I
just came to a sobering conclusion about this year. It's not anything that I consider to be life-changing, life
threatening, or just plain having to do with life in general - except for maybe
the fact that I just realized how old I am, and how fast time is passing by.
This
year marks twenty years since I entered high school.
TWENTY
YEARS!!!
(insert
Macaulay Culkin scream here)
Yes,
this is true. I entered my freshman
year of high school in...shudder...1995.
I
still have a hard time believing that it has been twenty years since I was a
freshman in high school. To me, it
doesn't even seem like that much time has passed. In 1995, I was thirteen going on fourteen. My only responsibilities back then were math
homework and science fair projects. The
rest of the time, I was fixated on my Super Nintendo!
Now,
I'm 33 going on 34, and I have a full-time job, and want to do so much more
with myself but am not sure how to make that happen just yet. And now I play Super Nintendo games on my
Nintendo 3DS.
But,
it got me thinking about that simpler time known as 1995. I know that 1995 was a big year for me as I
transitioned from elementary school to high school that year. But I got to thinking about all the other
things that were huge that year, and I almost want to do a retrospective on all
the things in pop culture history that are turning twenty this year.
In
fact, I've chosen exactly twenty items that are turning twenty this year. Like the "Wheel of Fortune"
categories, these can be people, places, or things.
Ready? Let's have a look!
1.
Windows '95 - August 24, 1995
Windows
8 might be all the rage these days (whether you're raving because you love it,
or raging because you hate it), but back in the summer of 1995, Windows '95
changed the way that people saw their PC's.
Introducing the taskbar and start button (still in use today), Windows
'95 was the perfect operating system to usher in the Internet age.
2.
Sony PlayStation - September 9, 1995
Although
the Japanese were the first to experience the PlayStation in December 1994,
Sony entered the video game market amidst some strong competition from Nintendo
and Sega. Twenty years have since
passed, and Sony is still considered a huge force in the marketplace, with the
fourth installment of the game console being released in November 2013. Think about it like this. We would not have Crash Bandicoot, Gran
Turismo, or Skylanders (which in itself was sort of a spinoff of Spyro the
Dragon) without the PlayStation!
3.
Kendall Jenner - November 3, 1995
I
suppose I have to include one person who was born in 1995, and Kendall Jenner
of the overexposed Kardashian-Jenner family is the only one whose name stood
out in the list of celebrities born in 1995.
It does make me feel very old knowing that when I began high school, she
was still a fetus...
4.
Jagged Little Pill - June 13, 1995
It
wasn't exactly a debut by Canadian singer Alanis Morissette. This was actually her third album release
following a short lived pop career. But
when she dropped the Debbie Gibson act and dropped F-bombs in a song that was
allegedly about an actor from "Full House", she got everyone's
attention. The album spawned six hit
singles, and was easily considered to be one of the best selling albums of the
1990s.
5.
One Sweet Day - November 14, 1995
And
if Alanis Morissette had the most recognized album of 1995, certainly this
collaboration between Boyz II Men and Mariah Carey was 1995's biggest
single. It hit #1 at the end of the
year and stayed at the top for sixteen consecutive weeks - the longest that any
song has ever stayed at the top of the Billboard charts.
6.
The Finale of "Full House" - May 23, 1995
"Full
House" ended in May 1995 after eight seasons, and the way the show went
out wasn't with a bang, but with a whimper.
Michelle falls off a horse, loses her memory, and the whole second half
of the show focuses on Michelle trying to remember who she is. Really, couldn't the show have ended with an
earthquake flattening the house or something memorable?
7.
"Who Shot Mr. Burns?" - September 17, 1995
Though
the story began with "The Simpsons" sixth season finale on May 21,
1995, viewers had to wait four whole months to find out who pulled the trigger
and shot the evil, calculating C. Montgomery Burns. It was one of the most watched episodes of "The
Simpsons", and many viewers watched in silence as Maggie Simpson was
revealed to be the culprit.
8.
Toy Story - November 22, 1995
Remember
when the world was first introduced to Woody and Buzz Lightyear? Remember when Andy was still just a
kid? Remember when Pixar was still
experimenting with computer generated movies?
Can you believe that all took place 20 years ago? I know.
I wept myself.
9.
Batman Forever - June 16, 1995
It
was twenty years ago that Val Kilmer took over the role of Batman from Michael
Keaton, and that Chris O'Donnell first assumed the role of Robin. The film itself wasn't as greatly received
as the Batman movies that featured Keaton, but it was far from being the worst
one. I quite liked it.
10.
GoldenEye - November 13, 1995
Not
only did the Batman franchise see a new actor take on the lead role in 1995,
but so did the James Bond franchise.
Exit stage right Timothy Dalton, and hello Pierce Brosnan. And of the four films that Brosnan did
during his seven year stint as James Bond, this was easily the best of the
lot. By the time "Die Another
Day" was released, we were ready to welcome Daniel Craig in with open
arms.
11.
Waterworld - July 28, 1995
Sadly,
not all box office releases in 1995 were blockbusters. Kevin Costner's "Waterworld" made
headlines twenty years ago for all the wrong reasons. While it was considered at the time to be the most expensive film
ever made, reviews of the movie were mediocre at best.
12.
The O.J. Simpson Verdict - October 3, 1995
The
trial of the decade ended in October 1995, and audiences cried out in anger
after hearing the words "not guilty", clearing O.J. Simpson of all
charges in the deaths of his ex-wife and her friend in the summer of 1994. Of course, we all know that O.J. himself
ended up behind bars for a completely different criminal offense years
later...but still, some still consider O.J. Simpson as the man who got away
with murder twenty years later.
13.
The Oklahoma City Bombing - April 19, 1995
Sadly,
not all of the memories on this list are happy ones. One hundred and sixty-eight people were killed when a bomb
exploded outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in what was then the
worst terrorist attack on American soil.
Well, that is until 2001 anyway...
14.
The Drew Carey Show - September 13, 1995
Years
before becoming the host of "The Price is Right", Drew Carey kicked
off his very successful sitcom, "The Drew Carey Show" twenty years
ago this September. The show would run
for nine seasons, wrapping up production in 2004, and made stars of Diedrick
Bader, Ryan Stiles, and Craig Ferguson in the process.
15.
Xena: Warrior Princess -
September 4, 1995
Now,
this actually makes me completely gobsmacked.
How can it be twenty years since we were first introduced to New Zealand
actress Lucy Lawless and her notorious battle cry as Xena: Warrior
Princess? The show itself did
surprisingly well in cable and syndication, running for six years before
signing off for good in 2001.
16.
Star Trek: Voyager - January 16,
1995
Star
Trek fans, take note. The fourth
television series based on the works of Gene Roddenberry debuted twenty years
ago on the UPN channel.
Sigh...remember
the days in which the UPN still existed?
That seems so long ago!
17.
The Jenny Jones Scandal - March 6, 1995
Jenny
Jones was never considered to be up in Oprah Winfrey's class in hosting a talk
show, but on March 6, 1995, her show was the subject of much controversy. On a show she filmed on secret crushes,
Jonathan Schmitz was informed that his friend Scott Amedure had a crush on
him. Schmitz killed Amedure a few days
later, and Jenny Jones was thrown right into the middle of a wrongful death
suit. The case was later overturned,
but it marked a turning point in talk television, as most talk shows turned
down the controversy in the wake of the murder.
18.
The DVD - September 1995
Can
you believe that the DVD is turning twenty this year? After the colossal failure of the laserdisc player in the early
1990's, the announcement was made that a digital video disc had been in the
works and would revolutionize the way we watch movies. Certainly people were skeptical, especially
when you consider that DVD players when first introduced were almost a thousand
dollars. But in the end that prophecy
came true, and DVD's permanently replaced VHS tapes in the early 2000s.
19.
The "Million Man March" - October 16, 1995
The
Million Man March was held twenty years ago this coming October in Washington
D.C., and was solely designed to raise awareness for the African-American
community and to raise awareness for voter registration in the United
States. Although not as powerful as the
great Civil Rights Movement, it certainly did make its mark on the world.
20.
Chrono Trigger - March 11, 1995
Finally,
I couldn't end this look back through time without adding a game that allowed
players to...go back in time. It's been
twenty years since the RPG masterpiece "Chrono Trigger" was released
for the Super Nintendo, and twenty years later, the game still has a lot of
replay value - especially since the Nintendo company released an expanded
version for the Nintendo DS just a few years ago.
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