I was looking up some music viedos on the internet, when I came across the famous and fantastic video for Praise You by Fatboy Slim (check it out here.) It had one the the first appearances of Spike Jonze, the director of many famous commercials and music videos.

And then it hit me: "Spike Jonze is a lanky guy... Kind of like another Spike I know."
I did some research. Spike Jonze was originally named Adam Spiegel.
Spike+Spiegel= Fuzzy, green-haired guy?

D'ya reckon that Watanabe's a fan of Fatboy Slim? Or perhaps Jonze's commercial work? Because that would be awesome.

Here are a few more I spotted:

Ein (super-smart data dog): Albert Einstein.
Jet Black: Reference to pure darkness, or very dark black. (Jet's beard/hair?)
"You're Gonna Carry That Weight": The final placard of the series, based on the Beatles song of the same name, whcih had to do with an ending of that time period in their lives.
"See You, Space Cowboy": A lyric in the Steve Miller Band's song "Joker."
Of course, all the episode titles are named after songs.

I was wondering if anyone else had spotted unusual pop-culture references in the series.

They were out to create a new genre by taking a lot of existing styles, stuff, etc, adding their own twist to it and come out with something to blow your mind.

never seen the fatboy slim reference, but the Einstein one is pretty obvious, Don't know if your example for Jet Black can really be called a "culture reference" but the Beatles thing is really cool. may have to watch through it again to see anything.

Nothing much to contribute I guess because I haven't paid THAT much attention, but I have to agree that at times certain things did make me say, "... hmm now that was familiar"

[EDIT]

So I just did some quick research (typed in cowboy bebop easter eggs in google) and I found a decent site that lists some of the easter eggs. One of the points (the last one in the list) is a selection of popular foods in the Series. In other points it also metions Bruce Lee and something called a "Mocachu"

Anyways, here is the link:http://rfblues.aaanime.net/Omake/Notice/ go check it out

Oh and another note, if you have the movie DVD, you may want be interested in this:
http://www.eeggs.com/tree/1923.html

:D

Have fun, Space Cowboys(and girls)

And a few other things...

The episodes are not called episodes, but rather "sessions"; as in, jam sessions, loose musical recordings or preformances which no sheet music. It's quite fitting, given the nature of the series.

The bounty in Episode 1 is named Asimov, presumably a reference to the sci-fi writer Isaac Asimov. I guess it was to emphasis the sci-fi element of the series?

Punch and Judy, the lovable hosts of Big Shot, are named for the two British puppets that like to beat the crap out of one another. The old guys (Antonio, Carlos and Jobim) are named for Antonio Carlos Jobim, a Brazilian composer.

The entire fight scene in Episode 5 is based of off John Woo's movie "The Killers." This is also referenced in the final episode, especially the fall of YOU KNOW WHO. Cough cough.

The bounty, Decker in Episode 7, Heavy Metal Queen (look at the first image on the left) looks just like a young Woody Allen! This is probably due to the fact that Woody Allen is extremely popular in Japan. In the same episode, there is a reference to Mackey and Mannie at the ice cream parlor (Mickey and Minnie, anyone?)

In Episodes 12 and 13, we see the Blue Crow bar. (Much love, there.) I think this may be a reference to Miles Davis' "Kind of Blue" which is a damn good jazz album. I don't know, though.

Episode 17, Mushroom Samba, pokes fun at Blacksplotation films of the 70s. Also, the frog on the stairs (during Spike's hallucination) makes reference to good old Led Zeppelin.
"That's the stairway to heaven. You know that, doncha?"

There's more, I'm sure, but I'll hunt them down later.

Nanuk

The entire fight scene in Episode 5 is based of off John Woo's movie "The Killers." This is also referenced in the final episode, especially the fall of YOU KNOW WHO. Cough cough.

where'd you hear that?

* The fight on the bridge between Spike and Abdul Hakim in Episode 2, "Stray Dog Strut," is a homage to the fight scene in Game of Death (1978) between Bruce Lee and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. All of Spike's fights feature the use Bruce Lee's "Jeet Kune Do" style of fighting.

* Episode 11 (Toys in the Attic) contains many references to the movie Aliens (1986). Among them are: the hand-held tracker equipment, the computer's voice, and the dramatized arming scene and the manner in which the creature is disposed of.

* The capsule in which Faye was cryogenically preserved has the code NCC-1701-B written on it, an reference to Star Trek and the ship Enterprise.

