i was watching the show "veronica mars" today and in one episode students were doing a scavenger hunt with first place prize being "backstage passes to all tomorrow's parties!"

seen or heard any other weird ones?

Dude. Once I saw an episode of Northern Exposure where the character Ed, you know the guy who's always wearing a leather jacket and quoting movies, is wearing a Naked Raygun T-shirt. It was the cover of their Understand? album. I asked Jeff Pezatti about this, he said he remembered them calling him to ask permission to use the shirt. Seems like a bit of trouble to go to for something that only a handful of viewers probably noticed. Maybe Jeff was lying. That bastard.

I remember Roseanne listening to and talking about how awesome Bikini Kill were on one episode

On Rosanne, David was also seen wearing a Milk & Cheese shirt. Comics, not music, still subculture.

Also, Blues Traveler appeared as Dan's former band.

A character in a recent SNL sketch referred to the Garden State soundtrack as "a Pitchfork mixtape."

An episode of the Drew Carey Show had Drew and the boys performing in a battle of the bands against a rockabilly band led by the Reverend Horton Heat (he wasn't playing himself).

i saw radiohead on bbc1 once

what you are talking about as "subculture references in pop culture" to me is pretty much the same thing as "recuperation of counterculture by the mainstream" which has been happening to punk rock and rap on many levels for a while. lots of college kids like to buy apple computers for the sake of being anti-microsoft, as microsoft is the biggest corporation of them all. but apple is a huge (and hugely profitable) corporation just like any other, its hardly the beacon of an anti-establishment ethos. "indie rock", the supposedly anti-establishment movement, is now just about the biggest mainstream/establishment trend in rock.

in fact, concerning this "indie rock" recuperation issue, i heard the funniest commercial the other day. it was an anti-marijuana ad. being a frequent smoker myself, i was surprised at myself for getting such a kick out of this ad and i support it 100%: at one point in the commercial, this girl was like "see, i dont have to try to be cool and do what other people tell me to do. i dont have to pretend i like indie rock. i can just be myself. i dont need to smoke pot." i broke out laughing. finally, this is what it takes, an anti-pot commercial, to wake people up to the fact that this "rebellious" movement (which has been hyped as anti-establishment and counterculture; hyped as such by the establishment/mainstream) is really the most mainstream trend we are seeing today in rock music. you cant buy a rolling stone magazine without reading about 20 ads for the albums of such "indie" bands. rolling stone is very much at fault for the issue anyhow, along with the pop culture status of punk in general. lester bangs and michael azerrad, thanks a ton, you suck.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recuperation_(sociology)

my sister used to tell me to watch the O.C. because the Adam Brody character wore a Husker Du shirt once.

I once heard a conservative talk show host talk about Minor Threat's Salad Days.

NRBQ have popped up on The Simpsons a number of times, which isn't punk rock, but they're a long way from the mainstream.

And on that dumb-ass show The War At Home, the teenage girl has a Gore Gore Girls poster on her wall. That surprised me ... good for them, fun band who could use the publicity.