8/23 - What '90s Singer Only Got a Chance Thanks to Mulan?
Plus trivia on Martin, TurboGrafx-16, Destiny's Child, Natural Born Killers, and more
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
August 23rd, 2024 • Issue 218
Be Kind, Rewind
What happened on this day in the ‘80s and ‘90s — plus lots of bonus trivia
August 23rd
1985 - Teen Wolf hit theaters.
1985 - Better Off Dead hit theaters.
1990 - Ferris Bueller the TV show premiered.
1994 - Jeff Buckley’s album Grace was released.
1996 - The Price Is Right aired its 25th anniversary special.
1998 - That ‘70s Show premiered on FOX.
1999 - Blogger launched.
1999 - Destiny’s Child’s single Bug a Boo was released.
Bug a Boo is Destiny’s Child’s least commercially successful single.
Bug a Boo was the follow-up single after Bills, Bills, Bills — which was a platinum-selling number one hit.
Bug a Boo peaked at number 33 on the Billboard chart — Destiny’s Child’s second-worst showing for any single. It also was Destiny’s Child’s only single not to reach even gold-level sales in the U.S.
2000 - The season finale that cemented reality TV as the new force to be reckoned with, the finale of season one of Survivor, aired on CBS.
August 24th
1979 - The Facts of Life premiered.
1981 - Mark David Chapman was sentenced to 20 to life for killing John Lennon.
1985 - Huey Lewis and the News’ The Power of Love hit number one.
1989 - Pete Rose was banned from baseball.
1990 - The Witches hit theaters.
1995 - Windows 95 was released.
1996 - Donna Lewis’s one hit, I Love You Always Forever, peaked at number two.
1999 - Christina Aguilera’s self-titled debut album was released.
Christina Aguilera only got the chance to record an album thanks to Mulan.
Christina, a few years off The All-New Mickey Mouse Club, was chosen to record the single version of the song Reflection from Mulan.
Her version was a major success, so RCA decided to fast track her debut album. It debuted just over a year after the Mulan soundtrack.
1999 - LFO’s debut album was released.
August 25th
1979 - The Knack’s single My Sharona hit number one.
1986 - Paul Simon’s album Graceland was released.
1988 - Metallica’s album And Justice For All was released.
1989 - Little Monsters hit theaters (but in a very small release).
1991 - Linux was created.
The creator of Linux didn’t like that it was named after him.
Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, wanted to call the project Freax, a combo of the words free and freak, plus the “x” as a tribute to Unix.
He thought naming it after himself was too egotistical.
One of his coworkers at the Helsinki University of Technology thought (correctly) that was a terrible name, so he called the project Linux on the university’s server — and that stuck.
1992 - Mary J. Blige’s single Real Love was released.
1994 - My So-Called Life premiered on ABC.
1998 - Lauryn Hill’s album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was released.
2000 - Bring It On hit theaters.
2001 - Aaliyah died in a plane crash.
August 26th
1994 - Natural Born Killers hit theaters.
Quentin Tarantino wrote the original script for Natural Born Killers — but Oliver Stone and others changed it so much that Tarantino only wound up with a story credit.
Tarantino’s script was called Mickey and Mallory but despite the title, it was more focused on the media than the two lead characters.
He sold the rights for $10,000 (he couldn’t get it made; this was before Pulp Fiction).
Oliver Stone, Richard Rutowski, and David Veloz changed the script significantly and Tarantino did not wind up with a screenwriting credit — just a story credit.
1996 - 7th Heaven debuted on the WB.
1997 - Mariah Carey’s single Honey was released.
1997 - Creed’s debut album My Own Prison was released.
1999 - WWF Smackdown premiered.
2000 - Janet Jackson’s single Doesn’t Really Matter hit number one.
August 27th
1988 - George Michael’s single Monkey hit number one.
1990 - SummerSlam ‘90 featured the Ultimate Warrior defeating Rick Rude in the main event.
1990 - Garth Brooks’ second album, No Fences, was released.
1991 - Pearl Jam’s album Ten was released.
1992 - Martin premiered on FOX.
Only one character appears in all 132 episodes of Martin — and it’s not Martin.
There’s a season 5 episode of Martin without Martin. Martin Lawrence only plays his Sheneneh character in it. (Martin’s voice is also heard on a speakerphone.)
The only character to appear physically in every episode of the series is Tommy.
1992 - The Heights premiered on FOX.
1993 - Japan’s Rainbow Bridge was completed.
1994 - Boyz II Men’s single I’ll Make Love to You hit number one and would stay there through early December.
1996 - 112’s self-titled album was released.
August 28th
1996 - Prince Charles and Princess Diana divorced.
1997 - Genesis’s first album in six years premiered live on a webcast.
Calling All Stations was Genesis’s final studio album and only album without Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins.
Calling All Stations, which debuted on a webcast in a rare feat for 1997, featured the debut of Ray Wilson as the lead singer of Genesis. (Phil Collins had left the band the previous year.)
It would turn out to be Genesis’s 15th and final studio album.
August 29th
1984 - Prince’s single Let’s Go Crazy/Erotic City was released.
1987 - Los Lobos’ single La Bamba hit number one.
1989 - TurboGrafx-16 was released in North America.
The TurboGrafx-16 debuted in North America just two weeks after the much better marketed Sega Genesis.
The Genesis made its North American debut on August 14th, 1989.
TurboGrafx-16 came out two weeks later and, despite being a big hit in Japan, never took off in the U.S. — in large part because it was overshadowed by the Genesis.
1992 - SummerSlam ‘92 was recorded at Wembley Stadium in England.
1993 - Living Single premiered on FOX.
1994 - Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey’s cover of Endless Love was released.
1994 - Oasis’s debut album, Definitely Maybe, was released in the U.K.
1995 - Blues Traveler’s single Hook was released.
1996 - Isaac Hayes objected to Bob Dole using a parody of Soul Man that said “I’m a Dole man.”
1997 - A company called Kibble — that would soon be renamed Netflix — was founded.
What’s the Frequency, Kenneth?
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Paul Rudd and Jack Black will star in a reboot of 1997’s Anaconda. Based on that casting, this reboot is going for a different tone than the original.
Freeform has picked up a Party of Five reboot. It comes from the creators of the original series but features a different family.
Juvenile stormed off an American Airlines flight when the flight attendants told him he had to leave first class to go to his seat in coach. (American says “an unplanned change in aircraft type affected his seat assignment.”)
Here’s the trailer for Paramount+’s new docuseries, Nothin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ‘80s Hair Metal. The series premieres on September 17th.
Billy Joel was on Today this week and commented on the long-standing fan rumor that Piano Man is set at a gay bar. He says it wasn’t his intention but “I see how that could be.”
Tim Burton says only one actor ever wanted to beat him up on set: Jack Palance during Batman.
Harrison Ford’s fedora from Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom sold at auction this week for $630,000.
Talk show host Phil Donahue passed away this week at age 88.
Get Your Book-It Stickers Here
Recommended articles about ‘80s and ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, and never knew existed
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Forty years later, here’s a look at the short-lived but memorable explosion of breakdancing movies.
Have a great week!
-Sam