Lipps, Inc. was a studio band that formed in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Steve Greenberg wrote and produced all the music and played several instruments; the lead singer and saxophonist was Cynthia Johnson; the remaining members were a changing group.
Their debut album Mouth to Mouth was released in early 1980. Their debut single Rock It was a minor hit, peaking at #64 in the U.S. But they are best known for their second single Funkytown. It spent four weeks at number one in the U.S., #2 in the UK and was a worldwide smash. Subsequent albums and singles failed to match that success. Their final full-length album 4 was released in 1983.
Atlanta-born Chris “Mack Daddy” Kelly was one half of the rap duo Kris Kross (the other half being Chris “Daddy Mack” Smith).
The Chrises were discovered in 1991 in an Atlanta mall while shopping for sneakers by super-producer Jermaine Dupri.
The boys were just 13 in 1992 when their debut album Totally Krossed Out was released. The album sold 4 million copies in the U.S. alone! their lead single Jump spent 8 weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the first (and only to date) rap song that has spent as long at number one. With the release of Jump, their fame exploded and the boys were everywhere. They were the opening act on Michael Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous World Tour (they cameoed in his 1991 music video for Jam); they appeared in RUN DMC’s Down With the King and TLC’s Hat 2 Da Back videos; they appeared on an episode of the comedy series A Different World and were the closing musical act of the comedy sketch show In Living Color — and this was only in 1992! They also starred in a video game.
In 1993, they appeared in the film Who’s The Man? They released their second album, Da Bomb, in the same year. In 1996, they released their final album, Young, Rich & Dangerous. After the album’s release, Kris Kross broke up and went on to solo projects. In February 2013, they reunited for So So Def’s 20th Anniversary concert.
Just three months later, Kelly was found unresponsive at his Atlanta home at only 34 years of age, apparently from an overdose.
Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery (L.C. Page & Co., 1908)
This literary classic by Canadian author Lucy Maud Montgomery recounts the adventures of Anne Shirley, a young orphan sent to live with Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert, a middle-aged brother and sister who live on a farm in Prince Edward Island who intended to have a boy come to help on their farm.
The book has sold more than 50 million copies and has been translated into 36 languages. Montgomery has written numerous sequels to the book and since her death, an additional sequel and a prequel has come to light.
Three films have been produced, seven television movies, six television series and numerous stage productions have been spawned.
If you’ve read Anne of Green Gables and want to live it, you can visit the Green Gables farmhouse in Cavendish, Prince Edward Island (see below). If you plan a visit during the summertime, you can catch the Anne of Green Gables musical as well. Or, if you ever need to relocate with your children to Japan, they have incorporated Anne into their school curriculum.
DunkaRoos were a snack food first launched in 1988. Each package contained several cookies and icing. You were to dunk the cookies in the icing and enjoy. Flavors included Chocolate Cookies with Vanilla icing, Graham Cookies with Chocolate icing or Chocolate-Chip Graham cookies with Rainbow Sprinkle icing.
The product’s mascot was Sydney, a kangaroo voiced by John Cameron Mitchell. In 1996, during the height of its popularity, a contest was held — Dunk-a-Roos Kangaroo Kanga-Who Search — resulting in a new mascot, Duncan, the daredevil.
DunkaRoos are still available, but they are much more difficult to find.
Beverly Hills, 90210 was an American teen drama/soap opera that originally aired on Fox from October 4, 1990 to May 17, 2000. Produced and created by Aaron Spelling, this was the first incarnation of the 90210 franchise. The show centered on following the lives of a group of teens that lived in upscale, glamorous Beverly Hills, California where they attended the fictitious West Beverly Hills High School and then into the also fictitious California University. The show is also responsible for launching the careers of several 90s stars including Jason Priestley, Shannen Doherty, Jennie Garth, Ian Ziering, Luke Perry, Brian Austin Green and Tori Spelling (daughter of series creator Aaron Spelling). Thanks is due to this series that everyone now knows one of the zip codes for Beverly Hills is indeed 90210.
The original premise of the show was around the culture shock and adjustment of the Walsh family as they moved from Minnesota to California. In true soap opera fashion, later storylines were focused on topical issues such as date rape, alcoholism, domestic violence, drug abuse, suicide, teenage pregnancy, abortion, AIDS and much more. Also in true soap opera fashion (and due to its ten year run), the show saw several cast changes, but Jennie Garth, Tori Spelling, Ian Ziering and Brian Austin Green were regulars for the entire ten seasons.
It was due to a special “summer season” that aired during the summer of 1991 while all the other TV series of the day were in rerun status, these all new episodes of Beverly Hills, 90210 propelled the series’ popularity so that by the start of the fall season of 1991, 90210 was one of Fox’s top shows.
Entertainment Weekly has named the show #20 on the Top 100 TV shows of the past 25 years; the show’s theme song #15 on the Top 25 TV Theme Songs of the past 25 years and the 90210 Sideburns #50 on the Pop Culture Moments that Rocked Fashion.
In 10 seasons, the show had a total of 296 episodes. It launched a spin-off series, Melrose Place and was rebranded by the CW Network as 90210 in September 2008. The original 90210 has been broadcast in an additional 17 countries, including Croatia, Indonesia, Macedonia, Philippines, Slovenia and Turkey.
Aaron’s Party (Come Get It) by Aaron Carter (Jive/Zomba, 2000)
Aaron Carter, born December 7, 1987, in Tampa, Florida, is the younger brother of Backstreet Boys member Nick Carter. In addition, Aaron has a twin sister Angel and two other sisters B.J. and Leslie. (His parents ran the Garden Villa Retirement Home in Tampa.)
Carter began performing at age 7 as the lead singer of a local band called Dead End. He left after two years as they headed more towards alternative and Carter wanted to do pop music. His first solo appearance, in March 1997, while opening for the Backstreet Boys was a cover of Jet’s Crush on You. He was then offered a recording contract and the single was released. His first album was released in Norway, Spain, Denmark, Germany and Canada in 1997 and in 1998 in the U.S.
His follow-up album Aaron’s Party (Come Get It) was released in September 2000. The album sold more than 1.5 million copies. The album peaked at #4 and the single at #35.
At age 13 in 2001, Carter began his acting career by guest starring in an episode of Lizzie McGuire. In April of that year he made his Broadway debut as JoJo the Who in Seussical the Musical. He then recorded his third album Oh Aaron, released in August 2001. Play Along Toys created an Aaron Carter doll to coincide with the album’s release.
His fourth album, Another Earthquake was released in September 2002. At this time, his parents filed a lawsuit against former manager Lou Perlman for failure to pay royalties from his debut album.
In 2005, he also starred in a direct-to-video film Popstar, based heavily on his own life (he was only 17). He also starred in Supercross that same year. In October and November 2006, all five Carter siblings starred in an E! reality series House of Carters.
In February 2008, Carter was pulled over for speeding where police found less than two ounces of marijuana. He then signed on for season 9 of Dancing with the Stars.
Today, at age 25, Carter is still performing, recording and makes the occasional appearance on reality shows and stage productions.
This action comedy was directed by Walter Hill and starred Nick Nolte and Eddie Murphy — his film debut that landed him a Golden Globe nomination. 48 Hours was produced by Joel Silver and was his debut as a film producer, Lawrence Gordon and D. Constantine Conte.
The film is credited as being the first “buddy cop” movie. A cop Jack Cates (Nolte) must team up for 48 hours with a convict Reggie Hammond (Murphy) to catch Reggie’s old partner Albert Ganz (James Remar) who has killed another cop Detective Ganz (James Keane).
48 Hours became the seventh highest grossing film of 1982. It scored over $4.3 million in its opening weekend and has taken in over $78.8 million from the domestic box office. In 2007, IGN (Image Games Network), an entertainment website, dubbed the film the 3rd Greatest Buddy Cop Film.
She’s So Unusual is the debut album of American pop singer Cyndi Lauper. This album, Cyndi’s look and voice as well as the strength of her debut single and the subsequent singles all catapulted Lauper to fame. Five of the seven released singles reached the Top 30 of Billboard’s Hot 100 chart with the first four all reaching the Top 5! Lauper was the first female to have four Top 5 singles.
The album received virtually nothing but accolades: from reviewers and awards; most notably 2 Grammys. She’s So Unusual peaked at number four on the Billboard 200, spending 64 weeks in the chart’s Top 40! It sold 6 million copies in the U.S., 16 million worldwide.
The album was produced by Rick Chertoff, William Wittman and Lauper herself.
The debut single, Girls Just Want to Have Fun peaked at number two in the U.S., but went to number one in 10 countries (including Australia, Norway, Brazil, New Zealand, Japan, Ireland and Canada).
Second single, Time After Time reached number one on the Hot 100 and in 15 other countries.
Third single, She Bop hit number three in the U.S., and went Top 10 in 8 other countries.
Fourth single, All Through the Night, peaked at number five in the U.S. and the Top 10 in 2 other countries.
Fifth single, Money Changes Everything, only hit #27 in the U.S. and the Top 10 in 2 other countries.
The sixth single, I’ll Kiss You was released as a promotional single only and failed to chart.
The seventh and final single, When You Were Mine was a promotional single in Canada, Japan and the U.S. and only reached #62 on the Canadian Singles chart.
In Canada, She’s So Unusual is the second best-selling album by a female artist in the 1980s, behind Whitney Houston’s self-titled album.
The Hoppity Horse (popular in the 70s) was a yellow inflatable rubber ball with a horse head that had handles coming out of its head. You could also get Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck inflatables. Though this wasn’t the best toy in terms of safety, those young children of the 70s still rave about this toy. For the horses that are still alive and lucky enough to have an owner, they still remain a hit with children of today.
Thanks to the 80s workout craze that saw fitness lovers wearing fluorescent colored leggings, in the 90s those leggings morphed into these awful neon-colored striped bicycle shorts that everyone (and I do mean EVERYONE) had. The sad part is they were not relegated to workout time either. These shorts were everywhere! Don’t you just love a fad that morphs into something else that’s even worse?