August 6: Straight Outta Compton, Jock Jams, Mario All-Stars
Plus Pauly Shore, Red Dawn, Magic Johnson's talk show, and more
The Retro
by 11 Points
Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia
August 6, 2021 • Issue 59
This week in nostalgic history
August 6th
23 years ago, on August 6th, 1998 - The final episode of Magic Johnson’s talk show, The Magic Hour, aired.
After Magic Johnson retired from the NBA due to his HIV diagnosis, he (and the sports/entertainment/business world) rightfully went to work to figure out his future career. Magic had such a charismatic personality — possibly the most charismatic of any pro athlete at the time — he had to fit in somewhere in the public eye, right?
It turned out, however, Magic’s natural charm and personality wasn’t as malleable as anticipated. Magic struggled as an NBA head coach. He wasn’t the right fit with (much more natural TV personalities) Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith as an NBA studio host. He wasn’t even able to translate himself to Twitter, where his banal and painfully obvious statements (e.g., “The only way San Antonio or Miami don’t win the championship is if neither team makes the finals.”) are a recurring source of unintentional comedy.
And then there The Magic Hour, a syndicated late night talk show that launched in June 1998 and lasted just eight weeks before it was canceled in August 1998. During that time, Magic had trouble delivering monologue jokes (a series of comedians were brought in to fill a “sidekick” role to help out) and trouble conducting substantive interviews.
Of course, it’s unfair and reductive to make it seem like Magic Johnson’s post-basketball career was a series of failures, because there was one area where he was a runaway powerhouse. Magic found incredible and sustained success in the business world where he remains a major player today.
Also on August 6th: Timothy Dalton was named the new James Bond (1986)… Yo! MTV Raps premiered (1988)… Tim Berners-Lee released his files describing the World Wide Web (1991)… The Fugitive hit theaters (1993)… the series finale of Perfect Strangers aired on ABC (1993)… The Offspring’s Come Out and Play peaked at #38 on the Billboard chart (1994)… Lisa Loeb’s single Stay (I Missed You) hit number one (1994)… the Ramones played their final show (1996)… The Sixth Sense and Mystery Men both hit theaters (1999)
August 7th
34 years ago, on August 7th, 1987 - Rad Racer was released for NES.
Early on in the life of the NES, Nintendo knew it needed a racing game — after all, racing games were among the most fundamental genres of video games from the arcade era. But before Nintendo realized their secret sauce for a successful racing game would be to throw a bunch of Mario characters on a track, they tried out a variety of different, more realistic racing options. There was the motorbike racing game Excitebike. There was the R.C. car game R.C. Pro Am. And in between, they released their perfunctory open road car racing game, Rad Racer.
The game was a fine-enough option for racing on the NES (it was similar to popular racing games from other systems and arcades) if not a permanent solution. In fact, Rad Racer’s most prominent push would come in 1990, when Nintendo included it as one of the three games included in its first-ever Nintendo World Championships. (Sandwiched in the event in between two much more popular games in Super Mario Bros. and Tetris.)
There was a Rad Racer II for NES but, tellingly, there was never another Rad Racer game made for any other subsequent Nintendo platform. Once again, the racing action was alright, but hardly compares to taking a shortcut ramp on Koopa Troopa Beach while planting a banana peel behind you to thwart Yoshi.
Also on August 7th: Masters of the Universe premiered in theaters (1987)… the U.S. deployed the first troops in Operation Desert Shield (1990)… Unforgiven and 3 Ninjas both hit theaters (1992)… Garth Brooks played a free concert in Central Park (1997)… Snake Eyes hit theaters (1998)
August 8th
33 years ago, on August 8th, 1988 - N.W.A’s album Straight Outta Compton was released.
It’s hard to imagine when N.W.A released Straight Outta Compton they imagined it would wind up in the Library of Congress one day, but here we are.
When Straight Outta Compton came out as perhaps the boldest and most prominent declaration of the arrival gangsta rap era, it managed to gain traction in a way unheard of at the time — without radio play. The album was a mix of breakthrough musicality coupled with beyond controversial lyrics, an intoxicating recipe that pushed it to platinum status with one million copies sold. Every time someone issued a warning about the album — from someone’s parents all the way to the FBI — it just made people want to listen to it more.
Over time, the album transitioned from a clear and present danger to recognition as a unique piece of historically significant art. And then, unthinkably, it became a fully mainstream. In 2015, the theatrical N.W.A movie was titled Straight Outta Compton (and featured Ice Cube’s son playing the role of Ice Cube) and babies everywhere received t-shirts saying “Straight Outta [other city here].” Finally, in 2017, the Library of Congress added the album to its National Recording Registry.
Also on August 8th: Metallica’s first single, Whiplash, was released (1983)… Stand by Me hit theaters (1986)… One Crazy Summer premiered in theaters (1986)… U2’s single I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For hit number one (1987)… Wrigley Field held its first night game (1988)… Metallica’s James Hetfield was burned in a pyro explosion (1992)… the U.S. Dream Team won the gold medal at the Barcelona Olympics (1992)… Madonna’s single This Used to Be My Playground hit number one (1992)… Everything But the Girl’s single Missing was released (1994)… Coolio’s single Gangsta’s Paradise was released (1995)
August 9th
24 years ago, on August 9th, 1997 - ESPN’s only hit song (frankly, it’s weird they even have one hit song), ESPN Presents the Jock Jam, peaked at #31 on the Billboard charts.
Artists who never had a top 40 hit: Sublime, Phish, N.W.A, The Ramones, Marilyn Manson, Wu-Tang Clan, Indigo Girls, Bob Marley. Artists who have had a top 40 hit: ESPN.
In 1995, ESPN teamed up with the record label Tommy Boy Records (no relation to the Callahan family) for compilation albums of songs regularly played at sporting events. The third Jock Jams album was the first to feature a “mega mix” of songs from the albums; a mash-up of ‘90s arena standards like Get Ready for This, Pump Up the Jam, and I Like to Move It and catchphrases from the increasingly-popular SportsCenter personalities of the era.
And… people really took to it. The song became a radio staple (not common for a mashup at the time) and rose to a respectable number 31 on the Billboard charts.
Lightning would not strike twice the following year, when Jock Jams Volume 4 included another mega mix. That mix didn’t win hearts and minds. However its Billboard-charting predecessor continues to endure, now generally just referred to (and widely known) as Jock Jams.
Also on August 9th: Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure and Real Genius both hit theaters (1985)… Wayne Gretzky was unthinkably traded to the Los Angeles Kings (1988)… Jean Claude Van Damme’s Double Impact hit theaters (1991)… Notorious B.I.G.’s single Juicy was released (1994)… Netscape’s IPO kicked off the dot-com boom (1995)… Jerry Garcia passed away (1995)… Jack and Escape from L.A. both hit theaters (1996)
August 10th
37 years ago, on August 10th, 1984 - Red Dawn was released as the first-ever PG-13 movie.
The PG-13 movie rating came about in the early ‘80s as movies pushed the bounds of PG (for instance, Gremlins and Temple of Doom both were too tame for R but were clearly too aggressive for the PG they received). So the PG-13 compromise went into effect in July of 1984 and, on this day, Red Dawn became the first theatrical release to carry that rating.
Not great timing, perhaps, since I’m pretty sure only people under 13 would believe the premise of international communists invading Colorado with only an enterprising band of scrappy youths to fend them off.
PG-13 would quickly move from novelty to the go-to rating for movies aiming to appeal to as mass an audience as possible and would supplant the milder ratings. (The “you’re allowed to drop one f-bomb per movie” that came with PG-13 certainly aided that rise.) According to stats the MPAA released on its 50th anniversary in 2018, 4,913 movies have received a PG-13 rating since its inception. That’s a rate of 144.5 per year, higher than PG or G (although lagging well behind R).
Also on August 10th: Michael Jackson’s album Off the Wall was released (1980)… Cloak and Dagger hit theaters (1984)… the U.S. men’s basketball team featuring Michael Jordan won the gold medal at the Olympics in Los Angeles (1984)… Michael Jackson bought the Beatles’ songs, outbidding Paul McCartney (1985)… Billy Joel’s final studio album, River of Dreams, was released (1993)… Ruth Bader Ginsburg was sworn in as a Supreme Court justice (1993)… Arliss premiered on HBO (1996)
August 11th
28 years ago, on August 11th, 1993 - Super Mario All-Stars for Super Nintendo was released in North America.
Super Mario All-Stars marked an important early milestone for Nintendo. Super Mario All-Stars put the three Mario platform games from NES (Super Mario Bros., Super Mario Bros. 2, and Super Mario Bros. 3) on one cartridge for Super Nintendo. The cartridge also included a fourth title, called Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels. This was a port of the Super Mario Bros. 2 released in Japan that was shelved in the U.S. out of fear it was too difficult for American players.
The milestone? Nintendo was, whether intentionally or not — almost certainly intentionally — testing the waters on whether they could take their biggest hit games and get people to pay for them twice.
