Sep 23: How Don't Worry, Be Happy Rode '80s Pandering to Monstrous Popularity
Plus a test of whether the Ferris Bueller day is actually possible
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved, forgot, or never knew existed
September 23rd, 2022 • Issue 118
How Don't Worry, Be Happy Rode '80s Pandering to Monstrous Popularity
34 years ago, on September 24th, 1988, Bobby McFerrin’s one hit, Don’t Worry, Be Happy, hit number one.
Don’t Worry, Be Happy doesn’t sound like an ‘80s song, but it does sound like the ‘80s.
In fact, Don’t Worry, Be Happy — an anthem for the prevailing bumper sticker philosophy of ‘80s — served as a nice summation to wrap up the decade.
And it was maybe the last time the prevailing sentiment was “don’t worry, be happy” as opposed to “oh no oh no the world is on fire.”
In 1988, George H.W. Bush even used Don’t Worry, Be Happy as his campaign song. (Until, as per the usual way those things always go, Bobby McFerrin told him to stop.) It’s hard to imagine a politician today thinking “don’t worry, be happy” would be a vote-driving sentiment.
As for Bobby McFerrin himself, he’s about as pure a one-hit wonder as there’s ever been. He had this sole number one hit and never had another single land anywhere in the Billboard Hot 100 (let alone it top 40, constituting a “hit”). Don’t Worry, Be Happy is also the only a cappella song to ever hit number one — there is zero instrumentation on the entire track.
And he (likely) knew it was pandering. Before Don’t Worry, Be Happy, Bobby McFerrin had a solid reputation in the jazz and folk worlds but little mainstream popularity or notoriety. By creating a song with more mass appeal song, perhaps he could get a share of a much more lucrative pie.
The phrase “don’t worry, be happy” itself comes from Meher Baba, an Indian spiritual leader who found his audience with Westerners looking for Eastern philosophy but, you know, pared down into simplified platitudes to be more digestible.
Also… Bobby McFerrin isn’t Jamaican nor does he have and Jamaican accent, but he sure wants to sound like he’s got one in this track. After all, the Jamaican “irie” spirit — at least the tourist perspective on it — fits nicely with the song’s theme. (On that note, there’s a widespread misconception that Don’t Worry, Be Happy is a Bob Marley song. When you start typing the song title into Google, its second auto-suggest option is “dont worry be happy bob marley.”)
Though Don’t Worry, Be Happy would feel out of place in music today, and though its time has passed, there’s still a contemporary market for pandering, bite-sized affirmations. There are countless Instagram accounts that post recycled memes of positivity — and rack up hundreds of thousands of followers along the way.
But they don’t represent the overall sentiment across the culture — at least nowhere close to the extent to which they did during the late ‘80s, creating the ripest of environments to launch a song like Don’t Worry, Be Happy into the stratosphere.
This week in the ‘80s and ‘90s
September 23rd
1986 - Congress voted the rose as the official flower of the U.S.
1987 - The original My Little Pony aired its series finale.
1989 - Milli Vanilli’s single Girl I’m Gonna Miss You hit number one.
1991 - CeCe Peniston’s single Finally was released.
1992 - Mad About You premiered.
1992 - Manon Rheaume became the first female athlete to compete in one of the major U.S. sports league.
1994 - Gloria Estefan’s single Turn the Beat Around was released.
1994 - The Shawshank Redemption hit theaters.
1995 - The Notorious BIG made a guest starring appearance on Martin.
1995 - Luniz’s one hit, I Got 5 on It, peaked at number eight.
1997 - Boyz II Men’s album Evolution was released.
1999 - Netflix launched its mail-in subscription model.
September 24th
1982 - Prince’s single 1999 was released.
1983 - Billy Joel’s single Tell Her About It hit number one.
1985 - Growing Pains premiered.
1987 - A Different World premiered.
1988 - Ben Johnson of Canada won the 100m event at the Olympics, only to get disqualified three days later.
1988 - East Germany’s Christa Luding-Rothenburger became the first athlete to win Summer and Winter Olympic medals in the same year.
1988 - James Brown got into a high speed chase.
1990 - Tevin Campbell’s single Round and Round was released.
1991 - Nirvana’s album Nevermind and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ album Blood Sugar Sex Magik were both released as was A Tribe Called Quest’s album The Low End Theory.
1991 - Dr. Seuss passed away.
1992 - The Sci-Fi Channel debuted.
1993 - The Program, Dazed and Confused, and The Good Son all hit theaters.
1993 - Boy Meets World premiered.
1993 - Myst was released.
1994 - The Norm MacDonald era of SNL’s Weekend Update began.
1995 - The Colin Firth TV movie of Pride and Prejudice debuted on BBC.
1998 - eBay went public.
September 25th
1980 - Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham died.
1981 - Sandra Day O’Connor was sworn in as the first-ever female Supreme Court justice in the U.S.
1982 - Silver Spoons premiered.
1987 - The Princess Bride hit theaters.
1993 - Ace of Base’s album The Sign was released in the U.S.
1993 - “Office Space” shorts debuted on SNL.
1993 - Cypress Hill’s Insane in the Brain peaked at number 19.
1997 - Marv Albert plead guilty to biting a woman.
1999 - Freaks and Geeks premiered.
2000 - Vince Carter performed one of the greatest dunks of all time, jumping over 7’2 Frederic Weis of France at the Olympics.
2001 - Undeclared premiered on FOX.
2001 - Michael Jordan announced his (second) return to the NBA.
September 26th
1982 - Knight Rider premiered on NBC.
1982 - At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert premiered in syndication.
1984 - Prince’s single Purple Rain was released.
1986 - Run-DMC became the first rap group to have a top 10 hit, with Raisin’ Hell.
1986 - Crocodile Dundee hit theaters.
1986 - The episode of Dallas where Bobby Ewing returned from the dead because his death was all just a bad dream premiered.
1987 - Whitney Houston’s single Didn’t We Almost Have It All hit number one.
1989 - Biz Markie’s Just a Friend was released.
1990 - The NC-17 movie rating was established.
1990 - Cop Rock premiered on ABC.
1991 - Eight people entered Biosphere 2.
1993 - The eight people emerged from Biosphere 2.
1995 - The Goo Goo Dolls single Name was released.
1995 - JFK Jr.’s magazine George debuted.
1997 - The series finale aired of Lamb Chop’s Play Along.
2001 - Star Trek Enterprise premiered on UPN.
September 27th
1989 - Technotronic’s single Pump Up the Jam was released.
1989 - Two guys went over Niagara Falls in a barrel and were the first to survive.
1991 - Necessary Roughness hit theaters.
1992 - The Ben Stiller Show premiered.
1994 - Brandy’s self-titled debut album was released.
1995 - O.J. Simpson tried on the glove and it didn’t fit.
1996 - Sabrina the Teenage Witch premiered.
1998 - Mark McGwire hit his record-setting 69th and 70th home runs of the season in the final game.
1998 - Google was canonically born; this is the day Google now celebrates as its anniversary even though it launched earlier in the month.
1998 - The superimposed yellow first down line appeared on televised football games for the first time.
September 28th
1980 - Carl Sagan’s Cosmos premiered on PBS.
1981 - Olivia Newton-John’s single Physical was released.
1983 - The Big Chill hit theaters.
1984 - Miami Vice premiered on NBC.
1987 - Star Trek: The Next Generation premiered in syndication.
1988 - Orel Hershiser set a record for pitching consecutive scoreless inning.
1990 - Game Boy was released in Europe.
1991 - Michael Jordan made his one and only hosting appearance on Saturday Night Live as Chris Farley, Chris Rock, and Julia Sweeney joined the cast.
1991 - Garth Brooks’s album Ropin’ the Wind became the first country album to debut at number one on the Billboard 200.
1992 - Shai’s single If I Ever Fall in Love was released.
1994 - Ed Wood hit theaters.
1997 - Apple launched its Think Different ad campaign.
1998 - Internet Explorer passed Netscape for browser market share.
2001 - Zoolander hit theaters.
September 29th
1983 - Microsoft Word launched.
1984 - Prince’s single Let’s Go Crazy hit number one, giving him a simultaneous number one single, album, and film.
1985 - The first of seven victims of Tylenol laced with cyanide died.
1985 - MacGyver premiered on ABC.
