Jan 27: Geocities, Tecmo Bowl, awards show weirdness
Plus an awkward confrontation on the Boy Meets World podcast
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
January 27th, 2023 • Issue 136
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
January 27th
1984 - Michael Jackson’s hair caught on fire on the day that was the exact midpoint of his life.
1984 - Whitney Houston famously sang the National Anthem and the New York Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl.
1991 - Cyndi Lauper’s single Time After Time was released.
1993 - Andre the Giant passed away.
1995 - The Golf Channel debuted.
1997 - The Verve Pipe’s single The Freshmen was released.
1998 - Will Smith’s single Gettin’ Jiggy Wit It was released.
1998 - Shania Twain’s single You’re Still the One was released.
January 28th
24 years ago, on January 28th, 1999, Yahoo acquired GeoCities.
When Yahoo acquired GeoCities on this day in 1999, believe it or not, GeoCities was the third-most visited site on the internet. (Behind only AOL and Yahoo; GeoCities had 19 million unique visitors in December 1998.)
After the acquisition came the fall of the GeoCities brand into eventual obsolescence. That became a pattern Yahoo would repeat over and over with user-generated content-driven websites.
But GeoCities was the first. And while GeoCities is most remembered as the home of cheesy animated GIFs and never-updated personal homepages, that’s underselling its contributions to the future of the internet.
GeoCities set the template both for what social media could be and what it needed to be to thrive.
GeoCities proved anyone who wanted it a free forum to broadcast their thoughts on the internet. Sure, nerdier types like me would go through the trouble of domains and web hosting and FTPing files. But most people didn’t want to deal with any of that.
They didn’t mind ceding control — or personal info, or ownership of their audience, or ad revenue — in exchange for the free platform. All of this would prove true again and again as social media came about.
So why did GeoCities die?
Corporate meddling was a reason; Yahoo put their own stamp on it. (Something Facebook, for example, has tried not to do with Instagram. I mean, yes they’re using it to target ads to you and suck up all your info, but they didn’t make Instagram into another Facebook.)
But beyond that, the static nature of GeoCities pages was a killer. People would build websites then rarely go through the hassle of updating them. Social media thrived because it made it far easier to find an audience, have that audience follow you, then post regular content to that audience. The old homepage/personal website system was much more prone to abandonment — and much, much less addictive to both creators and consumers.
Yahoo shut down GeoCities in October 2009, a decade after they acquired it — and long, long after it had lost any cultural relevancy.
1985 - We Are the World was recorded.
1990 - The San Francisco 49ers defeated the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.
1994 - The Beastie Boys single Sabotage was released.
1994 - A judge declared a mistrial in the Menendez case.
1995 - Memphis received a Canadian Football League team.
1995 - Corona’s one hit, Rhythm of the Night, peaked at number 11.
1995 - TLC’s single Creep hit number one.
1996 - The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the Super Bowl.
1999 - 112’s single Anywhere was released.
2001 - The Baltimore Ravens defeated the New York Giants in the Super Bowl.
January 29th
27 years ago, on January 29th, 1996, Garth Brooks refused an American Music Award, saying Hootie and the Blowfish deserved it more.
Here’s a random awards show moment that flies under the radar in the pantheon of “weird awards show moments.”
In 1996, Garth Brooks won the Artist of the Year award at the American Music Awards. But when he got on stage to accept the award, he turned it down, saying there were lots of artists contributing to the music industry and its growth.
Though the speech made it seem like he was turning down the award because he felt all musical acts were deserving… that wasn’t the case. He’d clarify backstage there was one particular act who he felt was deserving.
It wasn’t fair for me to walk away with that award. Maybe a year or two ago when we had a really good year. But I’ve been around talking to retailers… and every one of them credits Hootie for keeping them alive in 1995 and I couldn’t agree more. So I thought that’s who should’ve won.
In 2014, Darius Rucker of Hootie & the Blowfish commented on the moment. He speculated Hootie didn’t win because they’d turned down the AMA’s request for them to perform at the show. And he said that Garth Brooks turning down the award on Hootie’s behalf was “one of the biggest moments in our career.”
Perhaps if Garth had been less ambiguous on stage and had given Hootie a shout-out, this moment would be better remembered.
Because when it comes to award shows… the only true enduring memories are when things happen that are off-script, that shatter the norms, or that otherwise break the same old patterns.
