Oct 21: Backstreet Boys, the history of the South Park Guys and Mormon Satire
Plus the most popular toy from the year you were born
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
October 21st, 2022 • Issue 122
Retro readers… earlier this week I announced my personal project to publish 100 books and I’m asking for public accountability: https://samgreenspan.com/journal/i-am-going-to-publish-100-books/
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
October 21st
25 years ago, on October 21st, 1997, the Backstreet Boys’ single As Long As You Love Me was released (sort of).
As Long As You Love Me is emblematic of the weird, botched Backstreet Boys rollout in the U.S.
(I wrote a lil bit about that rollout in an early issue of The Retro. In short: For whatever reason, the Backstreet Boys’ debut album came out everywhere in the world in 1996 except the U.S. By the time they were introduced to America in 1997, their second album was out in Europe. So the debut U.S. album had tracks from both of those European albums.)
As Long As You Love Me was on the Backstreet Boys’ debut album in the U.S and their second album worldwide. Again, because of the awkward rollout.
But… the version of As Long As You Love Me on both the U.S. and European albums was the wrong mix. It was a mix that made the song sound quite similar to the Boys’ previous single Quit Playing Games With My Heart.
The label wanted to get the “correct” version of the song onto future printings of the Backstreet Boys’ album, but the first version of the track was already out in the wild. And it was the version that made it onto MTV and onto radio stations. (I had trouble tracking down the “correct” version.)
From there, As Long As You Love Me became a hit… just not an official one. Continuing the mismanagement theme, the song was ineligible for the Billboard Hot 100 because the label never released it as a commercial single. At the time, that was a requirement to make the charts.
So despite being a clear hit, possibly even with number one potential, the song is not officially considered a hit for the Backstreet Boys.
(Billboard would change the commercially-released rule the following year thanks to situations like this one. Other non-hit ‘90s hits that also pushed the change: Alanis Morissette’s Thank U, Goo Goo Dolls’ Iris, Fugees’ Killing Me Softly, No Doubt’s Don’t Speak, and The Cardigans’ Lovefool.)
Eventually everyone in the Backstreet Boys’ management radius figured out how to handle their cash cow — but in these early stages, they were a mess.
1980 - The Philadelphia Phillies won their first-ever World Series.
1991 - Apple introduced the PowerBook.
1992 - Wario made his first appearance, as part of Super Mario Land 2.
1993 - Madonna’s book Sex went on sale.
1995 - Shannon Hoon, lead singer of Blind Melon, died.
1998 - The New York Yankees won the World Series, defeating the San Diego Padres.
2000 - Baha Men’s only hit, Who Let the Dogs Out, peaked at number 40.
2000 - The TV show Cheaters premiered.
October 22nd
1982 - First Blood hit theaters.
1988 - Phil Collins’s single A Groovy Kind of Love hit number one.
1988 - Geraldo’s special “Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground” aired on NBC.
1990 - Pearl Jam debuted at a cafe in Seattle.
1991 - Shanice’s single I Love Your Smile was released.
1996 - En Vogue’s single Don’t Let Go was released.
1999 - The Best Man hit theaters.
2000 - Roger Clemens threw a broken bat at Mike Piazza.
2001 - Pardon the Interruption premiered on ESPN.
October 23rd
24 years ago, on October 23rd, 1998, Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s movie Orgazmo hit theaters.
Orgazmo was the very early work of Trey Parker and Matt Stone. They filmed it before South Park, though its limited theatrical release happened on this day in 1998, more than a year after South Park debuted.
The movie has cult classic status, though the cult likely does not extend beyond the South Park creators’ (albeit large) fanbase.
It also was the first step on Parker and Stone’s long, complex comedic relationship with Mormonism.
Though not Mormon themselves, the pair grew up in Colorado, Utah-adjacent — and saw the Mormons (with its stereotypical overly cheerful, overly sheltered adherents) as ripe comedic fodder.
Parker and Stone wouldn’t quite get the satire right in Orgazmo. Yes, the juxtaposition of a Mormon missionary from Salt Lake City with the southern California porn industry was textbook fish out of water. And there were a few points throughout the movie where they aimed to draw parallels between the exploitation endemic to both Big Religion and Big Porno. But they never quite landed the plane; Orgazmo had way too many other moving parts to nail the satire.
Parker and Stone’s second attempt at Mormon satire came in 2003, with a South Park episode called “All About Mormons”. In the episode the guys are outright hostile toward Mormons, at one point including a song calling Mormons “dumb dumb dumb dumb dumb.” And once again, they don’t quite get their point across. They’re too angry as specifically Mormons here, rather than remembering Mormons are supposed to be their proxy for the issues they have with all organized religions (and, drilling down deeper, hypocrites and charlatans).
They’d finally get it right the third time with their Broadway musical The Book of Mormon in 2011. On this third try, the older and more mature Parker and Stone found their balance. They mined all available comedy in Mormon stereotypes and some of the more credulous aspects of Mormonism (and the mental gymnastics asked by all religions). And they did it without outright tearing into religion as a whole — just the ways large religions lose their way in a mix of self-seriousness and fixating on the literal over the metaphorical.
The satire was so well-crafted the actual Mormon church even ran ads in the Playbill. Parker and Stone had come a long way in the 13 years since Orgazmo.
1988 - The Mission: Impossible TV reboot premiered.
1991 - Wilt Chamberlain’s biography was released, in which he claimed to have had 20,000+ sexual partners.
1992 - Reservoir Dogs hit theaters.
1993 - The Toronto Blue Jays won their second consecutive World Series as Joe Carter hit a series-winning home run to defeat the Philadelphia Phillies.
1995 - The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was released.
1998 - Pleasantville hit theaters.
1998 - Britney Spears’ single …Baby One More Time was released.
1999 - Santana and Rob Thomas’s single Smooth hit number one.
October 24th
1982 - Steffi Graf had her first professional tennis match.
1986 - The movie Soul Man hit theaters.
1987 - Michael Jackson’s single Bad hit number one.
1992 - The Toronto Blue Jays won their first World Series, over the Atlanta Braves.
1994 - Merril Bainbridge’s one hit, Mouth, was released.
1995 - Smashing Pumpkins’ single Bullet with Butterfly Wings was released.
1998 - TQ’s single Westside peaked at number 12 on the Billboard charts.
2000 - Linkin Park’s debut album, Hybrid Theory, was released.
2002 - The D.C. sniper was caught and arrested.
October 25th
1978 - Halloween hit theaters.
1980 - Barbra Streisand’s single Woman in Love hit number one and her album Guilty hit number one.
1982 - Newhart premiered on CBS.
1986 - Cyndi Lauper’s single True Colors hit number one.
1987 - The Minnesota Twins won their first World Series, defeating the St. Louis Cardinals.
1988 - An ABC News report aired on the popularity of pygmy pigs as pets.
1990 - The first Simpsons “Treehouse of Horror” episode aired.
1990 - Evander Holyfield knocked out Buster Douglas to win boxing’s heavyweight championship.
1991 - House Party 2 and Curly Sue, two real cinematic classics, hit theaters.
1993 - The Jon Stewart Show premiered on MTV. It would last 24 episodes.
1993 - The Rocky Horror Picture Show aired on TV for the first time, on FOX.
1994 - Madonna’s album Bedtime Stories was released.
1996 - High School High hit theaters.
1996 - The Crocodile Hunter premiered.
1997 - The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ one hit, The Impression I Get, peaked at number 23 on the Billboard chart.
2001 - Windows XP was released.
2002 - Jackass the Movie hit theaters.
October 26th
1981 - The L.A. Dodgers won the World Series over the New York Yankees.
1984 - The Terminator hit theaters and Michael Jordan played in his first NBA game.
1985 - Whitney Houston’s single Saving All My Love for You hit number one.
1990 - D.C. mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison for crack.
1993 - The NFL announced the Carolina Panthers expansion team.
1996 - The New York Yankees defeated the Atlanta Braves to win the World Series.
1997 - The Florida Marlins bought their first World Series.
1998 - A U.S. federal judge refused to issue an injunction banning the sale of mp3 players.
1999 - The CDC released a study declaring an obesity crisis in the U.S..
2000 - The New York Yankees won the World Series over the New York Mets in a Subway Series.
2000 - The PlayStation 2 was released.
2001 - The U.S. passed the PATRIOT Act.
2001 - Donnie Darko and the Lance Bass movie On the Line both hit theaters.
October 27th
32 years ago, on October 27th, 1990, NBA Inside Stuff premiered on NBC.
SportsCenter gets a lot of credit for the humorous, personality-driven sports TV genre. (A genre that’s now popular on pre- and post-game shows as well as many other sports variety-type programs. It’s less popular on in the sports shouting genre.)
But NBA Inside Stuff *also* deserves credit for an early rethinking of what a sports show could look like, sound like, and feel like. Inside Stuff, which premiered on this day in 1990 and ran until 2006, seized on the growing popularity of the NBA and introduced it to a ripe, younger audience with a weekly show for kids.
And in that pre-internet era, Inside Stuff became the only reliable place to see the stuff kids loved: The week’s best dunks, moments, and bloopers. And it also became the only place to see NBA stars’ personalities; it played an undeniable role in the NBA stars becoming the most popular athletes in the ‘90s.
Inside Stuff lasted on its original home of NBC until 2002. It bounced to ABC in 2002 when ABC secured the NBA rights, and ended in 2006.
