May 13 - Barbie Girl, Natalie Imbruglia, Chuck E. Cheese
Plus the famous Brandy-Monica debate of 1998
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
May 13th, 2022 • Issue 99
This week in the ‘80s & ‘90s
May 13th
32 years ago, on May 13th, 1990 - The season finale of the first season of The Simpsons aired on FOX.
The first season of The Simpsons is quite a ride; they were throwing everything out there to figure out what worked and what didn’t. There are epic episodes. Dark episodes, like ones when Homer tries to kill himself, both he and Marge have infidelity issues, and Lisa battles depression. Zany episodes, like when the Simpsons go camping and Homer is mistaken for Bigfoot. Classic episodes, like the first Sideshow Bob mystery and Bart in the school for the gifted.
The season finale, called Some Enchanted Evening, was another big swing — the kids’ babysitter is the notorious “Babysitter Bandit” who engages in a battle of wits with the Simpsons children. It was the first episode produced but the last to air for season one — which was a good call.
It wouldn’t have worked as an intro to the show — it’s not funny enough, it’s too over the top, and requires an understanding of the characters and the rules of the universe.
Beyond that, it ends with a perfect button on the whole season. As Marge and Homer lie in bed with Homer bemoaning his stupidity for letting the Babysitter Bandit go free, Marge says, “The way I see it, if you raise three children who can knock out and hogtie a perfect stranger, you must be doing something right.”
That line, in many ways, is a thesis for the entire series — and the end of the first season was the perfect place to present it.
Also on May 13th: Breakout was released for Atari (1976)… Pope John Paul II was shot (1981)… Bon Jovi’s single I’ll Be There for You hit number one (1989)… Yankees fans sang Like a Virgin to Jose Canseco to mock his relationship with Madonna (1991)… the series finale aired of Knots Landing (1993)… The Crow hit theaters (1994)… Scottie Pippen pouted while Toni Kukoc hit a game winning shot for the Chicago Bulls (1994)… Johnny Carson made his final TV appearance, on Letterman (1994)… Martin Page’s one hit, In the House of Stone and Light, peaked at number 14 (1995)… the Rednex’s one hit, Cotton Eye Joe, peaked at number 25 (1995)… No Mercy’s single Where Do You Go was released (1996)… Oasis’s single Champagne Supernova was released (1996)
May 14th
25 years ago, on May 14th, 1997 - Aqua’s single Barbie Girl was released.
Barbie Girl is often lumped in with the “annoying” one-hit wonders of the ‘90s like Eiffel 65’s Blue (Da Ba Dee) or Billy Ray Cyrus’s Achy Breaky Heart.
That’s revisionist history. While no one mistook Barbie Girl for high art when it came out in 1997, people did throw some respect its way — both for its Europop catchiness and its satirical lyrics.
It became a massive international hit, one that became so popular Mattel, the makers of Barbie, sued Aqua and its record label six months later.
They lost every lawsuit but appealed and appealed — even trying to get the Supreme Court to take the case. The Supreme Court passed (probably a good call; it was the era when the Supreme Court still sometimes made smart decisions) and brought an end to the Aqua-Mattel litigation battle.
Eventually the parties mended fences, with Mattel even using Barbie Girl — albeit with altered, non-satirical, undressing-free lyrics — in a marketing campaign in 2009.
The tension never fully disappeared, however; just last week, the people behind the upcoming Barbie movie announced Aqua’s song would not be used. And the main speculation as to why: The still-open wounds between Aqua and Mattel.
