The Powerball achievement is actually a reference to the game within the television show "American Gladiators," to which the PvP battleground has a similar strategy (the gladiators hold five strategic points and attempt to prevent the guest players from putting the eponymous ball into baskets.
Wow its so cool that the Christian bible took the line hallowed be thy name from an Iron Maiden song and used it in the Lord's Prayer! >.> Better living through chemistry was taken from the 1935 Dupont company slogan. And Mission Impossible was a 1966 tv show before it was a 1996 Tom Cruise movie or a 2007 cooking show Dinner Impossible.
In the World of Warcraft Community section, the I Was Promised a Pony achievement is missing from the list.
Billy JoelAnd They Would All Go Down Together (10 player): From the song Goodnight Saigon. "And we would all go down together."I'm shocked and actually a bit ashamed you could forget this.
This one has the same name as Linkin Park's album:Minutes to Midnight
Great list, but its missing a very obvious one D:It's Over Nine Thousand!
Ragnar-O's is most likely a Spagetti-O's reference, not Cheerios.Dinner Impossible is a reference to the cooking show, Dinner Impossible. Not the spy movie Mission Impossible.Contending with Bullies quest has you defeat Shonuf <the Fireweaver> referenced from the movie The Last Dragon in which the hero and the villian both are after The Glow. While engaged in combat, Shonuf shouts, "I've got the glow!"
Some of those could fit more references than the ones started. "I heard you like Amber..." could also be referencing "I heard you like Mudkips." for example
while not a achievement, I always loved Big Trouble in Little China's reference :)
I would like to point out that the achievement for, "Heartbreaker," does not immediately reference any particular band. For example, Pat Benatar had a song with the same title in 1979. It is more likely a reference to the old ideology that if someone is desirable yet uninterested, they break a lot of hearts.Also, Ragnar-O's is more likely a reference to Spaghetti-O's, since the punctuation is more similar.
A fantastic list - I had a lot of fun reading it!I'd still like to see a few edits. First off, I wish that "Rat Pack" actually listed the names of the actors: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford, and Joey BishopI, too, believe that Ragnar-O's is actually a reference to SpaghettiOsI always thought that "Shop Smart, Shop Pet...Smart" was a reference to the TV ads that encouraged pet owners to "Shop smart, shop PetSmart"And finally, "The Pen Is Mightier than the Sword" is actually a quote from Edward Bulwer-Lytton
While some of these might be intended as references to modern culture, the sayings they're based on have been around much longer, so without further evidence to link the achievement to the specific source, I'd say it's a long shot to call it a "reference". Sure, the quest designer might have meant it as a reference to the claimed source, but they might just as easily have not.Working In the Cold is an old reference to working very hard, possibly literally all night and all day for days on end. I can't find an "oldest recorded use" anywhere, but the phrase "night and day" or "day and night" which means, either figuratively or literally, "constantly", has been around since at least Shakespeare. Also, I would point out that the song is titled "Workin' Day and Night" (note the contraction instead of the full word "working"), and that the lyrics of the song are about getting worked up about a girl, rather than literal work done in a profession or hobby. Without further evidence to the contrary, I would conclude the achievement references the common phrase, not the song.Hallowed Be Thy Name, as a couple people have pointed out, is part of The Lord's Prayer, as written in many (most? all?) English translations of Matthew and Luke, in the Christian Bible. Given that the achievement is given during Hallow's End, which is a clear reference to the Christian holiday All Hallow's Eve, where "Hallow" means "Saint", or a venerated dead person who presumably contributed much to the people or culture they were part of, it seems much more likely the achievement is a Bible reference than a reference to a song.Working For a Living I'm not positive on. Someone who "works for a living" isn't taking charity or handouts, and isn't a lazy no-life, and I've heard the phrase many times in my life, but I can't actually find any evidence to support my stance that the phrase is likely quite old. Not even acknowledgement from any source the phrase exists, except in the context of the military pseudo-joke, "Don't call me Sir, I work for a living." Non-commissioned officers are actually called by rank, so you shouldn't call them "Sir", then they proceed to imply commissioned officers don't actually work as a joke or means of easing the blow to their pride in admitting they are an inferior rank. However, I don't see a direct tie from this achievement to this use of the phrase. Like Working Day and Night, the song you claim this references is spelled differently, Workin' for a Livin'. In this case, the lyrics to the song actually support a reference, so I find it more likely, but I still feel like it's more likely a reference to a common phrase like the song, rather than a direct reference to the song.Return to Sender is another common phrase, this time used in package delivery. It usually means the intended recipient no longer lives at the address specified (or perhaps never did), but could also mean the recipient doesn't want the package, or doesn't want to pay the CoD shipping, or is possibly trying to cheat the system by putting something else in the package and getting free shipping. The song you reference is about a girl who keeps writing "return to sender" on the guy's love letter because she isn't interested in romance. The usage in the song is clearly a reference to actual postal practices, and nothing in the achievement criteria has anything to do with romance or love. It seems more likely the