October 23: Got Milk?, Smashing Pumpkins, Bill Buckner
Plus Ghostbusters shoes, a Pong machine, and more
The Retro by 11 Points
Modern perspectives on ‘80s and ‘90s nostalgia
October 23, 2020 • Issue 18
This week in nostalgic history
October 23rd
25 years ago, on October 23rd, 1995 - The Smashing Pumpkins album Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness was released.
This Smashing Pumpkins album is one I consider an accidental soundtrack of my high school years. I wasn’t a huge Smashing Pumpkins fan, but the songs from this album were inescapable, seeping into seemingly every car ride, night hanging out with friends, walk through the mall, and amateur band talent show performance. If there had been a Dazed and Confused-style movie about one random summer night for me in the mid ‘90s, Tonight, Tonight would absolutely be featured during the scene where we’re driving from one location to another to follow the destiny the night is presenting as we all gaze out of the windows of the car.
In other words, I randomly put this album on Spotify about a year ago and got weirdly nostalgic even though I wasn’t really into it at the time.
Also on October 23rd: Wilt Chamberlain’s biography was released, in which he claimed to have had 20,000+ sexual partners (1991)… Reservoir Dogs hit theaters (1992)… the Toronto Blue Jays won their second consecutive world series (1993)… Pleasantville hit theaters (1998)… Britney Spears’ single …Baby One More Time was released (1998)
October 24th
34 years ago, on October 24th, 1986 - The movie Soul Man hit theaters.
There are many reasons this movie wouldn’t be made today — 90 minutes of blackface is the death blow but not at all the only problem. So you might say Soul Man was a movie that could only exist in its time — but in 1986 it couldn’t really pull off its central conceit either. Criticism was immediate and unmistakable. It essentially took down C. Thomas Howell’s movie career.
However, I think the movie might’ve been able to get away playing with fire in 1986 if it had just been better. If your vehicle to try to make Important Statements about racism is a comedy about a white college student posing as a Black college student to get a scholarship and then experiencing discrimination, you’ve got to (1) draw more than tepid, painfully obvious conclusions and (2) be way, way funnier in the process. Basically, the movie needed to be much more insightful and much better if it was going to work in 1986, and there’s no circumstance where it would work in 2020 — for the best.
Also on October 24th: The Toronto Blue Jays won their first World Series (1992)… Merril Bainbridge’s one hit, Mouth, was released (1994)… TQ’s single Westside peaked at number 12 on the Billboard charts (1998)
October 25th
34 years ago, on October 25th, 1986 - Bill Buckner has a ball roll between his legs, ultimately costing the Boston Red Sox the World Series.
Bill Buckner is a really interesting study into someone’s name, career, and legacy all boiling down to one second in time. The story is famous now: the Red Sox, in the midst of a near-century-long World Series drought, were on the verge of defeating the New York Mets to clinch the title when Buckner let a ground ball roll through his legs at first base. The Mets won the game and then the series. Buckner, a pretty good player throughout his career (he’d been an All Star and batting champion in the early ‘80s), was forever and solely immortalized by that moment.
His redemption took a very, very long time. (Longer than most public figures’ redemption takes for much more egregious offenses, like did you know Mel Gibson is headlining a new movie that’s about to come out about an angry Santa?) Buckner retreated to Idaho after his career ended and stashed away up there, getting into the real estate business. He was used as a punchline in a 1995 Nike commercial (where he had a cameo). Really, his redemption tour didn’t begin in earnest until the Boston Red Sox finally won the World Series in 2004. Buckner even threw out the first pitch at a game at Fenway Park a few years later to a standing ovation and had a well done in Curb Your Enthusiasm where he didn’t choke in a big moment.
So fortunately, Buckner eventually did get some level of redemption after a very long time before he passed away last year at age 69.
Also on October 25th: The first Simpsons Treehouse of Horror special aired (1990)… Evander Holyfield knocked out Buster Douglas to win boxing’s heavyweight championship (1990)… House Party 2 and Curly Sue, two real cinematic classics, hit theaters (1991)… the Jon Stewart Show premiered (1993)… High School High hit theaters (1996)… the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ one hit, The Impression I Get, peaked at number 23 on the Billboard chart (1997)
October 26th
36 years ago, on October 26, 1984 - The Terminator hit theaters and Michael Jordan played in his first NBA game.
These two events, on the same day, feel like almost kindred spirits. On this day, Arnold Schwarzenegger made his leap from bodybuilder/actor to world’s biggest action star — and Jordan made his leap from highly-touted college player (but only third pick in the NBA draft) to the face and future of the NBA. Although I can’t confirm this, I’d assume based on the popularity of the NBA at the time, far more people saw Arnold’s ascent than Jordan’s on this day.
Also on October 26th: D.C. mayor Marion Barry was sentenced to six months in prison for crack (1990)… Sublime’s only top 40 hit, What I Got, peaked at number 29… the Florida Marlins bought their first World Series (1997)
October 27th
26 years ago, on October 27th, 1994 - The first ever banner advertisement appeared on the internet.
