The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Wiki:

"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" is a poem and song by Gil Scott-Heron. It was Scott-Heron's first single.

The poem is notable for its extensive political and cultural references, many of which may be unknown today. The list below links to some of the references Scott-Heron makes.

References:

• "Plug in, turn on, and cop out," a reference to Timothy Leary's pro-LSD phrase "Turn on, tune in, drop out."
• Skag, slang term for heroin
• Xerox, best-known manufacturer (at the time of the poem's writing) of photocopying machines. The name has also become a genericized trademark that colloquially means "to photocopy".
• Richard Nixon, 37th president of the United States
• John N. Mitchell, U.S. Attorney General under Nixon
• General Creighton Abrams, commander of military operations during the Vietnam War
• Spiro Agnew, 39th vice president of the United States under Nixon
• "Hog maws," sometimes misheard as "hog moss," soul food made from the stomach lining of a pig
• Schaefer Award Theater, radio show by Dick Clark
• Natalie Wood, film actress (incorrectly referred to as "Natalie Woods")
• Steve McQueen, film actor
• Bullwinkle, cartoon character
• Julia, a TV half-hour sitcom series starring Diahann Carroll
• "Give your mouth sex appeal", from Ultra Brite toothpaste advertising
• Willie May, an Olympic medalist who competed mainly in the 110 meter hurdles.
• Instant replay, a sports television term
• Whitney Young, civil rights leader
• Roy Wilkins, executive director of the NAACP
• Watts, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, referring to the Watts Riots of 1965
• “Red, black, and green”, the colors of the Pan-African flag
• Green Acres, a U.S. television sitcom
• The Beverly Hillbillies, a U.S. television sitcom
• Hooterville “Junction” [sic], the fictional setting of Green Acres and Petticoat Junction
• Search for Tomorrow, a U.S. television soap opera
• Dick and Jane, white children, a sister and brother, featured in American basal readers
• “Eleven o’clock news”, a reference to a generic television news program
• “Women liberationists”, a reference to the feminist movement
• Jackie Onassis, seen during the period in television broadcasts covering Kennedy memorials
• Jim Webb, U.S. composer
• Francis Scott Key, author of the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner”
• Glen Campbell, U.S. pop music singer
• Tom Jones, Welsh pop music singer
• Johnny Cash, U.S. country music singer
• Engelbert Humperdinck, British pop music singer
• Rare Earth, all-white U.S. pop music band signed to Motown Records
• “White tornado”, advertising slogan for Ajax cleanser, “Ajax cleans like a white tornado”
• “White lightning”, a slang term for moonshine, the name of a 1950s country and western song by George Jones, and an American psychedelic rock band
• “Dove in your bedroom”, a television advertising image associated with Dove Anti-perspirant Deodorant Cream
• “Tiger in your tank”, an Esso advertising slogan created by Chicago copywriter Emery Smith [1]
• “Giant in your toilet bowl,” reference to the Liquid Plumr commercials saying that it cleared so well it was like "having a giant in your toilet bowl" (to work the plunger) with an animation of a large disembodied arm using a plunger on your toilet.
• “Go better with Coke”, a Coca-Cola advertising slogan, “Things go better with Coke”
• “Fight the germs that may cause bad breath”, from Listerine advertising
• “Put you in the driver’s seat” (advertising slogan from a car rental company, Hertz)
• Rerun