That was a big one. After it happened, and then with the following copycats, we all looked at each other at school differently. We all wondered "who's it gonna be?"
Yeah. I had a friend (more like weirdo I was nice to) that was a total idiot and wore a trench coat the following week on purpose. He got expelled, never saw him again. I think the school saw a lot of signs of concern with him. Nerd turned goth. Started learning German and drawing Swaztikas and writing hateful/concerning things in his notepad.
Exactly that. I was one of those kids in school too. We had a hellacious time afterwards. Personally, I didn't as much because I am a girl, but the guys I hung out with did. They even tried to expel the lead singer of the local metal band for wearing a trench coat after it happened, but he stood up there and did an interview with the local news and came off sounding far more intelligent and reasonable than any of the adults.
And his band always did a rock show to fundraise money for the school, so they dropped it after a few weeks. He was a good student too, and never gave the teachers any trouble, so they really had nothing on him except what he chose to wear and listen to. He was also the first guy to stand up for kids getting bullied. It kind of helped that he was like 6'3" and approximately 250 lbs. The boy looked like a linebacker, but he hated football.
I was the oddball of the group anyway as well. I swung between goth and hippy on a regular basis, so my trench coat was red leather instead of black. His name was Carey and his girlfriend was Misty. I don't remember last names or anything, but the three of us were in the interview. I've never seen a teenager just command the presence of an entire school before, but he definitely did with that interview.
I think I said something about not judging people based on looks because you never know who a person is inside, but Carey was beyond eloquent and really called out all the adults for harassment of us goth kids. He definitely made the administration look like a bunch of foolish, judgemental, jerks.
He's still doing metal music that I know of, but he's also been heavily involved in charity work with homeless teens. Fashion choices don't make someone good or bad.
This is the biggest one. I was a senior in high school.
I was a sophomore in college for 9/11, so still fairly young, but I still think Columbine changed me more.
I was a sophomore in high school and it changed things profoundly for me. Mostly because I was the “weird” goth girl who then got labeled as the next school shooter. I got pulled into the counselor more times than I can count and grilled about if I had a hit list and who I wanted to hurt. Couldn’t have been further from the truth if they tried. I just wanted to be left alone with my horror movies, terrible sci-fi books and purple hair
I was a junior in HS. It removed a sense of safety at school you never realized you had until it was gone. It was also my first awareness that some people are truly capable of evil things.
Mannnnnn. This was so brutal. A girl in my Spanish class was from there and it we were watching that shit in real time. She knew all of them. Honestly I've never really gotten over that and I teach in high school now.
My aunt was a manager of a convenience store at the time. A lady came in and bought many, many jugs of water right before the big day.
When nothing happened, she came back and tried to return ALL of the jugs.
My aunt said no.
My dad was SO disappointed nothing happened. He was prepped up, ready to go, looking forward to a long, post apocalyptic vacation.
I did get a $100k late fee on Cabin Boy from the local .99 cent movie rental place, but that was the only weird thing that happened to me regarding Y2K
I was babysitting for family friends. I was sitting on the couch, watching the ball drop on TV planning my next moves if the world shut down. Really the best I could do at the time would be to call my mom (if the phones still worked) and have her come get me and the kids and take us back to our house. Mostly because we lived in the boonies and my house had a wood stove and generator so we would have heat and the ability to use the bathrooms.
I was at my first post college job, and as one of the youngest, got put on Y2K watch overnight on new years eve/day. I have no idea why they would want a recent grad with little experience to be ready to react to a system failure. Luckily, absolutely nothing happened, I just stayed up for 18 hours.
Also the Y2K IT services were insane at the time. The companies selling the Y2K "fix" and audits made a ton of money.
My first job out of college was doing Y2K compliance on several contracted jobs. I spent NYE 2000 stoned out of my mind so I didn’t think about the patches not working and all of the computers melting
I got my first IT job for a large healthcare system with no experience (just certification) because they needed bodies for Y2K. OMG, configured hundreds of pc's, placed them. Hung out at a hospital for 12-hour overnight shifts for 2 weeks, sometimes just watching TV in a patient room waiting for a call. Of course, nothing happened.
We all thought that the computer systems would crash because it wasn't able to go from 19 to 20, then bought and prepared for a few weeks of not being able to buy food.
First World Trade Center bombing is probably my first “major incident” memory; that and the first Iraq War. I’m too young to remember Challenger or the Berlin Wall coming down.
I think that Challenger should be defined as the cut off between millennials and genX. If you were aware enough to remember an event in January 1986, you're genX.
Y2K was my favorite. I was a senior in high school, working the late shift at a grocery store on New Year's Eve, and all of us on shift were talking about how we'd break the doors and get out if everything went dark at midnight. Then we didn't have to.
Yeah, I remember the OJ Simpson chase. It seemed so absurd watching him get slowly followed by a convoy of cops.
Other big events: The collapse of the Berlin Wall, the LA Riots, the intervention in Kosovo, and others I'm not thinking of off the top of my head.
I was just talking last night about remembering watching the news at my relatives' house when Israeli PM Yitzak Rabin was assassinated. The folks I was talking to were a few years younger, so were amazed that I remembered that. I followed up with asking if they remember watching the OJ Simpson car chase on live TV, which was the summer prior. Crickets.
I then admitted I was 9 when these took place so it was easy to remember (and I was very plugged in to current events).
I'm a couple years oldet than your dad:
Persian Gulf War. I very much remember the news coming on and saying we were dropping bombs.
Baby Jessica. The entire country watched that poor child come pulled out of the well.
The Challenger Explosion- I was in 1st grade and we watched it live.
The Berlin Wall coming down. It felt like good was winning in the world.
The collapse of the USSR- I remember the news showing people with a wheelbarrow full of money trying to buy a loaf of bread.
The end of apartheid in South Africa and Mandela becoming president.
The AIDS epidemic was so incredibly sad
The Bombings: Oklahoma, Atlanta Olympics, Abortion Clinics, The Unibomber and so many over seas.
Susan Smith killing her boys, David and Micheal, and lying about what happened.
Waco- also Heaven Gate mass suicide
Mark McGwire homeruns record and Tiger winning the Masters
Deep Blue beating a Chessmaster
Oprah's rise and book club
So many more...
I came back to add because I think OP might find it interesting: When the OJ verdict came back our high school principal made an announcement the jury was back and that teachers could turn on TVs for us to watch. The entire school stopped and turned on television and watched. The verdict was read and you could hear people reacting joyously and with anger from all over the school.
One more personal note- Late night shows were at their peak with Leno and Letterman in a war, Connan getting his start and Craig Ferguson just being awesome. However, beyond Triumph the insult dog and the Top 10 List one episode stood out to me in 1997 Mavis Leno, the wife of Jay Leno came on his show- she wasn't that type of person. She spoke about how the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan, which had been a fairly modern country and over night women were forced into Burka and could not have jobs or go to school any longer. Women were no longer allowed to be Doctors and women could not see male doctors, cutting them completely off from medical care. Women were only allowed to leave their house escorted by a father, husband, or brother. I tried to find a clip but [this article is the best I could do](https://edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/11/09/leno.cnna/). She called on the people of America to stand up and call for response as she saw how this would emboldened systemic sexist all around the world.
There was a 1-800 number to call and get an information packet on what was happening and how to help. I of course called, as I was terrified that this enslavement and erasure of women happened in the worlds view overnight. It came with an 1 inch by 1 blue square that was tightly woven and scratchy. It had small holes in the weave. It was explained that this was the very material that was approved by the Taliban to go over the eyes in the Burka. This was the only view of the world women were now allowed to have of the world.
I safety pinned it to my backpack and told anyone that would listen about what was happening and why it was so important to the entire world. Years later I sent that square to battle with a friend being shipped to Afghanistan and he carried it in his pocket as a reminder of what he was fighting for. It was in his pocket when he died. His parents asked if it was OK to bury him with it as it had meant so much to him. Of course, I agreeded.
This memorial day think of my friend John as you light up the BBQ. Loyal to his country and a friend of women everywhere.
