Feb 17: Photoshop Debuts, Nintendo Hunts for a New Franchise
Plus the reason why 10 iconic '80s movies haven't been rebooted
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
February 17th, 2023 • Issue 139
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
February 17th
1979 - A Prairie Home Companion debuted.
1984 - Flashdance hit theaters.
1989 - Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure hit theaters.
1994 - David Robinson recorded a rare quadruple-double.
1995 - The Brady Bunch Movie and Heavyweights hit theaters.
1996 - The series finale aired of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers.
1996 - Everything But the Girl’s one hit, Missing, peaked at number two.
1996 - Garry Kasparov defeated Deep Blue in chess.
1998 - Jermaine Dupri’s single The Party Continues was released.
1998 - Destiny’s Child’s self-titled debut album was released.
February 18th
1983 - The Sting II hit theaters.
1985 - The WWF’s special The War to Settle the Score aired on MTV.
1991 - The NBA Dream Team concept was revealed.
1993 - Silk’s single Freak Me was released.
1993 - Wrestler Kerry Von Erich passed away at age 33.
1994 - Reality Bites hit theaters.
1994 - Blue Chips hit theaters.
1995 - Blessid Union of Souls’ single I Believe was released.
1998 - Legendary Cubs announcer Harry Carey died.
1998 - Andrea Bocelli made his operatic debut.
2000 - The Whole Nine Yards and Boiler Room both hit theaters.
2001 - Dale Earnhardt tragically died in a crash at the Daytona 500.
February 19th
33 years ago, on February 19th, 1990, Adobe Photoshop was released.
Adobe released Photoshop 1.0 on this day, for Apple computers only, two years after licensing the software from the brothers who created it. (Adobe would ultimately buy out those brothers for about $35 million, which seems tragically low based on where acquisition prices have gone since.)
Photoshop rapidly became the market leader for photo editing software and has maintained that title (without any real notable challenger) for 30+ years.
There are several reasons why: early mover, creating a professional tool that was still friendly to amateurs, steady feature development. But I’m going to focus on another.
Adobe followed the drug dealer model.
For the first two decades of Photoshop, it was easy — almost too easy — to get a copy of Photoshop for free. If your company bought a copy, you could install it on your computer and use it indefinitely. For even sketchier folk, it was one of the most pirated pieces of software in the world.
And then, after playing the long game and getting two generations completely hooked on Photoshop, Adobe pulled out the rug. In 2012, they announced Photoshop (and all their other apps) would be available by subscription only.
People tried other photo editing apps, even Adobe’s stripped down, pay-once Photoshop Elements. None compared. None even came close. Photoshop had become a genericized verb. It’s too hard to compete with software at that level.
After decades of learning Photoshop’s interface, its shortcuts, its nuances — there was now a monthly fee.
And reluctantly — so reluctantly there was a massive Change.org petition to try to get Adobe not to go subscription-based — everyone paid up.
In fact, it’s entirely possible today’s software-as-a-service landscape is courtesy of Adobe. (With an assist from Microsoft, although they still offer Office for a one-time payment.)
And thanks to the landscape forged by Adobe, an endless parade of new apps can skip the two decades of getting people hooked and demand a subscription upfront.
1968 - Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood premiered.
1980 - AC/DC’s Bon Scott died from alcohol poisoning.
1982 - Ozzy Osbourne was arrested for peeing on the Alamo.
1983 - Patti Austin and James Ingram’s duet Baby, Come to Me hit number one.
1985 - Mick Jagger’s first solo album, She’s the Boss, was released.
1991 - REM’s single Losing My Religion was released.
1991 - Public Enemy boycotted the Grammys after rap categories were left off the main telecast.
1993 - Army of Darkness hit theaters.
1994 - Martin Lawrence received a lifetime ban from Saturday Night Live.
1995 - Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee got married.
1995 - The Australia episode of The Simpsons premiered.
1996 - Oasis’s single Don’t Look Back in Anger was released.
1999 - Office Space and Jawbreaker both hit theaters.
2000 - Mariah Carey’s single Thank God I Found You hit number one.
2000 - Blink 182’s only top 40 hit, All the Small Things, peaked at number 6.
2002 - Bobsledder Vonetta Flowers became the first Black gold medalist in Winter Olympics history.
February 20th
1979 - This Old House premiered on PBS.
1986 - The Chunnel was officially announced.
1987 - Contra hit arcades.
1988 - Expose’s single Seasons Change hit number one.
1992 - Ross Perot announced he would run for president.
1993 - Harold Miner won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest.
1996 - VH1 Storytellers premiered.
1996 - Snoop Dogg was found not guilty of murder in the case that they gave him.
1996 - Celine Dion’s single Because You Loved Me was released.
1998 - Tara Lipinski became the youngest figure skating gold medal winner at age 15.
