Feb 10: Billy Madison, Livin' on a Prayer
Plus 20 beloved stores from the '90s that are now long gone
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
February 10th, 2023 • Issue 138
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
February 10th
28 years ago, on February 10th, 1995, Billy Madison hit theaters.
Billy Madison wasn’t the first quotable comedy. People were quoting Wayne’s World a few years earlier. Before that, there was Caddyshack, before that there was Airplane, before that The Jerk, and on and on.
But Billy Madison might be the first movie where, at some point since its release, someone in the world has quoted every single line of dialogue during a random conversation.
I discussed this phenomenon on my old website some years back. I wrote the article after I found a list called “Billy Madison Lines So Ingrained in Our Culture You Forgot Where They Came From”. It featured 23 quotes from the movie. And there were only one or two of them I’d ever said or I’d ever heard anyone else say. But to the writer of the list, they were cultural canon.
To him, lines like “I’ll tell you who took those lunches, that damned Sasquatch” were sacrosanct. I didn’t even remember that was in the movie.
That quotability turned Billy Madison into a career-making cult classic for Sandler. And, in the process, it created an unobtainable benchmark.
Following Billy Madison, the “every line is a quote” movie became a dragon that Sandler, his peers, and future generations just couldn’t stop chasing.
While some movies got close (your Austin Powers and Anchormans of the world), none quite felt like the first time. After all, those movies knew they were going for quotability because Billy Madison had achieved it. Billy Madison did it without knowing it could be done.
1978 - Van Halen’s debut album was released.
1987 - Expose’s album Exposure was released.
1990 - Dominique Wilkens won the NBA Slam Dunk contest.
1990 - Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat’s single Opposites Attract hit number one.
1992 - Mike Tyson was convicted of rape.
1993 - Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson at the Neverland Ranch.
1996 - Garry Kasparov was defeated in chess by Deep Blue.
1996 - Brent Barry won the NBA Slam Dunk contest.
2000 - Jim Varney passed away.
February 11th
1983 - Bonnie Tyler’s single Total Eclipse of the Heart was released.
1983 - “Weird Al” Yankovic finished recording his self-titled debut LP.
1986 - The Super Bowl Shuffle by the Chicago Bears was certified gold.
1989 - Kenny “Sky” Walker won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1989 - Paula Abdul’s Straight Up became her first of six consecutive number one singles.
1990 - Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years.
1990 - Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson.
1991 - Another Bad Creation’s album Coolin’ at the Playground, Ya Know was released.
1993 - Janet Reno was named the first female attorney general of the U.S..
1994 - Blank Check and My Girl 2 both hit theaters.
1994 - Celine Dion’s song The Power of Love hit number one.
1995 - Harold Minor won the NBA Slam Dunk content.
February 12th
1985 - Johnny Carson shocked the world when he shaved his beard.
1988 - School Daze hit theaters.
1990 - MC Hammer’s album Please Hammer, Don’t Hurt ‘Em was released.
1993 - Tiny Toon Adventures aired its series finale.
1993 - Groundhog Day and Untamed Heart both hit theaters.
1994 - Isaiah Rider won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1994 - The Winter Olympics opened in Lillehammer, Norway.
1994 - Edvard Munch’s famous painting The Scream was stolen.
1999 - Bill Clinton was acquitted by the U.S. Senate to avoid removal from office.
2000 - Charles Schulz passed away.
February 13th
1980 - The Winter Olympics opened in Lake Placid, New York.
1981 - The New York Times published its longest sentence ever at 1,286 words.
1983 - Marvin Gaye famously sang the national anthem at the NBA All-Star Game.
1986 - The Greatest American Hero aired its series finale.
1987 - Mannequin and Over the Top both hit theaters.
1988 - Michael Jackson bought the Neverland Ranch.
1988 - The Winter Olympics opened in Calgary, Alberta, Canada — an Olympics in which Canada would not win a gold.
1992 - Jose Canseco rammed his Porsche into his wife’s BMW.
1993 - Double Dare aired its series finale.
1993 - SNL aired the famous “Chris Farley Show” interview with Paul McCartney.
1994 - Temple coach John Chaney threatened to kill UMass coach John Calipari during a press conference.
1996 - Tupac’s album All Eyez on Me was released.
1996 - The U.K. government set up counseling phone lines after boy band Take That announced their breakup.
1996 - Rent opened off Broadway at the New York Theatre Workshop.
1997 - Shawn Michaels vacated the WWF championship because he “lost [his] smile”.
1998 - The Wedding Singer hit theaters.
1999 - Monica’s single Angel of Mine hit number one.
2000 - The last original Peanuts comic strip ran in newspapers one day after Charles Schulz’s death.
February 14th
36 years ago, on February 14th, 1987, Bon Jovi’s single Livin’ on a Prayer hit number one.
Livin’ on a Prayer is Bon Jovi’s signature song and, perhaps, pop rock’s signature song. Everyone today knows Livin’ on a Prayer. It’s a song that hit number one 36 years ago yet is still somehow played out today.
It’s crisp, clean, professionally-produced rock, designed to blow out the speakers at a stadium show in front of 70,000 fans. It’s catchy and calculated.
But the lyrics themselves are what seal the whole bit. The story is cliche upon cliche. This isn’t Bruce Springsteen’s nuanced working class New Jersey; this is Bon Jovi’s easy-to-comprehend working class New Jersey. And yet… in their simple pablum, the Livin’ on a Prayer lyrics coalesce in an anthem that’s easy to belt out — and belt out with all the semi-ironic passion you can muster.
And your ability to revel in the irony is largely thanks to Bon Jovi singing those lyrics with zero irony. He’s belting them too, but he means every word.
Livin’ on a Prayer was one of the few hard rock songs to hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and few others that followed walked the same path. Guns N’ Roses, Poison, and Bon Jovi again would all attain number one singles with unchallenging but extremely catchy hard rock pop.
1982 - The Night of 100 Stars was taped at Radio City Music Hall.
1985 - Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album was released.
1986 - Wildcats hit theaters.
1989 - Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Salman Rushdie.
1989 - The first GPS satellite went into orbit.
1990 - Michael Jordan wore the jersey number 12 in a game.
1991 - The Silence of the Lambs hit theaters.
1991 - Boyz II Men’s debut album, Cooleyhighharmony, was released.
1992 - Wayne’s World hit theaters.
1996 - Tony Bennett’s Live by Request, a live concert where viewers picked the songs, aired on A&E.
1997 - Vegas Vacation and Fools Rush In hit theaters.
1998 - Usher’s song Nice and Slow hit number one.
2002 - The final episode of the initial run of Family Guy aired on FOX.
February 15th
1980 - Caligula hit theaters (maybe? if any showed it).
1985 - The Breakfast Club hit theaters.
1986 - Whitney Houston’s single How Will I Know hit number one.
1991 - King Ralph hit theaters.
1991 - Nothing But Trouble hit theaters.
1992 - Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to life in prison.
1998 - Dale Earnhardt won the Daytona 500 for the first time in 20 tries.
1998 - The Simpsons episode “Das Bus” aired.
2000 - Who Wants to Marry a Multi-Millionaire? debuted on FOX.
2002 - John Q, Crossroads, and Super Troopers all hit theaters.
2002 - Russian judges cheated during Olympic figure skating.
February 16th
1980 - Captain & Tennille’s single Do That to Me One More Time hit number one.
1985 - Wham!’s single Careless Whisper hit number one.
1992 - Magic Johnson’s jersey was retired by the Los Angeles Lakers.
1993 - Tupac’s album Strictly for My [Good Buddies] was released.
1996 - Happy Gilmore hit theaters.
1996 - Muppet Treasure Island hit theaters.
1997 - Real McCoy’s single One More Time was released.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
There’s a new sequel in the works for I Know What You Did Last Summer — this time with Jennifer Love Hewitt and Freddie Prinze Jr.
Disney has confirmed another Toy Story sequel, Toy Story 5, is happening.
There’s a new John Candy documentary happening. It’s produced by Colin Hanks and Ryan Reynolds.
The first teaser trailer is out for the White Men Can’t Jump reboot. The movie comes out on Hulu on May 19th.
Netflix has renewed That ‘90s Show.
Here’s Billboard’s list of the top musical acts who have never won a Grammy. There are lots from the eras covered in this newsletter.
A man filmed himself leaving a dead fish on the porch of the house from The Goonies in Astoria, Oregon. Then he stole a boat and the Coast Guard had to rescue him.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Here’s a list of 20 beloved ‘90s stores that no longer exist. I really did enjoy my time at CompUSA.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
BoKu debuted in 1989 and was marketed (at least initially) as a juice box for adults. The juice boxes sold pretty well initially, in part thanks to a series of commercials starring Richard Lewis, but never managed to capture a real slice of the market. BoKu lasted until 2003, though that was about 10 years after any relevancy.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Here’s the story of how a young Tracy Chapman received a major, and unexpected, career boost at a Nelson Mandela birthday concert at Wembley Stadium in 1988 when Stevie Wonder’s backing track was misplaced — so Chapman took the stage and performed this version of Fast Car. Within two weeks her debut album sold 1.75 million more copies.
Have a great week!
-Sam
Are you doing Super Bowl prop bets this year?