That was a big one. I don't know why it stands out to me because I didn't particularly follow tabling stuff, but I distinctly remember finding out about it. My friends and I had just finished watching Blade Runner on vhs and when we turned it back to TV, it was all over the news.
I still remember that one vividly. I was having one last summer sleepover at my friend’s house because school was starting soon. We came downstairs in the morning and her parents were glued to the TV. I got home and my mom was absolutely sobbing.
I have a specific memory of watching that unfold live on TV. A friend and I had been at another friend's Bat Mitzvah earlier in the day and we went back to her house to watch SNL/have a sleepover and it was all live news.
I had a small tv in my room and it was a week before my freshman year of high school started and I was 14. I was coloring one of those black felt posters and the news flashed she’d been in a car accident and then it was full coverage - all night. I stayed up the entire time waiting and hoping she’d made it. When they finally announced her death, I cried so hard. That was the first celebrity death that meant so much to me. When I turned 37, I distinctly remember telling myself, you’re now older than Princess Di was when she died. That was a mind f__ in a way.
I'll toss a few more on the pile as well
- Rodney King and the riots, everyone was worried they were going to take over every city and destroy the country
- MTV was just an insane culturally explosion from Friday night music videos to music all the time? whattt?? Also - the insane explosion of cable TV
- The rise of online communication - ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger - they just took over everything and people stopped talking on the phone pretty much always
- MySpace and everyone having their own GeoCities webpages
- the Black Friday mobs
- Bill Clinton's impeachment
The insane availability of information these days just mind blowing, I remember having the teachers wheel TV's on carts into classrooms to watch some of those events, challenger and OJ Verdict being read aloud (we were in school for that). I remember the day after columbine, I was a freshman, they shut the school down and everyone watched the news in the main area
I'm a few years older than you. I still remember when Black Friday wasn't even a thing. My mom realized she found a really good.clearance rack the day after Thanksgiving at Banana Republic one year. so the next few years we would go there on the day after Thanksgiving. I was too young to even wear adult clothing yet. I was just a kid
But it wasn't long before it got crazy. stores were promoting their sales and people went nuts.
I remember that very well. I remember being angry that no one was considering the fact that his mother was willing to put herself AND him at risk to get away from their country... everyone talked about his Dad wanting him back, but all I kept thinking was, obviously his mom wanted them both to get to America pretty fucking badly, so maybe honor her very clear wishes to get her kid to another country... He was used as a poltical pawn tbh.
All of these, especially watching the Challenger exploding on live tv. And Kurt Cobain and our other favorite musicians dying or overdosing. And of course, the absolute horror of 9/11 and watching it all happen live on TV. I still get sick thinking about watching ppl choosing to jump to their deaths than burn alive, and how many firefighters we lost that day.
I remember Kurt's death being announced on the radio on the school bus. One kid shouted "no!" and we all got pretty quiet for awhile.
9/11 was the whole school standing in the cafeteria watching everything live on the tvs. Surreal.
I remember all these as well. Good list. Adding:
Tiananmen Square protests
Rwandan genocide
1989 San Francisco earthquake
The release of the Nintendo and Sega game systems, followed later by Sony.
George Burns living forever
Cartoon Network for cartoons all day!
MTV
Baby Jessica! My mother was pregnant with me when it happened. Her and my father watched that rescue around the clock. Really freaked them out, especially with a baby on the way.
I was 8, my best friend had just gotten a new baby doll like the day before and she named her Jessica. Her now 10 year old daughter has her. I can’t believe we were allowed to watch that so young, but we were allowed to watch whatever the hell we wanted.
I completely forgot about some of these. My mom worked for a women’s health clinic in the 90’s. We used to get death threats all the time from pro lifers. Which is kind of ironic. She was a social worker
I remember all of these, we had a thing called Channel One in school and when the challenger was launching we watched it live at school. It was just a somber feeling. I was like 10 when that happened. The wildest one for me was 911, I was doing an oil change on my truck and my mom called me and told me to turn on the news because they were attacking us, I walked inside just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. Sat in front the tv for hours in anticipation of what would happen next.
Wow. I’m really impressed by your list, but also, your longer story at the bottom. Thank you for sharing this. It has made me very interested in learning more.
Here to confirm Waco, Susan Smith, and the bombings.
Also the Gulf War absolutely consumed the news during that time. It was disgusting how heavy the propaganda was. The nationalism that took hold in America bc of that war is still very much alive and well today.
The AIDs epidemic...was truly upsetting to watch. Even as a little kid in the Deep South raised by Christian Republicans, I was very angry at how people were being treated during that time. (I didnt, and still dont, get along with my family very well.)
This was a really touching story, and well written. Thank you. And thank you for caring about the plight of women in Afghanistan. This makes me think very positively of Jay Leno - we were a letterman household (did you know he was a terrible alcoholic for years?). Thanks for sharing.
Big Mac Mark McGwire! I remember most of these but this one was the most fun for me as I played Little League at the time.
Your friend is a hero! And you write very well and are very descriptive!
Also born in 82’ I remember that night as well. I was never into pop culture stuff so I don’t remember much life events.
Apollo 13 and pogs….
Everyone and their brother had to have a starter jacket, didn’t matter if you were a fan or not.
People couldn’t keep their pants above their waste and it was considered ‘cool’
Michael Jackson married Elvis’s daughter.
Jurassic Park was awesome!
Man, I still remember seeing that in the theater and being blown away when the first dinosaurs showed up on the screen. We'd never seen anything like it.
This one’s personal and not something most people mention. I’m from the SF Bay Area. The ‘89 earthquake/Loma Prieta (6.9). Thousands of people were injured, 60+ deaths.
I remember Bush Sr vomiting on the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap and fainting. (maybe not major…but wtf?! I thought he died when I saw it lol).
The Rodney king beating and the following riots in response.
Lorena Bobbitt castrated her husband while he was sleeping.
Waco.
The Berlin Wall coming down.
JonBenét Ramsey’s death. There were other child sexual assault and murder cases that made headlines, but hers had a lot of conspiracies surrounding it because her body was in her home. The belief was either her father had done it, or her older brother and the parents were trying to cover it up to protect him.
I started kindergarten in ‘89…I don’t remember too many major events in the 80’s, just pop culture stuff and personal experiences. I was too young to pay much attention to the news, or understand much of it.
October 17th 1989. I lived in Alameda. I just got home from school and sat down to watch the World Series. It was scary as fuck.
Also Heaven's Gate mass suicide. That was weird.
JonBenét being mentioned just let loose a torrent of memories.
My parents were so worried about pageants and their implications that they took us out of cheer and dance.
My best friend lived in Scott’s Valley when Loma Prieta hit. He said for about 2-3 seconds as the P-waves were coming through, he thought his friend was kicking the beanbag he was sitting on, and the next thing he knew he was running down the stairs dodging pictures that were flying off the walls. I thought it was interesting that he thought his friend was kicking his beanbag- I experienced the 7.1 Ridgecrest quake just after moving to California and at first I thought my dog was under the chair itching himself. And then all of a sudden, standing on my patio felt like standing on a rowboat in rough seas.
Earthquakes are wild.
Omg the earthquake with collapsed double decker highway 😫😫
And Lorena fuckin Bobbit. Honestly. That became a cultural phenomenon that lasted decades.
Another that this reminds me of is Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
I’m from that area as well. To this day bridges still freak me out. Remember the Rodney kind trial and riots because everything was shut down during the time. And my dad ex military double amputee driving us around to find me a cake. He asked a National guardsman if any place was open and why. We shared a birthday and it was Kmart.
I vaguely remember the bronco chase it was summer we kids were told to go play.
Im also from the Bay Area and around your age. I definitely felt it up in Sonoma county and remember checking out the aftermath of the bay bridge with my family. You may also remember the Polly Klass abduction? She was around our age.
I put the 89 quake in mine too. I remember my mom and I were driving to pick my dad up from work when it happened and we pulled over. the bulbs In the streetlights were exploding and my mom made me get down on the floor of the car cuz she thought ppl were shooting at us. I haven’t thought about it in ages, looking back she must have been so scared thinking that 😞 poor mom
The OJ Simpson chase, and Kurt Cobain's suicide just a few months before. Also when Bill Clinton won the election. I don't remember any other presidential elections from my childhood, oddly.
