title: Semiotics

text: John Locke (1690), himself a man of medicine, was familiar with this 'semeiotics' as naming a specialized branch within medical science. In his personal library were two editions of Scapula's 1579 abridgement of Henricus Stephanus' "Thesaurus Graecae Linguae", which listed "σημειωτική" as the name for 'diagnostics', the branch of medicine concerned with interpreting symptoms of disease ("symptomatology"). Indeed, physician and scholar Henry Stubbe (1670) had transliterated this term of specialized science into English precisely as ""semeiotics"," marking the first use of the term in English:Locke would use the term "sem(e)iotike" in "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding" (book IV, chap. 21), in which he explains how science may be divided into three parts:


title: Semiotics

text: Locke then elaborates on the nature of this third category, naming it "Σημειωτική" ("Semeiotike"), and explaining it as "the doctrine of signs" in the following terms:


title: Semiotics

text: Juri Lotman would introduce Eastern Europe to semiotics and adopt Locke's coinage ("Σημειωτική") as the name to subtitle his founding at the University of Tartu in Estonia in 1964 of the first semiotics journal, "Sign Systems Studies".


title: Semiotics

text: Thomas Sebeok would assimilate "semiology" to "semiotics" as a part to a whole, and was involved in choosing the name "Semiotica" for the first international journal devoted to the study of signs. Saussurean semiotics have exercised a great deal of influence on the schools of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. Jacques Derrida, for example, takes as his object the Saussurean relationship of signifier and signified, asserting that signifier and signified are not fixed, coining the expression "différance", relating to the endless deferral of meaning, and to the absence of a 'transcendent signified'.


title: Semiotics

text: In the nineteenth century, Charles Sanders Peirce defined what he termed "semiotic" (which he would sometimes spell as "semeiotic") as the "quasi-necessary, or formal doctrine of signs," which abstracts "what must be the characters of all signs used by…an intelligence capable of learning by experience," and which is philosophical logic pursued in terms of signs and sign processes.


title: Semiotics

text: Peirce's perspective is considered as philosophical logic studied in terms of signs that are not always linguistic or artificial, and sign processes, modes of inference, and the inquiry process in general. The Peircean semiotic addresses not only the external communication mechanism, as per Saussure, but the internal representation machine, investigating sign processes, and modes of inference, as well as the whole inquiry process in general.


title: Semiotics

text: Peircean semiotic is triadic, including sign, object, interpretant, as opposed to the dyadic Saussurian tradition (signifier, signified). Peircean semiotics further subdivides each of the three triadic elements into three sub-types, positing the existence of signs that are symbols; semblances ("icons"); and "indices," i.e., signs that are such through a factual connection to their objects.


title: Semiotics

text: Peircean scholar and editor Max H. Fisch (1978) would claim that "semeiotic" was Peirce's own preferred rendering of Locke's σημιωτική. Charles W. Morris followed Peirce in using the term "semiotic" and in extending the discipline beyond human communication to animal learning and use of signals.


title: Semiotics

text: While the Saussurean semiotic is dyadic (sign/syntax, signal/semantics), the Peircean semiotic is triadic (sign, object, interpretant), being conceived as philosophical logic studied in terms of signs that are not always linguistic or artificial.


title: Semiotics

text: Peirce would aim to base his new list directly upon experience precisely as constituted by action of signs, in contrast with the list of Aristotle's categories which aimed to articulate within experience the dimension of being that is independent of experience and knowable as such, through human understanding.


title: Semiotics

text: The estimative powers of animals interpret the environment as sensed to form a "meaningful world" of objects, but the objects of this world (or "Umwelt", in Jakob von Uexküll's term) consist exclusively of objects related to the animal as desirable (+), undesirable (–), or "safe to ignore" (0).


title: Semiotics

text: In contrast to this, human understanding adds to the animal "Umwelt" a relation of self-identity within objects which transforms objects experienced into "things" as well as +, –, 0 objects. Thus, the generically animal objective world as "Umwelt", becomes a species-specifically human objective world or "Lebenswelt" (life-world), wherein linguistic communication, rooted in the biologically underdetermined "Innenwelt" (inner-world) of humans, makes possible the further dimension of cultural organization within the otherwise merely social organization of non-human animals whose powers of observation may deal only with directly sensible instances of objectivity.


title: Semiotics

text: This further point, that human culture depends upon language understood first of all not as communication, but as the biologically underdetermined aspect or feature of the human animal's "Innenwelt", was originally clearly identified by Thomas A. Sebeok. Sebeok also played the central role in bringing Peirce's work to the center of the semiotic stage in the twentieth century, first with his expansion of the human use of signs (""anthroposemiosis"") to include also the generically animal sign-usage (""zoösemiosis""), then with his further expansion of semiosis to include the vegetative world (""phytosemiosis""). Such would initially be based on the work of Martin Krampen, but takes advantage of Peirce's point that an interpretant, as the third item within a sign relation, "need not be mental."


title: Semiotics

text: Peirce distinguished between the interpretant and the interpreter. The interpretant is the internal, mental representation that mediates between the object and its sign. The interpreter is the human who is creating the interpretant. Peirce's "interpretant" notion opened the way to understanding an action of signs beyond the realm of animal life (study of "phytosemiosis" + "zoösemiosis" + "anthroposemiosis" = "biosemiotics"), which was his first advance beyond Latin Age semiotics.


title: Semiotics

text: Other early theorists in the field of semiotics include Charles W. Morris. Writing in 1951, Jozef Maria Bochenski surveyed the field in this way: "Closely related to mathematical logic is the so-called semiotics (Charles Morris) which is now commonly employed by mathematical logicians. Semiotics is the theory of symbols and falls in three parts, (1) logical syntax, the theory of the mutual relations of symbols, (2) logical semantics, the theory of the relations between the symbol and what the symbol stands for, and (3) logical pragmatics, the relations between symbols, their meanings and the users of the symbols." Max Black argued that the work of Bertrand Russell was seminal in the field.


title: Semiotics

text: Semioticians classify signs or sign systems in relation to the way they are transmitted (see modality). This process of carrying meaning depends on the use of codes that may be the individual sounds or letters that humans use to form words, the body movements they make to show attitude or emotion, or even something as general as the clothes they wear. To coin a word to refer to a "thing" (see lexical words), the community must agree on a simple meaning (a denotative meaning) within their language, but that word can transmit that meaning only within the language's grammatical structures and codes (see syntax and semantics). Codes also represent the values of the culture, and are able to add new shades of connotation to every aspect of life.


title: Semiotics

text: To explain the relationship between semiotics and communication studies, communication is defined as the process of transferring data and-or meaning from a source to a receiver. Hence, communication theorists construct models based on codes, media, and contexts to explain the biology, psychology, and mechanics involved. Both disciplines recognize that the technical process cannot be separated from the fact that the receiver must decode the data, i.e., be able to distinguish the data as salient, and make meaning out of it. This implies that there is a necessary overlap between semiotics and communication. Indeed, many of the concepts are shared, although in each field the emphasis is different. In "Messages and Meanings: An Introduction to Semiotics", Marcel Danesi (1994) suggested that semioticians' priorities were to study signification first, and communication second. A more extreme view is offered by Jean-Jacques Nattiez who, as a musicologist, considered the theoretical study of communication irrelevant to his application of semiotics.


title: Semiotics

text: Semiotics differs from linguistics in that it generalizes the definition of a sign to encompass signs in any medium or sensory modality. Thus it broadens the range of sign systems and sign relations, and extends the definition of language in what amounts to its widest analogical or metaphorical sense. The branch of semiotics that deals with such formal relations between signs or expressions in abstraction from their signification and their interpreters, or—more generally—with formal properties of symbol systems (specifically, with reference to linguistic signs, syntax) is referred to as syntactics.


title: Semiotics

text: Peirce's definition of the term "semiotic" as the study of necessary features of signs also has the effect of distinguishing the discipline from linguistics as the study of contingent features that the world's languages happen to have acquired in the course of their evolutions. From a subjective standpoint, perhaps more difficult is the distinction between semiotics and the philosophy of language. In a sense, the difference lies between separate traditions rather than subjects. Different authors have called themselves "philosopher of language" or "semiotician." This difference does "not" match the separation between analytic and continental philosophy. On a closer look, there may be found some differences regarding subjects. Philosophy of language pays more attention to natural languages or to languages in general, while semiotics is deeply concerned with non-linguistic signification. Philosophy of language also bears connections to linguistics, while semiotics might appear closer to some of the humanities (including literary theory) and to cultural anthropology.


title: Semiotics

text: Semiosis or "semeiosis" is the process that forms meaning from any organism's apprehension of the world through signs. Scholars who have talked about semiosis in their subtheories of semiotics include C. S. Peirce, John Deely, and Umberto Eco. Cognitive semiotics is combining methods and theories developed in the disciplines of semiotics and the humanities, with providing new information into human signification and its manifestation in cultural practices. The research on cognitive semiotics brings together semiotics from linguistics, cognitive science, and related disciplines on a common meta-theoretical platform of concepts, methods, and shared data.


title: Semiotics

text: Cognitive semiotics may also be seen as the study of meaning-making by employing and integrating methods and theories developed in the cognitive sciences. This involves conceptual and textual analysis as well as experimental investigations. Cognitive semiotics initially was developed at the Center for Semiotics at Aarhus University (Denmark), with an important connection with the Center of Functionally Integrated Neuroscience (CFIN) at Aarhus Hospital. Amongst the prominent cognitive semioticians are Per Aage Brandt, Svend Østergaard, Peer Bundgård, Frederik Stjernfelt, Mikkel Wallentin, Kristian Tylén, Riccardo Fusaroli, and Jordan Zlatev. Zlatev later in co-operation with Göran Sonesson established CCS (Center for Cognitive Semiotics) at Lund University, Sweden.


