Feb 5: Right Said Fred, Poochie, Toto's Africa

Plus Paula Abdul, This Is How We Do It, Surge, and more

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The Retro by 11 Points

Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia

February 5, 2021 • Issue 33

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This week in nostalgic history

February 5th

38 years ago, on February 5th, 1983 - Africa by Toto hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

Africa was Toto’s biggest hit and also their most enduring. There’s been speculation over the years of whether it’s a love song that uses Africa as a metaphor, or an Africa song that uses love as a metaphor — and surprisingly enough, it’s the latter. Surprising because it turns out the song’s writer, Toto keyboardist David Paich, had never even been to Africa when writing the song; he based it all off one documentary stories he’d heard from his missionary Catholic school teachers. As a result, the song’s context starts to make more sense: It’s an idealizing, a reductive, and yes anglicized take on a gigantic, diverse continent, and a song that’s more than a little theoretically unappealing as a result.

But damn, what a catchy song, right? I might even go as far as to say it’s of the catchiest. Despite going hard on the synth, the song was not sequestered in the ‘80s — in fact, its popularity has endured as each subsequent generation discovers the song on their own. A cover by Weezer in 2018 would take on a life of its own, becoming a major hit in hits own right — and Weezer’s first gold-selling single since Beverly Hills.

• Also on February 5th: Prince’s single Kiss was released (1986)… Andre the Giant defeated Hulk Hogan on a WWF special on NBC (1988)… the Big East football conference was formed (1991)… Larry Bird retired and Magic Johnson surprised him by wearing a Celtics t-shirt (1993)… the cartoon Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego premiered on FOX (1994)

February 6th

26 years ago, on February 6th, 1995 - Montell Jordan’s single This Is How We Do It was released.

Montell Jordan is not a one-hit wonder. Sure, today is the anniversary of his debut single, This Is How We Do It, his most famous song by far (Das Sound Machine busted it out at David Cross’s riff-off, for God’s sake) — but it’s not anywhere close to the entirety of Montell Jordan’s oeuvre.

Montell Jordan had eight — eight! — top 40 hits between 1995 and 1999. While This Is How We Do It was his only number one, two songs I have no memory of were also top five hits: Let’s Ride was number two, and Get It On Tonite was number four.

It’s not exactly clear what happened to Montell Jordan’s music career after that prolific half-decade burst. Best I could find were “disagreements” with his record label and a transition into songwriting and production — followed by an eventual (and considering how common a path this is for ‘90s musicians, arguably inevitable) transition into becoming the leader of a church in Georgia, where he remains today.

• Also on February 6th: Centerfold by the J. Geils Band hit number one (1982)… Perrier released its first new product in 123 years, water with a twist of fruit (1985)… Street Fighter II hit arcades (1991)… Black Box’s single Strike It Up was released (1991)… Kris Kross’s single Jump was released (1992)… Arthur Ashe passed away (1993)… Tupac was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison (1995)… the ill-advised movie Blues Brothers 2000 was released (1998)… Mary Kay LeTourneau was sentenced to seven years in prison (1998)… Washington National Airport was renamed Ronald Reagan National Airport (1998)

February 7th

24 years ago, on February 7th, 1997 - Surge soda went on sale.

There are few sodas that are more ‘90s than Surge — or, as I believe it was intended to be written and lived, SURGE! — which debuted in 1997. Surge was, transparently, Coke’s attempt to make its own Mountain Dew. (This was shortly after Coke really started pushing Mr. Pibb in earnest in an attempt to make its own Dr. Pepper.)

But that’s the weird thing about the soda market — it’s barely budged in almost four decades. Sure, the soda brands occasionally put out some new variant that endures (Coke Zero, Coke/Pepsi cherry flavors, Mountain Dew Code Red), but it’s always a spin-off of one of the legacy brands. New brands just never seem to grab a sustainable chunk of the market. Surge was no exception.

It had a big initial marketing push and did fairly well out of the gate, but its popularity was fleeting and it was discontinued by 2003. Of course, like everything from the ‘90s, it had its hardcore group of fans who reunited on the internet. There was enough of a S-anon groundswell that Surge returned in 2014 in a limited run and stuck around for a few more years. Based on my research, it’s now gone again; their Twitter account hasn’t had a post since May 31, 2019’s profound: “Ska will never die. RT if you agree.”

I’ll retweet that, Surge. I’ll retweet that.

• Also on February 7th: Kool & the Gang’s Celebration hit number one (1981)… Astronaut Bruce McCandless made the first untethered space walk (1984)… Michael Jordan won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest jumping from the free throw line (1987)… Madonna’s Open Your Heart hit number one (1987)… Mike Tyson and Robin Givens got married (1988)… America’s Most Wanted premiered (1988)… 2 Live Crew’s album As Nasty As They Wanna Be was released (1989)… Shaquille O’Neal broke a basket on a dunk during an NBA game (1993)… Carmen Electra’s self-titled debut album was released (1993)… Michael Jordan signed with the Chicago White Sox (1994)… Howard Stern talked a caller out of committing suicide (1994)… Shania Twain’s album The Woman in Me was released (1995)… Steve Jobs’ NeXT merged with Apple (1998)… Beautician and the Beast hit theaters (1998)

February 8th

29 years ago, on February 8th, 1992 - Right Said Fred’s I’m Too Sexy took its rightful place as number one on the Billboard Hot 100.