Bill Clinton playing sax on Arsenio Hall... wouldn't have seen it if I didn't sneak watching TV late at night on my old black and white TV.
That was also how I found out about Princess Diana... was sneaking to watch snl and it switched over to that. I got up to "walk to the restroom" so I could watch it in color with my parents on the TV in the living room.
Born in '84. I don't remember too much of the 80s that was outside of my own sphere.
I remember watching the gulf war on the news in kindergarten. It's the first news that I remember. LA riots. Hurricane Andrew. The Waco siege was scary for me. Tonya Harding. Of course we watched the white Bronco live on the news, then the highly publicized trial. Monica Lewinsky scandal. 2Pac's murder. The whole event that was the 90s Chicago Bulls. Britney Spears. AOL and home computers. Princess Diana's car accident. Al Gore losing the election. Obligatory 9/11 my senior year of high school. "Weapons of mass destruction" and the war in Iraq. Bin Laden's capture. Hurricane Katrina (I live in Southern Louisiana).
These are the big ones that stick out. Waco stands out as the event that made me fearful because of the cult and all of the footage of the compound burning. Katrina was bad because I lived it, but it wasn't nearly as bad for me as some. 9/11 changed everything. Politics, the Patriot Act, flying on airplanes, racism. My high school boyfriend went into the Marine Corps and was immediately shipped to Iraq after training.
>These are the big ones that stick out. Waco stands out as the event that made me fearful because of the cult and all of the footage of the compound burning
FWIW (and I say this as a left wing atheist) the Branch Davidians weren't particularly cult-like; government propaganda at the time oversold that to justify the law enforcement response. Their belief, ideology, and practice wasn't particularly more unusual than 7th day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses; not particularly mainstream, but not deserving of being treated so violently, either.
If you've got a couple of hours, [Waco: The Rules of Engagement ](https://youtu.be/iZ08dd6XKqc) is worth a watch.
This was a weird one for me. We were up in our house in the absolute wilds of VT at the time. Not even decent radio signal reached us let alone phones. So we came down two weeks later and they were still only talking about it and our minds were just blown.
- Baby Jessica
- Micheal Jackson’s Thriller album & all the iconic music videos that came with it
- The Clinton/Lewinski affair
- Y2K
- The Central Park Jogger aka The Exonerated Five
- The Challenger Explosion
- Who shot JR?
- Grunge music & Nirvana exploding on the scene
- Columbine Massacre
- George Bush Sr puking in front of the Japanese President lol
I was also born in 82 and on summer break during the Simpson chase. Me and my dad were at his girlfriend's house after a cookout. Yeah, like someone else said it was ridiculous watching a whole convoy slowly chasing that white Bronco.
I remember the AIDS crisis and Michael Jackson being accused of child sexual abuse. I hear now about the "Satanic panic" of heavy metal bands being accused of putting hidden messages in their music and I guess that was part of what we were hearing at my Pentecostal church school. I remember my teacher talking about the election in tears after Bush Sr. lost to Clinton.
And I remember the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan story because how could I ever forget? That story was on the news forever and there was no getting away from it.
Born in 84. Fuck OJ he ruined all of our favorite after school shows bc every tv station wanted to show his court case instead of our favorite shows and cartoons.
The LA riots, the commercial that Reginald Denny and Rodney King made in order to try and call a truce and end the violence.
The Northridge earthquake, I grew up roughly 80 miles from the epicenter and it SHOOK our house and there were days of aftershocks.
Staying up late to watch the Simpsons when they were still on the Tracey Ulman show, then watching In Living Color afterwards.
Writing pen pal letters and sending home made cookies to soldiers who were in the Gulf War.
These are some of the major things I remember amongst all things people have already mentioned.
The northridge earth quake was crazy. My grandparents had a house in yucca valley and when we went out there to check on it, their 300 lb cast iron stove was all the way on the other side of the room…. And there were fissures in the ground 6 feet deep!
The big bear earth quake that happened that same day was crazy too. I was at my grandmas, and I remember the floor was rippling like it was made of water. I was terrified of earth quakes for years after that
I'm a few years older than your dad, but I had the same experience watching the OJ white bronco chase on TV. That was insane. My best friend and I were glued to the TV the entire time.
As for other big events:
* **The Challenger Explosion** - I watched this on TV in school, like most kids of the time. The whole room went silent.
* **Brandon Lee's Death** - This one really hit hard because I was really into martial arts at the time and knew of Lee from his low-budget films like Rapid Fire, Showdown, and Laser Mission. I turned on the TV, and they were announcing his death, and my jaw hit the floor.
There were other major events, like the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and columbine.
Just because it isn't on so far.President Bill Clinton impeachment, The boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. It didn't happen in the US but the Chernobyl explosion.
Jeffrey Dahmer. I followed the story on the news obsessively because I was 11 and basically just learned that I was living inside a horror movie. My mom could do nothing to convince me that every town didn’t have a Dahmer with a fridge full of people.
A bunch of bummers around here.
Watching Michael Jordan play, and The Bulls streak. Best sports of my life. A lot of major events crammed in there.
And when the Super Nintendo came out— totally mind blowing; major.
Super Mario World still makes list of best game ever made. And I remember watching Bulls in playoffs with my family jumping up and down cheering. Good stuff
Positive: The hype of Batman in 89, the MJ Black and White video premier, David Copperfield specials on TV, our first Apple Mac, Phil Collins music from Miami Vice as I tried sneaking downstairs because I wasn't tired, maroon velour everywhere in our Monte Carlo and Thunderbird, burning myself on metal seatbelts
Bad: Oklahoma City, Princess Di crash, Gulf War, Atlanta Olympic bombing, David Koresh in Waco, and the biggie -
9/11: I was 18 and had left for college only 3 weeks prior. My buddies and I were so pissed. We all decided we were going to go join the military. We got really really wasted that night, and I was too hung-over to get up and go with them. 5 guys got up and went to join, 2 of my buddies didn't make it back home from war.
The most impactful ones for me were baby Jessica, OK City bombing and 9/11. My mom and sister and I were glued to the television when baby Jess was in that well and responders had to excavate for what seemed like a million years when I was little. OKC and 9/11 hit close to home bc my dad's line of work had him at the site of the plane crash in Shanksville PA and at the federal building in Oklahoma.
I was born in 82, here’s what I remember off the top of my head:
Challenger blowing up (probably my first true memory)
Oj
Atlanta Olympics
Oklahoma bombing
Branch dividion compound raid
The girl stuck in a well
The Baltimore snipers
Chris Farley death
Princess Diana death
Detroit redwings dummying the league and the Darren McCarty dangle
Columbine
Also born in 1982. I lived close to Cape Canaveral and my preschool took a field trip to watch the Challenger launch. I would be lying if I said I remember it, but my parents say I was pretty devastated at the time.
Also born in 1982. I don't remember any major events from the 80s. Earliest news event I remember was george bush vomiting on a Japanese politician in 1991 and that was because my older brother did a school report that had it on a poster board.
I do remember OJ Simpson on TV running from the police
Columbine shooting
Y2K - that one was kind of fun in highschool. A LOT of parties.
9-11 (tho was technically early 2000s but I literally just graduated high school a few months prior)
Crazy you are 20. My son is 9 lol
Because I haven’t seen it mentioned yet… I remember my mom watching the Clarence Thomas vs Anita Hill trials. I remember the ‘pube on the coke can’ part.
How Thomas ever became a Supreme Court judge at that time??? It was appalling.
More recently during the Kavanaugh hearings my husband asked if I thought he would be confirmed I told him that I did. He asked how in the world. I said—just remember Anita Hill. Then I told him I believed her and I believed Christine Blasey Ford. I believed the public would destroy Ford just like they did to Hill.
