April 22: Come On Eileen, Conan O'Brien, Jane Fonda workouts
Plus: 30 years in, are the Kirby video games actually popular?
The Retro
by 11 Points
Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia
April 22nd, 2022 • Issue 96
This week in ‘80s & ‘90s history
April 22nd
22 years ago, on April 22nd, 2000 - Elian Gonzalez was seized by U.S. federal agents during a raid.
As decades have passed and the specifics of the Elian Gonzalez saga have faded, though, one immutable memory remains: The photo of armed agents seizing a terrified Elian from his relatives in Florida.
All things considered, it seems Elian’s life has turned out on about as normal as it could have — for a boy who survived a harrowing journey to the U.S. that claimed his mother’s life, who then became an international political pawn, and who was seized at gunpoint and sent back to Cuba. He still lives in Cuba, works at a state-run technology company, and now has a family of his own.
Also on April 22nd: The Blues Brothers made their first appearance on Saturday Night Live (1978)… Prince’s album Around the World in a Day was released (1985)… Guns N’ Roses’ single Patience was released (1989)… Madonna’s single Like a Prayer hit number one (1989)… Johnny Carson announced he would be retiring from the Tonight Show the following year (1991)… the Mosaic 1.0 web browser was released (1993)… Richard Nixon passed away (1994)… Disney’s Animal Kingdom opened in Florida (1998)
April 23rd
39 years ago, on April 23rd, 1983 - Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ one hit, Come On Eileen, hit number one.
Come On Eileen is one of the biggest one-hit wonders ever, yet for decades no one really knew what the song was about.
The members of Dexy’s Midnight Runners eventually cleared it up — three decades after the song was released. In an interview with The Guardian in 2014, the Dexy crew admitted there’s no one person named Eileen — shattering a long-running myth — instead Eileen is a “composite, to make a point about Catholic repression.”
But Eileen is also a metaphor beyond that, with the song symbolizing the younger generation’s desire to rebel against the old ways imposed upon them.
Sure. But more than any of that, though, the song was about intentionally making an epic pop hit.
While Dexy’s Midnight Runners are a first ballot hall of fame one-hit wonder in the U.S., they saw more success in the U.K. — but never had that one huge hit.
Also in 2014, their lead singer admitted to the authors of a book on the British New Wave invasion: “I was hankering after pop success at that point. I’m not saying we wrote it with that in mind. Oh, that I would be that clever. But we did write it, like everything we did, the best we possibly could. We worked our arses off. Every detail counted.”
And the effort paid off. Come On Eileen isn’t just any one-hit wonder, it’s one of the all-time legends of the one-hit wonder world.
An iconic song, engineered to be addictive and successfully so. The lyrics even said, hubris be damned, you’ll “hum this tune forever.”
Also on April 23rd: The Sinclair ZX Spectrum was released (1982)… New Coke was announced (1985)… the We Are the World album was released (1985)… Whitney Houston’s single Where Do Broken Hearts Go hit number one (1988)… Baywatch premiered (1989)… Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in his final NBA regular season game (1989)… Troy Aikman was the first pick of the NFL Draft (1989)… Michael Bolton’s album Time, Love, and Tenderness was released (1991)… Shaquille O’Neal destroyed his second backboard of his rookie season on a dunk (1993)… Howard Stern was named the Libertarian party nominee for New York governor (1994)… Election hit theaters (1999)
April 24th
40 years ago, on April 24th, 1982 - Jane Fonda’s first workout video was released.
Jane Fonda’s workout video was undeniably more impactful than it receives credit for.
Before this tape hit the market, home workouts were mainly audio recordings on vinyl (even those from future workout superstars like Richard Simmons). There were a few home video aerobics tapes in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, but they were poor quality and never achieved much popularity.
Jane Fonda’s workout tape brought together all of the right elements for success. It was well produced. The workout was appealing. It featured a celebrity, crucial for early market adoption (a la the George Foreman Grill many years later).
And it proved the viability of home workout videos — maybe even more than anyone expected it would.
Not only did it rank in the top five of video sales charts for five straight years (despite the high price point of $59.95), it even drove a rise in the adoption of VCRs themselves.
Without this Jane Fonda video, odds are we still would’ve eventually seen the explosion of the home workout market — but the reason it stands where it does today, as a $16-and-a-half billion market, is because of this moment 40 years ago. Every home workout video since, from Tae-Bo to Peloton, can attribute some measure of its success to Jane Fonda’s workout video.
Also on April 24th: Tom Tom Club’s one hit, Genius of Love, peaked at number 31 (1982)… Massachusetts declared this day New Kids on the Block Day (1989)… the space shuttle Discovery launched with the Hubble telescope onboard (1990)… Paperboy’s one hit, Ditty, peaked at number 10 (1993)… David Robinson scored 71 points in the final game of the NBA season (1994)… Mel Kiper Jr. was mocked live during the NFL draft (1994)… Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots entered rehab (1996)… Seinfeld’s “The Yada Yada” episode aired on NBC (1997)… ABC aired its dramatic Three Stooges biopic (2000)… the series finale aired of Sabrina the Teenage Witch (2003)
April 25th
22 years ago, on April 25th, 2000 - David Arquette won the WCW championship, horrifying fans.
