There are so many things in this universe that we just can’t explain. Science, law enforcement, researchers, internet detectives—they continue to come up empty.
The fate of Amelia Earhart is a good one. On July 2, 1937, she took off on the next leg of her attempt to fly around the world—and then just disappeared. There are all kinds of stories about what happened. Search missions have used sonar, aerial surveillance, and underwater drones around Howland Island in the Pacific. So far, though, nothing.
Who was Jack the Ripper? Again, dozens of theories and possible suspects. It might have been a part-time schoolteacher named Montague John Druitt. Maybe it was Aaron Kosminski, a local barber. Even Prince Albert Victor, the grandson of Queen Victoria. Ripperologists—yes, that’s a real term—are split and frankly have no idea what happened beginning in 1888.
If you want something more current, there’s the “Wow” signal, a 72-second radio burst in 1977 that some believe was a transmission from extraterrestrials. Maybe, maybe not.
There are some things that can be explained—or something close to it. Scientists are now pretty sure of where the building materials for Stonehenge came from, even if there are so many other things they haven’t cracked yet.
The fate of the Franklin Expedition in the high Canadian Arctic—after about 160 years, wreckage was found.
The infamous Tunguska explosion over Siberia in 1908 flattened 2,100 square kilometres of forest. It’s been proven that it was a meteor more than 50 metres wide that exploded at a height of about eight kilometres.
There are also plenty of unexplained things in the world of music. These are things that we often don’t even question. Why do we do these things? What is this called that? Who came up with that idea—which, now that we think of it, is actually kind of goofy? Let’s deal with some of that.
This is another episode of something I call The Rock Explainer.
Songs heard on this show:
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- David Bowie, Can’t Explain
- Soft Cell, Tainted Love
- MARRS, Pump Up the Volume
- Coldplay, Talk
- Sum 41, Underclass Hero
- Imagine Dragons, Wrecked
- Billy Corgan, Thirty-Three
- The Knack
Here’s Eric Wilhite’s playlist.
The Ongoing History of New Music can be heard on these stations. Don’t forget that there’s a podcast version, too, in case you miss any episodes. Get them for free wherever you get your podcasts.
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- 102.1 The Edge/Toronto – Sunday night at 7pm
- Q107/Toronto – Sunday night at 9pm
- Live 88-5/Ottawa – Saturdays at 9am and Sundays at 6pm.
- 107.5 Dave-FM/Kitchener – Sunday nights at 11pm
- FM96/London – Sunday nights at 8pm
- Power 97/Winnipeg – Sunday nights at 10am and 10pm
- 107-3 The Edge/Calgary – Sundays at 10am and 10pm
- Sonic 102.9/Edmonton – Sunday at 8am and 8pm
- The Zone/Victoria – Sunday at 8am and 9pm
- The Fox/Vancouver – Sundays at 10anm and 10pm
- The Goat Network/Interior BC
- Surge 105/Halifax – Sunday at 7pm
- WAPS/WKTL The Summit/Akron, Canton, Cleveland, Youngstown – Mon-Fri at 9pm
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