I’m Too Sexy could be considered one of the most successful novelty songs of all time (with all due respect to the Monster Mash or that entire rap done in a John Wayne voice). Only… I’m not sure Right Said Fred really planned on making a novelty song. By all accounts, they conceived of I’m Too Sexy as a hard-hitting indie rock satire of the pervasive ‘80s culture of vanity. After that dog wouldn’t hunt, a friend of the group reconfigured the song to turn it into a dance track and the rest is history.

Right Said Fred became the first British band to have their debut song hit number one in the U.S. since… The Beatles.

While Right Said Fred was a classic U.S. one-hit wonder, that wasn’t the case in their home country; Right Said Fred had seven top 40 hits in the U.K., including a number one. That number one *wasn’t* I’m Too Sexy — it peaked there at number two — it was a song a year later called Deeply Dippy. That title’s too cockney by half to work in the U.S., but hits a nice British sweet spot.

Right Said Fred have continued touring and making music to this day. And while they’ve never quite touched the same I’m Too Sexy levels of success, that song alone was enough to bless them with lifelong careers in the music industry.

• Also on February 8th: The Dukes of Hazzard aired its series finale (1985)… 5-foot-7 Spud Webb won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (1986)… L.A. Story hit theaters (1991)… Cedric Ceballos won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest by dunking with a (maybe see through) blindfold (1992)… Saved by the Bell: The College Years aired its finale after one season (1994)… Kobe Bryant won the NBA Slam Dunk contest (1997)… the first Olympic women’s hockey game was played between Finland and Sweden (1998)

February 9th

24 years ago, on February 9th, 1997 - The Simpsons aired its famous Poochie episode (and passed The Flintstones as the longest-running animated prime-time show).

I’m not sure if the team behind The Simpsons knew its Poochie story would air as its 167th episode, breaking the record as the longest-running animated prime-time show (a record they’re still building on today and, in theory, should be unbreakable). However, it’s hard to imagine there could be a better episode to satirize the lifecycle of a long-running TV hit than this.

In this episode, the Itchy & Scratchy Show — the oft-used avatar for The Simpsons on The Simpsons — was facing declining ratings and popularity, so they decided to shake things up by bringing in a new character. That character was Poochie, an amalgamation of everything corporate suits thought was cool — and a character whom the audience of Itchy & Scratchy would immediately loathe with an unbridled fury.

The episode was clearly The Simpsons’ way of striking back at all of the criticism they’d received from network suits — and also planting their foot in the ground as to why they wouldn’t introduce their own Oliver in the Brady Bunch et. al., even as their show grew longer in the tooth. Or, at least, what they thought was longer in the tooth in 1997, not realizing that tooth would still be growing a quarter century later.

The Simpsons stuck by their principles, still to this day never introducing a new main character to the show (lots of ancillary characters, but never a primary one).

• Also on February 9th: Prince’s single Little Red Corvette was released (1983)… Dominique Wilkens defeated Michael Jordan in the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (1985)… Halley’s Comet appeared, with the next appearance coming in 2061 (1986)… C+C Music Factory’s single Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now) hit number one (1991)… Magic Johnson, having retired earlier in the season, dominated the NBA All-Star Game (1992)… NSYNC’s single God Must Have Spent a Little More Time on You was released (1999)

February 10th

32 years ago, on February 10th, 1989 - The WWF admitted pro wrestling isn’t a sport.

Pro wrestling has always been a “work” with cooperating performers and predetermined outcomes, dating back as far as Civil War times. However, for the vast majority of its history, the people in the industry worked tirelessly to keep up the facade that it was real. They’d never admit it was a work. The good guys and bad guys wouldn’t be seen together in public. And the wrestlers would happily legit stretch a loudmouth if provoked in public.

That all changed, finally, on this day in 1989, when the World Wrestling Federation admitted what everyone already knew but never said out loud. The reason for their admission? The WWF brass was appearing before the New Jersey state Senate to try to get pro wrestling deregulated by the state athletic commission, thus saving a fortune in fees and taxes (and, very relevant at the time and from then on, allowing them to make their own decisions regarding drug testing).

The tradeoff for that freedom was, however, saying out loud words that had never before been said out loud. So Vince and Linda McMahon said those words — this is entertainment, not a sport — and with that, deregulation passed with a vote of 37 to one. (Who’s the one guy, a true “it’s still real to me, dammit!” torch bearer?) WWF would go on to become deregulated in most other states in the future; now that Pandora’s box was open, there was no need to play coy outside of New Jersey.