Think about awards show moments — the first ones that come to mind all fit those criteria. Recently, the Will Smith slap and the Moonlight/La La Land accidental switch. Before that, everything from Ricky Gervais’s convention-breaking insult comedy to Roberto Benigni walking on the chairs to Kanye West interrupting Taylor Swift (even though he probably wouldn’t do that today because she’s blonde haired and blue eyed) — it’s all part of the same genre of “off script.”
And before Garth Brooks declined an award, there was another famous moment when Sacheen Littlefeather declined an Oscar on Marlon Brando’s behalf.
So Garth Brooks turning down an award in a cryptic, mild-mannered way at a second-tier awards show wasn’t quite enough to make the hall of fame. But if he’d gotten up there and demanded they give the trophy to Hootie instead? This AMA moment would be, well, the most memorable AMA moment of all time.
1987 - Physicians Weekly announced that Mona Lisa’s smile was evidence of facial paralysis.
1989 - MLB decided to retire its game-winning RBI stat after nine years.
1993 - Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell went into effect.
1994 - Queen Latifah’s only top 40 hit, UNITY, peaked at number 23.
1995 - The San Francisco 49ers became the first team to win five Super Bowls, defeating the San Diego Chargers.
1999 - She’s All That hit theaters.
2000 - Eiffel 65’s one hit, Blue (Da Ba Dee), peaked at number six.
2000 - Savage Garden’s single I Knew I Loved You hit number one.
2002 - President W. Bush first used the phrase “Axis of Evil”.
January 30th
1982 - Hall & Oates’ I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do) hit number one.
1983 - The Washington Redskins defeated the Miami Dolphins in the Super Bowl.
1988 - INXS’ single Need You Tonight hit number one.
1994 - The Dallas Cowboys beat the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl.
1995 - Kevin Eubanks became band leader of The Tonight Show.
1996 - Magic Johnson came out of retirement to once again play for the Los Angeles Lakers.
1999 - The New Radicals had their only top 40 hit, as You Get What You Give peaked at number 36.
1999 - Britney Spears’ ...Baby One More Time hit number one.
2000 - The St. Louis Rams defeated the Tennessee Titans to win the Super Bowl.
January 31st
1981 - Blondie’s single The Tide Is High hit number one.
1986 - Down and Out in Beverly Hills hit theaters.
1988 - The Wonder Years premiered on ABC.
1988 - The Washington Redskins defeated the Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.
1989 - LaToya Jackson appeared in Playboy.
1990 - McDonald’s opened its first location in the Soviet Union.
1990 - The National daily sports newspaper began publishing.
1993 - The Spin Doctors’ single Two Princes was released.
1993 - The Dallas Cowboys defeated the Buffalo Bills in the Super Bowl.
1993 - Michael Jackson performed the first solo Super Bowl halftime show.
1997 - Waiting for Guffman hit (a few) theaters and the special edition re-release of Star Wars hit (a lot of) theaters.
1998 - Janet Jackson’s single Together Again hit number one.
1999 - Family Guy premiered.
1999 - The Denver Broncos defeated the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl.
2000 - Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens was in a group fight where, let’s just say, someone stabbed someone.
February 1st
34 years ago, on February 1st, 1999, Tecmo Bowl was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
Tecmo Bowl came out for Nintendo on this day in 1989 and had two distinct advantages over other football video games:
It was the first NES game with a licensing deal with the NFL Players Association, meaning the game had real players. (Though not team nicknames; Tecmo didn’t have that license. So the teams are only referred to by cities.)
They decided to make Bo Jackson unstoppable.
The combination of those two factors created a legacy around Tecmo Bowl — one that would shape modern football games.
Soon enough, football players who grew up playing this game as kids were now pros. And they cared about seeing themselves in video games… and seeing just how close they could be to Bo Jackson.
That generation had Madden… and the rankings they assigned to players became a point of pride (and/or outrage).
Today, we’re onto yet another new generation of players — and their video game rankings carry even more personal import.
Now Madden makes a ceremony of announcing player ratings (who got a 99 overall?). Players publicly complain when they feel slighted. And Thursday Night Football’s postgame show brings on the player of the game where they find out how their Madden ratings will now increase following the performance.
And it all traces back to Tecmo Bowl… and back to Bo.
1980 - Blondie’s single Call Me was released.
1982 - Late Night with David Letterman premiered on NBC.
1986 - Inspector Gadget aired its series finale.
