4 years ago
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A summer where we sang along to the Spice Girls and wanted nothing more than those McDonald's Hercules plates.
1. Tamagotchis had just been released in the US and was the must-have toy:
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2. The Spice Girls were one of the biggest acts in the world and appeared on their classic "Too Hot to Handle" Rolling Stone cover:
Columbia / courtesy Everett Collection
They also had a huge summer hit with their song, "Say You'll Be There."
3. If you tuned into Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer the line-up was: Monkee Mondays, Lucy Tuesdays, Bewitched Be-Wednesdays, Happy Days Thursdays, and Jeannie Fridays:
4. Disney released its 35th animated movie, Hercules:
Disney
And the world was treated to the Muses. 🙌
5.
And McDonald's sold the iconic Hercules plates as part of the promotion for it:
6. AOL launched its AIM instant messaging program — and teens would never be the same after it:
AOL
7. The Disney Channel released Northern Lights, which starred Diane Keaton and was the first movie under its Disney Channel Original Movies title:
Alliance Communication Corp. / Alliance Communication Corp. / Courtesy: Everett Collection
Prior to this, Disney Channel movies were called Disney Channel Premiere Films.
8. The Rosie O'Donnell Show wrapped up its very successful, and also very long, first season:
Warner Brothers. Courtesy: Everett Collection
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9. Buffy the Vampire Slayer also wrapped up its first season — which was only 12 episodes long:
Sony Television
The series debuted in March of that year.
10. South Park debuted its very first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe."
Viacom
The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, created their first short with the characters five years earlier, in 1992, when they were students at the University of Colorado.
11. Married... with Children ended its run after 11 seasons after being canceled at the last minute (even the cast thought they'd be back for Season 12):
Fox Network. All rights reserved. / courtesy Everett Collection
12. The Disney Afternoon block ended its run after almost seven years — but it did leave us with some classic cartoons and banger theme songs:
Walt Disney Co. / ©Walt Disney Co./Courtesy Everett Collection
13. Mariah Carey announced she was separating from her husband and label honcho, Tommy Mottola.
Hulton Archive
They would divorce the following year.
14. Nude photos of Brad Pitt (taken by paparazzi in the 1995) were published in Playgirl.
Dominique CHARRIAU/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images
Brad ended up suing and winning a restraining order against the magazine over invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The magazine would end up stopping reprints of the issue.
15. Brad Pitt was also in the news after he and Gwyneth Paltrow announced that they were breaking up after being together for two and half years:
16. Puff Daddy had the biggest hit song of the summer with "I'll Be Missing You":
Bad boy Records
17. Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)"...
Sony Music
19. Missy Elliott released her critically acclaimed and groundbreaking debut album, Supa Dupa Fly:
WMG
20. While Radiohead released their critically acclaimed and groundbreaking third album, OK Computer:
UMG
21. MTV premiered its sixth season of The Real World, which was set in Boston...
MTV / Courtesy: Everett Collection
22. ...while Daria wrapped up its first season.
MTV / Courtesy: Everett Collection
24. Mike Tyson bit off a piece Evander Holyfield's ear during the third round of their WBA Heavyweight Championship fight:
Jeff Haynes / AFP / Getty Images
25. The UK transferred sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China after controlling it for 156 years:
Paul Lakatos / AFP / Getty Images
26. Gianni Versace was murdered in front of his Miami Beach home by serial killer Andrew Cunanan:
Robert Sullivan / AFP / Getty Images
27. Princess Diana was killed, at age 36, in a car accident in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris:
Johnny Eggit / AFP / Getty Images
28. Legendary actor James Stewart died at age 89:
Hulton Archive / Getty Images
29. Luc Besson's epic cult classic The Fifth Element was released:
Columbia Pictures
31. Mike Myers hosted the fifth annual MTV Movie Awards:
MTV /mtvasia.com
He also used it to promote his new film, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
32. The ceremony also honored Chewbacca with its Lifetime Achievement Award — where he got a nice introduction by the late and great Carrie Fisher:
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Girthicker / MTV/ youtube.com33. Men in Black was released and wasn't just the biggest movie of the summer, but also of the year:
Columbia Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
34. Jurassic Park's highly anticipated sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released and would go on to be the second-biggest movie of the year:
Universal / courtesy Everett Collection
35. George Clooney starred as Batman in the critically panned Batman & Robin:
Warner Bros.
Since then, Joel Schumacher apologized to anyone who hated the film.
36. Fox and Pepsi sponsored a give-away of a perfect replica of the Simpson's house that was built in Henderson, Nevada:
David Waite / Getty Images
The house was also completely decorated inside with items of furniture designed like the ones seen on the show.
37. Nintendo released its classic and revolutionary game, GoldenEye 007:
38. Popular TV commercials included the 1-800-Collect commercial that featured Phil Hartman as Max Jerome, Private Eye...
40. ...and the Pure Moods commercial (which was blissful, but also played non-stop):
View this video on YouTube
hereinmylifetime/ youtube.comThe album had just been re-released that April and it used TV commercials to sell it.
41. The first Lilith Fair tour took place (which was founded and headlined by Sarah McLachlan):
Bob Berg / Getty Images
42. Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now, which became the fastest-selling album — selling over 420,000 copies on its first day alone — in UK history (at the time):
SMG
43. Fleetwood Mac reunited and released The Dance — their live album that was recorded as part of their MTV special — which went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went on to be a huge seller. The success of the album led the band to fully reunite and tour again:
WMG
44. 101 Dalmatians was the biggest-selling VHS tape of the summer. Although it had been released in April of that year onto home video, it was would continue to be a big-seller eventually selling 15 million copies:
Yup, kids couldn't get enough of the OG Cruella and the puppies!
45. George Lucas released the Star Wars: Special Edition Trilogy onto VHS — he would never release the original non-Special Edition films again:
46. Filming began on The Phantom Menace and hype for the long-awaited prequels was in full ~force~.
20th Century Fox Film Corp. All rights reserved. / courtesy Everett Collection
George Lucas had actually begun writing the script for Phantom Menace three years earlier, in 1994.
47. Jimmy Kimmel began his TV career as the co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money:
Viacom
48. And finally, it was announced that Titanic was moving its release date from July (unable to meet its deadline) to December — leading to speculation that the movie was going to be a big flop:
20thcentfox / ©20thCentFox/Courtesy Everett Collection
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