Apr 28: What Was in Nickelodeon's 1992 Time Capsule?
Plus the '90s TV theme song that launched a true one-hit wonder
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
April 28th, 2023 • Issue 149
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
April 28th
1986 - Tony Bennett’s album The Art of Excellence strategically became the first album released on CD before vinyl.
1987 - Ozzy Osbourne sang over a plane’s PA system.
1987 - The NBA announced it would be expanding to Charlotte, Miami, Minneapolis, and Orlando.
1989 - Jon Bon Jovi got married to his high school sweetheart.
1993 - College basketball coach Jim Valvano passed away.
1994 - All-4-One’s single I Swear was released.
1994 - Warren G and Nate Dogg’s single, Regulate, was released.
1994 - The 100th episode of The Simpsons aired on FOX.
1999 - The Verve broke up.
2003 - The iTunes music store launched.
April 29th
1980 - Alfred Hitchcock passed away.
1980 - Black Sabbath began their first tour with Ronnie James Dio.
1985 - Billy Martin became manager of the New York Yankees for the fourth time.
1986 - Roger Clemens struck out 20 batters in a game.
1988 - Eric Clapton filed for divorce from Patti “Layla” Boyd.
1992 - The L.A. riots began after the Rodney King verdict was announced.
1992 - TLC’s single Baby Baby Baby was released.
1994 - With Honors and PCU both hit theaters.
1995 - Tupac got married while in jail.
1995 - The series finale of Empty Nest aired on NBC.
1996 - The TV Land network debuted.
1996 - Rent made its Broadway debut.
1999 - Tommy Lee quit Motley Crue.
April 30th
31 years ago, on April 30th, 1992, Nickelodeon buried a time capsule of kid-voted items, to be opened in 2042.
In 1992, as Nickelodeon was entering its most successful era, the network decided to commemorate the moment with a time capsule. Maybe, deep down, they knew they were about to peak and wanted to freeze the early ‘90s in time.
So they ran a promotion where kids could call in to vote on what items they should bury beneath Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida to best summarize the era to people in the future.
Items that made the cut includes: VHS copies of popular movies including Home Alone and Back to the Future… popular CDs, including MC Hammer’s Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em… a Nintendo Game Boy… Rollerblades… Reebok Pumps… a piece of the Berlin Wall… a Ren & Stimpy t-shirt… pencils… a skateboard… a Barbie doll… books, including a TV Guide, book of endangered species, and the local Orlando phone book… and photos and news reports of relevant political events (the fall of the Soviet Union, Desert Storm, and such).
They announced the time capsule would be excavated in 2042, 50 years later. Which feels like it was both too short of a time and too long.
It’s too short because, well, in 1992, no one saw digital preservation coming — at least not to this extent. None of the pop culture or news stories in the time capsule have faded into obscurity. The modern era has made us really good at remembering everything from the ‘90s.
Plus, since streaming services present ‘90s movies, TV, and music side-by-side with modern fare (and/or reboot it, then present it side-by-side), the top pop culture of the era has had little trouble finding new, younger audiences.
So when Nickelodeon opens the time capsule in 2042, there’s going to be less gawking curiosity at these relics of the past than anticipated. Sure, the youngest generations will laugh at the VHS tapes and the phone book. But they won’t have to dispatch archeologists to the scene to figure out what they’re looking at.
Now… how was the 50-year time window too long?
While the pop culture items in the time capsule have held their ground… Nickelodeon Studios couldn’t.
The studio closed permanently on this very day in 2005, exactly 13 years after the time capsule ceremony.
So Nickelodeon had to prematurely unearth the time capsule to move it to the Nickelodeon Resort in Orlando. Which also went under in 2016, being taken over by Holiday Inn. They still have the time capsule on site.
But will it last another 19 years? It seems less likely to still be around than virtually all the items inside of it.
1981 - Friday the 13th Part 2 hit theaters.
1983 - Michael Jackson’s single Beat It hit number one.
1987 - Madonna’s song La Isla Bonita became her 11th-straight top five single.
