--What, in your opinion, fuels the longevity of this event in pop culture?

Baggott: Well, there's a scientific hypothesis––which I heard once, but don't remember where I was when I heard it––that memory cannot exist until one memory can refer to another memory ... something like memory only exists when it stands for another memory––basically metaphor has to exist. This is an argument the likes of Is there thought before language, which Helen Keller weighed in on in the category of No, there isn't. This is supposed to explain why people don't remember infancy. I think that infancy is overshadowed by an enormous haze of Existential Angst (I exist? I exist?) and little else can be perceived. But, if I were to pick, say the Boston Red Sox winning game four in the Red Sox vs. Yankees play-offs in 2004––in fact, let's be more narrow: Big Papi's homerun in the bottom of the twelfth (which then allows us to deal with the racism that plagued the Red Sox franchise)––then that pop culture moment relies on, well, the racism that plagued Red Sox franchise––like the hateful charade of the try-out of Jackie Robinson and the Sox scout who refused to wait out a rain delay to see Willie Mays play, and the horrible treatment of the sweet Pumpsie Green. And, obviously, all of this relies on Bill Buckner, and the ball bouncing through his legs.

Borders: The Partridge Family will not die out until my generation of girls who grew up in the seventies dies out, or until Danny Bonaduce stops doing reality shows (whichever comes first). I wish I could say that the Partridge Family's music would endure, that "I Think I Love You" is a classic rock song on the order of "Thunder Road" or "Smells Like Teen Spirit," but, well, it's not even "My Sharona."

Flook: I, like millions of white kids across America, had to make a choice to leave behind the past; for some it was the Beach Boys and the Association, but for me it was a lifetime of Vanguard recordings. At the Folk Festival, my sister wanted to go to the Pete Seeger hootenanny that ran at the same time Janis was supposed to perform in another arena, but for me and the Kent State boys it was Janis or bust! In truth, I hate Janis Joplin, but there was this incredible feeling that her unpleasant screeching was directly aimed at people's parents and at Nixon.

Nelson: As for why it's remained so current: it was the beginning of deep and proven suspicion concerning our government. What glee my parents expressed, hearing
Nixon hang himself, again and again and again. Since then, every major news event that features shameful government behavior has been labeled Whatevergate. It's like people who decide they are shopaholics or chocoholics, since alcohol got the whole thing rolling.

Strauss: Not sure it's had much longevity; isn't that the thing about Pop culture––it's disposability? This album, which seemed indispensable, is almost never listened to anymore. Not by me, at least. Except for "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin,'" which––with its cool Funkadelic and Manu Dibango rip-offs––is a great compendium of funky tropes.