1988 - Contra was released on the Nintendo Entertainment System.
1991 - John Grisham’s book The Firm was released and became the bestselling novel of the year.
1992 - The Cold War came to an end.
1992 - The Super Nintendo Super Scope was released.
1994 - Jeff Gillooly pleaded guilty for his role in the Nancy Kerrigan attack.
1994 - Green Day’s album Dookie was released.
1995 - Better Than Ezra’s single Good was released.
1995 - Classic Sports Network, now called ESPN Classic, went live.
1996 - Bone Thugs ‘n Harmony’s single Tha Crossroads was released.
1996 - Visa and Mastercard announced new security features to allow for safe online shopping.
1997 - Gina G’s one hit, Ooh Ahh (Just a Little Bit), peaked at number 12.
1999 - The Lycos search engine launched an mp3 search feature.
February 2nd
1980 - The FBI released the details of its ABSCAM corruption sting.
1985 - O.J. Simpson married Nicole Brown.
1985 - Foreigner’s I Want to Know What Love Is hit number one.
1992 - Elton John and George Michael’s Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me hit number one.
1996 - Magic Johnson and Michael Jordan played against each other in the NBA for the first time since their respective returns from retirement.
1996 - Black Sheep hit theaters.
1998 - President Clinton introduced the country’s first balanced budget in 30 years.
1999 - Blackstreet’s single Take Me There was released.
1999 - Hugo Chavez took office in Venezuela, and immediately began planning how to alter Georgia voting machines 21 years later from beyond the grave.
2000 - The Oxygen Network debuted.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
Wall Street is the only movie to win both an Oscar and a Razzie
In 1987, Michael Douglas won the Oscar for Best Actor for Wall Street… and Daryl Hannan won the Razzie for Worst Supporting Actress.
The theme song for Friends was going to be R.E.M.’s Shiny Happy People.
But R.E.M. decided not to give the rights to the show. So the show’s musical director wrote a new theme song called I’ll Be There for You and had The Rembrandts perform it.
The Beastie Boys were originally a hardcore punk band.
And they had a female drummer.
Jeff Goldblum’s only Oscar nomination was in 1996… and it wasn’t for acting.
It was a nomination for Best Live Action Short Film. He directed a short film called Little Surprises. It didn’t win. It lost to a movie called Lieberman in Love starring Danny Aiello, Christine Lahti, and Nancy Travis.
Manute Bol is the only NBA player to finish his career with more blocked shots than points.
Bol, who played in the NBA from 1985 to 1995, was 7-foot-7 and is tied for the tallest player in league history. He scored 1,599 career points and had 2,086 blocked shots.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
In Pamela Anderson’s new memoir, which comes out on Tuesday, she says Tim Allen flashed her on the set of Home Improvement in 1991. He denies it.
Adam Scott was on the Pod Meets World podcast this week and confronted Danielle Fishel and Rider Strong over the way they treated him during his four episodes of Boy Meets World.
Cobra Kai will come to an end after its sixth season. Its first two seasons were on YouTube, and these final four on Netflix.
Run-DMC is (are?) retiring and will film their final show ever for a potential documentary.
The Madonna biopic at Universal is no longer happening.
Michael J. Fox says he didn’t really become friends with Christopher Lloyd until Back to the Future Part III.
A slightly-updated version of the beloved Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye comes to the Nintendo Switch and Xbox today.
Brendan Fraser made a surprise appearance at a screening of The Mummy in London.
Raven-Symone says we’ve been mispronouncing her name since the beginning; it’s See-mon-ye.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Maybe McDonald’s couldn’t work out a deal with Transformers — so they decided to make their own robots in disguise? Happy Meals in late ‘80s and early ‘90s saw three lines of McDonald’s Changeables — robots that turned into McDonald’s food. Or vice versa? The toys were mega hits — but go for surprisingly cheap on eBay today. You can get a lot of them, still mint in their original sealed bags, for $15 or less.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
As vinyl continues to cement itself as the most popular physical media format of the present, let us not forget how most of us first learned about records. The Fisher-Price record player debuted in 1971… but underwent a redesign in the late ‘70s into the orange-and-beige beast pumping us with all the Sharon, Lois, & Bram we could handle.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
Here’s a look at how Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher neutered the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, turning them from a subversive indie comic into relentless corporate shills. (Yes, that’s Michelangelo wielding sausages, not nunchucks.)
Have a great week!
-Sam