Pro wrestling, as a predetermined sport, needs storytelling discipline to work on a long term basis. Yes, switching the championship belt every week might make for must-see-TV and drive interest for awhile, but ultimately that level of hotshotting kills the entire wrestling promotion.
Late stage World Championship Wrestling (WCW), which was getting destroyed by the WWF in the Monday night wrestling ratings at the time, was desperate. And with that desperation, plus some shortsightedness from the people in charge, they decided to try the hotshot approach anyway — live for today, tomorrow be damned.
Never was that clearer than this day in 2000, when David Arquette — who, at the time, was starring in the wrestling movie Ready to Rumble — won the WCW heavyweight championship.
Since wrestling outcomes are predetermined, yes, anyone can beat anyone. But for the entire conceit of pro wrestling to work, anyone shouldn’t beat anyone. Wrestling needs big stars and a pecking order of talent and physical credibility to work.
The fans saw the David Arquette championship victory for what it was: a desperate hail mary to regain relevancy at the wanton disregard of what makes pro wrestling function.
So the move did not rejuvenate WCW or vault it back ahead of WWF in the ratings, not even for the night. And in less than a year later, WCW went out of business.
Pro wrestling still makes heavy use of celebrities — but usually knows how to better contextualize them today. At this year’s WWE WrestleMania just a few weeks ago, Johnny Knoxville had a match. It was treated as a comic relief match filled with Jackass stunts and Jackass cameos — and no one’s talking about giving Johnny Knoxville a shot at the world title.
Also on April 25th: The Hubble telescope was released into orbit (1990)… the back-to-back-to-back series finales aired for Growing Pains, Who’s the Boss?, and MacGyver on ABC (1992)… Kris Kross’s single Jump hit number one (1992)… MLB returned after a strike ended the prior season (1995)… Method Man and Mary J. Blige’s duet I’ll Be There/You’re All I Need was released (1995)… Soul 4 Real’s single Every Little Thing I Do was released (1995)… Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Funk opened in New York (1996)… Volcano and Romy & Michelle’s High School Reunion both hit theaters (1997)… Next’s single Too Close hit number one (1998)… Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes died in a car accident (2002)
April 26th
29 years ago, on April 26th, 1993 - NBC announced Conan O’Brien would replace David Letterman as the host of Late Night.
When David Letterman found out he wasn’t getting the Tonight Show hosting job from NBC, he quit his Late Night hosting gig (the 12:35 A.M. show) to head to CBS.
NBC was left scrambling to replace Letterman. So they did what any network did when it came to late night comedy shows in the ‘90s: they auditioned every white dude with hair they could find.
Conan O’Brien was not a comedian or even a performer — at the time, he was a writer for The Simpsons having previously written for Saturday Night Live.
As NBC struggled to find a host with the proper energy for its “why are you awake and watching this” show — a host who was more than a bit non-traditional and peculiar — they asked Lorne Michaels for help. He recommended his former writer, Conan.
NBC, in a shocker, gave Conan the job just two weeks after he auditioned — but hedged. Conan worked on a series of 13-week contracts, giving NBC the chance to cut bait easily if their experiment crashed and burned.
And there were many points in the early years of the show where they easily could have done so. The show, not expected to be a ratings juggernaut with its time slot, performed even worse than anticipated.
But while Conan was a definite acquired taste for the TV audience (and also had to grow into being a host and TV personality himself), the big names in the comedy world loved what they saw in him. A lot. The show had strong writing, an insane but funny vision, and was performative alt-comedy — which hadn’t really been seen on network TV since the early devil-may-care days of Letterman on the show.
So even with flagging ratings, Conan began drawing big name guests who enjoyed his work. Letterman himself even proactively reached out to appear on Late Night in early 1994, a moment Conan says turned everything around and led to the show really beginning to catch on.
By 1996, ratings were up and Conan had become… maybe not a household name, but a recognizable and beloved name in many circles.
His energy and comedic style remained perfect for his very late time slot — then died a brutal and public death when NBC promoted him to The Tonight Show after Leno retired. Conan found a home on cable after that, landing a new show on TBS. And he has a new variety show coming out on HBO Max sometime this year.
Also on April 26th: Rod Stewart was mugged in Los Angeles (1982)… John Elway was the number one pick in the NFL Draft by the Baltimore Colts (1983)… Just One of the Guys hit theaters (1985)… Arnold Schwarzenegger married Maria Shriver (1986)… the Chernobyl disaster occurred in Kiev (1986)… Kevin Mitchell made a famous barehanded catch (1989)… Lucille Ball passed away (1989)… Dinosaurs premiered on ABC (1991)… the first game was played at Coors Field in Colorado (1995)… Friday hit theaters (1995)… Replay TV shipped the first DVR (1999)… Caroline in the City aired its series finale (1999)… Lycos launched five live web radio music channels (1999)
April 27th
30 years ago, on April 27th, 1992 - The first Kirby game for Nintendo, Kirby’s Dream Land, was released on Game Boy.
