7/21 - Jennifer Love Hewitt and Fergie sang backup on what '80s one-hit wonder?
Plus trivia on Eye of the Tiger, the tradition of using different kids in the Vacation movies, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
July 21st, 2023 • Issue 161
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
July 21st
1987 - Guns N’ Roses debut album, Appetite for Destruction, was released.
1987 - Mary Hart of Entertainment Tonight famously had her legs insured.
1989 - “Weird Al” Yankovic’s only feature film, UHF, was released.
1990 - Glenn Medeiros’s single featuring Bobby Brown, She Ain’t Worth It, hit number one.
Glenn Medeiros’s She Ain’t Worth It was the first number one hit to use a featured guest rapper.
It’s hard to imagine today that there was once a time where pop songs didn’t include featured guest rappers for extra juice — but the trend started here.
(Well, in theory, it might’ve started with Paula Abdul’s Opposites Attract, though it doesn’t count because MC Skat Kat wasn’t a real rapper.)
Bobby Brown’s verse was added long after Glenn Medeiros recorded She Ain’t Worth It — a record company decision to give the song a boost by adding a bigger name than the lead artist.
And it worked; this was Medeiros’s first and last number one hit.
1990 - Pink Floyd performed The Wall at the former site of the Berlin Wall.
1995 - The controversial movie Kids was released.
1996 - Wayne Gretzky signed with the New York Rangers.
1998 - Eagle Eye Cherry’s debut album, Desireless, was released.
1999 - Apple’s iBook was released, featuring wireless networking.
July 22nd
1988 - Big Top Pee Wee and Caddyshack 2 both hit theaters.
1989 - Martika’s single Toy Soldiers hit number one.
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Fergie were both background singers on Toy Soldiers.
Jennifer Love Hewitt and Stacy Ferguson — the latter of whom would later go on to become the spellympian Fergie — knew Martika from when they were all on the Disney Channel show Kids Incorporated.
1991 - Jeffrey Dahmer was arrested.
1994 - OJ Simpson pleaded “absolutely 100% not guilty” to murder.
1994 - North hit theaters.
1998 - The series finale aired of the sitcom Ellen.
1999 - Len’s single Steal My Sunshine was released.
July 23rd
1984 - Vanessa Williams forfeited her Miss America crown after Penthouse published unauthorized nude photos of her.
1985 - Commodore introduced the Amiga personal computer.
1987 - One year after his World Series error, the Red Sox waived Bill Buckner.
1988 - Richard Marx’s single Hold on to the Nights hit number one.
1991 - Color Me Badd’s album CMB was released.
1993 - Poetic Justice hit theaters.
The poetry that Janet Jackson’s character writes in Poetic Justice was actually written by Maya Angelou.
Maya Angelou also played the role of Aunt June in the movie.
Oh, and when Tupac got into an escalating argument with an extra on the set, Maya Angelou was the one who pulled him aside to talk him down.
1993 - The Coneheads movie hit theaters.
1995 - The Hale-Bopp comet was discovered.
1996 - Kerri Strug landed a gold-winning vault with a broken ankle at the 1996 Summer Olympics.
1996 - Freak Nasty’s single Da Dip was released.
1999 - The live action Inspector Gadget hit theaters, as did Drop Dead Gorgeous.
2000 - Tiger Woods became the youngest golfer ever to achieve a career Grand Slam.
July 24th
1982 - Survivor’s single Eye of the Tiger hit number one.
Survivor’s initial title for Eye of the Tiger was going to be “Survival.”
Yes, Survivor was going to name the song Survival.
In an interview, the cowriter, Jim Peterik, says, the initial draft had the lyrics: “It’s the eye of the tiger, rising up to the spirit of our rival, and the last known survivor stalks his prey in the night, and it all comes down to survival.”
But they didn’t really like how that sounded, and decided it was ok to rhyme “rival” with “tiger” for the sake of better lyrics and better title.
1983 - The George Brett pine tar incident.
1984 - Wham!’s single Careless Whisper was released.
1985 - Disney’s The Black Cauldron hit theaters.
1987 - Summer School hit theaters.
1987 - La Bamba hit theaters.
1987 - Superman IV hit theaters.
1990 - Judas Priest was accused of sending subliminal messages in their music.
1990 - Pantera’s debut major label album, Cowboys from Hell, was released.
