3/22 - Tom Cruise Almost Killed Which TGIF Classic?
Plus trivia on Police Academy, Pink Floyd, one-hit wonders, Futurama, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
March 22nd, 2024 • Issue 196
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
March 22nd
1979 - The NHL voted to admit four WHA teams: the Oilers, Jets, Nordiques, and Whalers.
1980 - PETA was founded.
1980 - Pink Floyd’s single Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) hit number one.
Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) was Pink Floyd’s only number one hit in the U.S. or their native U.K.
Pink Floyd’s more long-form musical style didn’t exactly lend itself to singles.
Which is why Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) was their only number one single — but they had four number one albums in the U.S. and five in the U.K.
1986 - Heart’s single These Dreams hit number one.
1986 - Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s single On My Own was released.
1991 - Wayne Gretzky purchased a rare Honus Wagner baseball card.
1993 - 95 South’s single Whoot There It Is was released.
1993 - Intel shipped its first Pentium chips.
1997 - The Prodigy’s one hit, Firestarter, peaked at number 30.
1997 - Puff Daddy and Ma$e’s single Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down hit number one.
1999 - Stone Cold Steve Austin drove a beer truck to the ring in a signature moment of the late ‘90s wrestling boom.
1999 - Lonestar’s single Amazed was released.
March 23rd
1982 - Joanie Loves Chachi premiered on ABC.
1983 - President Reagan announced the Star Wars initiative.
1983 - Barney Clark, the first recipient of an artificial heart, died after 112 days.
1984 - Police Academy hit theaters.
The inspiration for Police Academy came when a movie producer saw a group of misfit police trainees doing crowd control.
Producer Paul Maslansky witnessed a group of aspiring officers doing crowd control on the set of The Right Stuff in San Francisco. He got the idea to turn a ragtag group of motivated but (perhaps) underqualified police trainees into a movie.
1984 - The Breakfast Club met for detention.
1985 - Billy Joel and Christie Brinkley got married.
1987 - The Soul Train Music Awards debuted.
1990 - Pretty Woman hit theaters.
1991 - Extreme’s single More Than Words was released.
1991 - Timmy T’s single One More Try hit number one.
1991 - Oleta Adams’ one hit Get Here peaked at number five, and Susanna Hoffs’s one solo hit My Side of the Bed peaked at number 30.
1992 - Billy Ray Cyrus’s single Achy Breaky Heart was released.
1994 - Wayne Gretzky set the NHL goals record.
1996 - The Roxbury Guys debuted on Saturday Night Live.
1996 - The Tony Rich Project’s one hit Nobody Knows peaked at number two.
1996 - Celine Dion’s single Because You Loved Me hit number one.
1997 - WrestleMania XIII featured a bunch of so-so matches and then one of the all-time best between Bret Hart and Steve Austin.
1998 - Titanic cleaned up at the Oscars.
1999 - Ricky Martin’s single Livin’ La Vida Loca was released.
March 24th
1979 - Larry Bird and Magic Johnson led their respective teams to the NCAA tournament final.
1980 - Nightline premiered.
1989 - Troop Beverly Hills hit theaters.
1989 - The Exxon Valdez oil spill occurred.
1990 - Alannah Myles’s single Black Velvet hit number one.
1990 - The series finale of ALF aired... and ended on a cliffhanger.
1991 - Hulk Hogan defeated Sgt. Slaughter at WrestleMania VII.
1992 - En Vogue’s album Funky Divas was released.
1992 - Arrested Development’s album 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days was released.
Arrested Development’s debut album name came from how long it took the group to get a record contract.
Arrested Development formed in 1988 and it took them three years, five months, and two days before getting their record contract.
They became the first hip-hop artist to win Best New Artist at the Grammy Awards on the strength of the album.
1995 - Major Payne hit theaters.
1996 - The great Simpsons episode “A Fish Called Selma” premiered.
1997 - The English Patient won Best Picture at the 69th Oscars.
1998 - NSYNC’s self-titled album was released.
2000 - Whatever It Takes hit theaters.
2000 - Making the Band season one, featuring the creation of O-Town, premiered on ABC.
2001 - Crazy Town’s only hit, Butterfly, hit number one.
2001 - Pitcher Randy Johnson accidentally killed a bird with a spring training fastball.
2001 - The first version of Mac OS X went on sale.
2002 - A Beautiful Mind won Best Picture at the Oscars.
March 25th
1982 - Cagney & Lacey premiered on CBS.
1983 - The Outsiders hit theaters.
1985 - Sally Field won and was liked at the 57th Oscars.
1986 - Perfect Strangers premiered.
Tom Cruise tried to talk Bronson Pinchot out of doing a sitcom.
The two actors worked together on Risky Business. Pinchot says Tom Cruise warned him not to do TV and stick to movies. Pinchot ignored his advice because, “I’m not the same kind of actor Tom Cruise is… he needs to be on the big screen.”
Pinchot took the role of Balki in Perfect Strangers a few years after getting Tom Cruise’s advice.
1989 - Mike + The Mechanics’ single The Living Years hit number one.
1991 - Dances with Wolves won Best Picture at the 63rd Oscars.
1993 - D2: Mighty Ducks 2 and Above the Rim hit theaters.
