6/14 - What Movie Role Almost Went to Tom Hanks or Michael Jackson?
Plus trivia on Beck, Kevin Costner, Will Smith's Men in Black single, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
June 14th, 2024 • Issue 208
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
June 14th
1986 - Patti LaBelle and Michael McDonald’s single On My Own hit number one.
1987 - The L.A. Lakers defeated the Boston Celtics to win the NBA Championship.
1988 - The Fat Boys sued Miller Beer and Joe Piscopo over the Miller Lite Rappin’ Fats ad.
1989 - Zsa Zsa Gabor was arrested for slapping a police officer.
1989 - The groundbreaking for the world’s largest shopping mall, Mall of America, was held in Minnesota.
1990 - The Detroit Pistons won their second consecutive NBA title, defeating the Portland Trailblazers.
1991 - Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves hit theaters.
Kevin Costner was originally going to speak in an English accent as Robin Hood — but he never mastered it, so he ended up speaking in his regular voice.
Kevin Costner’s accent-less Robin Hood has drawn criticism over the years… but he did try.
Costner had a dialect coach who worked with him as he was preparing for the movie. But Costner never got the accent down, fired the coach — and Robin Hood’s director, Kevin Reynolds, had Costner just speak normally.
1992 - The Chicago Bulls defeated the Portland Trailblazers to win their second straight NBA title.
1993 - Ruth Bader Ginsburg was nominated for the Supreme Court by President Clinton.
1993 - The public freaked out over syringes allegedly found in cans of Pepsi.
1994 - The New York Rangers won their first Stanley Cup in 54 years.
1995 - Michael Jackson and his wife, Lisa Marie Presley, had a live televised interview with Diane Sawyer.
1995 - The Houston Rockets defeated the Orlando Magic to win the NBA Championship.
1996 - The Cable Guy hit theaters.
1997 - Puff Daddy and Faith Evans’ single I’ll Be Missing You hit number one.
1998 - The Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz to win Michael Jordan’s final championship.
1999 - Eminem married his wife Kim for the first time.
1999 - Destiny’s Child’s single Bills, Bills, Bills was released.
2002 - Scooby-Doo and The Bourne Identity hit theaters.
June 15th
1979 - Rocky II hit theaters and Rocky actually got to win this time.
1987 - Compuserve created a new GIF format allowing for animation.
1988 - Bull Durham hit theaters.
1989 - Nirvana’s debut album Bleach was released.
1990 - Dick Tracy hit theaters.
1990 - Tony! Toni! Toné!’s single Feels Good was released.
The rap verse on Feels Good was not performed by Tony, Toni, or Toné — it was performed by a close relative of Tupac.
The verse was performed by Mopreme Shakur, Tupac’s stepbrother. Feels Good was his recording debut.
1991 - Paula Abdul’s single Rush Rush hit number one.
1992 - Vice President Dan Quayle misspelled the word “potato”.
1994 - The Lion King hit theaters.
1995 - Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s single 1st of tha Month was released.
1995 - O.J. Simpson struggled to get the glove to fit at trial.
1999 - The Real World season eight in Hawaii premiered on MTV.
2001 - The L.A. Lakers defeated the Philadelphia 76ers to win the NBA Championship.
June 16th
1978 - Jimmy Buffett’s Cheeseburger in Paradise topped out at #32 on the Billboard charts.
1978 - Grease hit theaters.
1989 - Ghostbusters II hit theaters.
1990 - Roxette’s single It Must Have Been Love hit number one.
1990 - MC Hammer’s U Can’t Touch This peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
1995 - Batman Forever, with Val Kilmer taking over for Michael Keaton as the titular superhero, hit theaters.
1995 - Disney’s Pocahontas was released.
1996 - The Chicago Bulls defeated the Seattle Supersonics in the NBA Finals to win their fourth title (it was Michael Jordan’s first season back from his baseball-playing version of a European backpacking gap year).
1997 - Will Smith’s Men in Black rap tie-in to the movie was released.
Men in Black was Will Smith’s first-ever solo single.
Before Men in Black, all of Will Smith’s singles were also with DJ Jazzy Jeff.
Men in Black was his first solo single.
However, due to some obscure Billboard rules, it was ineligible for the main Billboard Hot 100 chart. It did make it to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart, which tracks just radio play.
1997 - The Verve’s single Bitter Sweet Symphony was released.
1998 - Real World season seven, in Seattle, premiered.
1999 - Disney’s Tarzan hit theaters.
1999 - A court ruled digital music players were legal, opening up the door for legalized mp3s.
1999 - Al Gore announced his candidacy for president; he’d go on to win the election but not become president.
