2/23 - What Grammy Category Only Lasted 1 Year?
Plus trivia on David Letterman, Van Halen, Coach, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
February 23rd, 2024 • Issue 192
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
February 23rd
1980 - Queen’s single Crazy Little Thing Called Love hit number one.
1983 - Herschel Walker signed a contract with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.
1985 - The show Gimme a Break aired live, the first sitcom to do so since the ‘50s.
1985 - Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight threw a chair during an argument with a referee.
1988 - A 13-year-old Lauryn Hill was booed during her performance on It’s Showtime at the Apollo.
1990 - En Vogue’s single Hold On was released.
1990 - Buster Douglas replaced Mike Tyson as the referee for Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage’s WWF championship match on NBC.
1991 - Whitney Houston’s single All the Man That I Need hit number one.
1991 - Operation: Desert Storm began.
1993 - The Cranberries’ single Linger was released.
1993 - Naughty By Nature’s album 19 Naughty III was released.
1993 - Gary Coleman won a $1.3 million lawsuit against his parents.
1996 - Rumble in the Bronx hit theaters.
There was discussion of switching the Rumble in the Bronx title to “Rumble in Vancouver” because it was so obviously not filmed in New York City.
The movie was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. And while the production team tried their best to make it look like New York (with fake graffiti and other details), they decided to focus more on getting all the action. That meant sometimes their shots showed non-New York details like mountains in the background.
The location issues even made the distributors consider calling the movie “Rumble in Vancouver” — but ultimately they felt “the Bronx” was more marketable.
1997 - NBC aired Schindler’s List uncensored.
1999 - Eminem’s major label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, was released, as was TLC’s FanMail.
2002 - Ja Rule and Ashanti’s single Always on Time hit number one.
February 24th
1980 - Harper Valley P.T.A. premiered on NBC.
1981 - Charles and Diana announced their engagement.
1982 - The Supreme Court ruled in favor of Larry Flynt.
1990 - The Mission: Impossible reboot series aired its series finale.
1992 - Kurt Cobain married Courtney Love.
1993 - Ice Cube’s single It Was a Good Day was released.
1994 - One of the top Simpsons episodes ever, “Deep Space Homer”, premiered.
1996 - The Late Shift TV movie (about the Leno/Letterman Tonight Show battle) premiered.
David Letterman did not like The Late Shift — and wound up bumping the actor who played him from an appearance on Late Night.
John Michael Higgins — who’s had a prolific film career since — played David Letterman in the movie.
Letterman did not like what he saw of the movie and called it “the biggest waste of film since my wedding photos.” Shortly after the movie came out, Higgins was booked on Late Night with David Letterman — but Letterman bumped him.
1997 - The FDA approved the morning after pill.
1998 - Fastball’s single The Way was released.
1999 - Juvenile’s single Back That Azz Up was released.
1999 - Lauryn Hill won five Grammys for her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill.
2001 - Joe’s hit Stutter, featuring Mystikal, hit number one.
February 25th
1984 - Van Halen’s single Jump hit number one.
Jump was Van Halen’s first and last number one hit.
They never had another number one, with Why Can’t This Be Love coming closest at number three.
1987 - The Supreme Court upheld affirmative action.
1992 - TLC’s debut album, Ooooooohhh... On the TLC Tip, was released.
1995 - Madonna’s single Take a Bow hit number one.
1997 - Monica’s single For You I Will was released.
2000 - Reindeer Games and Wonder Boys hit theaters.
February 26th
1983 - Musical Youth’s one hit, Pass the Dutchie, peaked at number 10.
1983 - Michael Jackson’s album Thriller hit number one, where it would stay for 37 weeks.
1987 - The first Beatles CDs were released.
1988 - Hairspray hit theaters.
Hairspray was John Waters’s only PG-rated film.
Before Hairspray, most of his movies were rated X.
1988 - George Michael’s song Father Figure hit number one.
1991 - LL Cool J’s single Mama Said Knock You Out was released.
1993 - Falling Down hit theaters.
1993 - The World Trade Center was bombed.
1995 - Selena performed her final concert before she was murdered.
1997 - Booty Call hit theaters.
2002 - Alanis Morissette’s album Under Rug Swept was released.
February 27th
1980 - Gloria Gaynor won the one and only Grammy ever for Best Disco Recording for I Will Survive.