achievement is implying the player doesn't want all these bombs being dropped on them, so they're being returned to the sender, who happens to be the boss you're fighting. Note the down-votes on the achievement page on any references to the song -- apparently at least eight other people feel the same way.Candle in the Wind is a metaphor from at least as far back as 1967, by Carl Sandburg. I can't find the date or context of the quote, but given that he died 6 years prior to the song mentioned, it has to be older than the song. I'm unsure the meaning of the Sandburg version, though it seems to reference the fragility of life, but the Elton John version seems to be indicating Monroe was spectacular, like a candle refusing to give in to the wind, or daring to go out in the wind. Given how the achievement requires you to brave harsh winds to light the "candles", this one is more likely to be a reference to the more popular song (and the comments on this achievement seem to agree with you), but the song's title came from a quote about Janis Joplin, and candles and wind are very common literary devices, plus we know the phrase is older than the song, so it's hard to pin a direct reference to the song.Fancy Footwork is yet another popular saying that refers to literally moving your feet in an impressively agile way, or a figurative movement by doing a complex set of tasks to achieve a likely difficult goal. Again, I have no real references to an origin, but I don't think they're required, especially since the song is practically brand new (2007). There is a Fancy Footwork Dance School in Australia that started in 1997, and a Fancy Footwork dance school in the United Kingdom that started in 2001. The Chromeo song is about showing off dance moves to impress a girl, which has little relevance to the goals of the achievement. The achievement is about avoiding gas clouds on the ground, which requires the player to literally move their avatar's feet around in a complex way while killing the boss.Drive Me Crazy (10 player) is yet another popular saying that simply means "making me crazy". The Britney Spears song is about romance, while the achievement clearly references literal insanity, and is tied to a boss who is pretty Lovecraftian in nature. Also, there have been numerous other songs and movies with the phrase "drive me crazy" in their title (all about romance that I saw glancing through the Google results), so pinning it to a specific, very recent song seems rather silly, even if there had been any logical connection.School's Out Forever is exactly like a line from the song, to be certain, but the phrase is hardly something Alice Cooper made up. The achievement is earned in a fight where you literally end a school forever, while the song is about the feeling of absolute freedom when school lets out for the summer. With zero link between the achievement criteria and the song's lyrics, it's hard to make a direct connection.Stormtrooper seems to be more closely tied to the real-life stormtroopers in the German army in the early 1900's. The achievement certainly has nothing to do with "bad aiming", and I don't remember any point in the movies where Imperial stormtroopers capture flags or other objectives in a notable manner. The real stormtroopers, on the other hand, were a specialist type of soldier trained to take down specific enemy emplacements in a strategic effort to win the fight with minimal casualties, instead of using the older method of charging the enemy line with everything you had. The achievement criteria involves repeated elimination of a strategically valuable enemy flag carrier, which, again, seems much more likely to be a reference to the German soldiers than Imperial soldiers.Did Somebody Order a Knuckle Sandwich? should probably be moved down to the Popular Sayings and Proverbs section.Vampire Hunters aren't exactly a new trend, and have certainly been around far longer than video games of any sort. Holy water and silver stakes as anti-vampire weapons are also very generic. Without some specific connection, I would be highly skeptical of claiming the achievement, pet, or trinket specifically referencing any one franchise.
Hi I read all three articles and I just wanna say that they're great! I saw a lot of ones I've missed, even though I thought I was a really good "reference spotter" :DI haven't read all the comments, maybe someone else already suggested these but I'll do aswell. You missed this http://www.wowhead.com/item=77150#comments the Mail Helm reference to Zeherah from femaledwarf.comI think you can expand more on Bronjham like how his sounds are similar to a lot of the sounds James did and how the loot in the encounter is named after his songs like Papa's Brand New Bag Eyes of Bewilderment And finally my most favorite refence in Wow, the one that literally knocked me off my chair when i discovered it - the hatch from Lost in Sholazar Basin that reads the numbers from the show +1 - 5 9 16 17 24 43. http://www.wowhead.com/zone=3711#screenshots:id=121705http://www.wowhead.com/zone=3711#screenshots:id=139540http://www.wowhead.com/zone=3711#screenshots:id=113230Again thanks for the great articles, had a LOT of fun reading them :) Keep up the good work when WoD come out :)
Hate Leads to Suffering is a reference to Star WarsYou Said Crossing the Streams Was Bad is a reference to Ghost Busters
I'd like to add the achievement No Static at All, which is a reference to the song FM by Steely Dan
im pretty sure that Every Day I'm Pand-a-ren its a reference to LMFAO party rock anthem
Throw It On the Ground!Threw it on the ground, like the Andy Samberg skit on SNL. this is one of my fav references and didnt notice it on the list!
I'll take a look at the achievement suggestions, but when suggesting things please keep in mind that quests like Throw It On the Ground! and items like Mark "S" Boomstick are not intended to be part of this achievement-only guide :) The Boomstick is covered here: http://www.wowhead.com/news=225727/pop-culture-item-references-video-games-movies-and-tv#movies