3/15 - What's the Real Story Behind Bell Biv Devoe's Poison?
Plus trivia on Biz Markie, NCAA upsets, Lean on Me, Eazy-E, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
March 15th, 2024 • Issue 195
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
March 15th
44 B.C. - Julius Caesar was stabbed to death despite prophetic warnings.
1981 - The series finale aired of the original version of The Muppet Show.
1985 - Symbolic.com was the first .com domain name ever registered.
Symbolics.com was the first of just six .com domain names reserved in 1985.
Symbolics.com was the first. The other domain names that companies thought it’d be smart to reserve (you know, just in case) in 1985 were: bbn.com, think.com, mcc.com, dec.com, and northrop.com.
1986 - Starship’s song Sara hit number one.
1988 - The St. Louis Cardinals NFL team moved to Phoenix.
1994 - Madonna’s single I’ll Remember was released.
1996 - Executive Decision hit theaters.
1996 - Matt LeBlanc’s baseball/chimpanzee movie Ed hit theaters.
March 16th
1985 - Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s one hit, Relax, peaked at number 10.
1993 - France legalized ostrich eating.
1994 - Tonya Harding plead guilty to conspiracy in the Nancy Kerrigan attack.
1995 - Eazy-E announced he had AIDS.
Eazy-E passed away just 10 days after announcing he had AIDS.
Also, two days before making the public announcement, he married his girlfriend and the mother of his two children. (He also made amends with Ice Cube after their long and ruthless feud.)
1997 - The famous prohibition episode of The Simpsons aired on FOX.
1999 - The PC game Everquest was released.
2001 - WCW Monday Nitro and WCW Thunder were both canceled by Turner Broadcasting, bringing an end to wrestling’s Monday night wars.
2001 - Memento hit theaters.
March 17th
1988 - Apple sued Microsoft for copyright infringement over Windows.
1990 - Biz Markie’s one hit, Just a Friend, peaked at number nine.
The story Biz Markie told in Just a Friend is mostly true.
Just like in the song, Biz says he was in a long-distance relationship and every time he called his girlfriend, a guy picked up the phone. Then he flew out to surprise her and saw her “tongue kissing” the guy.
1992 - Reforms to end apartheid passed in South Africa.
1992 - En Vogue’s single My Lovin’ (You’re Never Gonna Get It) was released.
1995 - The first chickenpox vaccine was approved by the FDA.
1997 - The Eagles’ album Their Greatest Hits tied Michael Jackson’s Thriller as the bestselling album in U.S. history.
1998 - K-Ci and JoJo’s single All My Life was released.
2000 - Erin Brockovich, Final Destination, and Beyond the Mat all hit theaters.
March 18th
1981 - The Greatest American Hero and its theme song premiered on NBC.
1988 - Police Academy 5 hit theaters.
1990 - The largest art heist in the history of the world went down in Boston.
1992 - Leona Helmsley was sentenced to four years in prison for tax evasion.
1993 - Duice’s single Dazzey Duks was released.
1993 - 15th-seed Santa Clara upset 2nd-seed Arizona in the NCAA tournament.
The underdog Santa Clara team that upset Arizona featured a unknown point guard who’d become a future NBA MVP.
The Santa Clara team had a freshman point guard from Canada named Steve Nash… who hit six clutch free throws in the final 31 seconds of the NCAA tournament game to upset Arizona.
Nash was a total unknown at the time — but went on to become a two-time NBA MVP.
1994 - Naked Gun 33-and-a-Third hit theaters.
1995 - Michael Jordan announced his comeback to the NBA.
1996 - Mark Morrison’s single Return of the Mack was released.
1997 - Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves hit theaters.
1997 - Ben & Jerry’s introduced its Phish Food ice cream flavor on stage at a Phish concert.
2000 - Destiny’s Child’s single Say My Name hit number one.
2003 - The Da Vinci Code hit bookstores.
March 19th
1982 - Porky’s hit theaters.
1983 - Nancy Reagan appeared on Diff’rent Strokes to kick off her “Just say no” campaign.
1985 - Spin magazine debuted.
Spin was founded by the son of the founder of Penthouse.
Bob Guccione Jr. — son of Penthouse creator and publisher Bob Guccione — founded Spin as he aimed to make it in the publishing business on his own. (Though he did get a loan from his father.)
1987 - Televangelist Jim Bakker resigned as host of The PTL Club over a sex scandal.
1993 - Collective Soul’s single Shine was released.
1995 - Michael Jordan played his first game after coming out of his first retirement.
1995 - The first futuristic episode of The Simpsons aired, “Lisa’s Wedding” — and five years later to the day, the second futuristic episode, “Bart to the Future”, aired.
1996 - Tracy Chapman’s single Give Me One Reason was released.
1999 - Forces of Nature hit theaters.
2002 - Andy Richter Controls the Universe premiered on FOX.
March 20th
1982 - Joan Jett and the Blackhearts’ single I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll hit number one.
1989 - Major League Baseball announced Pete Rose was under investigation for gambling.
1990 - Sinead O’Connor’s album I Do Now Want What I Haven’t Got was released.
1990 - Bell Biv DeVoe’s album Poison was released.
The single Poison was written by the same songwriter as Color Me Badd’s I Wanna Sex You Up.
Though there’s an urban legend that Poison was about a woman who gave chlamydia to all three members of Bell Biv DeVoe… the truth is less salacious.
The song was written by Elliot “Dr. Freeze” Straite about an ex-girlfriend.
Straite also wrote and produced Color Me Badd’s I Wanna Sex You Up the following year.
1991 - Eric Clapton’s young son tragically died after falling out of the window of their New York City apartment.
1992 - Janice Pennington was awarded $1.3 million for an accident on the set of The Price Is Right.
1992 - Basic Instinct hit theaters.
1993 - Positive K’s one hit, I Got a Man, peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Hot 100.
1994 - Shawn Michaels and Razor Ramon had their famous ladder match at WrestleMania X.
1995 - A new Beatles single, Baby It’s You, was released.
1996 - The Menendez brothers were convicted of murder.
1998 - Primary Colors and Wild Things both hit theaters.
1999 - Legoland opened in California.
March 21st
1980 - Someone shot J.R. on Dallas.
1981 - REO Speedwagon’s single Keep On Loving You hit number one.
1982 - Annie hit theaters.
1983 - TIME magazine had a typo on its cover for the only time.
1984 - Part of Central Park in New York was named Strawberry Fields in honor of John Lennon.
1986 - Police Academy 3 and RAD both hit theaters.
1987 - Club Nouveau’s single Lean on Me hit number one.
Club Nouveau’s Lean on Me won a Grammy… but not for Club Nouveau.
The song won Best R&B Song at the Grammy awards in March of 1988.
But the award went to Bill Withers — the writer and artist behind the original 1972 version of Lean on Me.
1987 - U2’s single With or Without You was released.
1989 - Madonna’s album Like a Prayer was released.
1992 - Queen’s single Bohemian Rhapsody returned to the Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time since 1975.
1992 - Vanessa Williams’s single Save the Best for Last hit number one.
1994 - Steven Spielberg won his first Oscars, for Schindler’s List.
1995 - NewsRadio premiered.
1997 - Selena hit theaters.
1997 - Liar Liar hit theaters.
1999 - Shakespeare in Love and Gwyneth Paltrow won at the Oscars.
1999 - Roberto Benigni walked on the chairs after winning at the 71st Academy Awards.
2000 - NSYNC’s album No Strings Attached was released.
2001 - Nintendo released the Game Boy Advance for the first time, in Japan.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
The trailer is out for The Crow remake (the trailer is maybe more violent and bloody than you’d expect).
Nintendo and Illumination announced another animated Super Mario Bros. movie is coming out in April 2026. They (intentionally, but ambiguously) refrained from calling it a sequel to last year’s movie.
The sequel to This Is Spinal Tap has begun filming in New Orleans.
NSYNC made a surprise appearance on stage at a Justin Timberlake concert this week.
Weezer is celebrating the 30th anniversary of their debut album (the “blue” album) with a tour this fall where they’ll play that album in its entirety.
Judd Nelson says he turned down being in Andrew McCarthy’s Brat Pack documentary. The documentary is set to come out on Hulu later this year.
The Pittsburgh Penguins had a Jaromir Jagr bobblehead giveaway night scheduled for Thursday — but had to give all fans a voucher instead when the entire shipment of bobbleheads was stolen.
Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalker in 1999’s Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace, has been at a mental health rehab center for nearly a year now after suffering a psychotic break. His mother also insists he doesn’t hate Star Wars even after the backlash his movie (and he) received.
Former MLB and SNPP baseball star Darryl Strawberry is recovering from a heart attack.
Eric Carmen, the singer behind Hungry Eyes among many others, passed away this week at age 74.
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
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Pitchfork examined the evolution of the “hip-hop hunk” from LL Cool J to Drake.
There’s an ongoing quest to track down the complete recording of a lost ‘80s song called Everyone Knows That — but only 17 seconds are available online.
Have a great week!
-Sam