1988 - Pink Floyd’s album Dark Side of the Moon dropped out of the Billboard 200 for the first time in 725 weeks.
1988 - Celine Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest.
1989 - CNBC launched as the first financial-focused cable network.
1990 - The long lost pilot to I Love Lucy aired.
1992 - The series finale aired of The Cosby Show.
1993 - Monica Seles was stabbed by a crazed fan during a tennis tournament in Germany.
1994 - Beck’s only top 40 hit, Loser, peaked at number 10.
1997 - Ellen on Ellen became the first openly gay TV character.
1998 - During a brawl between the Knicks and Heat, Jeff Van Gundy wrapped around Alonzo Mourning’s leg.
1999 - Entrapment and Idle Hands both hit theaters.
2002 - The series finale aired of Spin City.
May 1st
1981 - Billie Jean King announced her relationship with a woman and was now the first prominent openly gay female athlete.
1987 - Castlevania was released for the NES.
1988 - The series finale aired for Magnum P.I.
1989 - Police reported to a call about a suspicious person in a jewelry store, who turned out to be Michael Jackson in disguise.
1989 - Disney-MGM Studios theme park opened in Florida.
1991 - Nolan Ryan threw his record seventh no-hitter and Rickey Henderson broke the career record for stolen bases.
1992 - Rodney King asked, “Can we all get along?”
1993 - Silk’s single Freak Me hit number one.
1996 - The series finale aired for the original American Gladiators.
1997 - The series finale aired for Martin.
1998 - He Got Game hit theaters.
2000 - ABC aired the first celebrity edition of Who Wants to be a Millionaire?
2001 - Chandra Levy was seen for the last time in Washington, D.C.
May 2nd
1981 - Sheena Easton’s single Morning Train (Nine to Five) hit number one.
1982 - The Weather Channel debuted.
1987 - Cutting Crew’s single (I Just) Died in Your Arms hit number one.
1991 - Paula Abdul’s single Rush Rush was released.
1994 - Nelson Mandela won South Africa’s first democratic election.
1996 - The Michigan bottle deposit episodes of Seinfeld aired.
1997 - Police arrested a prostitute with Eddie Murphy.
1997 - Breakdown hit theaters.
1997 - Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery hit theaters.
1998 - The fictional Battle of Hogwarts took place.
1999 - John Elway retired from the NFL.
May 3rd
1978 - The first spam email was sent by the Digital Equipment Corporation.
1984 - Dell Computers was founded.
1986 - Robert Palmer’s single Addicted to Love hit number one.
1988 - Poison’s album Open Up and Say… Ahh! was released.
1988 - Nancy Reagan admitted to using psychic advisors.
1990 - 2 Live Crew’s single Banned in the U.S.A. was released.
1991 - The series finale aired of Dallas.
1992 - The L.A. riots ended after five days.
1996 - The Craft hit theaters.
1997 - White Town’s only hit, Your Woman, peaked at number 23.
1997 - Katrina and the Waves won the Eurovision Song Contest.
1997 - The Notorious B.I.G.’s single Hypnotize hit number one.
2000 - The series finale aired of Party of Five.
2000 - The first geochaching event took place.
2002 - Spider-Man hit theaters.
May 4th
27 years ago, on May 4th, 1996, The BoDeans’ one hit, Closer to Free, peaked at number 16.
The Rembrandts are the go-to example of the “band that vaulted from total obscurity to one-hit wonder via a TV theme song” — thanks to I’ll Be There for You serving as the title track for Friends.
But I’m going to make a brief, and, yes, not at all important, argument that the BoDeans should actually be the first ballot hall-of-famers.
The Rembrandts weren’t even one-hit wonders. They actually had a top 20 hit before I’ll Be There for You. The band hit number 14 in 1990 with Just the Way It Is, Baby. (If you listen to it, you’ll remember it from the chorus. Or, at least, I did.) That song actually made it higher on the charts than their Friends theme, which peaked at 17.
The BoDeans, on the other hand, can make no such claim. The BoDeans started in 1983 in Wisconsin. After 10 years of grinding in virtual obscurity, their 1993 album Go Slow Down featured the catchy song Closer to Free.
