2/7 - What '90s Movie Title Was Almost a Legendary Pun?
Plus trivia on Tupac, MC Hammer, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
February 7th, 2025 • Issue 242
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
February 7th
1981 - Kool & the Gang’s Celebration hit number one.
1984 - Astronaut Bruce McCandless made the first untethered space walk.
1987 - Michael Jordan won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest jumping from the free throw line.
1987 - Madonna’s Open Your Heart hit number one and Ron & DC Crew’s Ronnie’s Rap peaked at number 93.
1988 - Mike Tyson and Robin Givens got married.
1988 - America’s Most Wanted premiered.
1989 - 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be was released.
1993 - Carmen Electra’s self-titled debut album was released.
1993 - Shaquille O’Neal broke a basket on a dunk during an NBA game.
1994 - Michael Jordan signed with the Chicago White Sox.
1994 - Howard Stern talked a caller out of committing suicide.
1995 - Shania Twain’s album The Woman in Me was released.
1995 - Sophie B. Hawkins’s single As I Lay Me Down was released.
1997 - The Beautician and the Beast hit theaters.
The original working title for The Beautician and the Beast was “The King and Oy”.
The movie is actually more like a Fran Drescher-ized The King and I than a Fran Drescher-ized Beauty and the Beast.
But apparently the production was going to face a potential lawsuit over using a title based on The King and I, since FOX owned its rights.
So they switched to the Beauty and the Beast pun instead.
1997 - Surge soda went on sale.
1998 - Steve Jobs’ NeXT merged with Apple.
2000 - Rapper Big Pun passed away.
February 8th
1984 - The Winter Olympics kicked off in Sarajevo.
1985 - The Dukes of Hazzard aired its series finale.
1985 - Witness hit theaters.
Witness was Viggo Mortensen’s film debut.
Mortensen had a minor role, as one of the Amish community.
Before Witness, he’d had a small part in a TV series and almost made his film debut in Woody Allen’s The Purple Rose of Cairo — but his scene got cut.
1991 - L.A. Story and The NeverEnding Story II: The Next Chapter hit theaters.
1992 - Cedric Ceballos won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest by dunking with a (maybe see-through) blindfold.
1992 - Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
1992 - The Winter Olympics opened in France.
1994 - The series finale aired of Saved by the Bell: The College Years after just one short season.
1997 - Kobe Bryant won the NBA Slam Dunk contest.
1998 - The first Olympic women’s hockey game was played between Finland and Sweden.
2002 - The Winter Olympics began in Salt Lake City.
February 9th
1979 - The Warriors hit theaters.
1985 - Dominique Wilkens defeated Michael Jordan in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1986 - Halley’s Comet appeared, with the next appearance coming in 2061.
1991 - C+C Music Factory’s single Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) hit number one.
1991 - 2nu’s single This Is Ponderous peaked at number 46.
1992 - Magic Johnson, having retired earlier in the season, dominated the NBA All-Star Game.
1997 - The Simpsons aired its famous Poochie episode (and passed The Flintstones as the longest-running animated prime-time show).
1999 - NSYNC’s single (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You was released.
Two months after (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You was released, the country group Alabama released a country version featuring NSYNC.
In an unusual strategy, NSYNC also recorded a duet of (God Must Have Spent) A Little More Time on You with Alabama.
That version came out in April 1999 and reached number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. (NSYNC’s version reached number eight and was their first hit song.)
Alabama and NSYNC’s version also reached number three on the Hot Country Songs chart — marking NSYNC’s only entry ever on that chart.
2001 - Saving Silverman hit theaters.
February 10th
1978 - Van Halen’s debut album was released.
1987 - Expose’s debut album Exposure was released.
1990 - Dominique Wilkens won the NBA Slam Dunk contest.
1990 - Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat’s single Opposites Attract hit number one.
1992 - Mike Tyson was convicted of rape.
1993 - Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson at the Neverland Ranch.
1995 - Billy Madison hit theaters.
1996 - Garry Kasparov was defeated in a game of chess by Deep Blue. (Though Kasparov won the match overall.)
Despite being exponentially more powerful, modern AI tools could not beat Deep Blue (or, likely, ‘90s Kasparov) in chess.
Even though today’s AI systems are exponentially more powerful than Deep Blue — they have about 70 times the processing power — they still couldn’t beat IBM’s Deep Blue in chess.
The reasons: Deep Blue was built only for chess playing, in contrast to the modern systems. Because of this, Deep Blue evaluates pre-programmed chess positions — modern AI looks for patterns and does not process the same way.
1996 - Brent Barry won the NBA Slam Dunk contest.
2000 - Jim Varney passed away.
February 11th
1983 - Bonnie Tyler’s single Total Eclipse of the Heart was released.
Total Eclipse of the Heart is the only Billboard number one song ever from a Welsh artist.
Wales has not generated many hit-making artists. Maybe because they refuse to use vowels?
Bonnie Tyler’s Total Eclipse of the Heart remains the only number one hit ever by a Welsh artist.
Donna Lewis was close in 1996, but L Love You Always Forever peaked at number two.
1983 - “Weird Al” Yankovic finished recording his self-titled debut LP.
1986 - The Super Bowl Shuffle by the Chicago Bears was certified gold.
1989 - Kenny “Sky” Walker won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1989 - Paula Abdul’s Straight Up became her first of six consecutive number one singles.
1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years.
1990 - Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson to become boxing’s undisputed world heavyweight champion.
1991 - Another Bad Creation’s album Coolin’ at the Playground, Ya Know was released.
1993 - Janet Reno was named the first female attorney general of the U.S.
1994 - Blank Check and My Girl 2 both hit theaters.
1994 - Celine Dion’s song The Power of Love hit number one.
1995 - Harold Minor won the NBA Slam Dunk content.
February 12th
1985 - Johnny Carson shocked the world when he shaved his beard.
1988 - School Daze hit theaters.
1990 - MC Hammer’s album Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em was released.
Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ‘Em was the first hip-hop album to receive a Grammy nomination for Album of the Year.
MC Hammer’s most famous album — the one featuring U Can’t Touch This — was also the first album to be certified diamond for 10 million sales in the U.S.
(The album did not win the Grammy, losing to Quincy Jones’s Back on the Block.)
1993 - Tiny Toon Adventures aired its series finale.
1993 - Groundhog Day hit theaters.
1993 - Untamed Heart hit theaters.
1994 - Isaiah Rider won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1994 - The Winter Olympics opened in Lillehammer, Norway.
1994 - Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream was stolen.
1999 - Bill Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate to avoid removal from office.
2000 - Charles Schulz passed away.
February 13th
1980 - The Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York.
1981 - The New York Times published its longest sentence ever at 1,286 words.
1983 - Marvin Gaye famously sang the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game.
1986 - The Greatest American Hero aired its series finale.
1987 - Mannequin hit theaters.
1987 - Over the Top hit theaters.
1988 - Michael Jackson bought the Neverland Ranch.
1992 - Jose Canseco rammed his Porsche into his wife’s BMW.
1993 - Double Dare aired its series finale.
1993 - SNL aired the famous “Chris Farley Show” interview with Paul McCartney.
1994 - Temple coach John Chaney threatened to kill UMass coach John Calipari during a press conference.
1996 - Tupac’s album All Eyez on Me was released.
Tupac recorded the entire double album of All Eyez on Me — all 27 tracks of it — within his first two weeks of getting out of prison.
Tupac began recording the album within hours of getting out on bail in October 1995.
That included recording Ambitionz As a Ridah within 45 minutes of getting to the studio.
1996 - The U.K. government set up counseling phone lines after boy band Take That announced their breakup.
1996 - Rent opened off Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop.
1997 - Shawn Michaels vacated the WWF championship because he “lost [his] smile”.
1998 - The Wedding Singer hit theaters.
1999 - Monica’s single Angel of Mine hit number one.
2000 - The last original Peanuts comic strip ran in newspapers one day after Charles Schulz’s death.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
A Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot starring Sarah Michelle Gellar looks like it’s extremely close to happening at Hulu.
Much of the cast of The Goonies reunited on Monday for Ke Huy Quan having his hand and footprints immortalized at (what’s now called the) TCL Chinese Theater. Sean Astin wasn’t there, but Corey Feldman was.
Here’s the trailer for the latest iteration of Jurassic Park. This one is with Scarlett Johannson and Mahershala Ali and comes out this summer.
John Erwin, who was the voice of He-Man in the original Masters of the Universe animated series (among many other roles), passed away at age 88.
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Have a great week!
-Sam