title: Semiotics

text: Finite semiotics, developed by Cameron Shackell (2018, 2019), aims to unify existing theories of semiotics for application to the post-Baudrillardian world of ubiquitous technology. Its central move is to place the finiteness of thought at the root of semiotics and the sign as a secondary but fundamental analytical construct. The theory contends that the levels of reproduction that technology is bringing to human environments demands this reprioritisation if semiotics is to remain relevant in the face of effectively infinite signs. The shift in emphasis allows practical definitions of many core constructs in semiotics which Shackell has applied to areas such as human computer interaction, creativity theory, and a computational semiotics method for generating semiotic squares from digital texts.


title: Semiotics

text: Pictorial semiotics is intimately connected to art history and theory. It goes beyond them both in at least one fundamental way, however. While art history has limited its visual analysis to a small number of pictures that qualify as "works of art", pictorial semiotics focuses on the properties of pictures in a general sense, and on how the artistic conventions of images can be interpreted through pictorial codes. Pictorial codes are the way in which viewers of pictorial representations seem automatically to decipher the artistic conventions of images by being unconsciously familiar with them.


title: Semiotics

text: According to Göran Sonesson, a Swedish semiotician, pictures can be analyzed by three models: (a) the narrative model, which concentrates on the relationship between pictures and time in a chronological manner as in a comic strip; (b) the rhetoric model, which compares pictures with different devices as in a metaphor; and (c) the Laokoon model, which considers the limits and constraints of pictorial expressions by comparing textual mediums that utilize time with visual mediums that utilize space.


title: Semiotics

text: The break from traditional art history and theory—as well as from other major streams of semiotic analysis—leaves open a wide variety of possibilities for pictorial semiotics. Some influences have been drawn from phenomenological analysis, cognitive psychology, structuralist, and cognitivist linguistics, and visual anthropology and sociology.


title: Semiotics

text: Studies have shown that semiotics may be used to make or break a brand. Culture codes strongly influence whether a population likes or dislikes a brand's marketing, especially internationally. If the company is unaware of a culture's codes, it runs the risk of failing in its marketing. Globalization has caused the development of a global consumer culture where products have similar associations, whether positive or negative, across numerous markets.


title: Semiotics

text: Mistranslations may lead to instances of "Engrish" or "Chinglish", terms for unintentionally humorous cross-cultural slogans intended to be understood in English. This may be caused by a sign that, in Peirce's terms, mistakenly indexes or symbolizes something in one culture, that it does not in another. In other words, it creates a connotation that is culturally-bound, and that violates some culture code. Theorists who have studied humor (such as Schopenhauer) suggest that contradiction or incongruity creates absurdity and therefore, humor. Violating a culture code creates this construct of ridiculousness for the culture that owns the code. Intentional humor also may fail cross-culturally because jokes are not on code for the receiving culture.


title: Semiotics

text: A good example of branding according to cultural code is Disney's international theme park business. Disney fits well with Japan's cultural code because the Japanese value "cuteness", politeness, and gift giving as part of their culture code; Tokyo Disneyland sells the most souvenirs of any Disney theme park. In contrast, Disneyland Paris failed when it launched as Euro Disney because the company did not research the codes underlying European culture. Its storybook retelling of European folktales was taken as elitist and insulting, and the strict appearance standards that it had for employees resulted in discrimination lawsuits in France. Disney souvenirs were perceived as cheap trinkets. The park was a financial failure because its code violated the expectations of European culture in ways that were offensive.


title: Semiotics

text: On the other hand, some researchers have suggested that it is possible to successfully pass a sign perceived as a cultural icon, such as the Coca-Cola or McDonald's logos, from one culture to another. This may be accomplished if the sign is migrated from a more economically-developed to a less developed culture. The intentional association of a product with another culture has been called Foreign Consumer Culture Positioning (FCCP). Products also may be marketed using global trends or culture codes, for example, saving time in a busy world; but even these may be fine-tuned for specific cultures.


title: Semiotics

text: Research also found that, as airline industry brandings grow and become more international, their logos become more symbolic and less iconic. The iconicity and symbolism of a sign depends on the cultural convention and, are on that ground in relation with each other. If the cultural convention has greater influence on the sign, the signs get more symbolic value.


title: Semiotics

text: The flexibility of human semiotics is well demonstrated in dreams. Sigmund Freud spelled out how meaning in dreams rests on a blend of images, effects, sounds, words, and kinesthetic sensations. In his chapter on "The Means of Representation," he showed how the most abstract sorts of meaning and logical relations can be represented by spatial relations. Two images in sequence may indicate "if this, then that" or "despite this, that." Freud thought the dream started with "dream thoughts" which were like logical, verbal sentences. He believed that the dream thought was in the nature of a taboo wish that would awaken the dreamer. In order to safeguard sleep, the midbrain converts and disguises the verbal dream thought into an imagistic form, through processes he called the "dream-work."


title: Semiotics

text: Charles Sanders Peirce (1839–1914), a noted logician who founded philosophical pragmatism, defined "semiosis" as an irreducibly triadic process wherein something, as an object, logically determines or influences something as a sign to determine or influence something as an interpretation or "interpretant", itself a sign, thus leading to further interpretants. Semiosis is logically structured to perpetuate itself. The object may be quality, fact, rule, or even fictional (Hamlet), and may be "immediate" to the sign, the object as represented in the sign, or "dynamic", the object as it really is, on which the immediate object is founded. The interpretant may be "immediate" to the sign, all that the sign immediately expresses, such as a word's usual meaning; or "dynamic", such as a state of agitation; or "final" or "normal", the ultimate ramifications of the sign about its object, to which inquiry taken far enough would be destined and with which any interpretant, at most, may coincide. His "semiotic" covered not only artificial, linguistic, and symbolic signs, but also semblances such as kindred sensible qualities, and indices such as reactions. He came c. 1903 to classify any sign by three interdependent trichotomies, intersecting to form ten (rather than 27) classes of sign. Signs also enter into various kinds of meaningful combinations; Peirce covered both semantic and syntactical issues in his speculative grammar. He regarded formal semiotic as logic "per se" and part of philosophy; as also encompassing study of arguments (hypothetical, deductive, and inductive) and inquiry's methods including pragmatism; and as allied to, but distinct from logic's pure mathematics. In addition to pragmatism, Peirce provided a definition of "sign" as a "representamen", in order to bring out the fact that a sign is something that "represents" something else in order to suggest it (that is, "re-present" it) in some way:


title: Semiotics

text: Ferdinand de Saussure (1857–1913), the "father" of modern linguistics, proposed a dualistic notion of signs, relating the "signifier" as the form of the word or phrase uttered, to the "signified" as the mental concept. According to Saussure, the sign is completely arbitrary—i.e., there is no necessary connection between the sign and its meaning. This sets him apart from previous philosophers, such as Plato or the scholastics, who thought that there must be some connection between a signifier and the object it signifies. In his "Course in General Linguistics", Saussure credits the American linguist William Dwight Whitney (1827–1894) with insisting on the arbitrary nature of the sign. Saussure's insistence on the arbitrariness of the sign also has influenced later philosophers and theorists such as Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, and Jean Baudrillard. Ferdinand de Saussure coined the term "sémiologie" while teaching his landmark "Course on General Linguistics" at the University of Geneva from 1906 to 1911. Saussure posited that no word is inherently meaningful. Rather a word is only a "signifier." i.e., the representation of something, and it must be combined in the brain with the "signified", or the thing itself, in order to form a meaning-imbued "sign." Saussure believed that dismantling signs was a real science, for in doing so we come to an empirical understanding of how humans synthesize physical stimuli into words and other abstract concepts.


title: Semiotics

text: Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) studied the sign processes in animals. He used the German word "umwelt", "environment," to describe the individual's subjective world, and he invented the concept of functional circle ("funktionskreis") as a general model of sign processes. In his "Theory of Meaning" ("Bedeutungslehre", 1940), he described the semiotic approach to biology, thus establishing the field that now is called biosemiotics.


title: Semiotics

text: Valentin Voloshinov (1895–1936) was a Soviet-Russian linguist, whose work has been influential in the field of literary theory and Marxist theory of ideology. Written in the late 1920s in the USSR, Voloshinov's "Marxism and the Philosophy of Language" () developed a counter-Saussurean linguistics, which situated language use in social process rather than in an entirely decontextualized Saussurean "langue".


title: Semiotics

text: Louis Hjelmslev (1899–1965) developed a formalist approach to Saussure's structuralist theories. His best known work is "Prolegomena to a Theory of Language", which was expanded in "Résumé of the Theory of Language", a formal development of "glossematics", his scientific calculus of language.


title: Semiotics

text: Charles W. Morris (1901–1979): Unlike his mentor George Herbert Mead, Morris was a behaviorist and sympathetic to the Vienna Circle positivism of his colleague, Rudolf Carnap. Morris was accused by John Dewey of misreading Peirce.


title: Semiotics

text: In his 1938 "Foundations of the Theory of Signs", he defined semiotics as grouped into three branches:


title: Semiotics

text: Thure von Uexküll (1908–2004), the "father" of modern psychosomatic medicine, developed a diagnostic method based on semiotic and biosemiotic analyses.


title: Semiotics

text: Roland Barthes (1915–1980) was a French literary theorist and semiotician. He often would critique pieces of cultural material to expose how bourgeois society used them to impose its values upon others. For instance, the portrayal of wine drinking in French society as a robust and healthy habit would be a bourgeois ideal perception contradicted by certain realities (i.e. that wine can be unhealthy and inebriating). He found semiotics useful in conducting these critiques. Barthes explained that these bourgeois cultural myths were second-order signs, or connotations. A picture of a full, dark bottle is a sign, a signifier relating to a signified: a fermented, alcoholic beverage—wine. However, the bourgeois take this signified and apply their own emphasis to it, making "wine" a new signifier, this time relating to a new signified: the idea of healthy, robust, relaxing wine. Motivations for such manipulations vary from a desire to sell products to a simple desire to maintain the status quo. These insights brought Barthes very much in line with similar Marxist theory.


title: Semiotics

text: Algirdas Julien Greimas (1917–1992) developed a structural version of semiotics named, "generative semiotics", trying to shift the focus of discipline from signs to systems of signification. His theories develop the ideas of Saussure, Hjelmslev, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Maurice Merleau-Ponty.


title: Semiotics

text: Thomas A. Sebeok (1920–2001), a student of Charles W. Morris, was a prolific and wide-ranging American semiotician. Although he insisted that animals are not capable of language, he expanded the purview of semiotics to include non-human signaling and communication systems, thus raising some of the issues addressed by philosophy of mind and coining the term zoosemiotics. Sebeok insisted that all communication was made possible by the relationship between an organism and the environment in which it lives. He also posed the equation between "semiosis" (the activity of interpreting signs) and "life"—a view that the Copenhagen-Tartu biosemiotic school has further developed.


title: Semiotics

text: Juri Lotman (1922–1993) was the founding member of the Tartu (or Tartu-Moscow) Semiotic School. He developed a semiotic approach to the study of culture—semiotics of culture—and established a communication model for the study of text semiotics. He also introduced the concept of the semiosphere. Among his Moscow colleagues were Vladimir Toporov, Vyacheslav Ivanov and Boris Uspensky.


title: Semiotics

text: Christian Metz (1931–1993) pioneered the application of Saussurean semiotics to film theory, applying syntagmatic analysis to scenes of films and grounding film semiotics in greater context.


title: Semiotics

text: Eliseo Verón (1935–2014) developed his "Social Discourse Theory" inspired in the Peircian conception of "Semiosis."


title: Semiotics

text: Umberto Eco (1932–2016) was an Italian novelist, semiotician and academic. He made a wider audience aware of semiotics by various publications, most notably "A Theory of Semiotics" and his novel, "The Name of the Rose", which includes (second to its plot) applied semiotic operations. His most important contributions to the field bear on interpretation, encyclopedia, and model reader. He also criticized in several works ("A theory of semiotics", "La struttura assente", "Le signe", "La production de signes") the "iconism" or "iconic signs" (taken from Peirce's most famous triadic relation, based on indexes, icons, and symbols), to which he proposed four modes of sign production: recognition, ostension, replica, and invention.


title: Semiotics

text: Julia Kristeva (born 1941), a student of Lucien Goldmann and Roland Barthes, Bulgarian-French semiotician, literary critic, psychoanalyst, feminist, and novelist. She uses psychoanalytical concepts together with the semiotics, distinguishing the two components in the signification, the symbolic and the semiotic"." Kristeva also studies the representation of women and women's bodies in popular culture, such as horror films and has had a remarkable influence on feminism and feminist literary studies.


title: Semiotics

text: Michael Silverstein (1945–2020), a theoretician of semiotics and linguistic anthropology. Over the course of his career he created an original synthesis of research on the semiotics of communication, the sociology of interaction, Russian formalist literary theory, linguistic pragmatics, sociolinguistics, early anthropological linguistics and structuralist grammatical theory, together with his own theoretical contributions, yielding a comprehensive account of the semiotics of human communication and its relation to culture. His main influence was Charles Sanders Peirce, Ferdinand de Saussure, and Roman Jakobson.


title: Semiotics

text: In some countries, the role of semiotics is limited to literary criticism and an appreciation of audio and visual media. This narrow focus may inhibit a more general study of the social and political forces shaping how different media are used and their dynamic status within modern culture. Issues of technological determinism in the choice of media and the design of communication strategies assume new importance in this age of mass media.


title: Semiotics

text: A world organisation of semioticians, the International Association for Semiotic Studies, and its journal "Semiotica", was established in 1969. The larger research centers together with teaching program include the semiotics departments at the University of Tartu, University of Limoges, Aarhus University, and Bologna University.


title: Semiotics

text: Publication of research is both in dedicated journals such as "Sign Systems Studies", established by Juri Lotman and published by Tartu University Press; "Semiotica", founded by Thomas A. Sebeok and published by Mouton de Gruyter; "Zeitschrift für Semiotik"; "European Journal of Semiotics"; "Versus" (founded and directed by Umberto Eco), et al.; "The American Journal of Semiotics"; and as articles accepted in periodicals of other disciplines, especially journals oriented toward philosophy and cultural criticism.


title: Semiotics

text: The major semiotic book series "Semiotics, Communication, Cognition", published by De Gruyter Mouton (series editors Paul Cobley and Kalevi Kull) replaces the former "Approaches to Semiotics" (more than 120 volumes) and "Approaches to Applied Semiotics" (series editor Thomas A. Sebeok). Since 1980 the Semiotic Society of America has produced an annual conference series: "".


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses television, film, music, and other media associated with the characters. Originally owned by The Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the franchise was purchased by The Walt Disney Company in 2004.


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets originated in the short-form television series "Sam and Friends", which aired from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on "Sesame Street" (1969–present), and attained celebrity status and international recognition through "The Muppet Show" (1976–1981), which received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and twenty-one nominations during its five-year run.


title: The Muppets

text: During the 1970s and 1980s, the Muppets diversified into theatrical films, including "The Muppet Movie" (1979); "The Great Muppet Caper" (1981); and "The Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984). Disney began involvement with them in the late 1980s, during which Henson entered negotiations to sell The Jim Henson Company. The Muppets continued their media presence on television with "Muppet Babies" (1984–91), as well as "The Jim Henson Hour" (1989) and "Muppets Tonight" (1996–98), both of which were similar in format to "The Muppet Show"; three theatrical films: "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996) and "Muppets from Space" (1999), and the television film "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" (2002).


title: The Muppets

text: Disney acquired the Muppets from the Henson family in February 2004. Under Disney, subsequent projects included the television film "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" (2005), the television special "" (2008), two theatrical films: "The Muppets" (2011) and "Muppets Most Wanted" (2014), a primetime series (2015–2016), a reboot of "Muppet Babies" (2018–2022), the streaming television series "Muppets Now" (2020), and the Halloween special "Muppets Haunted Mansion" (2021).


title: The Muppets

text: Throughout their six-decade existence, the Muppets have been regarded as a staple of the entertainment industry and popular culture in the United States and English-speaking areas. They have been recognized by various cultural institutions and organizations, including the American Film Institute, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Library of Congress, and the Hollywood Walk of Fame.


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets were created by puppeteer Jim Henson in the 1950s; Henson claimed, but later recanted, that he coined the term "Muppet" as a blend of the words "marionette" and "puppet". Among Henson's earliest creations was Kermit the Frog, who became his most recognizable character. Originally conceived for an adult audience, the Muppets were introduced in 1955 in "Sam and Friends", a short-form television series produced for WRC-TV in Washington, D.C. Developed by Henson and his future wife, Jane Nebel, the series was the first form of puppet media not to incorporate a physical proscenium arch typical of such works, relying instead on the natural framing of the television set through which it was viewed.


title: The Muppets

text: During the 1960s, the characters—in particular, Kermit and Rowlf the Dog—appeared in skits on several late-night talk shows and on television commercials, including "The Ed Sullivan Show". Rowlf became the first Muppet character to appear regularly on network television when he began appearing with Jimmy Dean on "The Jimmy Dean Show". In 1966, Joan Ganz Cooney and Lloyd Morrisett began developing a children's educational television program and approached Henson to design a cast of Muppet characters during this stage. Produced by the Children's Television Workshop, the program debuted as "Sesame Street" in 1969.


title: The Muppets

text: Henson and his creative team became closely involved with "Sesame Street" during the years that followed; Henson waived his performance fee in exchange for retaining ownership rights to the Muppet characters created for the program. "Sesame Street" garnered a positive response, and the Muppets' involvement in the series was said to be a vital component of its increasing popularity, providing an "effective and pleasurable viewing" method of presentation for its educational curriculum.


title: The Muppets

text: In the early 1970s, the Muppets continued their presence in television, primarily appearing in "The Land of Gorch" segments during the first season of "Saturday Night Live". As his involvement with "Sesame Street" continued, Henson began developing a network television series focusing on the Muppets; as opposed to "Sesame Street", however, this series would be aimed at a more adult audience and focus largely on sketch comedy. Two television pilots, "The Muppets Valentine Show" and "", aired on ABC in 1974 and 1975, respectively.


title: The Muppets

text: After ABC passed on the pilots and other networks in the United States expressed little interest in the project, British producer Lew Grade approached Henson and agreed to co-produce the series for Associated Television. Debuting in 1976, "The Muppet Show" introduced new characters such as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, and Gonzo, alongside existing characters such as Kermit and Rowlf. Aired in first-run syndication in the United States, "The Muppet Show" became increasingly popular due to its sketch-variety format, unique form of vaudeville-style humor, and prolific roster of guest stars. It was nominated for twenty-one Primetime Emmy Awards during its run, winning four, including Outstanding Variety Series in 1978. The success of "The Muppet Show" allowed Henson Associates to diversify into theatrical films, the first of which, "The Muppet Movie", was released in 1979.


title: The Muppets

text: Following "The Muppet Movie" were "The Great Muppet Caper" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan", released in 1981 and 1984, respectively. Collectively, the three films received four Academy Award nominations. "The Muppet Show" ended its five-season run in 1981. In 1983, Henson debuted "Fraggle Rock", which aired on HBO in the United States until 1987.


title: The Muppets

text: In 1989, Henson entered negotiations with Michael Eisner and The Walt Disney Company, in which the latter would acquire Jim Henson Productions and, in turn, the Muppets. Disney expressed interest in purchasing the company for $150 million. Eisner was also interested in acquiring the "Sesame Street" Muppet characters, but Henson declined that proposal, considering it a "non-starter" for the deal. An "agreement in principle" for the acquisition was publicly announced by Disney and Henson at the Disney-MGM Studios theme park in Walt Disney World on August 28, 1989, along with plans for Muppets-themed attractions to debut at that park and at Disneyland the following year.


title: The Muppets

text: However, the proposed merger was cancelled after Henson's death in 1990. Nevertheless, Disney initiated a licensing agreement with Jim Henson Productions to continue developing Muppets attractions. The following year, Muppet*Vision 3D debuted at Disney–MGM Studios, the only attraction successfully developed from the original plans. Disney also co-produced the fourth and fifth Muppets films, "The Muppet Christmas Carol" (1992), which featured Michael Caine as Ebenezer Scrooge, and "Muppet Treasure Island" (1996), with Jim Henson Productions. The characters subsequently starred in "Muppets Tonight", which aired from 1996 to 1998; and a sixth film, "Muppets from Space", released by Columbia Pictures in 1999.


title: The Muppets

text: In 2000, Henson was sold to EM.TV & Merchandising AG for $680 million. However, EM.TV's stock collapsed and the Henson family re-acquired the company in 2003, with the exception of the "Sesame Street" characters, which were in the interim sold to Sesame Workshop.


title: The Muppets

text: Fourteen years after initial negotiations began, Disney acquired the Muppets intellectual property from Henson for $75 million on February 17, 2004. The acquisition consisted of a majority of the Muppets film and television library, as well as the "Bear in the Big Blue House" television series. Exceptions included the "Sesame Street" characters; the "Fraggle Rock" characters, which were retained by Henson; the distribution rights to four films: "The Muppets Take Manhattan", "Muppets from Space", and "Kermit's Swamp Years", which were retained by Sony Pictures Entertainment; and "It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie", retained by NBCUniversal Television Distribution. Following the acquisition, Disney formed The Muppets Studio (originally The Muppets Holding Company), a wholly owned subsidiary responsible for managing the characters and franchise. As a result, the term "Muppet" became a legal trademark of Disney; under license from Disney, Sesame Workshop continues to use the term for their characters, as well as archival footage of Kermit the Frog.


title: The Muppets

text: Henson retained the rights to several productions featuring the Disney-owned Muppet characters, including "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas"; "The Christmas Toy"; ""; "Henson's Place"; "Billy Bunny's Animal Songs"; the original "Dog City" special; and "Donna's Day". While some of these have since been released uncut, most current releases of "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" and "The Christmas Toy" omit the appearances by Kermit the Frog. The 2015 ABC Family airing, the 2017 DVD and the 2018 Blu-ray releases of Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas and the Amazon Prime Video release of The Christmas Toy reinstate Kermit's scenes.


title: The Muppets

text: After the acquisition was complete, Disney gradually began reintroducing the franchise to the mainstream, promoting the Muppets across different parts of the company. The Muppets made appearances on Disney Channel and starred in the ABC television film, "The Muppets' Wizard of Oz" (2005). A television special, "", premiered on NBC on December 17, 2008. As a method of regaining a wider audience, Disney produced a series of vignettes for YouTube and Disney.com. A "Bohemian Rhapsody" cover version was among these projects and immediately went viral, ultimately amassing 90 million views and winning two Webby Awards. In 2010, the Muppets starred in "The Muppets Kitchen with Cat Cora", which co-starred Cat Cora and showcased cooking demonstrations. That same year, Disney used the Muppets to promote their volunteerism program at the company's theme parks. A Halloween special featuring the Muppets was developed during that time and expected to air on ABC that October, but was canceled.


title: The Muppets

text: In 2011, the Muppets were featured in an eponymous seventh film, intended to serve as a "creative reboot" for the characters. Walt Disney Pictures had been furthering development on a Muppets film since 2008, when it considered adapting an unused screenplay by Jerry Juhl. Directed by James Bobin; written by Jason Segel and Nicholas Stoller; and starring Segel, Amy Adams, Chris Cooper, and Rashida Jones, "The Muppets" was a critical and commercial success; becoming the highest-grossing puppet film of all time and winning an Academy Award for Best Original Song. During the film's publicity campaign, the Muppets appeared in promotional advertisements and effusive marketing efforts by Disney and were also featured in a promotional video for Google+. In March 2012, the Muppets received a collective star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. That year, the Muppets hosted a "Just for Laughs" comedy gala in Montreal.


title: The Muppets

text: Following the release of "The Muppets", Disney announced an eighth film in 2012, with Bobin and Stoller returning to direct and write, respectively. "Muppets Most Wanted" was released in 2014, and starred Ricky Gervais, Tina Fey, and Ty Burrell. The film received positive reviews, but was a commercial disappointment at the box office.


title: The Muppets

text: Disney Theatrical Productions announced in 2013 that a live show based on the Muppets was in active development and that a 15-minute show had been conducted by Thomas Schumacher to see how the technical components would work. "Muppet Moments", an interstitial television series, premiered on Disney Junior in April 2015. The short-form series features conversations between the Muppets and young children.


title: The Muppets

text: After the release of "Muppets Most Wanted", Disney was interested in expanding the Muppets' presence across other media platforms, particularly in television. Discussions for a new primetime series began internally within The Muppets Studio. By April 2015, Bill Prady was commissioned to write a script for a pilot with the working title "Muppets 2015". In May 2015, ABC commissioned an eponymous series, co-developed by Prady and Bob Kushell and directed by Randall Einhorn. Developed as a parody of other mockumentary-style series such as "The Office", "Modern Family", and "Parks and Recreation", "The Muppets" portrayed the everyday personal and professional lives of the Muppets in Los Angeles, as they produced a late-night talk show hosted by Miss Piggy. The series premiered on September 22, 2015, in the United States, and received mixed reviews, with critics praising the show's adult humor, but criticizing the writing and characterization. "The Muppets" was canceled after one season, which concluded on March 1, 2016.


title: The Muppets

text: In September 2017, the Muppets performed a live concert series at the Hollywood Bowl, hosted by Bobby Moynihan. This performance was followed by a second event in July 2018 at London's O2 Arena, their first outside of the United States.


title: The Muppets

text: In February 2018, Disney announced that a streaming television reboot series was in development for Disney+. The project, known as "Muppets Live Another Day", was intended as a limited-run series set in the 1980s after the events of "The Muppets Take Manhattan" and depicted Kermit recruiting the Muppets to locate Rowlf the Dog after his disappearance. The series was intended to be directed by Jason Moore; written by Josh Gad, Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis; produced by ABC Signature Studios and The Muppets Studio, and feature original music by Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez. After an executive change at The Muppets Studio that prompted a different creative direction for the Muppets, Disney canceled development on the project in September 2019. A second Disney+ series, "Muppets Now", a short-form improvisational comedy series, was announced in August 2019; and was released on July 31, 2020. "Muppets Haunted Mansion", a Halloween special based on the attraction of the same name, was released on October 8, 2021.


title: The Muppets

text: A third Disney+ series "The Muppets Mayhem", was ordered in March 2022. The series will be developed and written by Adam F. Goldberg, Bill Barretta and Jeff Yorkes and starring the Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Lilly Singh and Tahj Mowry.


title: The Muppets

text: The principal characters of "The Muppet Show" and subsequent media include Kermit the Frog; Miss Piggy; Fozzie Bear; Gonzo; Rowlf the Dog; Scooter; Rizzo the Rat; Pepe the King Prawn; Dr. Bunsen Honeydew; Beaker; Statler and Waldorf; the Swedish Chef; Sam Eagle; Camilla the Chicken; Walter; and the Electric Mayhem, fronted by Dr. Teeth (lead vocals, keyboards) and consisting of Animal (drums), Floyd Pepper (bass, background vocals), Janice (guitar, background vocals), Zoot (saxophone), and occasionally Lips (trumpet).


title: The Muppets

text: As well as "The Muppet Show", the characters are popular for their appearances on "Sesame Street" and "Fraggle Rock"; and also feature in "The Jimmy Dean Show", "The Jim Henson Hour", "Muppets Tonight", "Bear in the Big Blue House", "", and "The Muppets". An adult-oriented segment, "The Land of Gorch", was a regular feature in the first season of "Saturday Night Live". Guest stars on "Saturday Night Live" occasionally include both the Muppets and "Sesame Street" characters, as well as Muppet likenesses of real people; these likenesses appear recurrently in early episodes of "The Muppet Show" and on "Sesame Street", and appear occasionally on other series such as "30 Rock".


title: The Muppets

text: Following Disney's acquisition of the Muppets, puppets created by The Jim Henson Company are no longer referred to as Muppets. Puppets created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop, including those in "Labyrinth" and "The Dark Crystal", have never been considered Muppets, as they are generally more complex in design and performance than regular Muppets. At Henson's suggestion, the "Star Wars" character Yoda was originally performed by Frank Oz, and has been loosely described as a Muppet in media and reference works; he is not, however, and Henson otherwise had no involvement in the character's conception.


title: The Muppets

text: At the start of the Muppets' formation, Jim and Jane Henson were the group's only performers. In 1961, Jane retired to focus on raising their children. Seeking additional performers, Jim came into contact with Frank Oz that year. Although interested, Oz initially declined due to his youth and commitment to high school, and instead suggested Jerry Juhl, who worked with Oz at the Vagabond Puppet Theater in Oakland, California. Upon graduating, Oz subsequently joined in August 1963. By the time "The Muppet Show" began, the primary cast of performers grew to consist of Henson; Oz; Dave Goelz; Jerry Nelson; Richard Hunt; and later, Steve Whitmire, while Juhl became head writer for the series. From "The Muppet Show" onward, Kevin Clash; Kathryn Mullen; Louise Gold; Karen Prell; Fran Brill, Caroll Spinney; and Brian Henson performed several minor characters and assisted the main performers with puppeteering. Many of these puppeteers performed characters across "The Muppet Show", "Sesame Street", "Fraggle Rock", and other Henson-related projects.


title: The Muppets

text: Henson, Hunt, and Nelson continued performing until their deaths in 1990, 1992, and 2012, respectively. Goelz, Whitmire, and Bill Barretta, who joined the main cast of performers in the mid-1990s, assumed Henson's characters, with Whitmire cast in the role of Beaker and Nelson cast in the role of Statler, both previously performed by Hunt. The remainder of Hunt's characters were left without a stable performer until David Rudman was cast in those roles in the late 2000s. Oz continued performing until his retirement from puppeteering in 2000; Eric Jacobson was cast as his characters beginning in 2002. At Nelson's behest, Matt Vogel gradually began performing his characters in 2008. Peter Linz joined the main cast in 2011, debuting the role of Walter in "The Muppets", before inheriting four characters then-currently performed by Whitmire (Statler, Link Hogthrob, Lips, Foo-Foo), and Robin the Frog from Vogel, in 2017.


title: The Muppets

text: Whitmire was dismissed from the cast in 2016, with Vogel cast as Kermit the Frog in 2017, and most of Whitmire's other characters assumed by the remainder of the cast. The Muppets are currently performed by a core cast of six principal puppeteers: Vogel, Jacobson, Goelz, Barretta, Rudman, and Linz, with the occasional ensemble of "additional" Muppet performers that includes Julianne Buescher, Tyler Bunch, Alice Dinnean, Bruce Lanoil, Mike Quinn and others.


title: The Muppets

text: The majority of the Muppets are designed as hand puppets, with several characters utilizing rods. Common design elements of the Muppets include wide mouths and large protruding eyes. Most of the Muppets are molded or carved out of various types of foam and covered with any felt-like material. The characters may represent humans; anthropomorphic characters; realistic animals; robots; extraterrestrial or mythical creatures; or other forms of abstract characters.


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets are distinguished from ventriloquist dummies, which are usually animated only in the head and face, in that their arms or other features are also animated. They are also generally made of softer material. They are presented as being independent of the puppeteer, officially known as a "Muppet performer", who is usually hidden behind a set or outside of the camera frame. Using the camera frame to this advantage was an innovation of the Muppets. Prior to this, a stage was used to mask the performers, as would be the case in a live performance. Sometimes, they are seen full-bodied; in most cases, invisible strings are used to manipulate these puppets, with vocals added at a later point. Performers often use dollies to mimic walking.


title: The Muppets

text: Since 2006, Disney has contracted Puppet Heap to produce and maintain newer models of the Muppets. During most performances, the performer holds the character above their head or in front of their body, with one hand operating the head and mouth and the other manipulating the hands and arms, either with two separate control rods or – in the case of "live-hand" Muppets – wearing the hands similarly to gloves. One consequence of this design is that most of the Muppets are left-handed, with the performer using their right hand to operate the head while operating the arm with their left hand.


title: The Muppets

text: For more complex Muppets, several performers may operate a single character, with the performer controlling the mouth usually voicing the character. As technology has advanced, the Jim Henson team and other performers have developed several means to operate the Muppets for film and television; these include the use of suspended rigs, internal motors, remote manipulators, and computer enhanced and superimposed images. Creative use of different technologies has allowed for scenes in which the Muppets appear to exhibit complex movements wholly independently of the performer.


title: The Muppets

text: In his book, "Street Gang", author Michael Davis wrote that the characters tend to develop "organically", alluding to the performers taking up to a year to develop their characters and voices. They are also "test-driven, passed around from one Henson troupe member to another in the hope of finding the perfect human-Muppet match". When interacting with them, children believed that Muppets were living beings, even when the performers were present.


title: The Muppets

text: On September 17, 2002, Rhino Records released "", a compilation album of music from "The Muppet Show" and subsequent film releases. With John Denver, "" was produced and released in 1979.


title: The Muppets

text: Under Disney ownership, The Muppets album releases have been issued by Walt Disney Records; as well as new album releases, some albums have been re-released, including "The Muppet Christmas Carol" in 2005 and "The Muppet Movie" in 2013. Legal music publishing rights to The Muppets songs are controlled by Fuzzy Muppet Songs and Mad Muppet Melodies, imprints of Disney Music Publishing.


title: The Muppets

text: Similar to other Disney characters, the Muppets appear at the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, having first appeared at Walt Disney World in 1990. Their first featured attraction, "Here Come the Muppets", was a live stage show that opened shortly after Jim Henson's death and ran at Disney's Hollywood Studios (known at that time as Disney-MGM Studios) for a year. Muppet*Vision 3D, a 4D film attraction that also uses audio-animatronic characters, opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios on May 16, 1991, exactly one year after Henson's death. It is notable as Henson's final directorial effort. Muppet*Vision 3D subsequently opened at Disney California Adventure, on February 8, 2001; this version closed in 2014.


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets also were featured in "The Muppets Present...Great Moments in American History" at the Magic Kingdom from 2016 to 2020; and the Muppet Mobile Lab at Epcot since 2007. The latter attraction is a free-roving vehicle with audio-animatronics of Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker. As part of Disney's Living Character Initiative, it premiered at Epcot and was later previewed at Disney California Adventure and Hong Kong Disneyland.


title: The Muppets

text: In 2010, the Muppets were the face of the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" charity campaign. Kermit, Miss Piggy, and Sweetums appeared in daily parades at Disneyland and Magic Kingdom. The Muppets appeared in television and print ads for the campaign and were featured prominently on the campaign's Web site.


title: The Muppets

text: Disney has released numerous collector pins featuring the Muppets since 2004. These include Limited Edition pins, Hidden Mickey pin collections, mystery pin sets, 2008 pin sets promoting "The Muppets", cast lanyard pins, and assorted individual rack pins. Over 100 pins displaying the characters have been released overall.


title: The Muppets

text: Among other print media, the Muppets have featured in comics since the 1970s. An eponymous comic strip by Guy and Brad Gilchrist first ran on September 21, 1981, in over 500 daily newspapers, six months after "The Muppet Show" ended its five-year run. By the end of its run in 1986, the comic strip was seen in over 660 newspapers worldwide. Many of the strips were compiled in various book collections. Special strips were also created in color, exclusively for issues of "Muppet Magazine".


title: The Muppets

text: "Muppet Magazine" was published from 1983 to 1989. The magazine was presented as being run by the Muppets themselves and included such features as celebrity interviews and comic stories.


title: The Muppets

text: The only Muppets film adapted as a comic book was "The Muppets Take Manhattan". The comic book series was adapted by Marvel Comics in 1984, as the 68-page story in "Marvel Super Special" issue #32. The adaptation was later re-printed into three limited series issues, released under Marvel's Star Comics imprint (November 1984 – January 1985).


title: The Muppets

text: In the wake of "Muppet Babies"' success, Star Comics adapted the series into a bi-monthly title, of which 26 issues were produced.


title: The Muppets

text: The final issue of "Disney Adventures", released in 2007, included a one-page strip by Roger Langridge. In 2009, Boom! Studios began publishing a series of comic books based on "The Muppet Show", written and illustrated by Langridge. Following two mini-series, an ongoing series, "The Muppet Show Comic Book", was published for eleven issues. Additionally, Boom! Studios published fairy tale adaptations centered on the Muppets. In 2012, the Langridge series was transferred to Marvel Comics, which released an omnibus edition in 2013.


title: The Muppets

text: The Muppets' prevalence in popular culture is such that the characters have become regarded as celebrities in their own right. The Muppets have a collective star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, with Kermit having been previously individually inducted in 2002. The characters have appeared at the Academy Awards and Emmy Awards; made cameo appearances in films including "Rocky III", "An American Werewolf in London", and "Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium"; and have been interviewed on the news magazine "60 Minutes".


title: The Muppets

text: Kermit was interviewed by Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show"; guest hosted "The Tonight Show", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", "", "America's Funniest Home Videos", and an April Fools' Day edition of "Larry King Live"; and has served as Grand Marshal of the Tournament of Roses Parade. The characters also appeared on "The Cosby Show" and "The Torkelsons", among other sitcoms. The music video for Weezer's "Keep Fishin'" is aesthetically based on "The Muppet Show" and consists of the band interacting with the characters.


title: The Muppets

text: On September 28, 2005, the United States Postal Service released a "Jim Henson and the Muppets" postage stamp series. The Muppets also appeared on "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" on December 31, 2007, in which Kermit and other characters presented segments following advertising breaks. After one such segment, with Kermit in Times Square, co-host Ryan Seacrest thanked "Kerms" for his assistance. Miss Piggy has appeared as a guest on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson", and Kermit appeared on "Hollywood Squares" and as one of the celebrity commentators on VH1's "I Love" documentary series. The Muppets, as well as the title character of "Bear in the Big Blue House", have made frequent appearances on "The Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon".


title: The Muppets

text: On July 25, 2007, the Center for Puppetry Arts in Atlanta announced the opening of the Jim Henson Wing, which would house up to 700 retired Muppet characters. The wing, first set to open in 2012 with films, sketches, and other materials from the Jim Henson Company archives, eventually opened as a gallery within the "Worlds of Puppetry" exhibition at the Center in November 2015.


title: The Muppets

text: Muppet-like characters star in the Broadway musical "Avenue Q", the concept of which is a parody of "Sesame Street". The Peter Jackson film "Meet the Feebles", a satire on the television industry, is largely reminiscent of "The Muppet Show". A Kermit the Frog stuffed toy rigged to spray fake vomit recurred on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien", and the Muppets were frequently preempted at the beginning of episodes of "You Can't Do That on Television." The sitcom series "Greg the Bunny" centered on sentient hand puppets working on a Muppet-like children's show. Among other examples, series such as "The Simpsons", "Family Guy", "The West Wing", and "Robot Chicken" have referenced the Muppets.


title: The Muppets

text: The term "muppet" is commonly used in the British Isles and Australasia to refer to a stupid or ineffectual person.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia (also spelled gynaecomastia) is the abnormal non-cancerous enlargement of one or both breasts in males due to the growth of breast tissue as a result of a hormone imbalance between estrogens and androgens. Gynecomastia can cause significant psychological distress or unease.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia can be normal in newborn babies due to exposure to estrogen from the mother, in adolescents going through puberty, in older men over age 50, and/or in obese men. Most occurrences of gynecomastia do not require diagnostic tests. Gynecomastia may be caused by abnormal hormone changes, any condition that leads to an increase in the ratio of estrogens/androgens such as liver disease, kidney failure, thyroid disease and some non-breast tumors. Alcohol and some drugs can also cause breast enlargement. Other causes may include Klinefelter syndrome, metabolic dysfunction, or a natural decline in testosterone production. This may occur even if the levels of estrogens and androgens are both appropriate, but the ratio is altered.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia is the most common benign disorder of the male breast tissue and affects 35% of men, being most prevalent between the ages of 50 and 69. It is normal for up to 70% of adolescent boys to develop gynecomastia. Of these, 75% resolve within two years of onset without treatment. If the condition does not resolve within 2 years, or if it causes embarrassment, pain or tenderness, treatment is warranted. Medical treatment of gynecomastia that has persisted beyond two years is often ineffective. Gynecomastia is different from "pseudogynecomastia", which is commonly present in men with obesity.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Medications such as aromatase inhibitors have been found to be effective and even in rare cases of gynecomastia from disorders such as aromatase excess syndrome or Peutz–Jeghers syndrome, but surgical removal of the excess tissue can be needed to correct the condition. In 2019, 24,123 male patients underwent the procedure in the United States, accounting for a 19% increase since 2000.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia is the abnormal non-cancerous enlargement of one or both breasts in men due to the growth of breast tissue as a result of a hormone imbalance between estrogen and androgen. Gynecomastia is different from "pseudogynecomastia", which is defined as an excess of skin and/or adipose tissue in the male breasts without the growth of true glandular breast tissue; this is commonly associated with obesity and can be ruled out by physical exam.


title: Gynecomastia

text: In gynecomastia there is typically enlargement of one or both breasts, symmetrically or asymmetrically, in a man. A soft, compressible, and mobile mass of breast tissue is felt under the nipple and its surrounding skin in contrast to softer fatty tissue which is not associated with a mass. It may also be accompanied by breast tenderness or nipple sensitivity, which is commonly associated with gynecomastia observed in adolescents, typically early in development. Gynecomastia that is painful, bothersome, rapidly-growing, associated with masses in other areas of the body, or persistent should be evaluated by a clinician for potential causes. Dimpling of the skin, nipple discharge, and nipple retraction are not typical features of gynecomastia and may be associated with other disorders. Milky discharge from the nipple is not a typical finding, but may be seen in a gynecomastic individual with a prolactin secreting tumor. An increase in the diameter of the areola and asymmetry of the chest are other possible signs of gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia has psychosocial implications that may be particularly challenging for adolescents who are experiencing physical maturation and self-identity formation, which includes body image disturbances, negative attitudes towards eating, self-esteem problems, social withdrawal, anxiety, and shame. Men with gynecomastia may appear anxious or stressed due to concerns about its appearance and the possibility of having breast cancer.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia is thought to be caused by an altered ratio of estrogens to androgens mediated by an increase in estrogen action, a decrease in androgen action, or a combination of these two factors. Estrogen and androgens have opposing actions on breast tissue: estrogens stimulate proliferation while androgens inhibit proliferation. The cause of gynecomastia is unknown in around 25% of cases. Known causes can be physiologic (occurring normally) or non-physiologic due to underlying pathologies such as drug use, chronic disease, tumors, or malnutrition.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Physiologic or normal gynecomastia can occur at three timepoints in life: shortly after birth in both female and male infants, during puberty in adolescent males, and in older adults over the age of 60.


title: Gynecomastia

text: 60-90% of male and female newborns may show breast development at birth or in the first weeks of life. During pregnancy, the placenta converts the androgenic hormones dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and DHEA sulfate to the estrogenic hormones estrone and estradiol, respectively; after these estrogens are produced by the placenta, they are transferred into the baby's circulation, thereby leading to temporary gynecomastia in the baby. In some infants, neonatal milk (also known as "witch's milk") can leak from the nipples. The temporary gynecomastia seen in newborn babies usually resolves after two or three weeks.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Hormonal imbalance (elevated ratio of estrogen to androgen) during early puberty, either due to decreased androgen production from the adrenals and/or increased conversion of androgens to estrogens, leads to transient gynecomastia in adolescent males. It can occur in up to 65% of adolescents as early as age 10 and peaks at ages 13 and 14. It is self-limited in 75-90% of adolescents and usually resolves spontaneously within 1 to 3 years as pubertal progression increases testosterone levels and cause regression of breast tissue. By age 17, only 10% of adolescent males have persistent gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Declining testosterone levels and an increase in the level of subcutaneous fatty tissue seen as part of the normal aging process can lead to gynecomastia in older males. Increased fatty tissue, a major site of aromatase activity, leads to increased conversion of androgenic hormones such as testosterone to estrogens. Additionally, levels of sex hormone binding globulin (SHBG) increase with age and bind with less affinity to estrogen than androgens. Put together, the elevated ratio of estrogen to androgen leads to gynecomastia, also known as senile gynecomastia in this group. There is a 24-65% prevalence of senile gynecomastia in older males.


title: Gynecomastia

text: About 10–25% of gynecomastia cases are estimated to result from the use of medications or exogenous chemicals. Drugs can increase estrogen activity or increase the estrogen to androgen ratio through various mechanisms, such as binding to estrogen receptors, promoting estrogen synthesis, providing precursors that can be aromatized into estrogen, causing damage to the testes, inhibiting testosterone synthesis, inhibiting the action of androgens, or displacing estrogen from SHBG. Drugs with good evidence for association with gynecomastia include cimetidine, ketoconazole, gonadotropin-releasing hormone analogues, human growth hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin, 5α-reductase inhibitors such as finasteride and dutasteride, certain estrogens used for prostate cancer, and antiandrogens such as bicalutamide, flutamide, and spironolactone.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Drugs with fair evidence for association with gynecomastia include calcium channel blockers such as verapamil, amlodipine, and nifedipine; risperidone, olanzapine, anabolic steroids, alcohol, opioids, efavirenz, alkylating agents, and omeprazole. Certain components of personal skin care products such as lavender or tea tree oil have been reported to cause prepubertal gynecomastia due to its estrogenic and anti-androgenic effects. Certain dietary supplements such as dong quai and "Tribulus terrestris" have also been associated with gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Malnutrition and significant loss of body fat suppress gonadotropin secretion, leading to hypogonadism. This is reversible when adequate nutrition resumes, where the return of gonadotropin secretion and gonadal function cause a transient imbalance of estrogen and androgen that mimics puberty, resulting in transient gynecomastia. This phenomenon, also known as refeeding gynecomastia, was first observed when men returning home from prison camps during World War II developed gynecomastia after resuming a normal diet. Similar to pubertal gynecomastia, refeeding gynecomastia resolves on its own in 1–2 years.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Many kidney failure patients experience a hormonal imbalance due to the suppression of testosterone production and testicular damage from high levels of urea also known as uremia-associated hypogonadism. Additionally, gynecomastia has been observed in 50% of patients with chronic kidney disease undergoing dialysis. Similar to the mechanism behind refeeding gynecomastia, dialysis allows patients with renal failure who were previously malnourished to expand their diets and regain weight. Dialysis-associated gynecomastia resolves spontaneously within 1–2 years.


title: Gynecomastia

text: In individuals with liver failure or cirrhosis, the liver's ability to properly metabolize hormones such as estrogen may be impaired. Additionally, those with alcoholic liver disease are further put at risk for development of gynecomastia; ethanol may directly disrupt the synthesis of testosterone and the presence of phytoestrogens in alcoholic drinks may also contribute to a higher estrogen to testosterone ratio. Conditions that can cause malabsorption such as cystic fibrosis or ulcerative colitis may also produce gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: A small proportion of male gynecomastia cases may be seen with rare inherited disorders such as spinal and bulbar muscular atrophy and the very rare aromatase excess syndrome.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia can be caused by absolute deficiency in androgen production due to primary or secondary hypogonadism. Primary hypogonadism results when there is damage to the testes (due to radiation, chemotherapy, infections, trauma, etc), leading to impaired androgen production. It can also be caused by chromosomal abnormality seen in Klinefelter syndrome, which is associated with gynecomastia in about 80% of cases. Secondary hypogonadism results when there is damage to the hypothalamus or pituitary (due to radiation, chemotherapy, infection, trauma, etc), and similarly lead to impaired androgen production. The net effect is reduced androgen production while serum estrogen levels (from peripheral aromatization of androgens) remain unaffected. The lack of androgen-mediated inhibition of breast tissue proliferation combined with relative estrogen excess result in gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Testicular tumors such as Leydig cell tumors, Sertoli cell tumors (such as in Peutz–Jeghers syndrome) and hCG-secreting choriocarcinoma may result in rapid-onset gynecomastia by causing excess production of estrogen. Other tumors such as adrenal tumors, pituitary gland tumors (such as a prolactinoma), or lung cancer, can produce hormones that alter the male–female hormone balance and cause gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Individuals with prostate cancer who are treated with androgen deprivation therapy may experience gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: The causes of common gynecomastia remain uncertain, but are thought to result from an imbalance between the actions of estrogen, which stimulates breast tissue growth, and androgens, which inhibit breast tissue growth. Breast prominence can result from enlargement of glandular breast tissue, chest adipose tissue (fat) and skin, and is typically a combination. As in females, estrogen stimulates the growth of breast tissue in males. In addition to directly stimulating breast tissue growth, estrogens indirectly decrease secretion of testosterone by suppressing luteinizing hormone secretion, resulting in decreased testicular secretion of testosterone.


title: Gynecomastia

text: One of the main mechanisms for imbalance between estrogens and androgens is the overproduction of estrogens. A possible cause may be a neoplasm that originates from estrogen-secreting cells. Tumors that produce hCG stimulate production of estradiol while reducing other testicular hormone production. Obesity is another common cause of excess serum estrogens due to the presence of aromatase in peripheral tissue, which is a protein that converts androgens into estrogens. Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is a rare cause of testicular tumors that affect aromatase expression, which results in elevated serum estrogen levels. Aromatase excess syndrome is a rare genetic disorder that leads to increased conversion of androgens to estrogens in the body.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Primary hypogonadism (indicating an intrinsic problem with the testes in males) leads to decreased testosterone synthesis and increased conversion of testosterone to estradiol potentially leading to a gynecomastic appearance. Klinefelter syndrome is a notable example of a disorder that causes hypogonadism and gynecomastia, and has a higher risk of breast cancer in males (20–50 times higher than males without the disorder). Secondary hypogonadism (indicating a problem with the brain) leads to decreased production and release of luteinizing hormone (LH, a stimulatory signal for endogenous steroid hormone synthesis) which leads to decreased production of testosterone and estradiol in the testes.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Estrogens can increase blood levels of the protein sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), which binds free testosterone (the active form) more strongly than estrogen, leading to decreased action of testosterone in male breast tissue. Conditions such as hyperthyroidism and chronic liver disease affect levels of SHBG, leading to symptomatic gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Dysfunction in the androgen receptor prevents the effects of testosterone from acting on its target tissues. Androgen insensitivity syndromes result from the different degrees of resistance to the effects of androgens, and can cause external genitalia that may not be aligned with the genotype of the individual's sex chromosomes. Complete androgen insensitivity syndrome results in the failure to develop external genitalia such as the penis and scrotum along with development of breasts in an individual with testes. Partial androgen insensitivity syndrome may result in a variety of presentations. Minimal androgen insensitivity syndrome may present as gynecomastia in adolescence and may additionally be associated with infertility.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Medications are known to cause gynecomastia through several different mechanisms. These mechanisms include increasing estrogen levels, mimicking estrogen, decreasing levels of testosterone or other androgens, blocking androgen receptors, increasing prolactin levels, or through unidentified means. Potential sources of estrogen include oral contraceptive pills, spironolactone, and anabolic steroids.


title: Gynecomastia

text: High levels of prolactin in the blood (which may occur as a result of certain tumors or as a side effect of certain medications) has been associated with gynecomastia. A high level of prolactin in the blood can inhibit the release of gonadotropin-releasing hormone and therefore cause secondary hypogonadism. Receptors for prolactin and other hormones including insulin-like growth factor 1, insulin-like growth factor 2, luteinizing hormone, progesterone, and human chorionic gonadotropin have been found in male breast tissue, but the impact of these various hormones on gynecomastia development is not well understood.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Individuals who have cirrhosis or chronic liver disease may develop gynecomastia for several reasons. Those diagnosed with cirrhosis tend to have increased secretion of the androgenic hormone androstenedione from the adrenal glands, increased conversion of this hormone into various types of estrogen, and increased levels of SHBG, which leads to decreased blood levels of free testosterone. Around 10–40% of males with Graves' disease (a common form of hyperthyroidism) experience gynecomastia. Increased conversion of testosterone to estrogen by increased aromatase activity, increased levels of SHBG and increased production of testosterone and estradiol by the testes due to elevated levels of LH cause the gynecomastia. Proper treatment of the hyperthyroidism can lead to the resolution of the gynecomastia.


title: Gynecomastia

text: To diagnose gynecomastia, a thorough history and physical examination are obtained by a physician. Important aspects of the physical examination include evaluation of the male breast tissue with palpation to evaluate for breast cancer and pseudogynecomastia (male breast tissue enlargement solely due to excess fatty tissue), evaluation of penile size and development, evaluation of testicular development and an assessment for masses that raise suspicion for testicular cancer, and proper development of secondary sex characteristics such as the amount and distribution of pubic and underarm hair. Gynecomastia usually presents with bilateral involvement of the breast tissue but may occur unilaterally as well.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Diagnosis of men with breast enlargement can be evaluated using an algorithm. A review of the medications or substances an individual takes may reveal the cause of gynecomastia. Recommended laboratory investigations to find the underlying cause of gynecomastia include tests for aspartate transaminase and alanine transaminase to rule out liver disease, serum creatinine to determine if kidney damage is present, and thyroid-stimulating hormone levels to evaluate for hyperthyroidism. If these initial laboratory tests fail to uncover the cause of gynecomastia, then additional tests to evaluate for an underlying hormonal balance due to hypogonadism or a testicular tumor should be checked including total and free levels of testosterone, luteinizing hormone, follicle stimulating hormone, estradiol, serum beta human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG), and prolactin.


title: Gynecomastia

text: High levels of prolactin are uncommon in people with gynecomastia. If β-hCG levels are abnormally high, then ultrasound of the testicles should be performed to check for signs of a hormone-secreting testicular tumor. Markers of testicular, adrenal, or other tumors such as urinary 17-ketosteroid or serum dehydroepiandrosterone may also be checked if there is evidence of hormonal imbalance on physical examination. If this evaluation does not reveal the cause of gynecomastia, then it is considered to be idiopathic gynecomastia (of unclear cause).


title: Gynecomastia

text: While there can be many potential causes of male patients that present with increased breast tissue, differential diagnoses are most concerning for gynecomastia, pseudogynecomastia, and breast cancer (which is rare in men). Other potential causes of male breast enlargement such as mastitis, lipoma, sebaceous cyst, dermoid cyst, hematoma, metastasis, ductal ectasia, fat necrosis, or a hamartoma are typically excluded before making the diagnosis.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Mammography is the method of choice for radiologic examination of male breast tissue in the diagnosis of gynecomastia when breast cancer is suspected on physical examination. If a mass/lump is felt during a physical exam some features of the lump that would point to malignancy would be painless, non moveable (fixed), irregularly shaped, and skin changes. Mammography is rarely indicated for men since breast cancer is an unlikely diagnosis. If mammography is performed and does not reveal findings suggestive of breast cancer, further imaging is not typically necessary. If a tumor of the adrenal glands or the testes is thought to be responsible for the gynecomastia, ultrasound examination of these structures may be performed.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Early histological features expected to be seen on examination of gynecomastic tissue attained by fine-needle aspiration biopsy include the following: proliferation and lengthening of the ducts, an increase in connective tissue, an increase in inflammation, and swelling surrounding the ducts, and an increase in fibroblasts in the connective tissue. Chronic gynecomastia may show different histological features such as increased connective tissue fibrosis, an increase in the number of ducts, less inflammation than in the acute stage of gynecomastia, increased subareolar fat, and hyalinization of the stroma. When surgery is performed, the gland is routinely sent to the lab to confirm the presence of gynecomastia and to check for tumors under a microscope. The utility of pathologic examination of breast tissue removed from male adolescent gynecomastia patients has recently been questioned due to the rarity of breast cancer in this population.


title: Gynecomastia

text: If the gynecomastia doesn't resolve on its own in two years, then medical treatment is necessary. The options are medication or surgical intervention.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia can respond well to medical treatment although it is usually only effective when done within the first two years after the start of male breast enlargement. Selective estrogen receptor modulators (SERMs) such as tamoxifen, raloxifene, and clomifene may be beneficial in the treatment of gynecomastia but are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration for use in gynecomastia. Clomifene seems to be less effective than tamoxifen or raloxifene. Tamoxifen may be used to treat gynecomastia in adults and of the medical treatments used, tamoxifen is the most effective. Recent studies have shown that treatment with tamoxifen may represent a safe and effective mode of treatment in cases of cosmetically disturbing or painful gynecomastia. Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) such as anastrozole have been used off-label for cases of gynecomastia occurring during puberty but are less effective than SERMs.


title: Gynecomastia

text: A few cases of gynecomastia caused by the rare disorders aromatase excess syndrome and Peutz–Jeghers syndrome have responded to treatment with AIs such as anastrozole. Androgens/anabolic steroids may be effective for gynecomastia. Testosterone itself may not be suitable to treat gynecomastia as it can be aromatized into estradiol, but nonaromatizable androgens like topical androstanolone (dihydrotestosterone) can be useful.


title: Gynecomastia

text: If chronic gynecomastia does not respond to medical treatment, surgical removal of glandular breast tissue is usually required. The American Board of Cosmetic Surgery reports surgery is the "most effective known treatment for gynecomastia." Surgical treatment should be considered if the gynecomastia persists for more than 12 months, causes distress (ie physical discomfort or psychological distress), and is in the fibrotic stage. In adolescent males, it is recommended that surgery is postponed until puberty is completed (penile and testicular development should reach Tanner scale Stage V).


title: Gynecomastia

text: Surgical approaches to the treatment of gynecomastia include subcutaneous mastectomy, liposuction-assisted mastectomy, laser-assisted liposuction, and laser-lipolysis without liposuction. Complications of mastectomy may include hematoma, surgical wound infection, breast asymmetry, changes in sensation in the breast, necrosis of the areola or nipple, seroma, noticeable or painful scars, and contour deformities. In 2019, 24,123 male patients underwent surgical treatment for gynecomastia in the United States, accounting for a 19% increase since 2000. Thirty-five percent of those patients were between the ages of 20 and 29, and 60% were younger than age 29 at the time of the operation. At an average surgeon's fee of $4,123, gynecomastia surgery was also the 11th most costly male cosmetic surgery of 2019.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Radiation therapy and tamoxifen have been shown to help prevent gynecomastia and breast pain from developing in prostate cancer patients who will be receiving androgen deprivation therapy. The efficacy of these treatments is limited once gynecomastia has occurred and are therefore most effective when used prophylactically.


title: Gynecomastia

text: In the United States, many insurance companies deny coverage for surgery for gynecomastia treatment or male breast reduction on the basis that it is a cosmetic procedure.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia itself is a benign finding. It does not confer a poor prognosis, for some patients with underlying pathologies such as testicular cancer the prognosis may be worse. The glandular tissue typically grows under the influence of hormonal stimulation and is often tender or painful. Furthermore, gynecomastia frequently presents social and psychological difficulties such as low self-esteem, depression or shame.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia is the most common benign disorder of the male breast tissue and affects 35 percent of men, being most prevalent between the ages of 50 and 69.


title: Gynecomastia

text: New cases of gynecomastia are common in three age populations: newborns, adolescents, and men older than 50 years. Newborn gynecomastia occurs in about 60–90 percent of male babies and most cases resolve on their own in about 2–3 weeks after delivery. During adolescence, on average 33 percent of males are estimated to exhibit signs of gynecomastia. Gynecomastia in older men is estimated to be present in 24–65 percent of men between the ages of 50 and 80. Estimates on asymptomatic gynecomastia is about up to 70% in men aged 50 to 69 years.


title: Gynecomastia

text: The prevalence of gynecomastia in men may have increased in recent years, but the epidemiology of the disorder is not fully understood. The use of anabolic steroids and exposure to chemicals that mimic estrogen in cosmetic products, organochlorine pesticides, and industrial chemicals have been suggested as possible factors driving this increase. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, breast reduction surgeries to correct gynecomastia are fairly common but has been a recent decline. In 2020, there were over 18,000 procedures of this type performed in the United States which is down 11% compared to in 2019.


title: Gynecomastia

text: Gynecomastia can result in psychological distress for those with the condition. Support groups exist to help improve the self-esteem of affected people.


title: Gynecomastia

text: In 2019, a 12-person Philadelphia jury awarded $8 billion in punitive damages to plaintiffs tied to the use of risperidone. Risperidone is an atypical antipsychotic that was originally approved to treat psychosis, but its use in children, including those with autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia diagnoses, has grown over the last two decades.


title: Gynecomastia

text: In "Murray v. Janssen Pharmaceuticals", Murray was a Risperidone user who was prescribed the medication at age nine and developed male breasts. A jury decided in Murray's favor in November 2015 and awarded him $1.75 million. The $1.75 million jury verdict represented damages for "disfigurement and mental anguish," though it was later reduced to $680,000. In the second portion of the bifurcated trial, the plaintiffs sought to prove that the companies knew and deliberately disregarded evidence that Risperidone could lead to gynecomastia in young males, and nonetheless promoted the medication off-label and released the medication into the open market for prescription and use by patients without disclosing the side effects. The jury found for the plaintiffs in the second portion of the trial and awarded $8 billion in punitive damages. The amount was later reduced to $6.8 million by Judge Kenneth Powell Jr.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer, and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song "For What It's Worth", released three albums and several singles from 1966 to 1968. Their music combined elements of folk music and country music with British Invasion and psychedelic rock influences. Like contemporary band the Byrds, they were key to the early development of folk rock. The band took their name from a steamroller parked outside their house.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Buffalo Springfield formed in Los Angeles in 1966 with Stills (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Martin (drums, vocals), Palmer (bass guitar), Furay (guitar, vocals) and Young (guitar, harmonica, piano, vocals). The band signed to Atlantic Records in 1966 and released their debut single "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", which became a hit in Los Angeles. The following January, they released the protest song "For What It's Worth", which became their only US top 10 hit and a counterculture anthem. Their second album, "Buffalo Springfield Again", marked their progression to psychedelia and hard rock and featured other well-known songs such as "Bluebird" and "Mr. Soul".


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: After several drug-related arrests and line-up changes, the group disbanded in 1968. Their third and final album, "Last Time Around", was compiled and released shortly after their dissolution. Stephen Stills went on to form the supergroup Crosby, Stills & Nash with David Crosby of the Byrds and Graham Nash of The Hollies. Neil Young launched his solo career and later joined Stills in Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young in 1969. Furay, along with Jim Messina, went on to form the country-rock band Poco. Buffalo Springfield was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997, and briefly reunited for a comeback tour in 2011.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Neil Young and Stephen Stills met in 1965, at the Fourth Dimension in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Young was there with The Squires, a Winnipeg group he had been leading since February 1963, and Stills was on tour with The Company, a spin-off from the Au Go Go Singers. When Stills' band broke up at the end of that tour, he moved to the West Coast, where he worked as a session musician and auditioned unsuccessfully for, among other bands, The Monkees. Told by record producer Barry Friedman there would be work available if he could assemble a band, Stills invited fellow Au Go Go Singers alumnus Richie Furay and former The Squires bass player Ken Koblun to come join him in California. Both agreed, although Koblun chose to leave before very long and joined the group 3's a Crowd.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: While in Toronto in early 1966, Young met Bruce Palmer, a Canadian who was playing bass for The Mynah Birds. In need of a lead guitarist, Palmer invited Young to join the group, and Young accepted. The Mynah Birds were set to record an album for Motown Records when their singer Ricky James Matthews—James Ambrose Johnson, Jr., later known as Rick James—was tracked down and arrested by the U.S. Navy for being AWOL.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: With their record deal cancelled, Young and Palmer pawned The Mynah Birds' musical equipment and bought a 1953 Pontiac hearse, which they drove to Los Angeles. Young and Palmer arrived in L.A. hoping to meet Stephen Stills, who, as Young had learned, was living in the city. However, after almost a week of searching clubs and coffeehouses, the pair had been unable to find Stills. Consequently, on April 6, 1966, Young and Palmer decided to leave Los Angeles and drive north to San Francisco. While the two were stuck in traffic on Sunset Boulevard, they were spotted by Stills and Richie Furay, who were heading the other direction down Sunset. Stills and Furay managed to switch lanes and maneuver behind Young's hearse, at which point the musicians pulled off the road and reunited.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Drummer Dewey Martin, who had played with garage rock group The Standells and with country artists such as Patsy Cline and The Dillards, joined at the suggestion of The Byrds' manager, Jim Dickson. The group's name was taken from a brand of steamroller made by the Buffalo-Springfield Roller Company. The new group debuted on 11 April 1966, at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, five days after the chance encounter on Sunset Boulevard. A few days later, they began a short tour of California as the opening act for The Dillards and The Byrds.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Chris Hillman of The Byrds persuaded the owners of the Whisky a Go Go to give Buffalo Springfield an audition, and they essentially became the house band at the Whisky for seven weeks, from May 2 to June 18, 1966. This series of concerts solidified the band's reputation for live performances and attracted interest from a number of record labels. It also brought an invitation from Friedman to Dickie Davis (who had been the Byrds' lighting manager) to become involved in the group's management. In turn, Davis sought advice from Sonny & Cher's management team, Charlie Greene and Brian Stone; unbeknownst to Davis and Friedman, Greene and Stone then aggressively pitched themselves to the band to be their new managers. Friedman was fired, and Davis was made the group's tour manager. Greene and Stone made a deal with Ahmet Ertegun of Atlantic Records for a four-album contract with a $12,000 advance, following a brief bidding war with Elektra Records and Warner Bros. Records, and arranged for the band to start recording at Gold Star Studios in Hollywood.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: The first Buffalo Springfield single, "Nowadays Clancy Can't Even Sing", was released in August, but made little impact outside Los Angeles, where it reached the top 25. Young and Stills have long maintained that their own mono mix was superior to the stereo mix engineered by Greene and Stone. The band's eponymous album was released by Atlantic subsidiary Atco in mono and in stereo in December 1966. A revamped version issued both in mono and stereo with a different track order was issued in March of the following year.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: In November 1966, Stills composed "For What It's Worth", responding to a protest that had turned violent following the closing of the Pandora's Box nightclub on Sunset Strip. The song was performed on Thanksgiving night at the Whisky a Go Go, recorded within the next few days, and on the air in Los Angeles on radio station KHJ soon afterwards. By March 1967, it was a top ten hit. Atco took advantage of this momentum by replacing the song "Baby Don't Scold Me" with "For What It's Worth" and re-releasing the album. "For What It's Worth" sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: In January 1967, Palmer was deported for possession of marijuana but returned to the group at the beginning of June, while Young was temporarily absent (guitarist Doug Hastings filled in for Young during this period). The band, with David Crosby sitting in for Young, played the Monterey Pop Festival. Young returned in August and the band severed ties with Greene and Stone, then divided its time between playing gigs and finalising the second album, ultimately titled "Buffalo Springfield Again". Produced by Ertegun, "Buffalo Springfield Again" was released in November 1967. It includes "Mr. Soul", "Rock & Roll Woman", "Bluebird", "Sad Memory", and "Broken Arrow". The band toured as support for the Beach Boys during early 1968. In January of that year, after Palmer was again deported for drug possession, Jim Messina, who had worked as engineer on the band's second album, was hired as a permanent replacement on bass. During this period Young began to appear less and less frequently, and he often left Stills to handle lead guitar parts at concerts. Recording sessions were booked, and all the songs that appeared on the final album were recorded by the end of March, usually with Messina producing.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: In the Netflix documentary "Echo in the Canyon", Stills related an incident that illustrated the band's problems with law enforcement. The band were hosting a small rehearsal party, attended by Eric Clapton among others, in April 1968. Despite reportedly playing at a comfortable sound level, a police officer arrived after a disturbing the peace complaint. During the encounter, the officer smelled marijuana and Stills ran next door to "call lawyers," but in actuality went next door and escaped out the bathroom window. According to Stills, Young was going to chase the police down the street, to which Stills said "cause he's Canadian and I guess in Canada you can do that". Ultimately, Young, Furay and Messina were arrested and sent to the Los Angeles County Jail.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Following a gig at the Long Beach Auditorium on 5 May 1968, the band held a meeting with Ertegun to arrange their breakup. Stills and Furay stayed with Atlantic, while Young moved to Warner Brothers. Later, Furay and Messina compiled various tracks recorded between mid-1967 and early 1968 into the third and final studio album, "Last Time Around" (1968).


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: Martin formed a new version of Buffalo Springfield in September 1968. Dubbed New Buffalo Springfield, the lineup consisted of guitarists Dave Price (Davy Jones's stand-in with The Monkees), Gary Rowles (son of jazz pianist Jimmy Rowles) who later joined Arthur Lee's Love, bass player Bob Apperson, drummer Don Poncher (also later a member of Love), and horn player Jim Price, who later became a top session musician for Delaney Bramlett, The Rolling Stones, Joe Cocker and others.


title: Buffalo Springfield

text: The new band toured extensively and appeared at the highly publicized Holiday Rock Festival in San Francisco on 25–26 December 1968, but soon ran afoul of Stills and Young, who took legal action to prevent Martin from using the band's name. Following an agreement to give up future royalties from Buffalo Springfield's recordings, Martin was allowed to use the name "New Buffalo". He attempted to retrieve his rights in 1974 and though the matter was settled out of court, he felt that he had been mistreated.