Dec 11: Super Bowl Shuffle, first Simpsons, Dumb and Dumber
Plus AltaVista, The Jerk, Fraggle Rock, Tecmo Super Bowl, and more
The Retro
by 11 Points
Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia
December 11th, 2020 • Issue 25
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This week in nostalgic history
December 11th
35 years ago, on December 11th, 1985 - The Chicago Bears’ Super Bowl Shuffle was released.
There was a peculiar (to say the least) movement in the ‘80s of football teams recording songs. Few of the players had any performance acumen. It’s not clear if any was a good singer. It is clear that none was a good dancer. And yet, team songs became a thing. (I covered some of these once upon a time in 11 Brilliant and Ridiculous NFL Team Tribute Songs.)
The most famous of these songs was the Super Bowl Shuffle, recorded late in the Chicago Bears’ 15-1 regular season (notably recorded right after their only loss). The Super Bowl Shuffle was also the originator of the team song/rap trend; and perhaps because the Bears did win the Super Bowl during the season, the superstitious benefits outweighed the hubris. Also, the Super Bowl Shuffle was nominated for a Grammy award (losing Best R&B performance to Kiss by Prince) and just missed out on being a top 40 hit (peaking at number 41 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart).
In the following few years, the Seattle Seahawks, L.A. Raiders, L.A. Rams, New York Giants, New England Patriots, Philadelphia Eagles, and Miami Dolphins would all record their own team songs—but none would go on to win the Super Bowl in the corresponding season a la Chicago.
Also on December 11th: Magnum P.I. premiered on CBS (1980)… Muhammad Ali lost his final fight (1981)… Toni Basil’s one hit Mickey hit number one (1982)… Throw Momma from the Train and Wall Street were released (1987)… Hook hit theaters (1991)… A Few Good Men hit theaters (1992)… K7’s one hit Come Baby Come peaked at number 18 (1993)… Rushmore and Shakespeare in Love hit theaters (1998)
December 12th
33 years ago, on December 12th, 1987 - Fraggle Rock premiered.
The Futurama to the Muppet Show’s Simpsons, Fraggle Rock was Jim Henson’s visually-similar-but-otherwise-ostensibly-unrelated 1983 follow-up series. The rub, however, was the show aired only on HBO—an extremely limiting move in the era before widespread cable adoption (and even less widespread “pay more on top of what you’re paying” cable adoption). VCRs were still relatively rare. So Fraggle Rock existed largely in its own bubble until syndication; it found more footing on the Disney Channel in the ‘90s, long after first-generation Muppets fans had aged out of it.
As a result, Fraggle Rock never quite achieved the heights it possibly could have. (I say “possibly” because I have no idea—I’m not sure I’ve ever watched an entire episode). The show received a failed animated spinoff; its movie adaptation has been stuck in Hollywood development hell for more than 15 years; and the inevitable reboot is coming one day on Apple TV+. Which, in a full circle way, might just be the paid streaming service today that feels like a bridge too far.
Also on December 12th: Apple filed its IPO (1980)… Three Amigos hit theaters (1986)… Scream 2 hit theaters (1997)… the Alec Baldwin Schwetty Balls sketch premiered on Saturday Night Live (1998)
December 13th
31 years ago, on December 13th, 1989 - Tecmo Super Bowl was released.
The Madden franchise gets the bulk of the attention in the history of football video games, but Tecmo Super Bowl was monumental in two main ways.
The first: Tecmo Super Bowl was the first video game to feature actual NFL teams and player names. (It was actually the only game for the original Nintendo ever to do so.) It’s hard to overestimate how important that was in the rising popularity of sports games; the journey from just playing a sports video game to playing with real teams and real players was seismic.
And on that note, we go to the second monumental aspect of Tecmo Super Bowl: Of course, Bo Jackson. Tecmo made Bo Jackson at least one or two standard deviations better than anyone else on the field. Bo Jackson’s NFL career never quite hit that same level, but the video game cemented his mythology; in an interview in 2010, Jackson said someone still mentions the game to him “about once a week.”
Also on December 13th: Clue hit theaters (1985)… C&C Music Factory’s single Gonna Make You Sweat was released (1990)… Jerry Maguire and Mars Attacks hit theaters (1996)… Charles Woodson became the first defensive player to win the Heisman Trophy (1997)
December 14th
41 years ago, on December 14th, 1979 - The Jerk hit theaters.
Every generation of nerdy dudes has “their” comedy. Had I been born roughly a decade-and-a-half earlier than I was, I would’ve absolutely fallen into The Jerk generation. (Instead, I’m in the “late Gen X” Billy Madison generation, too old to be in the “early millennial” Anchorman generation.)
I didn’t discover The Jerk until much later than I should’ve — deep into adult life, I believe after 30. As a result, I didn’t get the experience of watching it over and over with a group of nerd friends. Instead, I had to find, watch, and appreciate it on my own, as did everyone else of a Certain Age. So I always feel a tinge of sadness when I ask someone from my nerd comedy generation “why does he hate these cans?” and receive a blank stare in return.
Also on December 14th: Dune hit theaters (1984)… Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and I’m Gonna Git You Sucka hit theaters (1988)… Glory hit theaters (1989)… Look Who’s Talking Too and Mermaids hit theaters (1990)
December 15th
25 years ago, on December 15th, 1995 - The AltaVista search engine launched.
Long before there was essentially a search engine monopoly, and long before every web search you made added to your extensive and lucrative unauthorized dossier, there was AltaVista. It was one of, if not the, first search engines; at the very least, one of the first that was accessible and easy-to-use for internet neophytes. It was also the one that laid the groundwork for what search would become: Search engine robots crawling the web, indexing pages, and trying to show the best match from that ever-evolving database for any given search.
Yahoo would go on to dominate the early search engine world with its (so very unsustainable) curated approach, but AltaVista held its own surprisingly well. In fact, even as late as 2000, AltaVista was still one of the top 12 websites in the world.
It fell off a cliff after that, as Google emerged on the scene, doing everything AltaVista did but way, way better. AltaVista was acquired by its former chief competitor, Yahoo, in 2003; it was finally shuttered for good in 2013.
Also on December 15th: The Wizard hit theaters (1989)… 2 in a Room’s one hit Wiggle It peaked at number #15 (1990)… Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic was released (1992)… Netscape 1.0 launched (1994)… Jumanji and Heat both hit theaters (1995)… Shania Twain’s single That Don’t Impress Me Much was released (1998)
December 16th
26 years ago, on December 16th, 1994 - Dumb and Dumber hit theaters.
1994 was the year that Jim Carrey made the full leap from “guy making crazy faces on In Living Color” to “guy making crazy faces in movies for big bucks.” Dumb and Dumber was his *third* headlining movie role of the year (movie studios went all-in on Carrey, clearly), and probably the one that holds up the best to this day. (I love Ace Ventura, but it feels dated, even beyond the transphobia aspects; The Mask is the clear third place of the three.)
In fact, without Dumb and Dumber, it’s possible Carrey’s box office capital might’ve been eaten up much quicker. Here, he was playing a character, yes, but one grounded in humanity and even, dare I say, reality. Carrey just doing too over-the-top shtick would’ve burned out the audience quickly; Carrey as a real person was a far better long-term bet.
Also on December 16th: Rain Man hit theaters (1988)… the series finale of Ren & Stimpy aired (1995)… the Spice Girls’ single 2 Become 1 was released (1996)
December 17th
31 years ago, on December 17th, 1989 - The Simpsons premiered on FOX.
There’s little that hasn’t been said about the first episode of The Simpsons but, after recently rewatching, what impresses me is how realized the show was on its very first episode. It wasn’t full baked out of the gate, like a Arrested Development or (to switch genres) Breaking Bad, but it was a rare comedy that found its voice before it even began. The moment I realized that (in my retrospective viewing) was roughly 7:37 into the show, when Bart is at the dermatologist whose name is never said, just revealed on his diploma in the background as “Irving Zitofsky.” Any other show up until that point in TV history would’ve made a point of focusing on that joke. The Simpsons just threw it away.
Also on December 17th: Tootsie hit theaters (1982)… Mega Man was released (1987)… MC Hammer’s Addams Groove was released (1991)… The State premiered (1993)… the Pelican Brief and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape hit theaters (1993)… Ini Kamoze’s Here Comes the Hotstepper peaked at number one (1994)… the term “weblog” was first used (1997)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news.
Much of the cast of Wayne’s World made appearances on Josh Gad’s Reunited Apart YouTube series including Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere, Rob Lowe, and Alice Cooper.
Whoopi Goldberg is making Sister Act 3 for Disney+. She’s doing it with Tyler Perry, so look for Madea doing that deep shoulder action in the back row during “there’s not a man today who could take me away from my God.”
Scottie Pippen says he’s let Michael Jordan know he wasn’t happy with The Last Dance. “I thought it was more about Michael trying to uplift himself and to be glorified.”
Vinyl records had their biggest sales week ever (granted, sales data only goes back to 1991, so after vinyl) the week of Black Friday. More than 1.25 million vinyl albums were sold.
Vice TV’s Dark Side of the Ring franchise is spinning off into a new series, Dark Side of the ‘90s.
Tim Allen is bringing back Tim "The Tool Man” Taylor for a crossover episode of his sitcom, Last Man Standing, where he meets himself. So now you have double the reasons not to watch.
Too $hort says he, Ice Cube, Snoop, and E-40 have formed a hip-hop supergroup. They could really use a rapper or two from way up north in California to fill that out. Have any big rappers come out of the redwoods area?
Tommy “Tiny” Lister, who played Deebo in Friday and Zeus in No Holds Barred and a brief but memorable WWF run, passed away yesterday at age 62. I once saw him shopping at midnight at the CVS in Marina Del Rey. We were the only two people in there. It’s among my favorite celebrity sightings in all my time of living in Los Angeles.
Throwbacks and recommendations
The first pages from the upcoming book Back to the Future: DeLorean Time Machine: Doc Brown’s Owners’ Workshop Manual, written by the franchise’s creator, Bob Gale, have been released. The book will fill in some of the back story on Doc’s other time travel adventures — and how he met Marty.
An old Nintendo retail training video from 1991 has been making the rounds again on YouTube.
Sarah Michelle Gellar and Selma Blair recreated (with a 2020, glass divider twist) their kiss from Cruel Intentions for the MTV Movie Awards.
Disney+ had a food artist create a perfect gingerbread replica of the Home Alone house. It took 300 hours and features an absurd amount of detail.
Microsoft released three ugly Christmas sweaters featuring graphics from Windows 95, Windows XP, and MS Paint. But in a move that carries more symbolism that Microsoft would like to admit, the sweaters won’t be shipping until January.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam