My uncle is a judge and recently uttered the phrase "Britney Spears? Who on earth is Britney Spears?"

Financial Times: Do you want to start by paying tribute to Michael Jackson, Peter? Everyone else seems to be doing that.

Peter Mandelson: I’m not absolutely sure who Michael Jackson is. Is he the ... he’s called Jacko, isn’t he?

Pretty much given up watching TV a couple of years back I actually take great pride in not knowing who some dim witted fake celebrity is.
Too much good music/radio/dvd/books around to watch garbage any more.

I think you can be let off not being up with Glee as, unless you investigate further, it appears to be aimed squarely at teenagers (not squares). I've never heard of it before but doof doof seems to need knowledge of a fringe culture (rave) to understand so if I'll let you off with that one but I'm surprised that you weren't aware of Yellow as it was the first big single by what is now one of the biggest bands in the world.... I'm not sure that I could actually name any other singles by them though so you could have a point!
I think the lack of knowledge probably more points to the diverse nature of the entertainment industry these days. It's impossible to keep abreast of everything and a lot of things are targeted at individual markets, when you were 25 did you have any knowledge of magazines aimed at teenage girls? Probably not so why worry about television shows or records aimed specifically at that audience now (I know none of your examples fall into that category)?

After 10 years or so, I felt like I understood certain aspects of popular culture in the same way an anthropologist understands the social role and mechanisms of a circumcision ceremony in a tribe of Congolese pygmies. I realised what was being alluded to, but felt no personal investment in the social discourses built around, say Brookie.

A magazine. A website. A podcast. An education in useless trivia.

was a shorthand way to describe the dramatic end to an episode of Eastenders.

I lost interest in popular "culture" at least ten years ago. Big Brother? Brits? Celebs? X Factor? Eh? Who they? I'm quite gleefully disinterested.

it's okay not to know. I saw the list of Brit nominations for best single and I'm pretty sure I haven't ever heard any of them. Or maybe I have and I've forgotten - another peril of our age.

Alesha Dixon - Breathe Slow
Alexandra Burke Ft Flo Rida - Bad Boys
Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love
Joe McElderry - The Climb
JLS - Beat Again
La Roux - In For The Kill
Lily Allen - The Fear
Pixie Lott - Mama Do
Taio Cruz - Break Your Heart
Tinchy Stryder Ft N-Dubz - Number

If you lined this lot up against a wall I could pick out Lily Allen and might have a stab at Cheryl Cole. Now there's an idea...

with popular culture, well on the odd occasion anyway. I even sat through the whole opening episode of The Persuasionists (which I bitterly, bitterly regret...).

However, I really didn't know who half the Solo artists were put up for ridicule on another recent thread.

I frequently have "Who's Gazza?" moments. But that's only when you older chaps discuss obscure 70s TV that you grew up with or Richard Thompson's complete back catalogue. Or anything to do with The Wire.

Its not because I'm a bad man, I just haven't had a chance to catch up yet. There's too much choice out there. That is your excuse Mr Plugg. You'll get round to these things in your own good time.

All that matters is that we recognise where Mr Plugg got his blogname from. As long as you know that, you will get to heaven and all will be well - the rest is white noise.

...though I suspect it's something to do with the drums at the end of an episode. Nor had I heard of Glee.

I know Yellow though.

I'm 27 this year.

to do with this thread really, but four years or so ago I was having an early evening bath, and to psyche myself up for a Big Saturday Night Out I had Best Of The Groundhogs on at a decent volume, whereupon a small delegation of STUDENTS!! from the flat above knocked on me door requesting that I "turn down the volume please, if you would be so kind".
I was aged 52 1/4 years old at the time.
Respect, or what, is due?

.. I knew it had something to do with the Beatles, but I just couldn't decipher it.

By the way, I can't help but think that even Paul Gascoigne has Who's Gazza moments these days, sadly.

Glee is a show on E4 and it is fantastic. I watch it with my 14-year-old daughter. I'm 50. We both love it.

Oh do me a favour, just look it up on Google. Likewise Yellow, and probably doof doof, too, although do you really need that explaining? Couldn't you, with just a couple of seconds' thought, work it out for yourself?

God, the kids today. They want it all laid out on a plate for them.

But if you're interested you can always look it up. If not, what does it matter if you don't know what Glee is. You won't be watching it.

Otherwise you do come across like some out of touch high court judge or someone who's using their not being on top of pop culture as a device to appear culturally superior.

I'm a similar demographic, and I couldn't agree more - but there's absolutely nothing to worry about. There's just too much information out there, 90% of which is crap/irrelevant (as it probably always has been). It's not a matter of pride not to know these things, nor of shame, just an admission that you can't keep track of trivia. No bad thing. Personally, most of what gets reported in The Word also passes me by these days - I simply can't get excited about it.

but who or what is Gazza?

... at least used to know who the big stars were. Nowadays I haven't a clue - I hear the same names again and again, but wouldn't know any of them if I bumped into them on the street: maybe Tiger Woods and Lewis Hamilton at a push...

And I saw a programme the other night with Mary J. Blige - to be fair, I did recognise her, but they said she's sold 40 million records, and I couldn't even begin to identify or name a single one of her songs.

There's a vaguely serious point here about fragmentation of the media - surely this is the first time in (mass media) history where it's possible to be completely ignorant of hugely successful people? Yes, alright, it was always possible, but at least things used to leak into your consciousness by "osmosis", now that doesn't seem to be the case...

I'm currently on a contract working alongside a bunch of young 20-somethings.

I'm about to turn 38 and I seem to have no cultural crossover with them at all today.

I started talking about Barry Sheene today and there were blank looks all around. That's merely one of many topics I end up having to have with myself.

No wonder they all think I'm weird!

I can remember when this was all fields

46 in March

am I?