It’s hard to disagree with the decision. The “secret” of pro wrestling was unkeepable in a savvier, increasingly connected society. And the admission didn’t hurt pro wrestling’s popularity; if anything, perhaps, it showed more honesty with the fans and less of the eternal undercurrent that pro wrestling promoters viewed them as rubes. Wrestling was still massively popular after this day and would hit unprecedented peaks a decade later. Of course, the WWF (now WWE) is still alive and well all these years later, with multiple billion-dollar TV rights deals. So all in all… yeah, probably worth it.

• Also on February 10th: Dominique Wilkens won the NBA Slam Dunk contest (1990)… Paula Abdul and MC Skat Kat’s single Opposites Attract hit number one (1990)… Mike Tyson was convicted of rape (1992)… Oprah interviewed Michael Jackson at the Neverland Ranch (1993)… Billy Madison hit theaters (1995)… Garry Kasparov was defeated in chess by Deep Blue (1996)… Brent Barry won the NBA Slam Dunk contest (1996)

February 11th

32 years ago, on February 11th, 1989 - Paula Abdul’s Straight Up became her first of six consecutive number one singles.

It’s kind of amazing Paula Abdul only released three albums, because she was an unstoppable juggernaut for a three-year stretch from 1988 through 1991.

Straight Up was the third single released off Paula Abdul’s debut album, Forever Your Girl. Clearly her record label didn’t know what people wanted from Paula, because the first single (Knocked Out) fizzled and the second (The Way That You Love Me) was more successful but not Earth shattering. It was looking like Forever Your Girl, and Paula Abdul, were both going to be one-and-done music industry flops.

Then came Straight Up, and suddenly, everything Paula Abdul touched was magic. She’d have five consecutive number one singles; after this came Forever Your Girl, Cold Hearted, Opposites Attract, Rush Rush, and The Promise of a New Day.

Unfortunately, Paula Abdul had demons, which affected her career trajectory, so that was the end of the run. The story, fortunately, found its happy ending when Paula resurfaced on American Idol and reinvented her career as a reality show judge (which turned out to be just about as lucrative and smart of a career path as one could take in the 2000s); she’s still doing that today on one of the FOX “Ken Jeong can’t believe it’s Janeane Garofalo dressed up as a flamingo in a sombrero” shows.

• Also on February 11th: Bonnie Tyler’s single Total Eclipse of the Heart was released (1983)… Weird Al Yankovic recorded his debut LP (1983)… Kenny “Sky” Walker won the NBA Slam Dunk Contest (1989)… Nelson Mandela was freed from prison after 27 years (1990)… Buster Douglas upset Mike Tyson (1990)… Another Bad Creation’s album Coolin’ at the Playground, Ya Know was released (1991)… Janet Reno was named the first female attorney general of the U.S. (1993)… Blank Check and My Girl 2 both hit theaters (1994)… Celine Dion’s song The Power of Love hit number one (1994)… Harold Minor won the NBA Slam Dunk content (1995)

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Everything old is new again

A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news.

• In very sad news, Dustin Diamond, best known as Screech from Saved by the Bell, died on Monday at age 44. He only learned he had stage four lung cancer three weeks prior.

• A Wonder Years reboot is underway at ABC from Lee Daniels. It will focus on a Black family in Alabama in the late ‘60s. (The original Wonder Years came out in the ‘80s and was about the ‘60s. So if this one had stuck to that timeline, it would be about… the early 2000s.)

• CBS’s rebranded streaming service, Paramount+, is considering a Frasier “revival.”

• Mike Myers and Dana Carvey have reunited as their Wayne’s World characters for an Uber Eats Super Bowl ad. Also, Dolly Parton recorded a new version of 9 to 5 called 5 to 9 for a Squarespace Super Bowl commercial about side hustles/inadvertantly glorifying the horrors of late capitalism.

• Jon Bon Jovi says he didn’t really like Livin’ on a Prayer after the band recorded it and thought “Maybe we should just put it on a movie soundtrack.” Wait — does that mean he also didn’t like Blaze of Glory which is why he gave it to Young Guns II?

• A rare, working Apple-1 computer is on eBay for $1.5 million. On the bright side, it doesn’t have a touchbar.

• A reality competition TV series based on the arcade game Whac-A-Mole is in the works.

• Reports say Nintendo pulled the plug on a live-action Legend of Zelda TV series and animated Star Fox series after Netflix leaked they were happening.

• Levi’s has launched a Pokemon collection for Pokemon’s 25th anniversary.

• The Texas Department of Safety accidentally sent out an Amber Alert that was just meant for internal testing — and featured Chucky from Child’s Play.

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Throwbacks and recommendations

• Someone found this beautiful outraged news clip over Bart Simpson t-shirts in 1990.

• Check out this deep dive into one of the most unexpectedly good/popular NES games, DuckTales.

• Billboard’s top 50 love songs of all time features many from the time scope of this newsletter.

• Here’s a 12-minute video with people recounting what it was like to see the original Star Wars in 1977.

• It turns out there was almost a baseball version of NBA Jam and you can see some discovered footage — with the ‘90s-est of ‘90s fonts.

• Someone made a mini Game Boy that’s less than a half-inch tall.

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Thanks for reading!

-Sam