Someone at FOX liked the song and chose it to be the theme song to the network’s next big teen-focused drama, Party of Five. The show debuted in 1994, slowly built an audience… and by 1996, was an actual hit for FOX.
And with Party of Five becoming a hit… Closer to Free became a hit as well. Now three years after the song debuted, it was finally on the Billboard charts. On this day in 1996, Closer to Free peaked at number 16. (Notably, one spot higher than I’ll Be There for You ever was.)
The BoDeans have never had a hit single since. They haven’t even released a single since 1996.
But… they’ve never stopped playing music.
The BoDeans, albeit with many, many different lineups (with only one of the founders a permanent fixture), have been performing, touring, and putting out albums now for 40 consecutive years. Closer to Free came out 10 years into that process and, with the Party of Five boost, became a hit 13 years in. It’s now 27 years later and The BoDeans are still chugging along.
From what I can gather, this doesn’t seem like a scenario where they’re only living off their one hit. After all, it wasn’t that big of a hit. Closer to Free wasn’t a number one sensation. It was top 20 hit from a popular (but popular for ‘90s FOX standards) TV show that largely blended in with the other poppy alternative radio songs of the mid ‘90s.
But The BoDeans continue on. And it kinda feels like they would’ve even if they hadn’t had this completely random, TV-borne hit 27 years ago.
1984 - Breakin’ hit theaters.
1984 - Sixteen Candles hit theaters.
1991 - Voices That Care peaked at number 11 on the Billboard charts.
1996 - Mariah Carey’s single Always Be My Baby hit number one.
1997 - One of the “darkest comedy” Simpsons episodes, “Homer’s Enemy,” aired.
1998 - The Unabomber received four life sentences.
1999 - Smash Mouth’s single All Star was released, as were Jennifer Lopez’s debut single, If You Had My Love, and Will Smith’s single Wild Wild West.
1999 - The series finale aired for NewsRadio.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
John Stamos says he got the 11-month-old Olsen twins fired during the first episode of Full House because he couldn’t handle their nonstop crying. But the replacement kids were terrible, so a few days later the show rehired the Olsens.
Harrison Ford has turned down an Indiana Jones TV series for Disney+ and he says this summer’s new movie is “the last time [he’ll] play the character.”
Steven Spielberg says he regrets editing the guns out of E.T. for the 20th anniversary edition. He now feels like “no film should be revised based on” modern standards.
Mayim Bialik says “all of the cast is on board” for a Blossom reboot and they’re now talking through “ a lot of red tape” with Disney.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood is reuniting for their first performance in 36 years. They’ll play to kick off Eurovision on May 7th.
At least according to Google Trends, nu-metal is more popular now than it’s been at any point since its heyday.
In a new documentary about Tupac, a friend says Tupac was a bad crack dealer who only lasted about five days because he had too much empathy.
There’s a new Kickstarter for a new NES game cartridge — yes, that you’d play in a classic Nintendo — and the cartridge has built-in wifi for playing online. A copy will cost you $61, including shipping.
Pras from The Fugees was found guilty of 10 international conspiracy counts for his role to help a Malaysian businessman and the Chinese government gain access to U.S. officials. He’s facing 20 years in prison.
Jerry Springer, whose ‘90s talk show was both a gigantic hit and Exhibit A on how society was crumbling, passed away yesterday at age 79 from pancreatic cancer.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
The website Slashfilm ranked the 15 best ‘90s cartoons. The list skews a little young but it feels like they put some real thought into it.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
As we kick off the summer movie season, one filled with the usual bevy of sequels and reboots, here’s The A.V. Club’s look back at the disastrous summer movie season from 40 years ago… and why 1983 was the worst season ever for movie sequels.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
A lost Simpsons joke from 1992 has finally been found. It’s from the episode where Bart sees Spinal Tap in concert. There’s a scene where Homer’s rock concert-induced tinnitus drowns out a monologue by Marge. And a fan with audio editing skills was able to edit the scene to finally make out what Marge is saying.
Have a great week!
-Sam