Nov 11: Aladdin, Steal My Sunshine, Trojan ads
Plus the new National Toy Hall of Fame inductees
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
November 11th, 2022 • Issue 125
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
November 11th
30 years ago, on November 11th, 1992, Aladdin hit theaters.
Aladdin first hit theaters in New York and L.A. on this day in 1992 and featured something never before seen in an animated feature film: A celebrity-driven character.
Aladdin’s writers created the part of the Genie for Robin Williams — he was their dream casting choice, a longshot. That wish for them came true, in Aladdin terms.
Up until Aladdin, voice acting was almost exclusively the domain of voice actors. When a celebrity did provide a voice (e.g., Angela Lansbury in Beauty and the Beast), it generally wasn’t an A-lister and their marching orders was to merge into traffic.
But Robin Williams as the genie changed things. He didn’t just provide the voice of the Genie in Aladdin — he was the genie.
Not only did his presence provide a different energy to the movie, it also provided a major publicity boost.
The stars of Beauty and the Beast the year before were Paige O’Hara as Belle and Robby Benson as the Beast. Regardless of the quality of their performances or the success of the film, they weren’t getting the call to go on The Tonight Show to promote the movie. Robin Williams, on the other hand, could be the lead guest on any show at any time.
Pandora’s box was now open. Celebrities recognized voiceover work as a great way to trade their name recognition for an easier payday. Any fears that doing voiceover would affect their A-list status was gone; in fact, with the acclaim Robin Williams’s Genie got, a high-profile voiceover role might boost their status. The studios recognized celebrity voiceover talent was a way to get some of their marquee rub onto animated films.
Adoption was quick. Celebrities took over the voiceover roles in animation — even though few brought the same force of personality as Robin Williams.
Pixar cast two huge names as the leads in Toy Story. When DreamWorks started their animated film push, they also went for the biggest possible names. (See: Shrek.) Disney’s traditional animation department held out as long as it could… but films like Moana and Frozen made sure to have at least a few huge names on board.
TV shows did it too. Compare the voice cast of The Simpsons in 1989 to the voice cast of Family Guy a decade later.
Even the majority of the smaller roles started going to slightly less famous but still famous on-screen actors, not voiceover-first talent.
The result: An entire segment of the working class acting industry more or less gutted.
And it’s all traceable back to Aladdin. The producers there got their wish when Robin Williams agreed to come on board. And like Aladdin reminds us, wishes always have unforeseen consequences.
1987 - The series finale of Transformers aired.
1987 - Anthony Kennedy was nominated to the U.S. Supreme Court.
1987 - Van Gogh’s Irises sold for a record $53.6 million.
1988 - Iron Eagle II hit theaters.
1989 - Bad English’s single When I See You Smile hit number one.
1991 - Michael Jackson’s single Black or White and Mint Condition’s single Breakin’ My Heart were both released.
1992 - Shaquille O’Neal played in his first NBA game.
1994 - Interview with the Vampire and The Santa Clause both hit theaters.
1995 - The Spartan cheerleaders debuted on Saturday Night Live.
1995 - Take That’s one U.S. hit, Back for Good, peaked at number seven.
1996 - Toni Braxton’s single Unbreak My Heart was released.
1997 - Boyz II Men’s final top 10 hit, A Song for Mama, was released.
1997 - Columbus announced its new expansion NHL team would be called the Blue Jackets.
2000 - Creed’s single With Arms Wide Open hit number one.
November 12th
1983 - Lionel Richie’s single All Night Long (All Night) hit number one.
1984 - Madonna’s album Like a Virgin was released.
1987 - The Jetsons series finale aired.
1988 - The Escape Club’s single Wild, Wild West hit number one.
1990 - The Philadelphia Eagles defeated Washington in the “body bag” game.
1991 - The episode of Full House where Becky and Jesse’s twins were born aired.
1993 - Michael Jackson canceled his world tour, citing a painkiller addiction.
1996 - Jewel’s debut single You Were Meant for Me was released, as was Duncan Sheik’s single Barely Breathing and Eminem’s first album, Infinite.
1996 - The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held.
1999 - Dogma hit theaters.
2003 - The Casa Bonita episode of South Park premiered.
November 13th
23 years ago, on November 13th, 1999, Len’s one hit, Steal My Sunshine, peaked at number nine on the Billboard Hot 100.
Steal My Sunshine is the lone hit song from Canadian band Len and, like many one-hit wonders from Right Said Fred to Chumbawamba, not all that representative of the rest of their music.
Len was an alternative band with hip-hop leanings; on Steal My Sunshine they sample a disco song and jump into the Sugar Ray/New Radicals pop vibe of the era.
