The High 10 Banana Moments in Pop Tradition

Do you keep in mind the place you have been the primary time you heard “Hollaback Woman?” I, for one, was a wee lil fourth grader jamming out in my shiny purple bed room to a track I positively mustn’t have been singing at that age. Nonetheless, it was then and there that I noticed simply how important the yellow fruit was not simply to meals, however to popular culture as nicely. (OK, tremendous, I noticed it simply now for the aim of this task, however I am positive I thought of it again then too. Perhaps.)

From films to music and our favourite TV exhibits, bananas have proven up in our lives in so some ways. In order a part of our latest enthusiastic banana enterprise, we’re having a look again in time on the high banana moments—each good and never so good—in recent-ish popular culture. You recognize, those which are so burned into our subconsciousness that we consider them each time we decide up a banana on the retailer. Those you already know made this checklist! Those we’ll little doubt inform our grandchildren about while rocking backwards and forwards gently. “In my day, they put pajamas on bananas and raced them down the steps,” and such. You get it! With out additional ado: the definitive banana moments of our time.

10. Bluth’s Authentic Frozen Banana Stand from Arrested Growth

If you recognize Arrested Growth, you recognize in regards to the banana stand. “There’s at all times cash within the banana stand,” George Bluth Sr. would constantly say to his youngsters. Seems, it wasn’t only a saying; there truly was at all times cash within the banana stand—about $250,000 of it that lined the partitions, until it was burned down by his son, Michael Bluth.

9. Andy Warhol’s Banana

What began as an interactive artwork piece for The Velvet Underground’s 1967 album The Velvet Underground and Nico finally turned one among Warhol’s most notable artistic endeavors (and one finally synonymous with the Pop Artwork motion). The piece was even crowned best album cover of all time by Billboard in 2023. Quick ahead to at present, and you’ll simply discover the artwork plastered on all the things from T-shirts to mock prints—and even our banana highlight’s cowl artwork—additional cementing the banana as an icon. An orange might by no means!!

8. “The Comic” Artwork Set up by Maurizio Cattelan

Miami’s annual Artwork Basel occasion is infamous for attracting all types of artwork. In 2019, the occasion shocked all when an artwork set up merely displaying an precise banana duct-taped to a wall bought for a whopping $120,000—together with two different editions that bought for upwards of $150,000 every. The set up was titled “The Comic” and was the work of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan. It examined how materials objects turn out to be necessary relying on their context whereas additionally poking enjoyable at artwork and capitalism. Efficiency artist David Datuna ended up peeling the banana off the wall and eating it as a prank. Although onlookers have been shocked, on the finish of the day, it was only a common banana, and the exhibit was changed with one other piece of the fruit, additional proving its absurdity.

7. Slipping on Banana Peels

A comedy trope as outdated as time—a lot in order that MythBusters even tested the theory to see how doubtless it’s to slide on one! Plot twist, it’s not, except you’ve received a complete lot of bananas littered on the bottom, however that hasn’t stopped anybody from making it into a factor. The bit is believed to have originated in the 20th century as a Vaudeville act. Vaudeville comic “Sliding” Billy Watson noticed somebody struggling to keep up their steadiness after slipping on a peel, and included it into one among his exhibits. The act later appeared within the silent movie “The Flirt,” and the remaining is historical past. However historical past is completely different from actuality–lmk when you’ve truly ever witnessed somebody slip on a banana peel. In my 29 years, I’ve not.

6. The Savannah Bananas

If there’s one crew I’m at all times rooting for, it’s baseball’s Savannah Bananas. Not essentially to win, however to supply leisure. I’ve but to see them play in individual, nevertheless it’s excessive on my bucket checklist. This crew is dedicated to the bit in each means doable. First off, they play in kilts. Most notably, nevertheless, they carry out choreographed numbers at each sport, from Mariah Carey to One Route and even songs from Aladdin. This is probably one of my favorite videos from them thus far—the suspense!!—however they at all times discover a solution to hold issues fascinating.

5. Bananas in Pyjamas

This Australian kids’s tv collection from the 90s was a basic. Who didn’t love watching these two bananas and their infinite shenanigans? OK, possibly we didn’t love watching them—they did skew scary typically—however their theme track was catchy and the present was, nicely, bananas.

4. Britney (and Banana) on the 2001 VMAs

Whereas performing her hit “I’m a Slave 4 U,” the singer emerged on stage with an albino Burmese python named Banana wrapped round her. It was a daring transfer not seen by many, if any, performers earlier than, and Spears mirrored on it in her latest memoir:

In my head I used to be saying, Simply carry out, simply use your legs and carry out. However what no one is aware of is that as I used to be singing, the snake introduced its head proper round to my face, proper as much as me, and began hissing,” Spears writes. “I used to be pondering, Are you f—ing severe proper now? The f—ing goddamn snake’s tongue is flicking out at me. Proper. Now. Lastly, I received to the half the place I handed it again, thank God.

3. The Banana Boat Scene in Jaws

Cue the dramatic music! You recognize, the one which instantly makes you consider a shark swimming as much as you within the ocean?? On this scene from the fourth installment of the Jaws films, a bunch of beachgoers is seen atop a banana boat when a shark all of the sudden begins swimming in direction of them, finally biting the leg of a lady and pulling her off the boat. Okay, so possibly we’re not desirous to hop on a banana boat anytime quickly after watching this, however when you pause the film proper earlier than issues take a flip, it doesn’t appear like such a foul time!!

2. “The Title Sport” by Shirley Ellis

This track originated as a rhyming sport that makes it simple to rhyme to virtually any identify—however you in all probability comprehend it most as a solution to rhyme the identify Hannah with banana. What number of dad and mom raised their Hannahs by singing this track to them? In truth, do you actually have a daughter named Hannah when you didn’t sing this track to them at the least as soon as a day?

1. “Hollaback Woman”

For those who did not know find out how to spell bananas, Gwen Stefani modified that within the 12 months 2004. I used to be a mere elementary college lady when this track got here out, however that didn’t cease me from belting the lyrics on the high of my lungs. The entire thing was generation-defining hit: The singer’s music video featured a high-school theme, and this a part of the track noticed a cheerleading squad decked out in banana-themed uniforms spelling out the identify of the fruit with indicators. It made me wish to audition for the cheer squad, which I by no means did get round to, however I did use the inspiration to put on a cheerleader Halloween costume that 12 months.