The answer was a resounding, and future defining, yes. The game was one of the biggest sellers for the Super Nintendo and since then, Nintendo has re-released its Mario games (and ultimately Zelda games and others) over and over and over on pretty much all of their systems. And people just keep on paying for them. They continue to repeat this move to this day; Nintendo Switch just saw re-releases of Mario games from N64, Gamecube, Wii, and Wii U.
Also on August 11th: Ray Parker Jr.’s Ghostbusters theme hit number one (1984)… Clara “Where’s the Beef” Peller passed away (1987)… Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show all premiered on Nickelodeon (1991)… the Mall of America opened in Minnesota (1992)… Dangerous Minds hit theaters (1995)… The View premiered (1997)… Sixpence None the Richer’s single Kiss Me was released (1998)
August 12th
27 years ago, on August 12th, 1994 - Pauly Shore’s movie In the Army Now was released.
For a brief period in the mid ‘90s, Hollywood thought it was a good idea to make a series of Pauly Shore vehicles. Which went about as well as if the automobile industry had decided to make a series of Pauly Shore vehicles.
In the Army Now — which I distinctly remember seeing in theaters, no idea what the motivation was behind that decision — was in the middle of the Pauly Shore movie era. In the Army Now came after Encino Man and Son in Law but before Jury Duty and Bio-Dome and was, more or less, an attempt to recreate Stripes. But, you know, with Pauly Shore instead of Bill Murray.
The results of that creative decision will depend on how much you like Pauly Shore’s shtick. Outside of his performance, the movie is just your standard American military comedy; unfit but plucky underdogs are accidentally thrust into action and ultimately, against all odds, save the day. I do like that this movie decided to make the military conflict Libya invading Chad — pretty aggressive for a Pauly Shore movie to include actual countries at the risk of causing real-world diplomatic issues.
In the Army Now wound up checking in at a tight 88 minutes (so roughly 78 not including credits) and was not a particularly big hit. The Pauly Shore movie era wound end a few years later — although you never know if some streaming service is going to wind up giving him that Adam Sandler contract one of these days.
Also on August 12th: IBM’s first PC, the 5150 Personal Computer, went on sale (1981)… Young Guns and Mac and Me hit theaters (1988)… Richard Marx’s single Right Here Waiting hit number one (1989)… the T-rex skeleton called “Sue” was discovered in South Dakota (1990)… Metallica’s Black Album was released (1991)… Major League Baseball’s strike began (1994)… Cotton Eye Joe by Rednex was released (1994)… In the Army Now hit theaters (1994)… Woodstock ‘94 kicked off (1994)… FOX aired its first NFL broadcast (1994)… Usher’s single You Make Me Wanna was released, as was Puff Daddy’s Been Around the World (1997)… the Backstreet Boys’ debut album was (finally) released in the U.S. (1997)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news.
The owners of Casa Bonita say they are not interested in selling to Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Perhaps they’ll reconsider now that Parker and Stone just signed a $900 million deal with Paramount+ to make six more seasons of South Park and *fourteen* movies.
The first trailer for the She’s All That reboot, He’s All That, has been released. Nods to the original movie: it features Rachael Leigh Cook, the song Kiss Me, what appeared to be two seconds of Matthew Lillard, and a damn near identical (though gender switched) plot. It comes out on Netflix on the 27th.
Disney+ released the opening credits for the Doogie Howser, M.D., reboot, called Doogie Kamealoha, M.D. It features the old Doogie theme music but with a ukulele flair. The series also got a premiere date of September 8th.
The first trailer was released for Impeachment: American Crime Story, which covers the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal. It premieres on September 7th on FX.
The dramatic reboot of Fresh Prince of Bel-Air at Peacock just had its second showrunner quit.
Through the looking glass: Hulu is working on a new sitcom called Reboot that’s about a sitcom that’s being rebooted.
Throwbacks and recommendations
In honor of MTV’s 40th anniversary, Rolling Stone released its list of the 100 greatest music videos. There are a lot of surprises in their top 10.
Weezer’s cover of Enter Sandman for the upcoming album The Metallica Blacklist was released and it fits in with Weezer’s cover of Africa: Nary a hint of irony as they try to replicate the original song as authentically as possible.
The YouTube channel Babish Culinary Universe created the deadly eclair from The Simpsons where Homer becomes a food critic.
And speaking of Simpsons recipes, a new cookbook came out this week called The Unofficial Simpsons Cookbook: From Krusty Burgers to Marge’s Pretzels, Famous Recipes from Your Favorite Cartoon Family. That’s a pretty long subtitle. Probably should’ve squeezed in “screw Flanders.”
Thanks for reading!
-Sam