When Homer explained that the Us Festival was a music festival organized by Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple Computers, the record store clerk reacted with unfamiliarity to Apple. At the time episode was made, Apple Computers was potentially going to undergo bankruptcy before Steve Jobs returned to operate it.
Several of the scenes where Homer is hit with a cannonball are based on famous stock footage of Frank "Cannonball" Richards being hit with a cannonball, as is the entire concept of a "cannonball catcher".
Otto's drug-induced hallucination of his "talking shoes" is based on the opening of the album version of the song "1999" by Prince.
The four teens who appear in the van in Homer's 70s flashback are closely modelled after four characters from the movie Dazed and Confused, also a story about teens and rock music in the 70s.
Peter Frampton says he got the inflatable pig at Pink Floyd's yard sale. Indeed, floating inflatable pigs were a regular staple of Pink Floyd's live shows from the 1970s onwards.