Also on May 14th: Boston defeated Houston to win the NBA Championship (1981)… Conan the Barbarian hit theaters (1982)… Thomas Dolby’s one hit, She Blinded Me with Science, peaked at number five (1983)… Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine’s single Anything for You hit number one (1988)… the series finale aired of Family Ties (1989)… the series finale aired of Moonlighting (1989)… Paula Abdul’s album Spellbound was released (1991)… Lyle Alzado passed away (1992)… Big Mountain’s one hit, Baby I Love Your Way, peaked at number six (1994)… the WWF held its first In Your House pay per view (1995)… Donna Lewis’s single I Love You Always Forever was released (1996)… Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas were married (1996)… the series finale aired of Coach (1997)… the Seinfeld series finale aired on NBC (1998)… Frank Sinatra passed away (1998)… George Michael plead no contest to committing a lewd act in a public bathroom (1998)… Celebrity Deathmatch premiered on MTV (1998)… the series finale aired of Baywatch (2001)… the series finale aired of Dawson’s Creek (2003)
May 15th
35 years ago, on May 15th, 1987 - Ishtar hit theaters.
Ishtar is a movie that’s famous solely for negative reasons; had it not bombed at the box office and landed on so, so many “worst movies of all time” and “biggest bombs of all time” lists, it likely would’ve just faded into oblivion like so many other mid-budget, mid-box office films of the ‘80s.
But Ishtar, a high-concept epic comedy about two mediocre American songwriters (played by Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty) who visit a mysterious North African country called Ishtar and wind up getting pulled into an international CIA operation, bombed with panache.
The goal of the movie was to recapture the magic of the Bing Crosby and Bob Home Road to [Place] films, but nothing went right during filming — from clashes on set to mess after mess on location in Morocco. (One quality anecdote: A producer was trying to buy a blue-eyed camel for the film at a market, found one, but went looking for a better one. Turns out it’s hard to find blue-eyed camels, but when he went back later in the day to buy it, its owner had eaten it.)
Bad press leaked out before Ishtar premiered on this day and it would go on to become the poster child of box office flops.
Dustin Hoffman and Warren Beatty escaped the fiasco more or less unscathed. The same can’t be said for the female director Elaine May, who received the blame (shocker) for the failure. It was the final feature film she’d ever direct; she returned to screenwriting and playwrighting after Ishtar and has stayed in those disciplines since.
Also on May 15th: The Harlem Globetrotters episode of Gilligan’s Island aired (1981)… SCTV debuted on NBC (1981)… Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder’s single Ebony and Ivory hit number one (1982)… the San Diego Clippers moved to Los Angeles (1984)… Prince’s single Raspberry Beret was released (1985)… the series finale of The Late Show with Joan Rivers aired on FOX (1987)… Snap’s album World Power was released (1990)… Mariah Carey’s single Vision of Love was released (1990)… Lethal Weapon 3 hit theaters (1992)… Janet Jackson’s single That’s the Way Love Goes hit number one (1993)… Amazon went public (1997)… Norm Macdonald and Courtney Thorne-Smith had a legendary exchange on the Conan O’Brien show (1997)… Everlast’s one hit, What It’s Like, peaked at number 13 (1999)… Tracy Morgan’s character Brian Fellows debuted on SNL (1999)… R. Kelly and Jay-Z’s single Fiesta was released (2001)… The Matrix Reloaded hit theaters (2003)
May 16th
24 years ago, on May 16th, 1998 - Natalie Imbruglia’s one hit, Torn, hit number one.
A lesser-known fact about Natalie Imbruglia’s Torn, a monster hit in 1998 that still endures today: It was a cover. And not even the first cover of the song.
The song originally came out in 1993, performed by a Danish singer named Lis Sørensen, under the title Brændt (which translates to Burned). It’s in Danish and has a different title, but is unmistakably the Torn you know. Sørensen’s voice is a bit thinner than Natalie Imbruglia’s and the song production isn’t as sophisticated, but the melody is right there.
The song was next released in 1995, by the L.A.-based alternative band Ednaswap on their debut album. (One of the members of Ednaswap wrote Torn.) It sounds a lot like the famous Natalie Imbruglia version, just with angrier and fuzzier guitars, a touch less vulnerability, and a less engrossing climax.