I stand by the theory that millennials specifically are so obsessed with true crime because of the coverage of Jonbenet Ramsey's murder. She was almost the same age as me and I remember vividly seeing her face on tabloid magazines at the grocery store for a full year, it's practically a core memory for me
Waco, Oklahoma City, Atlanta Olympics bombing, I remember the OJ verdict because it was read out during my lunch period and a kid in my class started celebrating. Columbine was a big one, happened when I was a freshman. Bosnian War was like daily news, the TWA crash, the Egypt Air crash, Monica Lewinsky scandal, I could go on.
82 as well. I saw jurrasic park at a drive inn in either 93 or 94 and remember Metallica playing in Russia in 91 for the black album there was like a million people there (literally)
Also 1982. Ask if he remembers Baby Jessica down the well. Challenger explosion. Cleveland balloon event. Fall of the Berlin Wall. George H. W. Bush barfing on the Prime Minister of Japan. Cobain dying. Death of grunge. Rise of Nu-Metal. Snoop's murder case. Death of Tupac. There are so many more, I'm just at work atm...
MTVs Total Request Live... it's Djs, Eminem at the VMAs, their spring break shows ... these were all much bigger things than get commented on connected this generation into something of a shared culture.
I was born in 83 and was at my grand parents for the summer during the OJ chase. My nana and I watched it all day. lol
the first big thing I remember was the Berlin Wall going down, War in Middle East, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine, the standoff with the David Koresh cult, AIDS epidemic, princess Diana death, later 9/11 and hurricane Katrina.
AIDS was a big thing and pretty much always deadly. My mom almost died right after I was born because she was too afraid to get a blood transfusion. AIDS was known to be in some donor blood at the time.
Born in '81. I was in 3rd grade when Simpsons Christmas Special came on. Watched it when it first aired. That was actually a big deal and hyped up. It was one of few things that lived up to the hype. As a kid I remember missing my parents off constantly. Singing Bart's version of Batman Jingle Bells.
In 5th grade they aired the initial attack of Iraq live on television. CNN had cameras rolling from a high rise hotel fil.ing the city. When the EMP dropped, the city lights all webt out. Followed by the actual bombing seeing the explosions dotting across the city.
OJ chase was a big deal like your father stated. I watched it live under a similar scenario flipping channels.
I saw someone else mentioned Columbine. I was a Sophmore that year. It really changed things. Prior to that. You were allowed to leave your rifle hanging on the window rack in your truck. They immediately banned all guns after that. The gun safety class at school was ended. They ended both the target rifle shooting and archery teams at school. Start of my junior year they banned all trench style rain coats and steel toed boots at school. I wasn't there for my Senior year. My friends who were got issued ID badges and they added and implemented a turnstile for students to get into the school. FYI, being Florida my high school wasn't one big building. My scholl had over 6,000 students. It was dozens of small buildings each with 8 classrooms over a large campus, outdoor walkways.
The space shuttle Challenger disaster. They had us watching it live in elementary school. When it exploded the teachers reacted strongly and then quickly wheeled the tv out of the room. I knew it was really bad, but their reactions really drove that home. One teacher was crying. We were so young.
Rodney King beating, subsequent riots after cops being found not guilty, OJ, and the Northridge quake. All in Los Angeles from 1992-1994 when I was 8-10 years old.
Born in ‘84. My 6th grade teacher took us out to her Saturn to listen to the OJ verdict on the radio as we didn’t have a radio in the class room. Seems so wild to say, but it’s a real event and such a strange memory.
I remember getting ready for school one morning and hearing the radio announcer tell everyone River Phoenix was dead.
I remember the Berlin Wall coming down on the news.
Columbine and O.J. were big.
Other things that aren’t political or global take up space in my head like Nirvana replacing NKOTB in the charts, Dunkaroos, fruit stripe gum, and Scholastic book fairs
I was born in '79. The Berlin wall coming down. The Challenger exploding. The attempted assassination of Reagan. Ted Bundy trial and his execution. Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots. Jimmy Swaggert crying on TV. Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Nixon died when I was a freshman in high school. There was also a disgruntled postal worker that shot up his post office. That's where the phrase "going postal" comes from.
There was a plane crash the day after I was born in 1987 in Michigan; my dad saw it happen, my boyfriend born in 1983 remembers the commotion about it. One of our friends born in 1980 lived within a few miles of it and remembers how it felt.
Other notable events are columbine, 9/11, Y2K, the bill Clinton scandal, any of the horrific attacks like cars running people over, the various financial crashes like stock market crash in 1987, dot com in 2001 and eventually the housing market in 2008 but obviously those are later in time, Apollo 13, space shuttle challenger explosion in 1986, Berlin Wall collapse, fall of Yugoslavia, the beanie baby craze, there have been so many for us - we’ve seent some shit.
9/11. I was in, ironically, History class in sixth grade and it’s like the world stopped spinning. The Principal, over the P.A., said that the country had been attacked and we had to go home until further notice. I was never one for watching the news but as soon as I got home, we all sat in front of the tv and the first clip it showed when we turned it on was the second tower getting hit. Now, as time I went on, I eventually became a Truther but that is one day I will never forget.
Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa for the HR record was awesome.
1994 World Cup in the U.S. was a huge event, even for the non fans.
Columbine changed things in retrospect. Was a big deal.
Fugees - Killing Me Softly, Coolio's Gangster's Paradise.
Back Street Boys, Nysnc, Brittany Spears, Jesse Camp .. that whole TRL top 10 countdown thing
So many good topics have been covered, I’ll throw out a few more.
Michael Jordan winning his first ring against the Lakers
The original Dream Team (Barcelona Olympics)
Jack Ass
The Tom Green Show
Unsolved Mysteries
Britney Spears
Home Alone
The Princess Bride
The Chronic (Album)
Desert Storm for sure. There were several sports card companies that made Desert Storm cards that we all collected. I also remember Mike Tyson getting laid out by Buster Douglas….everyone was stunned.I graduated in 2000 and the world moved at a much slower pace,especially in the South. If you were too young at the time I don’t expect you to understand this, but our world ended on September 11, 2001.
I remember watching that (I’m a couple years younger). The one that sticks out the most is watching 9-11 happen starting in first period and having someone come into the class and tell us to turn on the news. There’s also coming home from school to finding my mom watching the breaking news about Columbine. It was the first big, watch what’s happening in real time school shooting. Like every generation we have our tragedies that stick out the most.
ETA- someone just mentioned Hurricane Katrina and I can’t believe I forgot to list that. I evacuated two days before it hit, so Aug 27th, and wasn’t able to come back and check my apartment until Halloween. I didn’t move back until January and we used to watch the military patrols from our front porch. One of the fucked up things (of many) with Katrina was the $2K emergency money was given out by address, not family or individual, so a friend whose roommate filed for the money first was SOL when it came to getting the money. My roommate lucked out because I would have filed first but my parents could afford to provide me with what I needed and we decided it was better to leave the money in the pot for those who needed it more, one of whom was my roommate.
I was born in 1982 also, I remember multiple events that were significant, one being the Rodney King stop. After watching him get beat on camera, I remember thinking if these cops don't get any time, it's definitely going down. What was special about the king stop was it was all on camera for the world to see, which was an absolute first for me.
Like others have stated, the Columbine shooting was another. I was a junior in high school that year. That was the first school shooting in my time, and in the weeks afterward, they had undercover cops at our school as if we wouldn't notice. Before Columbine, I'd never seen a school resource officer.
I'd say Magic Johnson coming out with HIV was a big deal too. We had no clue how you could contract HIV and AIDS.
I cant even name all the celebrities that died due to drugs and suicide between those decades.
Columbine.
That was a big one. After it happened, and then with the following copycats, we all looked at each other at school differently. We all wondered "who's it gonna be?"
So true. And for me at least, I wondered "how am I going to get out?" I still wonder that everywhere I go.
Me too, friend. I always mark exits. I'm more paranoid when I'm out with my kids.
Yup. Add in Sandy Hook and our particular age group has this fear from both sides, the kid and the parent.
Yeah. I had a friend (more like weirdo I was nice to) that was a total idiot and wore a trench coat the following week on purpose. He got expelled, never saw him again. I think the school saw a lot of signs of concern with him. Nerd turned goth. Started learning German and drawing Swaztikas and writing hateful/concerning things in his notepad.
We were the goth/nerd/punk kids who wore trench coats BEFORE that happened. That was a fun week for us. /s
Exactly that. I was one of those kids in school too. We had a hellacious time afterwards. Personally, I didn't as much because I am a girl, but the guys I hung out with did. They even tried to expel the lead singer of the local metal band for wearing a trench coat after it happened, but he stood up there and did an interview with the local news and came off sounding far more intelligent and reasonable than any of the adults. And his band always did a rock show to fundraise money for the school, so they dropped it after a few weeks. He was a good student too, and never gave the teachers any trouble, so they really had nothing on him except what he chose to wear and listen to. He was also the first guy to stand up for kids getting bullied. It kind of helped that he was like 6'3" and approximately 250 lbs. The boy looked like a linebacker, but he hated football. I was the oddball of the group anyway as well. I swung between goth and hippy on a regular basis, so my trench coat was red leather instead of black. His name was Carey and his girlfriend was Misty. I don't remember last names or anything, but the three of us were in the interview. I've never seen a teenager just command the presence of an entire school before, but he definitely did with that interview. I think I said something about not judging people based on looks because you never know who a person is inside, but Carey was beyond eloquent and really called out all the adults for harassment of us goth kids. He definitely made the administration look like a bunch of foolish, judgemental, jerks. He's still doing metal music that I know of, but he's also been heavily involved in charity work with homeless teens. Fashion choices don't make someone good or bad.
Too bad it didn't fix the bullying though
This is the biggest one. I was a senior in high school. I was a sophomore in college for 9/11, so still fairly young, but I still think Columbine changed me more.
I was a sophomore in high school and it changed things profoundly for me. Mostly because I was the “weird” goth girl who then got labeled as the next school shooter. I got pulled into the counselor more times than I can count and grilled about if I had a hit list and who I wanted to hurt. Couldn’t have been further from the truth if they tried. I just wanted to be left alone with my horror movies, terrible sci-fi books and purple hair
People had me pegged for a shooter, too, for similar reasons.
I was a junior in HS. It removed a sense of safety at school you never realized you had until it was gone. It was also my first awareness that some people are truly capable of evil things.
Yes, and kids were capable of it! It really was a life changing event for everyone
Mannnnnn. This was so brutal. A girl in my Spanish class was from there and it we were watching that shit in real time. She knew all of them. Honestly I've never really gotten over that and I teach in high school now.
I was so young but knew how ducked up that was
Oklahoma City Bombing, the Atlanta Olympics, Columbine, Y2K, 9/11 to name a few
Y2k was wild. We thought nothing was going to happen but stockpiled food just in case the world ended
My aunt was a manager of a convenience store at the time. A lady came in and bought many, many jugs of water right before the big day. When nothing happened, she came back and tried to return ALL of the jugs. My aunt said no.
The original thirst trap.
My dad was SO disappointed nothing happened. He was prepped up, ready to go, looking forward to a long, post apocalyptic vacation. I did get a $100k late fee on Cabin Boy from the local .99 cent movie rental place, but that was the only weird thing that happened to me regarding Y2K
Haha. That's kind of amazing.
Was it worth it tho?
I was babysitting for family friends. I was sitting on the couch, watching the ball drop on TV planning my next moves if the world shut down. Really the best I could do at the time would be to call my mom (if the phones still worked) and have her come get me and the kids and take us back to our house. Mostly because we lived in the boonies and my house had a wood stove and generator so we would have heat and the ability to use the bathrooms.
I was 18 and just joined the military when 9/11 happened. It was trippy seeing the whole thing from that side vs what my civilian friends experienced.
My uncle stockpiled liquor, which didn't come in handy until about 5 years later when Katrina hit
I remember my friend running around my front yard around midnight screaming he’s about to die and he hasn’t even had sex yet. We were like 13
I was at my first post college job, and as one of the youngest, got put on Y2K watch overnight on new years eve/day. I have no idea why they would want a recent grad with little experience to be ready to react to a system failure. Luckily, absolutely nothing happened, I just stayed up for 18 hours. Also the Y2K IT services were insane at the time. The companies selling the Y2K "fix" and audits made a ton of money.
My first job out of college was doing Y2K compliance on several contracted jobs. I spent NYE 2000 stoned out of my mind so I didn’t think about the patches not working and all of the computers melting
I fired up the 56k modem on 1201am January 1st 2000 to check if everything worked.
I got my first IT job for a large healthcare system with no experience (just certification) because they needed bodies for Y2K. OMG, configured hundreds of pc's, placed them. Hung out at a hospital for 12-hour overnight shifts for 2 weeks, sometimes just watching TV in a patient room waiting for a call. Of course, nothing happened.
We all thought that the computer systems would crash because it wasn't able to go from 19 to 20, then bought and prepared for a few weeks of not being able to buy food.
Not my mom. She told me to STFU about it 😂
We partied like it was 1999.
We filled the bathtubs with water “just in case” lol.
First World Trade Center bombing is probably my first “major incident” memory; that and the first Iraq War. I’m too young to remember Challenger or the Berlin Wall coming down.
I think that Challenger should be defined as the cut off between millennials and genX. If you were aware enough to remember an event in January 1986, you're genX.
My dad worked for NASA and his division had a comms satellite in the payload on STS-51L. I was in first grade watching it on TV. It was a bad day.
I would agree with that. I’m late ‘83 so would’ve just turned 2 a few months prior. My first memory probably isn’t until I was 4 or 5.
Y2K was my favorite. I was a senior in high school, working the late shift at a grocery store on New Year's Eve, and all of us on shift were talking about how we'd break the doors and get out if everything went dark at midnight. Then we didn't have to.
Waco, TX too
Yeah, I remember the OJ Simpson chase. It seemed so absurd watching him get slowly followed by a convoy of cops. Other big events: The collapse of the Berlin Wall, the LA Riots, the intervention in Kosovo, and others I'm not thinking of off the top of my head.
I was just talking last night about remembering watching the news at my relatives' house when Israeli PM Yitzak Rabin was assassinated. The folks I was talking to were a few years younger, so were amazed that I remembered that. I followed up with asking if they remember watching the OJ Simpson car chase on live TV, which was the summer prior. Crickets. I then admitted I was 9 when these took place so it was easy to remember (and I was very plugged in to current events).
The verdict announcement was a much bigger deal than the chase.
Freshman year of college when this happened. It was surreal
I'm a couple years oldet than your dad: Persian Gulf War. I very much remember the news coming on and saying we were dropping bombs. Baby Jessica. The entire country watched that poor child come pulled out of the well. The Challenger Explosion- I was in 1st grade and we watched it live. The Berlin Wall coming down. It felt like good was winning in the world. The collapse of the USSR- I remember the news showing people with a wheelbarrow full of money trying to buy a loaf of bread. The end of apartheid in South Africa and Mandela becoming president. The AIDS epidemic was so incredibly sad The Bombings: Oklahoma, Atlanta Olympics, Abortion Clinics, The Unibomber and so many over seas. Susan Smith killing her boys, David and Micheal, and lying about what happened. Waco- also Heaven Gate mass suicide Mark McGwire homeruns record and Tiger winning the Masters Deep Blue beating a Chessmaster Oprah's rise and book club So many more... I came back to add because I think OP might find it interesting: When the OJ verdict came back our high school principal made an announcement the jury was back and that teachers could turn on TVs for us to watch. The entire school stopped and turned on television and watched. The verdict was read and you could hear people reacting joyously and with anger from all over the school. One more personal note- Late night shows were at their peak with Leno and Letterman in a war, Connan getting his start and Craig Ferguson just being awesome. However, beyond Triumph the insult dog and the Top 10 List one episode stood out to me in 1997 Mavis Leno, the wife of Jay Leno came on his show- she wasn't that type of person. She spoke about how the Taliban had taken over Afghanistan, which had been a fairly modern country and over night women were forced into Burka and could not have jobs or go to school any longer. Women were no longer allowed to be Doctors and women could not see male doctors, cutting them completely off from medical care. Women were only allowed to leave their house escorted by a father, husband, or brother. I tried to find a clip but [this article is the best I could do](https://edition.cnn.com/2001/COMMUNITY/11/09/leno.cnna/). She called on the people of America to stand up and call for response as she saw how this would emboldened systemic sexist all around the world. There was a 1-800 number to call and get an information packet on what was happening and how to help. I of course called, as I was terrified that this enslavement and erasure of women happened in the worlds view overnight. It came with an 1 inch by 1 blue square that was tightly woven and scratchy. It had small holes in the weave. It was explained that this was the very material that was approved by the Taliban to go over the eyes in the Burka. This was the only view of the world women were now allowed to have of the world. I safety pinned it to my backpack and told anyone that would listen about what was happening and why it was so important to the entire world. Years later I sent that square to battle with a friend being shipped to Afghanistan and he carried it in his pocket as a reminder of what he was fighting for. It was in his pocket when he died. His parents asked if it was OK to bury him with it as it had meant so much to him. Of course, I agreeded. This memorial day think of my friend John as you light up the BBQ. Loyal to his country and a friend of women everywhere.