The single features alternating male and female vocals from the founders of Len: brother and sister Marc and Sharon Costanzo.
And at the time, the Costanzos were in full can’t stand ya mode — despite recording the duet, they weren’t on speaking terms.
Steal My Sunshine achieved critical acclaim as well as commercial success, driving speculation Len might go all-in on Rollerblading pop (I just made up that genre, but it feels about right) as their new direction.
They wouldn’t.
Marc — in a moment of self-awareness rarely seen in the industry — recognized the group had one-hit wonder written all over them.
In an interview about a decade after Steal My Sunshine he said:
“We were surprised there was even one [hit] single… I forced myself to make another album. It was really difficult because DreamWorks paid us like $750,000 based on me dancing around their office and telling them I have a whole bunch of other hits, which I didn’t… fortunately, DreamWorks fell apart… so we just walked away from it.”
The Costanzos and a rotating cast of others kept releasing their non-hit brand of music until 2005, then took a break until 2012. In 2016, they called it quits for good.
1982 - The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was dedicated in Washington, D.C..
1982 - An arcade player set a record score on Asteroids that stood for 27 years, longer than any other record in video game history.
1987 - Sonny and Cher performed together for the final time, singing I Got You Babe on Late Night with David Letterman.
1990 - Tesla’s single Sings was released.
1992 - Bram Stoker’s Dracula hit theaters.
1992 - Riddick Bowe defeated Evander Holyfield to become boxing’s undisputed heavyweight champion.
1994 - The “Lisa on Ice” episode of The Simpsons aired on FOX.
1997 - The Lion King musical opened on Broadway.
1998 - I Still Know What You Did Last Summer hit theaters.
1999 - BG’s Bling Bling peaked at number 36.
1999 - Lou Bega’s Mambo No. 5 peaked at number 3 on the Billboard charts.
2000 - The Beatles compilation album 1 was released.
2001 - Shakira’s first English album, Laundry Service, was released.
November 14th
1986 - Hoosiers hit theaters.
1988 - Murphy Brown premiered on CBS.
1990 - L.A. Lakers star James Worthy was arrested on solicitation charges.
1991 - Michael Jackson’s video for Black or White premiered on FOX after an episode of The Simpsons.
1992 - The single from the TV show The Heights, How Do You Talk to an Angel, hit number one.
1995 - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men’s single One Sweet Day was released, as was Collective Soul’s The World I Know.
1996 - The series finale aired of Ren and Stimpy.
1996 - Michael Jackson and Debbie Rowe got married.
1997 - Anastasia hit theaters.
1998 - The series finales aired of Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain.
1998 - Carmen Electra and Dennis Rodman were married.
1998 - Lauryn Hill’s single Doo Wop (That Thing) hit number one.
2000 - Marilyn Manson’s album Holy Wood, featuring album art of him on a crucifix, was released but banned by several retail chains.
2003 - Love Actually hit theaters.
November 15th
1980 - Kenny Rogers’s single Lady hit number one, and Devo’s Whip It peaked at number 14.
1986 - The Beastie Boys released their debut album and the first rap album to hit number one on Billboard, License to Ill.
1990 - Milli Vanilli admitted to lip syncing all their songs.
1991 - Cape Fear and Beauty and the Beast hit theaters.
1993 - A 72-year-old man broke the world record for consecutive free throws made at 2,750.
1993 - Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, and Christina Aguilera joined the Mickey Mouse Club.
1994 - TLC’s album CrazySexyCool was released, as was Soul for Real’s single Candy Rain.
1995 - The series finale aired of Mr. Bean.
1996 - Space Jam and The English Patient hit theaters.
2001 - The Xbox went on sale in North America.
November 16th
1990 - Home Alone hit theaters.
1990 - Rocky V hit theaters.
1993 - Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart, and Sting released their single All for Love.
1993 - Domino’s single Ghetto Jam was released.
1994 - Major League Soccer announced it would debut in 1996.
1996 - The SNL skit “Delicious Dish” debuted.
1996 - Jingle All the Way hit theaters.
1999 - Dr. Dre’s album The Chronic 2001 was released.
2001 - The first Harry Potter movie hit theaters.
2002 - The first case of SARS was discovered.
November 17th
31 years ago, on November 17th, 1991, the first-ever condom ad aired on broadcast TV.
I’m as optimistic today as I’ve been in quite some time about America rejecting the moral hypocrite class… but it’s awfully hard to fully eradicate such an insidious force that’s been around since day one. Here’s a forgotten moment in their history.
On this day in 1991, FOX became the first broadcast network to air an ad for condoms. The Trojan spot ran during Herman’s Head and was a 15-second ad with a veiled reference to AIDS.
Before this day in 1991, those ads were deemed too pearl clutch-inducing for television.