There was a revival on NBA TV in 2013 but the show no longer had the same utility as it did in the past. Highlights were now readily available on YouTube and Twitter moments after they happened. Kids didn’t need a TV show, especially one on a deep cut cable network, as a conduit into the NBA.
Still, even if the show came to a less-than-celebrated end, you can see NBA Inside Stuff’s light-hearted, things-you-might-otherwise-miss DNA all over sports TV. And nowhere is it more evident than in TNT’s pre-game, post-game, and halftime studio show, a show featuring Charles Barkely, Shaq, and Kenny Smith — former NBA stars who once appeared all over Inside Stuff during its heyday.
1981 - Queen and David Bowie’s single Under Pressure was released in the U.S..
1982 - Prince’s album 1999 was released.
1985 - Billy Martin was fired by the New York Yankees for the fourth time.
1990 - SNL’s famous Chippendale’s sketch aired.
1990 - Janet Jackson’s single Black Cat hit number one.
1991 - The Minnesota Twins completed a worst-to-first turnaround and won the World Series over the Atlanta Braves.
1992 - Tipper Gore admitted she covered her VCR clock with tape to not watch the time blink 12:00.
1994 - The first ever banner advertisement appeared on the internet.
1995 - Leaving Las Vegas hit theaters.
1996 - Pop-Up Video premiered on VH1.
1997 - Monica’s single Angel of Mine and KP and Envyi’s single Swing My Way were both released.
1998 - Jay Z’s single Hard Knock Life was released.
1998 - 112’s album Room 112 was released.
1998 - The CHiPs reunion aired on TNT.
1998 - Lion King II: Simba’s Pride went straight to video.
1999 - The New York Yankees won the World Series over the Atlanta Braves.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
Video game releases only started happening on Tuesdays because of Sonic the Hedgehog 2.
When Sega was releasing Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for Genesis in 1992, they decided to hype a Tuesday (or, as they called it, “2sday”) for the game to debut. The Tuesday game release date stuck and became an industry standard.
U Can’t Touch This was not M.C. Hammer’s highest-charting song — it was only 5th.
Despite being his best-known song today, U Can’t Touch This only reached the eighth spot on the Billboard Hot 100. Four M.C. Hammer/Hammer songs had higher peaks: Have You Seen Her, Pray, Too Legit 2 Quit, and The Addams Groove.
The Chicago Bulls have never lost in the NBA Finals.
Michael Jordan led the Bulls to the NBA Finals six times during the ‘90s and won the championship all six times. The franchise had never gone to the Finals before that, and hasn’t gone since — giving the Bulls a lifetime finals record of 6-0.
There are two other NBA franchises that are also undefeated in all Finals appearances. The Sacramento Kings and Toronto Raptors are both 1-0.
Kevin would’ve murdered the Wet Bandits with his Home Alone pranks.
A doctor evaluated the film and concluded there were 23 different times when the Home Alone booby traps would’ve killed the burglars.
The biggest pizza delivery day in Domino’s Pizza history came in 1994.
And it was… during the O.J. Simpson Ford Bronco chase.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
Reboot/sequel trailer madness…
A Christmas Story Christmas, coming to HBO Max on November 17th.
House Party, which is back on at HBO Max, coming out December 9th. In this reboot, two dudes throw a mansion party at LeBron’s house.
Teletubbies, coming to Netflix on November 14th.
Creed III, coming to theaters on March 3rd. Unlike Creed II, it looks completely divorced now from the Rocky roots (no Stallone in the trailer and probably not in the movie).
The sequel to 1996’s Twister has its name… Twisters. The current plan is to begin filming in the spring.
Ralph Macchio says a Mr. Miyagi prequel series is “in the discussion stages.”
Mike Tyson says he’s made at least $30 million and counting from biting off Evander Holyfield’s ear.
Sigourney Weaver gave her blessing to Selena Gomez’s Working Girl reboot.
The NHL revealed retro jerseys every team will wear this season, a good chunk of which go back to the ‘90s.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Here’s a list from Reader’s Digest of the most popular toy from the year you were born, going back to 1960. Best part: Not a slideshow.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
There’s an academic paper on the ‘80s and ‘90s “war on drugs” commercials — e.g., “this is your brain on drugs” and “I learned it by watching you.” A few things I didn’t know. One, their creators, the Partnership for a Drug-Free America, was funded by the American Association of Advertising Agencies.
And two, the ads specifically targeted illegal drugs, keeping things like alcohol, tobacco, and pharmaceuticals away from the message — since those three industries also helped fund the ads.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
In the early ‘90s, a young Paul Rudd starred in a Super Nintendo commercial. He doesn’t have any lines but really seems to love the game library.
Have a great week!
-Sam
Good luck with your book project! I co-ran an indie press for 8 years and publishing 100 books is no small feat.