1993 - UB40’s single Can’t Help Falling in Love hit number one.
1996 - A Time to Kill hit theaters.
1998 - Saving Private Ryan hit theaters, as did Disturbing Behavior.
1999 - Will Smith’s single Wild Wild West hit number one.
July 25th
1980 - AC/DC’s album Back in Black was released.
1980 - Caddyshack hit theaters.
1981 - Air Supply’s single The One That You Love hit number one.
1983 - Metallica’s debut album Kill ‘Em All was released.
1990 - Roseanne Barr infamously butchered the national anthem.
1990 - Microsoft became the first software company with $1 billion in sales in a year.
1992 - The summer Olympics opened in Barcelona, Spain.
The archer who shot a flaming arrow to light the Olympic flame at the 1992 Summer Olympics’ opening ceremonies hit the shot 698 out of 700 times during rehearsals.
Antonio Rebello, the Paralympic archer from Madrid, Spain, was nearly perfect during practice — but the Olympic organizers still had a backup plan where they could ignite the flame automatically if he missed.
1995 - Bone Thugs N Harmony’s single E. 1999 Eternal was released.
1997 - Good Burger hit theaters.
1997 - Air Force One hit theaters.
1998 - The series finale aired of the Weird Science TV spinoff.
1999 - Woodstock 99 ended disastrously.
1999 - Lance Armstrong won his first Tour de France.
July 26th
1985 - National Lampoon’s European Vacation hit theaters.
The tradition of having different child actors play the Griswold children in Vacation movies only happened because of a scheduling issue.
Anthony Michael Hall, who played Rusty in the first Vacation, movie, was hired to play Rusty again here in the sequel. But he dropped out to star in Weird Science, so the role was recast with Jason Lively. And that began the tradition of using different child actors in each film.
1986 - Peter Gabriel’s song Sledgehammer hit number one.
1989 - Alannah Myles’s single Black Velvet was released.
1990 - The Americans with Disabilities Act became a law.
1991 - Paul “Pee-Wee Herman” Reubens was arrested for self-fornication in an adult movie theater.
1994 - Boyz II Men’s single I’ll Make Love to You was released.
1996 - Kingpin hit theaters.
1997 - OMC’s How Bizarre peaked at number 4.
1997 - Shawn Colvin’s Sunny Came Home peaked at number 7.
1999 - MTV’s serial soap Undressed premiered.
July 27th
1981 - Stevie Nicks’s first solo album, Bella Donna, was released.
1983 - Madonna’s self-titled debut album was released.
Madonna’s debut album is her only studio album that wasn’t a top 3 hit.
The album never made it higher than 8th on the Billboard charts in the U.S., despite going five times platinum. All of her subsequent studio albums — including 2019’s Madame X — have made it to a top three slot.
1984 - Purple Rain hit theaters.
1984 - Metallica’s Ride the Lightning was released.
1985 - Paul Young’s single Everytime You Go Away hit number one.
1990 - Dr. Mario was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
1990 - Problem Child hit theaters.
1991 - Bryan Adams’s single (Everything I Do) I Do It For You hit number one.
1993 - Mariah Carey’s single Dreamlover was released.
1993 - Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis suddenly died on the court.
1996 - A bomb exploded outside the Olympics in Atlanta.
1996 - The Butthole Surfers’ only hit, Pepper, peaked at number 26.
1999 - Destiny’s Child’s album The Writing’s on the Wall was released.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Netflix’s live-action He-Man movie is dead after the company spent $30 million in development.
The police in Las Vegas raided a house this week in connection with Tupac’s 1996 murder. Yes, they’re still investigating.
Disney+ shared the first images from its Goosebumps reboot TV series.
Tori Spelling and Jennie Garth say they “wish” Shannen Doherty hadn’t left Beverly Hills, 90210.
Dr. Dre says he turned down collaborating with Michael Jackson, Prince, and Stevie Wonder because those were his heroes and he was afraid his feelings “could change by working with them.”
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Variety came up with a list of the 50 best action movies of all time. As expected, many are from this newsletter’s required time period, including three of the top 5.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
Here’s an interview with Cameron Crowe talking about the making of Singles.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
With it being Barbie weekend, here’s an oral history of Aqua’s Barbie Girl — it’s more than you ever thought you’d learn about the song.
Have a great week!
-Sam
There’s no link for the tease about Cameron Crowe and Singles.