With the 30th anniversary of Kirby upon us, I wondered: Where does Kirby stack up in the pantheon of Nintendo franchises?
Kirby the character certainly isn’t as big a name as some others in the Nintendo world, but he’s been around 30 years and starred in more than 30 games. Those games have sold nearly 40 million units, putting the Kirby franchise into the top 50 of video game franchises by sales — right alongside franchises like Medal of Honor, Mega Man, and Harry Potter and not all that far behind Street Fighter and Pac-Man. He’s more than doubled up other Nintendo franchises like Metroid.
In 2011, for the Guinness World Records Gamer’s Edition, Kirby finished as the 18th most popular character in a 13,000-person poll.
Kirby is a playable character in the Nintendo Smash Bros. series and stars in a Japanese anime series, both of which help the character’s popularity.
But really… do people actually care about Kirby games? Is Kirby anyone’s favorite game series? Is there someone out there who makes sure to always buy the latest Kirby game? When Mario and Zelda turned 30, Nintendo went all out. For Kirby, it appears they’re live streaming a free concert where an orchestra will play the music from the first game… and that’s about it.
I searched for an analogy here and I’m going to say the Kirby video game series is like the Microsoft Edge web browser. You may not personally know anyone who’s a fan — or even a single user. There may not actually be any fans. But lots of people are aware of it, somehow millions of people are using it, and it’s going to be around if you ever decide you’re curious enough to try it. Which you won’t be. But it remains there if you are.
Also on April 27th: Wings broke up (1981)… Xerox released the first computer mouse (1981)… Nolan Ryan became the MLB career strikeout leader (1983)… Axl Rose got married for 27 days (1990)… the series finale aired of 21 Jump Street (1991)… Amy Grant’s single Baby Baby hit number one (1991)… Spacehog’s one hit, In the Meantime, peaked at number 32 (1996)… 702’s single Where My Girls At and K-Ci and JoJo’s single Tell Me It’s Real were both released (1999)
April 28th
36 years ago, on April 28th, 1986 - Tony Bennett’s album The Art of Excellence strategically became the first album released on CD before vinyl.
I wouldn’t say Tony Bennett is the first guy who comes to mind when I think “technological visionary” — even in 1986, I’m pretty sure he was 100 years old. But he pulled off a very clever stunt with his album on this day in 1986 that contributed, at least in part, to his ascent to 30+ years of popularity and success.
According to his autobiography, The Good Life, as he was recording his new album in 1985 — his first new album in six years, after a brutal career slump following a long period of success — he noticed CD players were starting to take off. He predicted vinyl would be on the way out and CDs would be on the way in.
So he got the best digital recording equipment available at the time and recorded The Art of Excellence with the CD format in mind the entire time. He and Columbia Records publicized the CD- and digital-first approach which, Bennett says, helped open him up to a new audience of “high-tech enthusiasts.”
The Art of Excellence became a huge hit for Bennett, selling 150,000 albums — incredible for a jazz album in the mid ‘80s. The success put Tony Bennett on the map again, leading to a second boom period for his career that’s lasted pretty much ever since.
Anyway, he’s probably going to release his next album as NFTs, or perhaps to the members of a DAO.
Also on April 28th: Ozzy Osbourne sang over a plane’s PA system (1987)… the NBA announced it would be expanding to Charlotte, Miami, Minneapolis, and Orlando (1987)… Jon Bon Jovi got married to his high school sweetheart (1989)… college basketball coach Jim Valvano passed away (1993)… 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 (1994)… The Verve broke up (1999)… the iTunes music store launched (2003)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Thomas Ian Nicholas, who played Henry Rowengartner in 1993’s Rookie of the Year, threw out the first pitch at yesterday’s Chicago Cubs game.
Sega has remastered the first four Sonic games to sell them packaged as Sonic Origins for all consoles. The “new” game comes out in June.
Arsenio Hall will host a talk show as part of the Netflix Is a Joke festival next month.
The Three Men and a Baby reboot on Disney+ may address the famous urban legend of a ghost appearing in the original movie.
In honor of the 35th anniversary of The Lost Boys, Kiefer Sutherland apologized for his mullet in the film popularizing that hairstyle
It turns out the coin blocks in Super Mario Bros. hold up to 16 coins, not the 10 coins we’ve always thought — you just have to be a Mario pro to know how to get them all.
Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are making a movie about Nike signing Michael Jordan.
Liz Sheridan of Seinfeld and ALF passed away last Friday at age 93. She was the only Seinfeld guest star to appear in all nine seasons.
Throwbacks and recommendations
Buzzfeed is running a poll on whether ‘80s and ‘90s bands should be considered classic rock. Vote on bands including Green Day, Metallica, U2, Weezer, Smash Mouth, and maybe again on Smash Mouth.
The Ringer put out a list of the 50 best rom-coms.
A Twitter user made a 60-second highlight reel of Steven Segal’s disastrous hosting job on Saturday Night Live back in 1991.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam