The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
April 19th, 2024•Issue 200
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
April 19th
1980 - Blondie’s single Call Me hit number one.
1982 - Sally Ride was named the first female astronaut.
1986 - Prince’s single Kiss hit number one.
1987 - The first “Simpsons” short appeared on The Tracey Ullman Show.
1990 - Wings premiered on NBC.
1991 - Evander Holyfield defeated George Foreman to retain the boxing heavyweight title.
1993 - David Koresh and 75 of his Branch Davidian followers died after a federal raid of their compound in Waco, Texas.
1994 - Nas’s debut album Illmatic was released.
1995 - The Oklahoma City bombing occurred.
1996 - Celtic Pride hit theaters.
Celtic Pride was Judd Apatow’s second credited movie as a screenwriter — and his last for almost a decade.
Apatow co-wrote Heavyweights in 1995 and wrote Celtic Pride in 1996. (He also did a major rewrite on The Cable Guy.)
His next screenwriting credit wasn’t until The 40-Year-Old Virgin in 2005.
1999 - Lou Bega’s single Mambo No. 5 was released.
2000 - The character Timmy debuted on South Park.
April 20th
1982 - Pitfall! was released for Atari 2600.
1986 - Michael Jordan scored a record 63 points in a playoff loss to Boston.
1991 - Rocket Ismael signed with Toronto in the CFL for $26 million.
1991 - Wilson Phillips’ single You’re in Love hit number one.
1992 - Benny Hill passed away.
1992 - Metallica’s single Nothing Else Matters was released.
1992 - The Freddie Mercury memorial concert was held in London.
1993 - Aerosmith’s album Get a Grip was released.
A song Aerosmith wrote and recorded for Get a Grip — but did not ultimately include on the album — became the first-ever exclusive digital download from a major artist.
Aerosmith wrote and recorded the song Head First for Get a Grip, but it didn’t make the final cut.
In 1994, it became the first single to be exclusively released as a digital download by a major artist. Aerosmith and CompuServe released it as a four-megabyte WAV file.
About 10,000 CompuServe users downloaded the song, which took approximately one hour on the average modem.
1993 - Shania Twain’s self-titled debut album was released.
1993 - Janet Jackson’s single That’s the Way Love Goes was released.
1996 - The Chicago Bulls won a record 72 regular season games, but unlike when Golden State won 72 a few decades later, Chicago would actually win the title.
1998 - During a demo of Windows 98, the operating system crashed when Bill Gates plugged in a scanner.
1999 - The Columbine High School shooting occurred in Colorado.
2001 - Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles and Freddy Got Fingered hit theaters.
April 21st
1980 - Rosie Ruiz cheated to win the Boston Marathon.
1981 - Weird Al Yankovic made his national TV debut on the Tomorrow Show with Tom Snyder.
1984 - Footloose unseated Thriller as the top album in the U.S. after 37 weeks.
1984 - Phil Collins’s single Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) hit number one.
1986 - Geraldo opened Al Capone’s vault on live TV and found nothing.
1989 - The Nintendo Game Boy was released in Japan, along with Super Mario Land.
Tetris was the bundled game that came with the Nintendo Game Boy in every region except Japan.
The Game Boy debuted in Japan on this day in 1989 — about three months before it debuted in North America and a year-and-a-half before it came out in other regions.
The Japanese version came with Super Mario Land, a traditional platform Mario adventure. In every other region, Tetris was the bundled game.
1989 - Field of Dreams and Pet Semetary hit theaters.
1989 - George W. Bush became CEO of the Texas Rangers baseball team.
1990 - Sinead O’Connor’s one hit, Nothing Compares 2 U, hit number one.
1990 - The Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue special was simulcast on all major networks.
1993 - Walker, Texas Ranger premiered on CBS.
1994 - Herman’s Head aired its series finale.
1995 - While You Were Sleeping and the Basketball Diaries both hit theaters.
April 22nd
1978 - The Blues Brothers made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live.
1985 - Prince’s album Around the World in a Day was released.
1989 - Guns N’ Roses’ single Patience was released.
Patience was the only single released from Guns N’ Roses’ second studio album, Lies.
Guns N’ Roses’ debut album had five singles.
Lies was a mere 33-and-a-half minutes and contained eight songs. Patience was its only single and hit number four on the Billboard Hot 100.
Their next album(s), the Use Your Illusion pair, had eight released singles.
1989 - Madonna’s single Like a Prayer hit number one.
1991 - Johnny Carson announced he would be retiring from the Tonight Show the following year.
1993 - The Mosaic 1.0 web browser was released.
1994 - Richard Nixon passed away.
See Also4/16/2024: Paradise Lo(s)t 🌴1998 - Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in Florida.
2000 - Elian Gonzalez was seized by U.S. federal agents during a raid.
April 23rd
1982 - The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was released.