June 17th
1983 - Superman III hit theaters.
1988 - The Great Outdoors hit theaters and introduced steak eating contests to the masses.
The Great Outdoors was Annette Bening’s film debut.
The Great Outdoors didn’t just introduce steak eating contests to the world — it also introduced Annette Bening.
Prior to the movie, she was a successful stage actress (she was nominated for a Tony in 1987).
1989 - New Kids on the Block’s single I’ll Be Loving You (Forever) hit number one.
1991 - South Africa abolished apartheid.
1991 - The body of president Zachary Taylor was exhumed to test for arsenic poisoning but none was found.
1992 - The Phoenix Suns pulled off one of the biggest blockbuster trades in NBA history, acquiring Charles Barkley.
1994 - DirecTV service went live as the world’s first satellite cable provider.
1995 - All-4-One’s single I Can Love You Like That was released and it makes me very suspicious.
1997 - Third Eye Blind’s single Semi-Charmed Life was released as was K-Ci and JoJo’s album Love Always.
1997 - The NHL announced it would be moving to Nashville, Atlanta, Minneapolis, and Columbus.
1999 - Adam Sandler’s movie Big Daddy hit theaters.
June 18th
1991 - Bryan Adams’s single (Everything I Do) I Do It for You, from the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves soundtrack, was released.
1993 - Last Action Hero hit theaters.
1996 - Beck’s album Odelay was released.
Odelay was produced by the same people who would go on to produce Hanson’s MMMBop.
Beck worked with The Dust Brothers to create Odelay. The next year, The Dust Brothers produced MMMBop, which would become a number one hit.
(The Dust Brothers have produced a wide variety of genres, including music from Korn, Beastie Boys, Tenacious D, They Might Be Giants, Linkin Park, and Carlos Santana.)
1998 - Disney bought a 43 percent stake in the search engine Infoseek.
1999 - Run Lola Run was released.
June 19th
1981 - Superman II hit theaters.
1987 - Roxanne hit theaters.
1988 - Michael Jackson performed in divided Berlin.
1991 - Pablo Escobar surrendered to police.
1992 - Barney & Friends premiered.
1992 - Batman Returns hit theaters.
Marlon Wayans was cast as Robin for Batman Returns.
Originally, Batman Returns featured the Robin character. Marlon Wayans, who was very early in his career, was cast for the role.
But eventually, Robin was cut out of the script entirely. Wayans still got paid for the role, but didn’t appear in the movie.
1998 - Mulan hit theaters.
2000 - The L.A. Lakers won the NBA Championship over the Indiana Pacers.
June 20th
1975 - Jaws hit theaters.
1980 - The controversial movie Blue Lagoon was released, as was The Blues Brothers.
1986 - The Karate Kid Part II hit theaters.
The Karate Kid Part II had the best box office performance of any movie in the Karate Kid franchise.
Adjusted for inflation, Part II made $319.9 million in North American box office.
That puts it ahead of the original movie ($294.4 million)… the 2010 Jaden Smith remake ($246.7 million)… The Karate Kid Part III ($95.8 million)… and The Next Karate Kid ($18.3 million).
1987 - Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s single Head to Toe hit number one.
1988 - Bobby Brown’s album Don’t Be Cruel, featuring five top 10 singles, was released.
1988 - Price Is Right model Janice Pennington was knocked out by a TV camera.
1989 - The B-52’s single Love Shack was released.
1989 - Prince’s soundtrack to Batman was released.
1992 - Mariah Carey’s single I’ll Be There was released.
1993 - The Chicago Bulls won their third consecutive title, defeating the Phoenix Suns.
1994 - O.J. Simpson plead innocent.
1997 - Batman and Robin hit theaters, as did My Best Friend’s Wedding.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
There’s a sequel in the works for 1998’s Practical Magic, and both Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman are in talks to return for it.
Netflix has decided not to move forward with its Power Rangers reboot. Hasbro is looking for a new partner.
Johnny Depp says he beat out some big names for the lead role in Edward Scisssorhands including Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise, and Michael Jackson.
The model who was the inspiration for Duran Duran’s Rio album cover in 1982 has finally been revealed.
A rare, recalled Boba Fett action figure from 1979 has become the most expensive toy ever; one just sold at auction for $525,000.
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
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Who were the 20 meanest ‘80s movie bullies? A good mix of the obvious (Johnny, Biff, Chet, Emilio Estevez) and less obvious.
I’m not sure I agree with this article’s premise that 1980s cars were great — but they were undoubtedly unique and memorable.
Have a great week!
-Sam