* Almost every episode title refers to a song title or a type of music. Song/Album Titles:
o Session #1: Asteroid Blues = The Blues
o Session #2: Stray Dog Strut = "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats
o Session #3: Honky Tonk Women = "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones
o Session #4: Gateway Shuffle = Shuffle
o Session #5: Ballad of Fallen Angels = Ballad
o Session #6: Sympathy for the Devil = "Sympathy for the Devil" by the Rolling Stones
o Session #7: Heavy Metal Queen = Heavy Metal
o Session #8: Waltz for Venus: Waltz
o Session #9: Jamming with Edward = Album Title: Rolling Stones - Jamming with Edward (1972)
o Session #10: Ganymede Elegy: Elegy
o Session #11: Toys in the Attic = "Toys in the Attic" by Aerosmith s
o Session #12 & 13: Jupiter Jazz Pt.1 & 2 = Jazz
o Session #14: Bohemian Rhapsody = "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen
o Session #15: My Funny Valentine = "My Funny Valentine" by Frank Sinatra
o Session #16: Black Dog Serenade = "Black Dog" by Led Zeppelin
o Session #17: Mushroom Samba = Samba
o Session #18: Speak like a Child = "Speak like a Child" by Herbie Hancock
o Session #19: Wild Horses = "Wild Horses" by the Rolling Stones
o Session #21: Boogie Woogie Feng Shui = Boogie Woogie
o Session #22: Cowboy Funk = Funk
o Session #24: Hard Luck Woman = "Hard Luck Woman" by KISS
o Session #25 & 26: The Real Folk Blues Pt.1 & 2: "The Real Folk Blues" by John Lee Hooker


* In Session 24 "Hard Luck Woman" Ed's father Mr. Appledelhi calls Ed Francoise. However since Ed's father is bad remembering names and can't even remember if Ed's a boy or a girl this might not actually be true.

* In Session #7: Heavy Metal Queen, Faye and Spike's bounty for the episode is a man named Decker. This is reference to Blade Runner (1982), in which the man character, Deckard, is eventually chased by a woman (Pris) and a man (Batty).

* In Session 19: Wild Horses, the man who owned and fixes Swordfish II, Spike's spaceship, is named Doohan. This is a reference to James Doohan, who played "Scotty" on the original "Star Trek" (1966) TV series.

* In Session #5: Ballad of Fallen Angels, two children try to steal pornography from Annie's shop. The character design for the black child was originally going to be used for Ed, until the director chose the white female one instead.

* In Session 15: My Funny Valentine, you can briefly see Lupin i's yellow car pass by.

* The phrase "three years ago" is used quite often. It was three years ago that Spike and Jet got together, it was three years ago that Faye was taken out of cryofreeze, and it was three years ago that Ed wandered away from the orphanage.

* The city of Faye's memories is recognizably Singapore.

* Ed's father is called Appledelhi Siniz Hesap L?tfen. In Turkish "Afedersiniz" (which reads exactly like Appledelhi Siniz) means "Excuse me" The rest of the name is correctly spelled and means exactly: "Excuse me! Check please!" There are other references to Turkey and scenes where they use Turkish. The colony in Venus looks like the Istanbul of 1950s. There is a shop displayed on screen for a long time. Its name is Aile Pazari. Which means "Family Market" in Turkish.

* In Episode 19, "Wild Horses", the crew is hunting a trio of pirates named George, Harman, and Ruth. George Herman Ruth is the real name of Babe Ruth, the legendary baseball player.

* Spike regularly uses an IMI Jericho 941 pistol.

* In Session #10, Ganymede Elegy, the bounty head that is turned in at the beginning of the episode is named Baker Ponchirello, after the two motorcycle officers in CHiPs.

* The handgun Jet Black uses throughout the series is a Walther P99.

* The "Cowboy Bebop" commercial break image for episode 22, "Cowboy Funk", is designed to resemble the logo from the movie Flash Gordon (1980).

* A poster of Bruce Lee can be seen in front of the doctor's office in "The Real Folk Blues". Spike practices Jeet Kun Do, the same martial arts style Bruce Lee pioneered.

* Two bartenders have been shot unexpectedly throughout the series: one in "Asteroid Blues" and the other in "The Real Folk Blues".

* Alfredo, the man who approaches his ailing mother at the airport in "The Real Folk Blues", is Punch from Big Shots.

* Spike is frequently shown cigarettes with stems bent upwards or downwards. This is a subtle reference to jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie, one of the founders of bebop, whose trademark was a trumpet with the bell slanted.

* Spike's bent cigarettes are an homage to Jigen from Lupin i.

* Faye's handgun is a Glock 30 .45.

* Spike and Vicious exchange weapons as an homage to a fatal quick-draw in Ying hung boon sik II (1987).

* Ein the data dog is a Pembroke Welsh Corgi.

* The official lyrics at the beginning of the opening theme (as noted in the bonus feature "Session 0") are: "I think it's time to blow this scene; get everybody the stuff together. Okay, 3, 2, 1, let's jam."

Seriously, where do you find this stuff?

Hmm the back of my head its a creepy place dude dont go back there its gonna eat you