1986 - Designing Women premiered on CBS.
1987 - Thirtysomething premiered on ABC.
1988 - The space shuttle Discovery was launched, the first since the Challenger explosion.
1988 - The U.S. men’s basketball team won bronze at the Olympics.
1989 - Zsa Zsa Gabor was convicted of slapping a police officer.
1989 - Thundercats had its series finale.
1990 - Nelson’s single (Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection hit number one.
1991 - My Own Private Idaho hit theaters.
1992 - Stone Temple Pilots’ album Core was released.
1992 - Magic Johnson announced his comeback to the NBA.
1993 - Grace Under Fire premiered on ABC.
1993 - A Bronx Tale hit theaters.
1997 - Robbie Williams’s first solo album, Life Thru a Lens, was released.
1998 - Jay Z’s album Vol. 2 Hard Knock Life was released.
1998 - Felicity premiered.
2000 - Remember the Titans hit theaters.
5 ‘80s and ‘90s trivia facts
Foreigner’s Waiting for a Girl Like You was the first song ever to spend 10 weeks at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 without ever hitting number one.
Foreigner was thwarted by Olivia Newton-John’s Physical and Hall & Oates’s I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do).
One song since has equaled Foreigner’s 10 weeks at number two. Missy Elliott’s Work It trailed Eminem’s Lose Yourself for all 10 weeks in 2002 to 2003.
There were no non-fictional people mentioned in the first three Harry Potter books.
In fact, the only non-fictional character in the entire series was in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. J.K. Rowling included a mention of a nine-year-old girl named Natalie McDonald from Toronto. She was losing her battle with leukemia and her wish was to be included in Harry Potter.
The Toronto Blue Jays won both their World Series appearances in back-to-back years in the early ‘90s… and have never been back since.
They’d never been in the World Series before, either. So the team’s all-time World Series record is 2-0.
Other teams that are undefeated in their World Series appearances: The Miami Marlins (2-0), Arizona Diamondbacks (1-0), Los Angeles Angels (1-0), and Washington Nationals (1-0).
There have been more than 200 academic papers written about the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series.
It might be the most-studied TV show ever.
Over the course of the 180 episodes of Seinfeld, the Jerry character dated 66 different women.
And all 66 of those relationships ended over various minutiae.
Everything old is new again
A look at the reboots, revivals, throwbacks, retro insights, and nostalgia in the news
There’s a new Karate Kid movie scheduled for 2024 which Sony says is the “return of the original Karate Kid franchise.” But it’s not connected to Cobra Kai, even though that is a continuation of the original Karate Kid franchise. So… shrug?
Mariah Carey is releasing a secret alt-rock album she recorded in 1995. The album is called Someone’s Ugly Daughter. No word on when it will come out.
Pretty much all the Beverly Hills Cop originals are coming back for the new sequel, Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley. Paul Reiser, Bronson Pinchot, J. Reinhold, and John Ashton are all in.
Def Leppard and Motley Crue’s stadium tour this year was the highest-earning tour of either band’s career.
There hasn’t ever been a sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas before Tim Burton and director Henry Selick refuse to make it using CG — only stop-motion. And no studio’s willing to pay for that.
Jonathan Lipnicki says his acting career stopped for a while through high school and beyond “because [he] wasn’t a very good actor at one point.”
Here’s a comprehensive breakdown comparing the new Quantum Leap reboot to the original series.
There’s a crowdfunding project to re-create the fancy memory cards from the Sega Dreamcast.
Recommendations of the week
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you loved
Could Ferris Bueller’s day off really be done? The Washington Post tested it out by trying to make every stop on Ferris and co.’s agenda from the movie.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you forgot
Here’s the story of Choose Your Own Adventure books — which still sell one million copies per year — by no less than The New Yorker.
The ‘80s & ‘90s pop culture you never knew existed
7 Up made a brief attempt to get into the cola game in 1987 with 7 Up Gold, a Coke-colored, caffeinated soda. The taste has been described as a sweet, spicy cinnamon ginger ale. Their signature commercial featured a pre-Tenacious D Kyle Gass. The soda bombed, capturing approximately a 0.1% market share after a year, and 7 Up discontinued it.
Have a great week!
-Sam