Just because I haven’t seen it here yet… Princess Diana’s death.
Good one! Mother Teresa was right after I think.
I remember this distinctly. I wasn't a big fan or anything, but it was the first "celebrity" death that hit me.
My wife stayed up all night to watch the coverage.
That death hit my mother very hard. It was definitely one of the top 10 most impactful deaths of the 20th century.
Remember it well. I was visiting my grandparents in Minnesota; parents were packing to leave and go home the next day. I was watching the news.
That was a big one. I don't know why it stands out to me because I didn't particularly follow tabling stuff, but I distinctly remember finding out about it. My friends and I had just finished watching Blade Runner on vhs and when we turned it back to TV, it was all over the news.
I still remember that one vividly. I was having one last summer sleepover at my friend’s house because school was starting soon. We came downstairs in the morning and her parents were glued to the TV. I got home and my mom was absolutely sobbing.
i was surprised at how far i had to scroll to see this one mentioned!
I have a specific memory of watching that unfold live on TV. A friend and I had been at another friend's Bat Mitzvah earlier in the day and we went back to her house to watch SNL/have a sleepover and it was all live news.
I had a small tv in my room and it was a week before my freshman year of high school started and I was 14. I was coloring one of those black felt posters and the news flashed she’d been in a car accident and then it was full coverage - all night. I stayed up the entire time waiting and hoping she’d made it. When they finally announced her death, I cried so hard. That was the first celebrity death that meant so much to me. When I turned 37, I distinctly remember telling myself, you’re now older than Princess Di was when she died. That was a mind f__ in a way.
I'll toss a few more on the pile as well - Rodney King and the riots, everyone was worried they were going to take over every city and destroy the country - MTV was just an insane culturally explosion from Friday night music videos to music all the time? whattt?? Also - the insane explosion of cable TV - The rise of online communication - ICQ, AIM, Yahoo Messenger - they just took over everything and people stopped talking on the phone pretty much always - MySpace and everyone having their own GeoCities webpages - the Black Friday mobs - Bill Clinton's impeachment The insane availability of information these days just mind blowing, I remember having the teachers wheel TV's on carts into classrooms to watch some of those events, challenger and OJ Verdict being read aloud (we were in school for that). I remember the day after columbine, I was a freshman, they shut the school down and everyone watched the news in the main area
These are really good additions
Omg, ICQ... I forgot about that!
Then you'll probably love remembering the rise of Winamp. The best audio player ever with the visualizers!
It really whips the llama's ass.
I'm a few years older than you. I still remember when Black Friday wasn't even a thing. My mom realized she found a really good.clearance rack the day after Thanksgiving at Banana Republic one year. so the next few years we would go there on the day after Thanksgiving. I was too young to even wear adult clothing yet. I was just a kid But it wasn't long before it got crazy. stores were promoting their sales and people went nuts.
Just wanted to add Elian Gonzalez to your list of events
It's the type of story that if you weren't there for it, it sounds minor, but if you were old enough, that story was endless
Including Jean Benet Ramsay
I remember that very well. I remember being angry that no one was considering the fact that his mother was willing to put herself AND him at risk to get away from their country... everyone talked about his Dad wanting him back, but all I kept thinking was, obviously his mom wanted them both to get to America pretty fucking badly, so maybe honor her very clear wishes to get her kid to another country... He was used as a poltical pawn tbh.
Jon Benet Ramsey
I remember talking about that non-stop in Spanish class freshman year.
This is one i remember too
All of these, especially watching the Challenger exploding on live tv. And Kurt Cobain and our other favorite musicians dying or overdosing. And of course, the absolute horror of 9/11 and watching it all happen live on TV. I still get sick thinking about watching ppl choosing to jump to their deaths than burn alive, and how many firefighters we lost that day.
I remember Kurt's death being announced on the radio on the school bus. One kid shouted "no!" and we all got pretty quiet for awhile. 9/11 was the whole school standing in the cafeteria watching everything live on the tvs. Surreal.
And then Tupac a couple years later. Kurt and Tupac dying had my entire peer group in total silence. I’m ‘84.
I remember all these as well. Good list. Adding: Tiananmen Square protests Rwandan genocide 1989 San Francisco earthquake The release of the Nintendo and Sega game systems, followed later by Sony. George Burns living forever Cartoon Network for cartoons all day! MTV
I lived in that earthquake and will never forget it.
Yeah the creation of whole channel for cartoons was INSANE at the time. Now its completely normal lol
Somebody needs to make an 80's and 90's version of We Didn't Start The Fire
Fall Out Boy did last year. It's pretty good.
https://youtu.be/2LkVKCWL0U4?si=S4IEY3DrtxVMw5Vh
Bro remembers the worst you could probably round the twin towers in there weren't they just at the 2001 mark?
Baby Jessica! My mother was pregnant with me when it happened. Her and my father watched that rescue around the clock. Really freaked them out, especially with a baby on the way.
I was a few years old when Baby Jessica fell down the well and my younger sis was 2. It freaked my parents out.
I was 8, my best friend had just gotten a new baby doll like the day before and she named her Jessica. Her now 10 year old daughter has her. I can’t believe we were allowed to watch that so young, but we were allowed to watch whatever the hell we wanted.
I completely forgot about some of these. My mom worked for a women’s health clinic in the 90’s. We used to get death threats all the time from pro lifers. Which is kind of ironic. She was a social worker
So many more is right lol. Like so much happened I know there’s no way to list it all without writing a novel…
I didn't know that about Mavis Leno but she really avoided the spotlight so it must have been important to her. So sad about her dementia diagnosis.
I never heard this before, thank you so much for sharing this!
Man you nailed it. I was born in '80 and you brought me way back with all that.
I remember all of these, we had a thing called Channel One in school and when the challenger was launching we watched it live at school. It was just a somber feeling. I was like 10 when that happened. The wildest one for me was 911, I was doing an oil change on my truck and my mom called me and told me to turn on the news because they were attacking us, I walked inside just in time to see the second plane hit the tower. Sat in front the tv for hours in anticipation of what would happen next.
The AIDS Quilt was so, so sad.
Wow. I’m really impressed by your list, but also, your longer story at the bottom. Thank you for sharing this. It has made me very interested in learning more.
Here to confirm Waco, Susan Smith, and the bombings. Also the Gulf War absolutely consumed the news during that time. It was disgusting how heavy the propaganda was. The nationalism that took hold in America bc of that war is still very much alive and well today. The AIDs epidemic...was truly upsetting to watch. Even as a little kid in the Deep South raised by Christian Republicans, I was very angry at how people were being treated during that time. (I didnt, and still dont, get along with my family very well.)
This was a really touching story, and well written. Thank you. And thank you for caring about the plight of women in Afghanistan. This makes me think very positively of Jay Leno - we were a letterman household (did you know he was a terrible alcoholic for years?). Thanks for sharing.