That takes us to 1996, when the song traveled back to Scandinavia. A singer named Trine Rein released the song, and it even made it to the top 10 on the Norwegian pop charts. Everything about this version feels like someone performing it on, say, the top 12 show of a season of American Idol — there’s no emotion at all, just a very strong singer delivering a technically-solid cover while wearing distracting outfits.
And finally, we get to Natalie Imbruglia’s version in 1997, where she put together all of the good elements from the prior versions, stripped out what wasn’t working — and scored an international mega hit. It would be her only hit, but she sure got her one hit right.
Also on May 16th: Kim Carnes’ single Bette Davis Eyes hit number one (1981)… the Motown 25 special featuring Michael Jackson’s first moonwalk aired on NBC (1983)… Prince’s single When Doves Cry was released (1984)… Andy Kaufman passed away, although people doubted it for decades (1984)… Michael Jordan won the NBA’s Rookie of the Year (1985)… Top Gun hit theaters (1986)… Bobby Ewing returned from the dead on Dallas (1986)… U2’s single With or Without You hit number one (1987)… Sammy Davis Jr. passed away (1990)… Jim Henson passed away (1990)… After 7’s single Can’t Stop was released (1990)… Weird Al Yankovic had a rare top 40 hit when Smells Like Nirvana hit number 35 (1992)… the series finale aired of Unsolved Mysteries (1998)… the Artist Formerly Known As Prince went back to being called Prince (2000)… Britney Spears’ album Oops!… I Did It Again was released (2000)… Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones hit theaters (2002)
May 17th
45 years ago, on May 17th, 1977 - The first Chuck E. Cheese opened.
Chuck E. Cheese was founded by Nolan Bushnell, the creator of Atari, primarily as a venue where he could drive business for his arcade games.
Bushnell was weirdly attached to the idea of using a rodent as the mascot for his restaurant — a controversial choice with his marketing department, but a battle he won.
The chain expanded fast but hit a brick wall during the video game crash of 1983. Bushnell had to sell, which he did in 1984.
The chain has traded hands several times in the years since but somehow, against pretty wild odds, it’s still alive today with more than 600 locations.
The pandemic, however, drove the chain to file for bankruptcy protection — even after they adopted a surprise strategy of selling their pizza though delivery apps under the restaurant name Pasqually’s Pizza & Wings (to avoid the Chuck E. Cheese stigma). I’m sure it will emerge and survive. Somehow, it always does.
Also on May 17th: Peter Criss left KISS (1980)… Whitney Houston’s single Greatest Love of All hit number one (1986)… Kelsey Grammer received a 30-day jail sentence for driving while intoxicated (1990)… What About Bob? hit theaters (1991)… Intel’s Pentium processor was released (1993)… Alan Jackson’s single Chattahoochee was released (1993)… Lisa Loeb’s single Stay was released (1994)… Freak Nasty’s one hit, Da Dip, peaked at number 15 (1997)… The Eagles sued Hotel California restaurant in Texas (2000)… the series finale aired of Beverly Hills, 90210 (2000)… in a very Web 1.0 era story, Terra Networks and Lycos merged (2000)… About a Boy hit theaters (2002)
May 18th
42 years ago, on May 18th, 1980 - Mount St. Helens exploded.
The continental U.S. is susceptible to the whole slate of natural disasters; we’ve seen pretty much all of them in our lifetime.
Volcanoes are at the bottom of the risk chart. The Mount St. Helens eruption on this day 42 years ago was both the most destructive and most recent major volcanic eruption in the continental US.
The eruption claimed 57 lives and, while Mount St. Helens remains an active volcano today, it’s a popular hiking spot.
To put a lovely bow on the hubris of this write-up, geologists say it will erupt again one day — and that eruption should be even bigger than the last time. But until then, keep on hikin’.