1999 - Gene Siskel passed away.
February 21st
30 years ago, on February 21st, 1993, Star Fox was released for Super Nintendo.
In the early ‘90s, Nintendo was in search of their next hot character — a search that ratcheted up after Sega finally found theirs in Sonic the Hedgehog.
So Nintendo put their top employee, Shigeru Miyamoto (creator of Mario, Zelda, and Donkey Kong), on it.
He came back with Star Fox, featuring the lead character Fox McCloud. (Along with supporting characters Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare, and Slippy Toad.)
McCloud had some Poochie elements to him, but he was a solid enough creation. He was a strong leader who played by his own rules when needed to save the day. He had all the makings of another Nintendo franchise cornerstone.
There was just one problem. The game.
Star Fox was the first 3D (or 3D-ish) game for Super Nintendo. It debuted the polygons we’d come to know in the 3D games of the ‘90s. Star Fox was a technical marvel for the time. But… it was a flying game. Which was not Nintendo’s bread-and-butter — nor what a lot of their fanbase really wanted.
Star Fox got great reviews and sold well but never became a mega franchise for Nintendo. Not on the level of the platformers like Mario and Zelda or, down the road, Pokemon.
Nintendo did learn some lessons in the process, though. Since Star Fox they’ve rarely chosen sophisticated graphics over universally fun and broadly appealing gameplay. And they’ve never hidden their marketable characters behind opaque cockpit screens during the action since.
In fact, they’ve gone the opposite direction — bringing the characters and fun gameplay front and center and never trying to keep up with their competitors’ superior graphics. And that turned out to be the formula that helped them thrive when it was looking like Sony and Microsoft might be leaving Nintendo in the dust.
1981 - Charles Rocket dropped an f-bomb on Saturday Night Live and Mister Robinson’s Neighborhood debuted.
1986 - The Legend of Zelda was released in Japan.
1986 - Pitcher Rollie Fingers made his choice between retirement and shaving his signature mustache.
1992 - Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot hit theaters.
1992 - Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal in figure skating.
1995 - TLC’s single Red Light Special and Joan Osbourne’s single One of Us were released.
1997 - Wheel of Fortune switched to its all-digital letter board.
2003 - Old School hit theaters.
February 22nd
1980 - The Miracle on Ice happened at the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York.
1987 - Andy Warhol passed away.
1990 - Milli Vanilli won the Grammy for Best New Artist.
1991 - The Adventures of Gummi Bears aired its series finale.
1997 - Scientists in Scotland announced they’d cloned a sheep, which they named Dolly.
1997 - The Spice Girls single Wannabe hit number one.
February 23rd
1980 - Queen’s single Crazy Little Thing Called Love hit number one.
1983 - Herschel Walker signed a contract with the New Jersey Generals of the USFL.
1985 - The show Gimme a Break aired live, the first sitcom to do so since the ‘50s.
1985 - Indiana basketball coach Bobby Knight threw a chair during an argument with a referee.
1988 - A 13-year-old Lauryn Hill was booed during her performance on It’s Showtime at the Apollo.
1990 - En Vogue’s single Hold On was released.
1990 - Buster Douglas replaced Mike Tyson as the referee for Hulk Hogan and Randy Savage’s WWF championship match on NBC.
1991 - Whitney Houston’s single All the Man That I Need hit number one.
1991 - Operation: Desert Storm began.
1993 - The Cranberries’ single Linger was released.
1993 - Naughty By Nature’s album 19 Naughty III was released.
1993 - Gary Coleman won a $1.3 million lawsuit against his parents.
1996 - Rumble in the Bronx hit theaters.
1997 - NBC aired Schindler’s List uncensored.
1999 - Eminem’s major label debut album, The Slim Shady LP, was released, as was TLC’s FanMail.
2002 - Ja Rule and Ashanti’s single Always on Time hit number one.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Disney released another teaser for the live-action Little Mermaid reboot, which comes out on May 26th. This teaser shows a glimpse of Melissa McCarthy’s Ursula.
There’s an animated reboot of Barney in the works, set to come out next year. And there was some standard social media bashing of the look of the new, computer-generated Barney.
Super Nintendo World opens at Universal Studios Hollywood today, and Universal has confirmed a larger Super Nintendo World is coming to their Orlando park as well. It’s scheduled for 2025.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Here’s a list speculating on why 10 popular ‘80s movies/franchises haven’t been rebooted.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
Rolling Stone released one of their epic countdowns this week, taking on 50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists. There are tons from the time frame this newsletter covers, including albums from Billy Joel, Van Halen, Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Aerosmith, and David Bowie.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
And one more list this week: Motortrend’s 25 Worst Cars of the 1990s. You might remember a few… but fortunately, most occupy no space in your core memory.
Have a great week!
-Sam