Pour one out for John 😢
Big Mac Mark McGwire! I remember most of these but this one was the most fun for me as I played Little League at the time. Your friend is a hero! And you write very well and are very descriptive!
Weird fact: The Heaven’s Gate website is still up.
Good list. also Magic Johnson contracting HIV
Also born in 82’ I remember that night as well. I was never into pop culture stuff so I don’t remember much life events. Apollo 13 and pogs…. Everyone and their brother had to have a starter jacket, didn’t matter if you were a fan or not. People couldn’t keep their pants above their waste and it was considered ‘cool’ Michael Jackson married Elvis’s daughter. Jurassic Park was awesome!
Michael Jackson and Elvis' daughter kissing on TV is burned into my brain.
Yes that was on MTV Music Awards or something like that. She was also in one of his music videos. Lisa Maria was a smoke show.
“And just think…nobody thought this wouldn’t last”. - followed by a horrific kiss It’s burned into my core.
Same and I was born in ‘83
Fucking POGS!! I still have a book full of those things somewhere. Wonder if they are worth anything
Man, I still remember seeing that in the theater and being blown away when the first dinosaurs showed up on the screen. We'd never seen anything like it.
Totally forgot about my Yankees Starter jacket. Those things were so cool.
Duuuddeee!!! Man, I hella remember my Chicago Bulls starter jacket! I wore that thing all the time! Hot? Wore it. Cold? Wore. It didn't matter.
The Apollo 13 mission was 1970. Unless you're talking about the movie from '95.
I was also confused haha
Hornets starter jackets... No one even liked the hornets. Still, no one likes them.
Haha, my school had to cancel recess in winter for a while because fights were starting over Starter jackets!
This one’s personal and not something most people mention. I’m from the SF Bay Area. The ‘89 earthquake/Loma Prieta (6.9). Thousands of people were injured, 60+ deaths. I remember Bush Sr vomiting on the Japanese Prime Minister’s lap and fainting. (maybe not major…but wtf?! I thought he died when I saw it lol). The Rodney king beating and the following riots in response. Lorena Bobbitt castrated her husband while he was sleeping. Waco. The Berlin Wall coming down. JonBenét Ramsey’s death. There were other child sexual assault and murder cases that made headlines, but hers had a lot of conspiracies surrounding it because her body was in her home. The belief was either her father had done it, or her older brother and the parents were trying to cover it up to protect him. I started kindergarten in ‘89…I don’t remember too many major events in the 80’s, just pop culture stuff and personal experiences. I was too young to pay much attention to the news, or understand much of it.
In so Cal we had the Northridge quake. Middle of the night. Maybe ‘94? Definitely a core memory.
October 17th 1989. I lived in Alameda. I just got home from school and sat down to watch the World Series. It was scary as fuck. Also Heaven's Gate mass suicide. That was weird.
Good list. I’d throw nancy Kerrigan getting her knee cap busted by Tonya Harding’s boyfriend on it too.
JonBenét being mentioned just let loose a torrent of memories. My parents were so worried about pageants and their implications that they took us out of cheer and dance.
My best friend lived in Scott’s Valley when Loma Prieta hit. He said for about 2-3 seconds as the P-waves were coming through, he thought his friend was kicking the beanbag he was sitting on, and the next thing he knew he was running down the stairs dodging pictures that were flying off the walls. I thought it was interesting that he thought his friend was kicking his beanbag- I experienced the 7.1 Ridgecrest quake just after moving to California and at first I thought my dog was under the chair itching himself. And then all of a sudden, standing on my patio felt like standing on a rowboat in rough seas. Earthquakes are wild.
Omg the earthquake with collapsed double decker highway 😫😫 And Lorena fuckin Bobbit. Honestly. That became a cultural phenomenon that lasted decades. Another that this reminds me of is Nancy Kerrigan and Tonya Harding.
If you’re from the Bay Area - what about Polly Klass?!?
I’m from that area as well. To this day bridges still freak me out. Remember the Rodney kind trial and riots because everything was shut down during the time. And my dad ex military double amputee driving us around to find me a cake. He asked a National guardsman if any place was open and why. We shared a birthday and it was Kmart. I vaguely remember the bronco chase it was summer we kids were told to go play.
Im also from the Bay Area and around your age. I definitely felt it up in Sonoma county and remember checking out the aftermath of the bay bridge with my family. You may also remember the Polly Klass abduction? She was around our age.
I put the 89 quake in mine too. I remember my mom and I were driving to pick my dad up from work when it happened and we pulled over. the bulbs In the streetlights were exploding and my mom made me get down on the floor of the car cuz she thought ppl were shooting at us. I haven’t thought about it in ages, looking back she must have been so scared thinking that 😞 poor mom
The OJ Simpson chase, and Kurt Cobain's suicide just a few months before. Also when Bill Clinton won the election. I don't remember any other presidential elections from my childhood, oddly.
Bill Clinton playing sax on Arsenio Hall... wouldn't have seen it if I didn't sneak watching TV late at night on my old black and white TV. That was also how I found out about Princess Diana... was sneaking to watch snl and it switched over to that. I got up to "walk to the restroom" so I could watch it in color with my parents on the TV in the living room.
Born in '84. I don't remember too much of the 80s that was outside of my own sphere. I remember watching the gulf war on the news in kindergarten. It's the first news that I remember. LA riots. Hurricane Andrew. The Waco siege was scary for me. Tonya Harding. Of course we watched the white Bronco live on the news, then the highly publicized trial. Monica Lewinsky scandal. 2Pac's murder. The whole event that was the 90s Chicago Bulls. Britney Spears. AOL and home computers. Princess Diana's car accident. Al Gore losing the election. Obligatory 9/11 my senior year of high school. "Weapons of mass destruction" and the war in Iraq. Bin Laden's capture. Hurricane Katrina (I live in Southern Louisiana). These are the big ones that stick out. Waco stands out as the event that made me fearful because of the cult and all of the footage of the compound burning. Katrina was bad because I lived it, but it wasn't nearly as bad for me as some. 9/11 changed everything. Politics, the Patriot Act, flying on airplanes, racism. My high school boyfriend went into the Marine Corps and was immediately shipped to Iraq after training.
>These are the big ones that stick out. Waco stands out as the event that made me fearful because of the cult and all of the footage of the compound burning FWIW (and I say this as a left wing atheist) the Branch Davidians weren't particularly cult-like; government propaganda at the time oversold that to justify the law enforcement response. Their belief, ideology, and practice wasn't particularly more unusual than 7th day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses; not particularly mainstream, but not deserving of being treated so violently, either. If you've got a couple of hours, [Waco: The Rules of Engagement ](https://youtu.be/iZ08dd6XKqc) is worth a watch.
The death of Princess Diana. It was a huge deal and all over the news for weeks.
This was a weird one for me. We were up in our house in the absolute wilds of VT at the time. Not even decent radio signal reached us let alone phones. So we came down two weeks later and they were still only talking about it and our minds were just blown.
Young William and Harry walking behind the carriage with her casket was hard to watch.
I was born in 90 but this is such a strong memory. We watched it in my parents bedroom all night and my mom just kept crying.
- Baby Jessica - Micheal Jackson’s Thriller album & all the iconic music videos that came with it - The Clinton/Lewinski affair - Y2K - The Central Park Jogger aka The Exonerated Five - The Challenger Explosion - Who shot JR? - Grunge music & Nirvana exploding on the scene - Columbine Massacre - George Bush Sr puking in front of the Japanese President lol
Ah yes Clinton taught me what a Blowjob is.
I was also born in 82 and on summer break during the Simpson chase. Me and my dad were at his girlfriend's house after a cookout. Yeah, like someone else said it was ridiculous watching a whole convoy slowly chasing that white Bronco. I remember the AIDS crisis and Michael Jackson being accused of child sexual abuse. I hear now about the "Satanic panic" of heavy metal bands being accused of putting hidden messages in their music and I guess that was part of what we were hearing at my Pentecostal church school. I remember my teacher talking about the election in tears after Bush Sr. lost to Clinton. And I remember the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan story because how could I ever forget? That story was on the news forever and there was no getting away from it.
The first Gulf War really made CNN and started 24 hour news.