The timing was significant. This ad aired just 10 days after Magic Johnson announced he had HIV. In retrospect it’s a small, mostly forgotten, but significant indicator of how much Magic’s diagnosis would change public perceptions of and the overall response to HIV/AIDS.
By 2001, CBS and NBC joined FOX in airing condom commercials; cable networks were almost all on board by that point as well. I have no idea what ABC was holding out for; maybe they were too busy running Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? seven nights a week to update their standards and practices doc.
From then on, the trail goes cold with reporting on TV condom advertising. I’d chalk it up to a mix of (1) people not caring and (2) perhaps little need for condom brands to advertise in a market so overwhelmingly dominated by three brands. (As the theory goes, three brands in a popular product segment is bad for consumers; the pie is big enough for all of them. It takes a fourth competitor to start driving down prices.)
Of course, as optimistic as I’m letting myself feel today about a widespread rejection of control masquerading as morality, we’re not close to out of the woods yet. We’re closer to a birth control ban today than ever in our lifetimes.
So if there’s a necessity for condom ads again one day, they may double as California tourism ads.
1984 - Wham!’s single Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go hit number one.
1989 - The Little Mermaid and Harlem Nights hit theaters.
1990 - Deee-Lite’s one hit, Groove Is in the Heart, peaked at number four.
1992 - The Bodyguard soundtrack was released.
1992 - Dateline NBC aired footage of a GM truck blowing up in a crash test, but it was later found they rigged the test.
1995 - The American President hit theaters.
1995 - GoldenEye hit theaters.
1995 - The Olsen Twins’ movie It Takes Two hit theaters.
1996 - The Rodney Dangerfield episode of The Simpsons premiered.
1997 - The All Saints single Never Ever was released.
1998 - Three, count ‘em three, soundtracks were released for the movie The Prince of Egypt.
1998 - Whitney Houston’s single My Love Is Your Love was released.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
Pop-Tarts sales increased every year from 1982 through the end of the ‘90s.
And the sales kept increasing every year until at least 2014, which is the last time Kellogg’s commented on their growth streak.
The woman who played Miss Cleo in the ‘90s psychic commercials made just $1,750 from the ads.
Youree Dell Harris, who played Miss Cleo, said she was paid $1,750 for the two-and-a-half day commercial shoot. At its peak, she says the Psychic Friends Network made $24 million every month from those commercials.
The longest song title ever on a Billboard Hot 100 hit came in 1981.
The song was a disco medley from a group called Stars on 45. Its 218-character title was: Medley: Intro 'Venus' / Sugar Sugar / No Reply / I'll Be Back / Drive My Car / Do You Want to Know a Secret / We Can Work It Out / I Should Have Known Better / Nowhere Man / You're Going to Lose That Girl / Stars on 45.
Ronald Reagan was the first president to start saluting military officers.
Presidents since then have saluted military officers, even though they’re technically not supposed to.
Ben & Jerry’s invented cookie dough ice cream in 1984.
They got the idea from an anonymous suggestion on the “flavor suggestion board” in their ice cream shop in Burlington, Vt.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
The National Toy Hall of Fame has announced its 2022 class: the top, Lite-Brite, and He-Man. Some finalists that didn’t make the cut this year include Nerf, Pound Puppies, and Spirograph.
Disney+ is looking to develop an Indiana Jones TV series.
Here’s all the available info about the Willow series coming to Disney+ later this month.
There’s not a whole lot that’s accurate in the delightful Weird Al biopic, but here’s a list letting you know what is and isn’t real.
The Night Court reboot will premiere on NBC on January 17th.
Joey Lawrence says there are talks happening about a Blossom reboot.
The second season of The Wonder Years reboot was bumped to ABC’s summer schedule.
No one tell Entertainment Weekly Halloween was two weeks ago; they just released a list of their picks for the best horror movies from the ‘90s.
Salt-N-Pepa received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame last Friday.
Sylvester Stallone says he turned down a $34 million offer to make Rambo IV back in the late ‘80s.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Guns N’ Roses released a new version of November Rain in honor of the song’s 30th anniversary. There isn’t much noticeable difference between this version and the original if you’re an infrequent November Rain listener. And I certainly wasn’t going to listen to the two full versions of the marathon song over and over to compare. But this website broke down the differences.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
The teal-and-purple “jazz” ‘90s cup design has seen a long-lasting nostalgic second life over the past several years. But we’ve totally forgotten the other cup design of the era: orange and yellow flowers. Here’s a deep dive into those cups.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
This ad, from when Nintendo released the Game Boy Pocket in 1996. And here I was thinking Heinz’s brief foray into purple and green ketchup was the most disconcerting use of color.
Have a great week!
-Sam