Moth-holes in the memory tapestry of one's own life

Woof! Sometimes it takes awhile to catch-up.  With very old things.  

Back in the late eighties and early nineties I was newly married and at the beginning of a long career in management consulting.  A profession where you pay heavy dues up-front in terms of extensive travel and long, long hours.  Up-front, and then later as well.  Despite this, I stayed up with the news, reading the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, occasionally USA Today and a whole slew of news magazines.

I recall some entertainment industry phenomena which turned to scandal.  Entertainment media is not a focus of my interests so I am perennially at a disadvantage in Trivial Pursuit for the Sports & Leisure and Entertainment categories.  I make up for it in Geography, History, Art and Literature, and Science & Nature.

What I was aware of then, and recollect, was an enormously successful singing duo Villi Manilli who eventually turned out to be lip-synching their performances.  And that's about all I remember and that may have been the sum of my knowledge at the time.  

This morning I see some editorial cartoons poking fun at various storm-in-a-teacup dust-ups, including all the outrage and the anger some people have about free speech on Joe Rogan.  I come across

Double click to enlarge.

OK, I get why that is funny.  But Milli Vanilli are black?  Who knew?  And Franco-German (which I discover on Wikipedia)?  Who knew?

Obviously I didn't.  Disturbing to find these moth-holes in the memory tapestry of one's own life.  

Nearly a quarter of a century seems like a strangely long time to plug the gap.  Or it is, perhaps, a testament to focusing on what really matters.  Perhaps entertainment industry ephemera is just not that meaningful.