

Speculations I recall so far:

Tulips in Holland in the 1600's.

Pennies (copper) in the 70's when someone tried to corner the market (and failed).

The infamous dot.com's of the 90's

Housing in the early 2000's.

Oil in 2005-2008.

All of these promised huge profits to those who got in early... but disaster for those who invested late.

Can anyone thing of other speculative bubbles?

Then there are the fads:

In the 50's, it was the Hula-Hoop

In the 70's, it was the Pet Rock

In the 80's, it was Cabbage Patch Dolls (thanks, Andrew)

In the 90's, it was Beanie Babies

Can anyone think of other fads?

And, can anyone venture a guess as to what a future fad/speculation might be?
 
Ah yes, thanks, the Hunt Brothers were the richest family in America at the time... they started buying up silver in the 70's and in '79 managed to corner the market. Silver went from about $2 oz in 1973 to about $50 oz. But a change in commodity trading rules and the intervention of the Federal Reserve led to the bubble bursting, and the Hunts wound up declaring bankruptcy with assets of $1.5 billion and liabilities of $2.5 billion. They were also convicted of illegal trading.

Stupid, greedy, got what they probably deserved.

 
And yes, I remember the mood rings. I was interested in them for maybe five minutes, until I realized it was just a thermal reaction that had little to do with mood. Someone must have made a small fortune off the initial sales, though.

Now I have the modern equivalent of a mood ring on the side of a BBQ propane tank. It helps tell me when the tank is getting near empty ;-).

I guess another fad was the lava lamp; late 60's early 70's. I remember being rather fond of them, but they were expensive at a time when I was just barely getting by. So I enjoyed them from afar. You can buy Chinese made imitations these days for reasonable prices, but somehow they just don't seem the same.

Of course, clothing styles are generally one fad after another. I remember the Nehru jacket of the 60's (made popular by the Beatles), bell bottom pants, platform shoes, leisure suits (still popular with seniors), the mini, midi, and maxi skirt (the mini was best), hot pants, those gawdawful leggings women wore in the 80's (Flashdance, anyone?), etc etc etc.
 
A couple of fashion fads from when I was in high school (mid '80's). Guys and girls wearing polo shirts w/ the collar flipped up, and folding over the cuffs of your pants and then rolling them up to just above the ankle. And who can forget, guys and gals with those god-awful "big" hairstyles of the '80's as well.
 
Krispy Creme? / Imperial 400?

I recall that when Krispy Creme came to Chicago a few years back - people stood in long lines and probably bought stock on their way home.
My Krispy Creme building is now derelict. OOPS???
Does anyone remember Imperial 400 hotels? Too big too fast. Does anyone EVER learn????
I'd say Krispy Kreme was a fad. Imperial 400 was bad management but I believe both failed for the same misteaks.
 
The Lava Lamp a fad? Certainly not!

IMO it is a design classic with unlimited possibilities, even more modern than the Sheer Look, and that's pretty modern! To learn more about the original, licensed manufacturer of the Lava Lamp google Lavaworld. To see a cool scientific use of the Lava Lamp to help generate random number sequences for cryptography check this link:

 
Krispy Kreme

Same thing happened to them in Houston too. The franchisees here said that Krispy Kreme HQ ripped them off and made it impossible to make a profit.
Their stores were always packed with people. I liked them for their lightness, but found them inconvenient to get to a KK store.
As the article mentions, the Houston Franchisees started their own chain in the old KK locations and called it Jumbles Dough Factory. Well, that venture lasted all of three months before it too crumbled.

 
Krispy Kreme made it to the SF Bay Area around 2002, as I recall. After the novelty of being allowed to purchase and consume warm squishy donuts wore off, I found I prefered the neighborhood donut shop to Krispy Kreme's bland overly sweet product. But I guess they were a fad, all right. Another fad is In-N-Out Burgers. They just opened up some stores in the Oakland/Hayward area. They are always packed so I haven't had a chance to sample them, but I've tried them down in Union City/San Jose before. It's a good burger as burgers go. I usually make the mistake of ordering the Double-double and then feeling like I overate afterwards.
 
1980s - Parachute pants!

Interestingly, as I have researched my '77 Lincoln convertible, I was told by the dealership that sold mine that they also sold a blue one to one of the Hunt brothers (why he bought one in New York state is anyone's guess, unless he wanted one to drive to Wall Street).
 
I agree on one... but not the other.

Yes, I agree Krispy Kreme is definitely a fad (at least here in health conscience California)... or if not a fad it is (was) something that was new and novel, as donuts go. For me, the novelty wore off very quickly! It didn't take me long to realize that I can get a larger, better tasting and much less sweet donut for less money at the local mom & pop donut shop. Also, once the Krispy Kremes cool off to room temp, the are nothing special at all, it's just a donut that is much smaller, much sweeter and more expensive then any other donut out there!!!

I disagree however that In-N-Out burger is a fad. A fad, as I understand it, is something which does not stand the test of time. In-N-Out has been around since 1948! Here in the LA basin, I have not seen or heard of any In-N-Out burger locations closing their doors.

 
POP ROCKS!!! Oh the fun to be had with this candy, unless you drink soda with it and choke! Then we have to take it off the market.
 
A late bump

It took me awhile to work through my rapidly-dimming memory banks! Notice how many of these have to do with "fashion".

1950's

16 rpm records for spoken-word recordings

circle collar pins (rumor had it gals wore them on a specific side if they were "experienced")

colorforms

"Pinky Lee" jackets - a kids' cartoon show host wore them, small houndstooth check sport jackets

static strips and curb feelers on your car

"Davey Crockett" hats with raccoon tails

raccoon tails on your car aerial

"Flagg Flyers" - ridiculous men's shoes with a mechanical tongue on the outside of the instep - one pulled it forward to open and back to fasten

1960s

beehive hairdos

beercans used for rollers

"wishniks" - little troll dolls with frizzy hair

cha-cha boots - men's pointy shoes that came up just to the ankle, also called "fence-climbers"

tent dresses - muumuu style dresses with a center pleat that went from bust to hem

shirt-jacs - men's sportshirt that had a 2-button band around the bottom, worn outside over the belt

granny glasses

"3-D" pants - usually black, had a reverse pleat down each side, inside was either icky pink, icky green or icky blue

bubble sunglasses - oval bubbles for lenses

wearing your belt buckle on the side of your bell-bottoms or levis

1970s

spider plants

platform shoes (high heels for MEN!)

CB radios

"baseball" shirts - usually rayon print with knitted cuffs and waist, worn outside over belt

fondue pots

curling iron "raingutter" bangs for gals

quadraphonic sound

polyglycoat on your car - supposed to repel dirt (didn't repel graffiti on mine!)

1980s

hi-top sneakers left untied

wine spritzers

bicycle pants (usually worn by men or women with giant fannies, but seldom by men with large apparatus - drat)

timeshares

Quaaludes

Walkmen

900-number chat lines

boomboxes

1990s

pogs - little discs kids would play games with

keychain pets - animated things you had to feed, wash, put to bed, etc.

I guess you can see just when I stopped paying attention to fads!
 

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