Also on May 18th: Simple Minds’ single Don’t You (Forget About Me) hit number one (1985)… the Divinyls’ one hit, I Touch Myself, peaked at number four (1991)… Hi-Five’s single I Like the Way (The Kissing Game) hit number one (1991)… Sister Souljah’s controversial quote about killing white people appeared in the Washington Post (1992)… Janet Jackson’s album janet was released (1993)… Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley were married (1994)… the Orlando Magic eliminated the Chicago Bulls from the NBA Playoffs, Jordan’s only playoff series loss during the team’s six-title run (1995)… Bone Thugs-N-Harmony’s single Tha Crossroads hit number one (1996)… the series finale aired of Murphy Brown (1998)… the Backstreet Boys album Millennium was released (1999)… Moulin Rouge hit theaters (2001)… Shrek hit theaters (2001)… wrestler Davey Boy Smith (aka the British Bulldog) died at age 39 (2002)
May 19th
24 years ago, on May 19th, 1998 - Monica and Brandy’s single The Boy Is Mine was released.
I consider myself to be something of an expert on The Boy Is Mine because, a few years back, I decided to analyze the song to determine who made a better case that the boy was theirs: Monica or Brandy.
I leaned toward Brandy, after concluding they both made so-so arguments but Brandy hit a wider variety of rhetorical angles in the debate and Monica leaned too heavily on ad hominem attacks. The more you know.
Also on May 19th: The Apple III was introduced (1980)… Peter Gabriel’s album So was released (1986)… Road House hit theaters (1989)… Nelson’s single Love and Affection was released (1990)… Madonna’s single Vogue hit number one (1990)… WCW aired its first Superbrawl pay-per-view (1991)… Amy Fisher shot Mary Jo Buttafuoco (1992)… Dan Quayle criticized unwed mothers and Murphy Brown (1992)… Billy Ray Cyrus’s debut album Some Gave All was released (1992)… Jackie Kennedy Onassis passed away (1994)… the series finale aired of L.A. Law (1994)… the series finale aired of In Living Color (1994)… Die Hard with a Vengeance and Forget Paris both hit theaters (1995)… the series finale of Murder She Wrote aired (1996)… the Sundance Channel debuted (1996)… the “curtain call” happened, when four WWF wrestlers broke character to hug after a match as two were leaving the company (1996)… Marv Albert was accused of biting a lady (1997)… The Lost World: Jurassic Park hit theaters (1997)… DMX’s debut album It’s Dark and Hell Is Hot was released (1998)… Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace hit theaters (1999)… Road Trip hit theaters (2000)… Disney’s Dinosaur hit theaters (2000)… the first Apple stores opened (2001)… the series finale aired of Walker Texas Ranger (2001)… the series finale aired of The X-Files (2002)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
The famous ‘90s Dancing Baby has become an NFT.
Jennifer Grey will play Baby again in the Dirty Dancing sequel, which will be set in the ‘90s and not set in any corners. It’s scheduled to come out in 2024.
A Spinal Tap sequel is in the works with the original cast and Rob Reiner returning as director. The movie is scheduled to come out in March of 2024.
Peacock is developing a Reality Bites series. They’re not calling it a reboot but rather a “reframing.”
Alfonso Ribeiro says someone asks him to do the Carlton dance “every day of my life” and he won’t do it. “I’m a Black guy, I’m just not dancing for you.”
Tom Cruise says he “rallied hard” for Val Kilmer to be in the Top Gun sequel. And on the flip side, here’s why they say they had no interest in bringing back Kelly McGillis or Meg Ryan.
CBS decided not to move forward with its Early Edition reboot.
The CW’s Dynasty reboot has been canceled after five seasons; CW’s Charmed reboot has been canceled after four seasons; and CBS’s Magnum, P.I. reboot has been canceled after four.
Fred Savage was fired from his role as executive producer and director of The Wonder Years reboot after multiple misconduct complaints.
EA released its first FIFA game in 1993, and has had the license ever since — but the two sides decided not to renew the deal.
Throwbacks and recommendations
Here’s the trailer for the Father of the Bride reboot movie, which comes out on HBO Max on June 16th.
Here are the first images from the House Party reboot, which comes out on HBO Max on July 22nd.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam