6/23: What '80s Movie Title Grammar Error Was "Intentional"?
And what movie bar was next to the BTTF clock tower on the Universal backlot?
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
June 23rd, 2023 • Issue 157
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
June 23rd
1979 - The Knack’s single My Sharona was released.
1980 - David Letterman’s short-lived daytime talk show debuted.
1984 - Duran Duran’s single The Reflex hit number one.
1989 - Batman hit theaters
1989 - Honey, I Shrunk the Kids hit theaters.
Disney says the grammatical error in the title of Honey, I Shrunk the Kids is intentional.
After Honey, I Shrunk the Kids came out, the Society for the Preservation of English Language and Literature awarded the film its annual “Dunce Cap Award” for using “shrunk” instead of “shrank” in the title.
Disney responded that the mistake was intentional and came from a line in the movie. (Was the mistake in that line intentional? Unclear.)
1989 - New Kids on the Block trashed their hotel room.
1993 - Lorena Bobbit lopped off her husband, John Wayne Bobbit’s, genitalia.
1994 - The third season of MTV’s The Real World, set in San Francisco, debuted.
1996 - “Stone Cold” Steve Austin gave his career-launching “Austin 3:16” promo.
1998 - Matchbox 20’s single Real World was released.
2000 - Me, Myself and Irene hit theaters, as did Chicken Run.
June 24th
1982 - The U.S. Supreme Court ruled a president cannot be sued for their actions in office.
1983 - Porky’s III hit theaters.
1987 - The Montreal Alouettes of the CFL folded. (They were re-established in 1996.)
1987 - Spaceballs hit theaters.
1989 - Richard Marx’s single Satisfied hit number one.
1990 - New Kids on the Block’s Donnie Wahlberg fell through a trap door on stage during a concert.
1992 - Shaquille O’Neal was the number one pick in the NBA draft.
The top three picks in the 1992 NBA Draft all eventually wound up playing together on the same team.
Shaquille O’Neal (#1), Alonzo Mourning (#2), and Christian Laettner (#3) all wound up together on the 2004-05 Miami Heat.
Laettner would retire at the end of the season. The following year, the Heat — with O’Neal and Mourning still on the roster — won the NBA championship.
1994 - Wyatt Earp hit theaters.
1995 - Nicki French’s cover of Total Eclipse of the Heart peaked at #2.
1995 - The New Jersey Devils won their first Stanley Cup.
1997 - Sister Hazel’s single All For You was released.
1997 - 98 Degrees’ single Invisible Man was released.
1997 - The U.S. Air Force released a report unequivocally denying aliens or UFOs at the mysterious Area 51.
1997 - Shawn Colvin’s ultra-successful one hit, Sunny Came Home, was released.
1998 - Michael Olowokandi was infamously the number one pick in the NBA Draft.
June 25th
1978 - The rainbow flag was flown for the first time during the San Francisco Gay Freedom Day Parade.
1982 - Blade Runner hit theaters.
1984 - The Purple Rain soundtrack was released.
1988 - Debbie Gibson’s single Foolish Beat hit number one.
1991 - Head of the Class aired its series finale.
1993 - Sleepless in Seattle hit theaters.
1993 - Julia Roberts married Lyle Lovett.
1993 - Kim Campbell became Canada’s first female prime minister.
1993 - The final episode of David Letterman’s Late Night on NBC aired.
1995 - Pearl Jam canceled its tour over its feud with Ticketmaster.
1996 - Jay Z’s debut studio album, Reasonable Doubt, was released.
1997 - Tim Duncan was the first pick of the NBA Draft.
1998 - Windows 98 was released.
Windows 98 was the last version of Windows available on floppy disks.
You could purchase Windows 98 on 3.5-inch floppy disks… it took 39 of ‘em.
1999 - The San Antonio Spurs defeated the New York Knicks to win the NBA Championship.
1999 - Big Daddy hit theaters.
2001 - The series finale aired of Xena: Warrior Princess.
June 26th
1977 - Elvis gave his final performance.
1987 - Full Metal Jacket hit theaters.
1990 - Nelson’s album After the Rain was released.
1991 - Larry Johnson was the top pick in the 1991 NBA Draft, by the Charlotte Hornets.
1992 - Red Shoe Diaries premiered.
1993 - The Real World, season 2 (Los Angeles) premiered on MTV.
The second season of The Real World was originally called The Real World: California.
The title was eventually (and retroactively) changed to The Real World: Los Angeles to differentiate from the other seasons that were filmed in California.
1996 - Allen Iverson was the 1st pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, Kobe Bryant was 13th.
1997 - Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the U.K.
1998 - Step by Step aired its series finale.
1999 - Doug aired its series finale.
June 27th
1972 - The company Atari was incorporated.
1986 - Labyrinth hit theaters.
1987 - Whitney Houston’s single I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me) hit number one.
1988 - Mike Tyson quickly KO’d Michael Spinks.
1989 - The B-52s album Cosmic Thing was released.
The B-52’s song Cosmic Thing was written for the soundtrack for the movie Earth Girls Are Easy.
Cosmic Thing was a promo single for the movie’s soundtrack, then became the title track for the B-52’s album that was released the following month.
Earth Girls Are Easy was also one of the first movie roles for Jim Carrey.
1990 - Derrick Coleman was the number one pick in the NBA Draft, by the New Jersey Nets.
1994 - Anna Nicole Smith married an 89-year-old billionaire.
1994 - Aerosmith’s Head First became the first major label song available for digital download.
1996 - 112’s single Only You was released.
1997 - A movie that was even ridiculous by ‘90s standards, Face/Off, hit theaters.
June 28th
1982 - Microsoft released its new logo.
1985 - St. Elmo’s Fire hit theaters.
The bar set for St. Elmo’s Fire on the Universal Studios backlot was two lots down from the Back to the Future clock tower.
The bar was based on The Tombs, a real bar near Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. (Which was not, in reality, anywhere near Hill Valley, Calif.)
1990 - Go West’s single King of Wishful Thinking was released.
1991 - Naked Gun 2½ hit theaters.
1992 - The original Dream Team played its first game, an exhibition against Cuba.
1995 - Real World’s London season premiered on MTV.
1995 - Joe Smith was the number one pick in the NBA Draft by the Golden State Warriors.
1996 - Demi Moore’s Striptease hit theaters.
1996 - The Nutty Professor hit theaters.
June 29th
1983 - National Lampoon’s Vacation hit theaters.
1984 - Bachelor Party hit theaters.
1987 - Tiffany’s self-titled debut album was released.
1990 - Days of Thunder hit theaters.
1990 - Dave Stewart of the Oakland A’s and Fernando Valenzuela of the L.A. Dodgers both threw no hitters on the same day.
Dave Stewart and Fernando Valenzuela were not the first pitchers to throw no hitters on the same day.
They were the second.
On April 22nd, 1898, Ted Breitenstein of the Cincinnati Reds threw a no hitter against the Pittsburgh Pirates and Jim Hughes of the Baltimore Orioles threw one against the Boston Beaneaters.
1993 - Aerosmith’s single Cryin’ was released.
1994 - Glenn Robinson was the first pick in the NBA Draft, by the Milwaukee Bucks.
1995 - Real McCoy’s single Come and Get Your Love was released.
1995 - The Canadian Football League came to America as the Memphis Mad Dogs played their first game.
1998 - Every baseball team had an off day for the first time since 1973.
1999 - Santana’s single Smooth was released.
1999 - LFO’s single Summer Girls was released.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Hasbro is bringing back Furby for the first time since 2016. Furby first debuted 25 years ago.
Luke Combs’s country cover of Tracy Chapman’s Fast Car is number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. That surpasses Chapman’s original, which peaked at number 6 in 1988.
McDonald’s has released a new Game Boy Color game in honor of Grimace’s birthday.
Tom Hanks turned down When Harry Met Sally because, according to Rita Wilson, “he was going through a divorce [at the time] and he was very happy to not be married.”
Sylvester Stallone says his diet for Rocky III was tuna, oatmeal cookies, and coffee. Also, he says when Adele bought his mansion last year for $58 million, she said he had to leave his Rocky statue or no deal.
A trailer is out for The Beanie Bubble, a movie about the Beanie Babies craze. It stars a beardless Zach Galifianakis and comes out on Apple TV on July 28th.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Here are 10 TV spinoffs that are better than the original, according to rudimentary IMDb user rating data. Many of the top picks on the list are from the scope of this newsletter. Though some are awfully iffy. (Frasier better than Cheers?)
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
This is a list that could be the definition of Buzzfeed as an adjective. “Older adults are revealing the pre-’90s habits they knew how to do by heart that have essentially become obsolete.”
Think: Covering a textbook with a brown paper bag… unknotting a curly telephone wire… setting a VCR… and recording a song off the radio while timing it out perfectly to not get the DJ talking over the end.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Who knew the Jurassic Park ride at Universal Studios Hollywood from 1996 is so intriguing it warrants its own oral history?
Have a great week!
-Sam
Might also mention that Carrey's co-star was Damon Wayans, In Living Color connection?