On This Day: July 3, 1985 — Back to the Future Hits Theaters
On July 3, 1985, Back to the Future opened and became the biggest film of the year. The firing that nearly killed it, the DeLorean, and the story behind the classic.
-
-
The Decade Hip-Hop Learned to Tell Stories
Between 1990 and 1999, Golden Age hip-hop stopped bragging and started narrating — turning rappers like Nas, Biggie, and the Wu-Tang Clan into the great American storytellers of the decade.
-
Cheers TV Show: 9 Wild Facts About the 80s Sitcom
The Cheers TV show almost got cancelled after finishing dead last — then became one of the most decorated sitcoms ever. 9 wild facts about the Boston bar.
-
On This Day: July 2, 1982 — Lawn Chair Larry’s Wild Flight
On July 2, 1982, a 33-year-old truck driver named Larry Walters — soon nicknamed Lawn Chair Larry — tied 42 helium weather balloons to an aluminum patio chair and floated 16,000 feet over Los Angeles. He carried a pellet gun, a CB radio, sandwiches and a six-pack, drifted into the flight path of Long Beach…
-
How the Sampler Built the Sound of 90s Rap
The Golden Age hip-hop era ran on two machines and a crate of dusty records. Here’s how the SP-1200, the MPC, and a handful of obsessive producers built the sound of 90s rap.
-
Baywatch TV Show: 9 Wild Facts About the 90s Hit
How a canceled NBC lifeguard drama became the most-watched TV show on Earth, with red swimsuits, slow-motion runs, and 1.1 billion weekly fans.
-
On This Day: July 1, 1984 — The PG-13 Rating Is Born
On July 1, 1984, the MPAA created the PG-13 rating after Gremlins and Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom pushed the old PG too far.
-
How the Golden Age of Hip-Hop Conquered the 1990s
From The Chronic to Illmatic, the Golden Age of hip-hop turned the 1990s into the most fearless decade rap ever had. Here’s how it happened.
-
2 Live Crew: 9 Wild Facts About the Banned 1989 Album
2 Live Crew were a Miami hip-hop group whose 1989 album As Nasty as They Wanna Be became the first sound recording in U.S. history ruled legally obscene. A federal judge banned it in June 1990, sheriff’s deputies arrested the group on stage, and a record-store clerk was convicted just for selling it. Two years…
-
On This Day: June 30, 1986 — Madonna Drops True Blue
Madonna True Blue arrived on June 30, 1986, her third studio album and the first record she co-wrote and co-produced top to bottom. It spawned five hit singles — “Live to Tell,” “Papa Don’t Preach,” “True Blue,” “Open Your Heart,” and “La Isla Bonita” — hit number one in a record 28 countries, and sold…
-
Juice Movie: 9 Reasons Tupac’s 1992 Classic Still Hits
The Juice movie (1992) was Tupac Shakur’s first film. Inside the cast, the ending, the soundtrack, and why this Harlem crime classic still hits.
-
On This Day: June 29, 1995 — Atlantis Docks with Mir
On June 29, 1995, the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed the first Shuttle-Mir docking, latching onto Russia’s Mir space station 250 miles above Lake Baikal. It was the 100th U.S. crewed launch and the first joint U.S.-Russian flight since 1975. Commander Robert “Hoot” Gibson and Mir commander Vladimir Dezhurov shook hands through the hatch, and for…
