11/1 - What Was the 4-Liter Coke Bottle Called?
11/1 - What Was the 4-Liter Coke Bottle Called?
Plus trivia on The Nanny, Spice Girls, Finders Keepers, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
November 1st, 2024 • Issue 228
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
November 1st
1982 - The Playboy Channel debuted.
1987 - The video game The Goonies II was released for Nintendo even though there was no sequel to The Goonies movie and no The Goonies I for Nintendo.
1990 - Enigma’s single Sadeness Part I was released.
Enigma’s Sadeness Part I was a mix of Latin, French, and English lyrics, from a group made up of a Romanian musician and German singer, living in Spain.
Sadeness Part I, quite possibly the only major U.S. hit ever featuring Gregorian chants, was the debut single from Enigma. The song featured English lyrics as well as some French as it discussed the song’s subject, the Marquis de Sade.
Enigma was a married couple: Romanian-born musician Michael Cretu and German pop singer Sandra Cretu. They lived in Spain when they decided to start making their own music.
1990 - Mega Man III was released.
1993 - The EU was established.
1993 - Flavor Flav was arrested for attempted murder.
1994 - Boyz II Men’s single On Bended Knee was released.
1994 - The Nirvana album MTV Unplugged in New York was released.
1994 - Michael Jordan’s number 23 was retired by the Chicago Bulls.
1996 - Romeo + Juliet hit theaters.
1996 - ESPNews debuted.
November 2nd
1983 - Martin Luther King Jr. Day finally became a federal holiday.
1983 - Michael Jackson’s single Thriller was released worldwide.
1985 - Stevie Wonder’s single Part-Time Lover hit number one.
1987 - Children’s game show Finders Keepers premiered.
While the U.S. version of Finders Keepers was only a mild success, a British version lasted much longer and was much more popular.
Finders Keepers was one of the children’s game shows that came out in the wake of Double Dare. It was mostly kids finding hidden items inside a fake house.
It lasted just one season (albeit a 130-episode season) on Nickelodeon before they dropped it. It stayed alive for one season in syndication.
But in 1991, a British spinoff started — and it lasted seven seasons.
1988 - The Morris Worm was the first internet-borne computer virus.
1990 - The Prince rock musical and Purple Rain sequel Graffiti Bridge hit theaters.
1991 - The two-part Saved by the Bell with Jessie’s wicked stepbrother aired on NBC.
1991 - Karyn White’s single Romantic hit number one.
1992 - Magic Johnson retired from the NBA for the second and final time.
1993 - A less insane (or better at hiding the insanity) Rudy Giuliani was elected mayor of New York City.
1996 - The Eels’ one hit, Novocain for the Soul, peaked at number 39.
1996 - The original Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series aired its series finale.
1997 - The Simpsons episode “The Cartridge Family” aired on FOX.
1998 - Whitney Houston’s single When You Believe was released.
1999 - LFO’s single Girl on TV was released.
2000 - The first crew arrived at the International Space Station.
2003 - Arrested Development premiered on FOX.
November 3rd
1983 - The Nashville Network debuted on cable TV.
1988 - Billy Ocean’s single Caribbean Queen (No More Love on the Run) hit number one.
1988 - Geraldo’s nose was broken during a fight on his show.
1989 - The Minnesota Timberwolves played their first game.
1990 - The NBA debuted on NBC.
1990 - EMF’s single Unbelievable was released.
1990 - The legendary Saved by the Bell episode where Jessie gets hooked on caffeine pills aired.
1992 - Whitney Houston’s single I Will Always Love You was released.
1992 - Paperboy’s single Ditty were released, as was Rage Against the Machine’s self-titled debut album.
1992 - Carol Moseley-Braun was the first Black female elected U.S. senator.
1992 - Bill Clinton was elected president.
1993 - The Nanny premiered.
The Nanny’s famous theme song almost never happened — the pilot used a cover of a Broadway song.
The Nanny was, quite possibly, one of the last TV shows with an iconic original theme song.
And that song almost never came to be.
In the pilot episode, the theme song was a version of If My Friends Could See Me Now from the Broadway musical Charity.
1994 - Susan Smith of South Carolina was arrested for drowning her sons.
1995 - Mr. Show premiered.
1996 - The Hank Scorpio episode of The Simpsons aired.
1996 - Kobe Bryant made his NBA debut, then the youngest NBA player ever at 18 years, two months old.
1998 - Jesse Ventura was elected governor of Minnesota.
1998 - Juvenile’s album 400 Degreez and Alanis Morissette’s album Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie were released.
2000 - Charlie’s Angles and the Legend of Bagger Vance hit theaters.
November 4th
1979 - Jaws aired on TV for the first time, on ABC.
1980 - Sadaharu Oh retired from baseball with 868 home runs (all in Japan).
1981 - The Fall Guy premiered on ABC.
1987 - The NBA announced four new expansion teams coming in the next two years in Charlotte, Miami, Minneapolis, and Orlando.
1988 - They Live hit theaters.
1989 - The Orlando Magic played their first game.
1989 - Roxette’s single Listen to Your Heart hit number one.
1995 - Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
1996 - The Spice Girls’ debut album Spice was released.
Spice is the best-selling album by a female group in history.
The Spice Girls’ debut album sold 19 million copies in 1997 and 23 million copies total worldwide.
That makes it the best-selling album by a female group of all time.
1997 - Marcy Playground’s single Sex and Candy was released.
2001 - The Arizona Diamondbacks defeated the New York Yankees to win the World Series.
November 5th
1985 - Stone Pillow, a CBS TV movie starring Lucille Ball as a homeless woman, premiered.
Lucille Ball’s dramatic TV movie was her second-to-last acting project.
Stone Pillow received mixed reviews (though Lucille Ball’s dramatic turn was praised).
But the movie did have ratings success, showing Lucille Ball was still a draw that late in her career.
So she took one more shot at a sitcom, called Life with Lucy in 1986. But it didn’t have the success of her prior shows and only lasted 13 episodes.
It was her final acting project, and she passed away in 1989.
1992 - Bobby Fischer defeated Boris Spassky in a revenge chess match.
1993 - Corona’s single Rhythm of the Night was released.
1994 - George Foreman won boxing’s heavyweight title at age 45.
1995 - The Wizard of Oz in Concert event took place.
1996 - Bill Clinton was re-elected president of the United States.
1996 - Derek Jeter was unanimously voted AL Rookie of the Year.
1998 - ODB was arrested for threatening to kill his ex.
1998 - Liam Gallagher of Oasis was arrested for attacking a photographer.
1999 - Dennis Rodman and Carmen Electra were arrested after a fight in a hotel.
November 6th
1982 - Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes’s Up Where We Belong hit number one.
1984 - Ronald Reagan was re-elected in a landslide.
Ronald Reagan set the record for electoral votes won in 1984 with 525.
Reagan won 49 of 50 states, only losing Walter Mondale’s home state of Minnesota. That gave Reagan 525 of the 538 electoral votes.
While that’s the record for most votes, it’s not the biggest margin of victory. Franklin Roosevelt defeated Alf Landon 523-8 in 1936.
1986 - Freddie Jackson’s album Just Like the First Time was released.
1990 - Whitney Houston’s album I’m Your Baby Tonight was released.
1993 - Meat Loaf’s single I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That) hit number one.
1993 - The Fan Man flew into the Evander Holyfield vs. Riddick Bowe boxing match.
1995 - The Cleveland Browns announced they were relocating.
1998 - The Waterboy hit theaters.
1999 - Pokemon: The First Movie hit theaters.
2001 - 24 premiered on FOX.
2001 - Britney Spears’s album Britney was released.
2002 - Winona Ryder was found guilty of shoplifting.
November 7th
1981 - Hall and Oates’s single Private Eyes hit number one.
1986 - Sid and Nancy hit theaters.
1987 - Tiffany’s single I Think We’re Alone Now hit number one.
1989 - Douglas Wilder was elected governor of Virginia, the first Black governor elected in the U.S., and David Dinkins was elected mayor of New York City, the first Black mayor of NYC.
1991 - Silk Stalkings premiered on USA.
1991 - The infamous “Lisa’s Pony” episode of The Simpsons aired.
1991 - Magic Johnson announced he was HIV positive and retiring immediately from the NBA.
1991 - Paul Reubens pleaded no contest to indecent exposure charges.
1995 - The Tony Rich Project’s single Nobody Knows and Whitney Houston’s single Exhale (Shoop Shoop) were released.
1995 - Queen released their first album after Freddie Mercury’s death.
Queen’s 1995 album Made in Heaven was the band’s only album after Freddie Mercury’s death (and, as a result, its final album).
Made in Heaven was a modest success. After its release, Queen put out one more single (in 1997), then stopped recording until reuniting in 2004.
1995 - Howard Stern’s book Miss America was released.
1995 - Madonna’s album Something to Remember was released.
1997 - The Mr. Bean film called Bean hit theaters.
1997 - Starship Troopers hit theaters.
1999 - Destiny’s Child’s single Say My Name was released.
2000 - Dot com-era sensation Pets.com shut down.
2000 - The U.S. presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore was too close to call and Hillary Clinton was elected to the U.S. Senate in New York.
2003 - Elf hit theaters.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Apple is developing an action-comedy movie based on The Oregon Trail.
A new survey found the decade people are most nostalgic for is the ‘90s. And the close runner-up is the ‘80s. (Obviously.)
The Cliffhanger reboot, starring Lily James in the Sylvester Stallone role, is now in production. Stallone was set to have a role in the movie and dropped out; he’s been replaced by Pierce Brosnan.
During an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Robin Wright addressed the online theory that Jenny is the real villain of Forrest Gump.
Nintendo has launched a music app with soundtracks from its classic (and current) games.
Billy Crystal thinks he accidentally donated the classic white sweater he wore during When Harry Met Sally.
Teri Garr, who starred in a ton of ‘80s and ‘90s classics — including Tootsie, for which she received an Oscar nomination — passed away this week at age 79 after a long battle with MS.
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
Here’s a forgotten gem. In 1984, Coke introduced a 3-liter soda bottle… then, in 1985, they upped the ante with the 4-liter Super Thirst Buster.
In honor of the World Series, here’s Variety’s list of the best baseball movies of all time. Lots of ‘80s and ‘90s here.
These are the moments that defined the Super Nintendo vs. Sega Genesis console war.
Have a great week!
-Sam