1995 - The first wiki was published online.
1996 - Gina G’s single Ooh Ahh Just a Little Bit was released.
1996 - Braveheart won Best Picture at the 68th Oscars.
1996 - The new $100 bill design was released.
1997 - Notorious BIG’s album Life After Death and Paula Cole’s equally impactful single Where Have All the Cowboys Gone were released.
2001 - Bjork wore a swan dress to the Oscars and Gladiator won Best Picture.
2002 - The Bachelor premiered on ABC.
March 26th
1979 - Magic Johnson’s Michigan State defeated Larry Bird’s Indiana State in the NCAA Tournament final.
1988 - Michael Jackson’s single Man in the Mirror hit number one.
The same choir sang background on Man in the Mirror and Madonna’s Like a Prayer.
The Andrae Crouch Gospel Choir carved out a niche in the ‘80s for artists looking for a gospel choir for their tracks.
1989 - Quantum Leap premiered.
1990 - Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture at the 62nd Oscars.
1990 - Digital Underground’s album Sex Packets was released.
1991 - In a controversial WWF angle, large wrestler Earthquake crushed Jake “The Snake” Roberts’ snake (not really, but still).
1992 - Mike Tyson was convicted of rape.
1993 - The final episode of Family Feud with Ray Combs as host aired.
1995 - Eazy E died from AIDS at age 31.
1997 - The bodies of the Heaven’s Gate cult members were found.
1999 - EdTV hit theaters.
1999 - The “Melissa worm” infected PCs.
1999 - Dr. Kevorkian was convicted of murder.
2000 - Seattle’s Kingdome was demolished.
2000 - Vladimir Putin was elected president of Russia, although at the time it wasn’t clear he was planning to never leave.
2000 - American Beauty won Best Picture at the 72nd Academy Awards.
2001 - Vince McMahon appeared on the final episode of WCW Nitro, announcing he’d purchased WCW.
March 27th
1980 - Mount St. Helens became active after 123 years.
1981 - Buckner & Garcia’s novelty song Pac-Man Fever peaked at number nine.
Buckner & Garcia tried to recapture their Pac-Man Fever magic with another video game-themed song in 1982… with less success.
After Pac-Man Fever became an unexpected hit, the duo of Buckner & Garcia returned with a song called Do the Donkey Kong.
It did not crack the Billboard Hot 100 — it peaked at 103.
1987 - The Price Is Right became the longest-running daytime game show ever.
1988 - Macho Man Randy Savage won the WWF title tournament at WrestleMania IV.
1989 - Generations, the first Black soap opera, premiered on NBC.
1990 - Madonna’s single Vogue was released.
1991 - Donnie Wahlberg of New Kids on the Block was arrested for arson after setting a hotel carpet on fire.
1992 - Bruce Springsteen released two albums at the same time, Human Touch and Lucky Town.
1992 - White Men Can’t Jump, Ladybugs, and The Cutting Edge all hit theaters.
1994 - Magic Johnson became the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers.
1995 - Skee Lo’s single I Wish and Take That’s single Back For Good were released.
1995 - Forrest Gump won Best Picture at the 67th Oscars.
1998 - The FDA approved Viagra.
March 28th
1981 - Blondie’s single Rapture hit number one.
1984 - The Baltimore Colts bolted in the middle of the night for Indianapolis.
1992 - Christian Laettner hit a turnaround buzzer beater to defeat Kentucky in the NCAA tournament.
1994 - Des’ree’s single You Gotta Be was released.
1995 - Julia Roberts and Lyle Lovett separated.
1996 - Phil Collins left Genesis to focus on his solo career.
1998 - Lord Tariq’s one hit, Deja Vu, peaked at number nine.
1999 - Futurama premiered on FOX.
Futurama’s name comes from an exhibit at the 1939 World’s Fair.
The 1939 World’s Fair in Queens, New York, had a huge exhibit called Futurama. It was a 35,000 square-foot model of a city that predicted the future (of 1960).
1999 - Stone Cold Steve Austin defeated The Rock at WrestleMania XV.
2001 - Puff Daddy announced he would now go by P. Diddy.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
The first teaser trailer has been released for Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. The movie comes to theaters on September 6th.
More Neverending Story movies are coming. Looks like they’ll be reboots, not a continuation.
The Road House reboot is out on Amazon and is getting so-so reviews.
The director of the original Crow movie is against the remake because the original is “a testament to [Brandon Lee’s] lost brilliance and tragic loss.” Ernie Hudson, who co-starred in the original, also says he isn’t interested in watching it.
The director of Godzilla x Kong says he’s “actively working on the script” for a ThunderCats movie.
There’s a new Bratz doll in memory of Sinead O’Connor?
A music tour called Abducted by the ‘80s is coming this summer with Wang Chung, Men Without Hats, and more.
A vintage Toys “R” Us went up in Burbank, Calif., this week in an old Kmart location… turns out it was part of a film set.
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Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
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Sonic Youth was a staple of the ‘90s rock scene (and the scene before and after). Here’s an oral history of their unexpected final show.
Entertainment Weekly complied the 40 best alien movies of all time. It’s chronological, so particularly easy to get through the ‘80s and ‘90s entries.
Have a great week!
-Sam