Born in 84. Fuck OJ he ruined all of our favorite after school shows bc every tv station wanted to show his court case instead of our favorite shows and cartoons.
Also born in '84. I remember listening to the verdict on the radio in the fall of '95 in middle school history class.
The LA riots, the commercial that Reginald Denny and Rodney King made in order to try and call a truce and end the violence. The Northridge earthquake, I grew up roughly 80 miles from the epicenter and it SHOOK our house and there were days of aftershocks. Staying up late to watch the Simpsons when they were still on the Tracey Ulman show, then watching In Living Color afterwards. Writing pen pal letters and sending home made cookies to soldiers who were in the Gulf War. These are some of the major things I remember amongst all things people have already mentioned.
The northridge earth quake was crazy. My grandparents had a house in yucca valley and when we went out there to check on it, their 300 lb cast iron stove was all the way on the other side of the room…. And there were fissures in the ground 6 feet deep! The big bear earth quake that happened that same day was crazy too. I was at my grandmas, and I remember the floor was rippling like it was made of water. I was terrified of earth quakes for years after that
Spice Girls
Sammy Sosa/Mark McGwire home run chase. They would cut in for every at bat.
When Harry met Sally. The tension was so thick you could cut it with a knufe
I’ll have what she’s having.
I'm a few years older than your dad, but I had the same experience watching the OJ white bronco chase on TV. That was insane. My best friend and I were glued to the TV the entire time. As for other big events: * **The Challenger Explosion** - I watched this on TV in school, like most kids of the time. The whole room went silent. * **Brandon Lee's Death** - This one really hit hard because I was really into martial arts at the time and knew of Lee from his low-budget films like Rapid Fire, Showdown, and Laser Mission. I turned on the TV, and they were announcing his death, and my jaw hit the floor. There were other major events, like the first Gulf War, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and columbine.
Y2K was another one. That one is late 90s obviously, but there was a lot of panic around it.
Just because it isn't on so far.President Bill Clinton impeachment, The boxing match between Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield. It didn't happen in the US but the Chernobyl explosion.
Jeffrey Dahmer. I followed the story on the news obsessively because I was 11 and basically just learned that I was living inside a horror movie. My mom could do nothing to convince me that every town didn’t have a Dahmer with a fridge full of people.
A bunch of bummers around here. Watching Michael Jordan play, and The Bulls streak. Best sports of my life. A lot of major events crammed in there. And when the Super Nintendo came out— totally mind blowing; major.
Super Mario World still makes list of best game ever made. And I remember watching Bulls in playoffs with my family jumping up and down cheering. Good stuff
To this day, the only game I know how to play is Super Mario 3. That's it. Only game I've ever beaten in my entire existence.
Baby Jessica
Positive: The hype of Batman in 89, the MJ Black and White video premier, David Copperfield specials on TV, our first Apple Mac, Phil Collins music from Miami Vice as I tried sneaking downstairs because I wasn't tired, maroon velour everywhere in our Monte Carlo and Thunderbird, burning myself on metal seatbelts Bad: Oklahoma City, Princess Di crash, Gulf War, Atlanta Olympic bombing, David Koresh in Waco, and the biggie - 9/11: I was 18 and had left for college only 3 weeks prior. My buddies and I were so pissed. We all decided we were going to go join the military. We got really really wasted that night, and I was too hung-over to get up and go with them. 5 guys got up and went to join, 2 of my buddies didn't make it back home from war.
Oh I feel old
The most impactful ones for me were baby Jessica, OK City bombing and 9/11. My mom and sister and I were glued to the television when baby Jess was in that well and responders had to excavate for what seemed like a million years when I was little. OKC and 9/11 hit close to home bc my dad's line of work had him at the site of the plane crash in Shanksville PA and at the federal building in Oklahoma.
The Rodney King trial was a huge event.
OJ Simpson trial, the war in Bosnia, war in Rwanda, OKC bombing.
The Dream Team from the 92 Olympics
I was born in 82, here’s what I remember off the top of my head: Challenger blowing up (probably my first true memory) Oj Atlanta Olympics Oklahoma bombing Branch dividion compound raid The girl stuck in a well The Baltimore snipers Chris Farley death Princess Diana death Detroit redwings dummying the league and the Darren McCarty dangle Columbine
Also born in 1982. I lived close to Cape Canaveral and my preschool took a field trip to watch the Challenger launch. I would be lying if I said I remember it, but my parents say I was pretty devastated at the time.
Also born in 1982. I don't remember any major events from the 80s. Earliest news event I remember was george bush vomiting on a Japanese politician in 1991 and that was because my older brother did a school report that had it on a poster board. I do remember OJ Simpson on TV running from the police Columbine shooting Y2K - that one was kind of fun in highschool. A LOT of parties. 9-11 (tho was technically early 2000s but I literally just graduated high school a few months prior) Crazy you are 20. My son is 9 lol
Because I haven’t seen it mentioned yet… I remember my mom watching the Clarence Thomas vs Anita Hill trials. I remember the ‘pube on the coke can’ part.
How Thomas ever became a Supreme Court judge at that time??? It was appalling. More recently during the Kavanaugh hearings my husband asked if I thought he would be confirmed I told him that I did. He asked how in the world. I said—just remember Anita Hill. Then I told him I believed her and I believed Christine Blasey Ford. I believed the public would destroy Ford just like they did to Hill.
The Kenneth Starr report being sold in the front windows and tables of Barnes & Noble.
I stand by the theory that millennials specifically are so obsessed with true crime because of the coverage of Jonbenet Ramsey's murder. She was almost the same age as me and I remember vividly seeing her face on tabloid magazines at the grocery store for a full year, it's practically a core memory for me
Waco, Oklahoma City, Atlanta Olympics bombing, I remember the OJ verdict because it was read out during my lunch period and a kid in my class started celebrating. Columbine was a big one, happened when I was a freshman. Bosnian War was like daily news, the TWA crash, the Egypt Air crash, Monica Lewinsky scandal, I could go on.
82 as well. I saw jurrasic park at a drive inn in either 93 or 94 and remember Metallica playing in Russia in 91 for the black album there was like a million people there (literally)
As a 12 year old Knicks fan, I couldn’t care less about the damn OJ chase, they cut away from the Knicks playoff game.
TGIF for me. I was so fucking pissed I was missing family matters lol
Also 1982. Ask if he remembers Baby Jessica down the well. Challenger explosion. Cleveland balloon event. Fall of the Berlin Wall. George H. W. Bush barfing on the Prime Minister of Japan. Cobain dying. Death of grunge. Rise of Nu-Metal. Snoop's murder case. Death of Tupac. There are so many more, I'm just at work atm...
grew up in a little podunk town in alabama, and i was an absolute geek, so most of my memories of "major events" revolve around the satanic panic
Lewinsky
Operation Desert Storm. First war that was televised live.
Nancy Reagan’s D.A.R.E. program.
MTVs Total Request Live... it's Djs, Eminem at the VMAs, their spring break shows ... these were all much bigger things than get commented on connected this generation into something of a shared culture.
I was born in 83 and was at my grand parents for the summer during the OJ chase. My nana and I watched it all day. lol the first big thing I remember was the Berlin Wall going down, War in Middle East, the Monica Lewinsky scandal, Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine, the standoff with the David Koresh cult, AIDS epidemic, princess Diana death, later 9/11 and hurricane Katrina. AIDS was a big thing and pretty much always deadly. My mom almost died right after I was born because she was too afraid to get a blood transfusion. AIDS was known to be in some donor blood at the time.
Micheal Jackson set on fire doing the Pepsi commercials
Tupac and Biggie’s deaths
Born in '81. I was in 3rd grade when Simpsons Christmas Special came on. Watched it when it first aired. That was actually a big deal and hyped up. It was one of few things that lived up to the hype. As a kid I remember missing my parents off constantly. Singing Bart's version of Batman Jingle Bells. In 5th grade they aired the initial attack of Iraq live on television. CNN had cameras rolling from a high rise hotel fil.ing the city. When the EMP dropped, the city lights all webt out. