Pet Rocks
By Euphrates



Pet Rocks represented everything beautiful and everything lamentable about America in the '70s.  
The phenomenon was a real life Kings New Clothes except that the townspeople (the American
consumer) were celebrating the fact that the King (also the American consumer) was 
sporting air instead of flares and a polyester shirt with wide lapels.  The crooked "tailors" 
in this story would be Rock Bottom Productions.  If you are asking "What is Kings New Clothes?" then go 
please locate a collection of children's stories and fables.  If you are asking "What is a Pet 
Rock?" then read on. 


Pet Rocks were made by Gary Dahl's Rock Bottom Productions in 1975.  They were essentially a 
small stone in a nest of shredded paper packaged in a plain-looking box with air holes.  It 
came with documentation explaining how to feed and take care of your new pet.  People 
bought truckloads of them at $3.95.  Virtually everyone that worked at a desk had one.  Any occasion 
that required a small gift was consummated with a Pet Rock.


If you weren't foolish enough to buy one when they were on store shelves the first time,
you can buy a vintage one now for $15 to $25.  The great thing is that they almost always 
have their original boxes and packaging.  You can also buy a Pet Rock music video from 
1985 or a Pet Rock Pendant (rock on a chain).  Go ahead.  It's your constitutional right.










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