My favorite thing about the internet’s first banner ad — an AT&T ad that appeared this day in 1994 on the website HotWired.com — is that it came out of the blocks knowing it was terrible. The ad was intentionally disingenuous; its text tried to lure clicks through mystery, rather than straightforward promotion. What a precedent. What an incredibly fitting precedent.
Then again, I’d take banner ads all day long over the current “we know everything about you and will sell that info to anyone who asks” advertising blanket of Google and Facebook. Even goofy banner ads like this one.
Also on October 27th: NBA Inside Stuff premiered (1990)… the Minnesota Twins completed a worst-to-first turnaround and won the World Series (1991)… Leaving Las Vegas hit theaters (1995)… Pop-Up Video premiered (1996)… Jay Z’s single Hard Knock Life was released (1998)
October 28th
27 years ago, on October 28th, 1993 - The Simpsons aired its fourth Treehouse of Horror episode.
By the fourth Treehouse of Horror episode, the team behind The Simpsons had really found its stride. The episodes gave them a chance to indulge in the surreal and in making their more or less grounded-in-reality cartoon behave like a true boundless cartoon. The formula worked so well that eventually, the show began indulging in the format outside of Halloween, putting the characters in re-tellings of things like Shakespeare plays, tall tales, Bible stories, and more.
This Treehouse of Horror is a barrage of now-classic moments. Homer in hell’s ironic punishment division being forced to eat all the donuts in the world, which he does happily… Martin’s Wang Computers shirt… Bart versus the gremlin on the school bus… the Simpsons going to Mr. Burns-as-Dracula’s mansion… Homer referring to home as the “building thingy where our beds and TV is”… and a Peanuts parody ending.
It would set the stage for the following year’s Treehouse of Horror, arguably the best ever.
Also on October 28th: The Oakland A’s won a World Series interrupted halfway by an earthquake (1989)… 2pac’s single Keep Ya Head Up was released (1993)… the Atlanta Braves won their only World Series during their highly successful ‘90s run on the strength of a strike zone the size of Georgia (the country, not the state) (1995)… the first female NBA referees were hired (1997)
October 29th
27 years ago, on October 29th, 1993 - The famous Aaron Burr Got Milk? commercial aired for the first time.
Was this Alexander Hamilton’s first big pop culture breakthrough? (I heard he’s had another.)
The Got Milk? TV campaign launched on this day in 1993 with a commercial where a historian who specialized in the fatal Aaron Burr-Alexander Hamilton duel had a chance to answer a trivia question on that subject for a radio contest, but couldn’t speak due to peanut butter in his mouth and a lack of milk.
The ad was, weirdly enough, directed by Michael Bay before he became a guy who filmed things blowing up. The ad was so successful it spawned tons of other Got Milk? ads and was even inducted into the advertising hall of fame. However, for all the accolades… it’s arguable that it did anything for milk sales.
Also on October 29th: Rob Base’s one hit, It Takes Two, peaked at number 36 (1998)… MC Hammer’s single 2 Legit 2 Quit was released (1991)… John Glenn returned to space at age 77 (1998)
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news.
Jaleel White (aka Steve Urkel) has a new podcast where he talks to other former child stars.
Your nostalgic pop culture meets sneakers collaboration of the week is… Ghostbusters and Reebok.
Here’s a plot summary of Space Jam 2 and it’s bonkers. Especially how it really seems like the basketball is just completely wedged in for no apparent reason.
Coca-Cola is dropping the ‘80s diet soda legend Tab from its lineup due to slow sales.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jason Alexander, and Larry David are holding a mini Seinfeld reunion tonight (10/23) to raise money for Texas democrats.
A new single-function portable Atari Pong machine is coming to market. It’s a small device with a screen, two dials to move the paddles, and Pong installed. That’s all it does. Pricing has not yet been revealed.
The retro console maker Analogue’s newest machine is a modern version of the TurboGrafx-16.
Lea Thompson says she took her prosthetic breasts from the set of Back to the Future: Part II.
The co-writer of the Back to the Future trilogy explains why there will never be a fourth movie.
Tim Burton is in talks to reboot The Addams Family.
A TV series reboot of Flashdance is happening at Paramount+. (That’s what CBS All Access is going to be called going forward because it was always a tall ask to get people to pay for mostly just CBS.)
On cue from earlier, Smashing Pumpkins are releasing a “sequel” to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness.
Throwbacks and recommendations
The trailer for the Animaniacs reboot on Hulu has been released. This is different than the teaser from last week. It also features a heavy dose of Pinky and the Brain but not of the other side characters.
A list of 15 artists who hated their own hit songs. Most of them are in the timeframe scope of this newsletter.
A new web app lets you make Game Boy Camera-style photos.
Video of Ben Stiller’s audition for the role of Marty McFly in Back to the Future has been released for the first time.
A Notorious B.I.G. freestyle from 1997 about how much he likes Pepsi has been released.
Here’s a bonkers story about Phil Collins and his ex wife’s “armed occupation” of his mansion.
Thanks for reading!
-Sam