The Grammy Awards added a Best Disco Recording category for the 1980 awards to celebrate the popular genre… then eliminated the award before 1981 as disco’s popularity plummeted.
The official reason for cutting the Best Disco Recording award was that disco was “no longer a readily definable separate music form” because elements had “permeated all types of pop music.”
The Grammys wouldn’t add another category for dance music until 1998, with Best Dance Recording.
1984 - The Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial where he caught on fire aired, with the flames edited out.
1987 - The series finale aired of The Love Boat.
1987 - The NCAA canceled SMU’s entire football season.
1988 - Patrick Swayze’s single She’s Like the Wind peaked at number three.
1990 - Milli Vanilli claimed they were more talented than all the top artists of all time.
1990 - Wilson Phillips’ single Hold On was released.
1990 - Janet Jackson’s iconic Rhythm Nation World Tour kicked off.
1991 - Roxette’s single Joyride was released.
1992 - 16-year-old Tiger Woods played in a PGA event.
1995 - Nicki French’s cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart was released.
1996 - Four singles were released: Quad City DJs’ C’mon N Ride It, Alanis Morissette’s Ironic, Dishwalla’s Counting Blue Cars, and Busta Rhymes’s Woo Hah.
1996 - Pokemon debuted with the release of two Game Boy games in Japan.
1997 - Divorce was finally legalized in Ireland.
1998 - Tupac’s single Do For Love was released.
1998 - Apple discontinued the Newton handheld.
2003 - Mr. Rogers passed away.
February 28th
1983 - The record-breaking series finale of M*A*S*H aired on CBS.
1983 - U2’s album War was released.
1986 - Wham! broke up.
1986 - Pretty in Pink hit theaters.
1989 - The series premiere of Coach aired on ABC.
Coach took place at the (then fictional) Minnesota State University — but a year after the series ended, Minnesota State University became a real thing.
The Minnesota legislature renamed Mankato State University to Minnesota State University, Mankato in 1998. And in 2000, Moorhead State University was renamed to Minnesota State University, Moorhead.
The decisions were not inspired by Coach.
1995 - Jewel’s album Pieces of You was released.
1995 - Blues Traveler’s single Run Around was released.
1996 - Kiss reunited at the Grammys.
1997 - Donnie Brasco hit theaters.
1998 - Celine Dion’s single My Heart Will Go On hit number one.
1998 - Ben Folds Five’s only top 40 hit, Brick, peaked at number 19.
2000 - WWF’s Mae Young “give birth” to a hand on Monday Night Raw.
February 29th
1980 - Gordie Howe, at age 51, became the first NHL player in history to score 800 goals.
1988 - Day by Day premiered on NBC.
1992 - Mr. Big's single To Be With You hit number one.
1992 - Lex Lugar wrestled his final match in WCW (for now) to head to Vince McMahon's new World Bodybuilding Federation.
Lex Lugar left wrestling to participate in the World Bodybuilding Federation — but didn’t appear because of a motorcycle accident.
Lex Lugar was one of two big names to miss the WBF Championship pay-per-view in June 1992. The other was Lou Ferrigno, who left the WBF when they instituted drug testing.
2000 - Steely Dan's album Two Against Nature was released.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Finally, someone attempts to answer the question of why ‘90s ads are unforgettable. “The ‘90s were arguably the peak moment of advertisers trying to make an impression on us that could last for decades.”
Here’s a list of 23 “highly-specific rock-and-roll diss tracks,” many of which are from the ‘80s and ‘90s. Also, by “rock-and-roll” they also apparently meant Randy Newman.
These are eight TV shows (most of which are from the ‘80s and ‘90s) that successfully rebooted without a major character returning.
Recommendations of the week
Articles and more about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
The Frasier reboot has been renewed for a second season by Paramount+.
Shōgun, the epic reboot of a 1980 NBC miniseries, premieres next week on FX.
The reboot of The Crow has a release date: It will come to theaters on June 7th.
Drew Barrymore hosted a Facts of Life reunion on her talk show (with Lisa “Blair” Whelchel, Nancy “Jo” McKeon, and Mindy “Natalie” Cohn) and said their characters were huge inspirations in her life.
Tony Ganios, who played Meat in the Porky’s movies, passed away this week at age 64.
Have a great week!
-Sam