1983 - Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ one hit, Come On Eileen, hit number one.
1985 - New co*ke was announced.
1985 - The We Are the World album was released.
The (somewhat forgotten) We Are the World album contained nine unreleased songs from top artists and sold 3 million copies.
The album hit number one two weeks after release — a feat only previously accomplished by The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.
1988 - Whitney Houston’s single Where Do Broken Hearts Go hit number one.
1989 - Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in his final NBA regular season game.
1989 - Troy Aikman was the first pick of the NFL Draft.
1989 - Baywatch premiered on NBC.
1991 - Michael Bolton’s album Time, Love, and Tenderness was released.
1993 - Shaquille O’Neal destroyed his second backboard of his rookie season on a dunk.
1994 - Howard Stern was named the Libertarian party nominee for New York governor.
1999 - Election hit theaters.
April 24th
1982 - Tom Tom Club’s one hit, Genius of Love, peaked at number 31.
1982 - Jane Fonda’s first workout video was released.
1989 - Massachusetts declared this day New Kids on the Block Day.
1990 - The space shuttle Discovery launched with the Hubble telescope onboard.
1993 - Paperboy’s one hit, Ditty, peaked at number 10.
1994 - David Robinson scored 71 points in the final game of the NBA season.
1994 - Mel Kiper Jr. was mocked live during the NFL draft.
1996 - Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots entered rehab.
1997 - Seinfeld’s “The Yada Yada” episode aired on NBC.
The writer of “Yada Yada” thought a different line from the episode would become a cultural catchphrase.
Writer Peter Mehlman thought the signature catchphrase from the episode would be “anti-dentite” (from the story line about Jerry’s dentist who converted to Judaism for the jokes).
2000 - ABC aired its dramatic Three Stooges biopic.
2003 - The series finale aired of Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
April 25th
1990 - The Hubble telescope was released into orbit.
1992 - The back-to-back-to-back series finales aired for Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss?, and MacGyver on ABC.
1992 - Kris Kross’s single Jump hit number one.
1995 - MLB returned after a strike ended the prior season.
1995 - Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s duet I’ll Be There/You’re All I Need was released.
1995 - Soul 4 Real’s single Every Little Thing I Do was released.
1996 - Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk opened in New York.
1997 - Volcano hit theaters.
Dante’s Peak — another volcano movie — rushed through post-production to beat Volcano to theaters.
Dante’s Peak came out February 7th, which Volcano couldn’t beat.
Dante’s Peak rushed through post-production, ballooning its budget to $116 million. It made $178.1 million at the box office.
Volcano’s budget was $90 million, and it made $122.8 million at the box office. So maybe Dante’s Peak’s strategy was smarter?
1997 - Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion both hit theaters.
1998 - Next’s single Too Close hit number one.
2000 - David Arquette won the WCW championship, horrifying fans.
2002 - Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes died in a car accident.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die, Green Day’s Dookie, and Bobby McFerrin’s Don’t Worry, Be Happy have just been announced as inductees into the National Recording Registry at the Library of Congress. (There are a few other ‘80s and ‘90s selections in there beyond those as well.)
The owners of OJ Simpson’s Ford Bronco are looking to sell for at least $1.5 million. They claim they’d always planned to sell it this year because it’s the 30th anniversary and their timing isn’t because OJ just died.
Journey’s Greatest Hits just spent its 800th week on the Billboard 200. It’s only the third album to spend 800 weeks on the chart (Pink Floyd, Bob Marley). Journey’s album has been on the chart on and off since December 1988.
Pamela Anderson has joined the Naked Gun reboot.
There’s a famous story about how someone laced the food on the set of Titanic with PCP, sending at least 50 cast and crew to the hospital. No one was ever charged, but the police in Halifax, Nova Scotia (where it happened) have now been ordered to un-redact some of their reports.
Sega is turning the game Golden Axe into an animated series. Comedy Central has ordered 10 episodes.
John Oates re-re-reconfirmed that he and Daryl Hall are done working or performing together.
Michael J. Fox says it was “harder” to be famous in the ‘80s because “you had to be talented.”
One of the stars of The Blair Witch Project says he and his castmates have dealt with “25 years of disrespect” from the “folks who’ve pocketed the lion’s share of the profits.”
Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart say Alex and Eddie Van Halen once propositioned them.
A woman in Brazil was arrested this week after she pulled a Weekend at Bernie’s — by wheeling her dead uncle into a bank in an attempt to get a loan.
Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
Here’s an oral history of MTV News via some of its biggest names, from Kurt Loder and beyond.
Here’s an article in praise of The Great Mouse Detective, Disney’s oft-overlooked ‘80s animated mystery.
Slate put together the 40 best standalone episodes of TV of all time, including picks from Cheers, Seinfeld, The Simpsons, and more.
Have a great week!
-Sam
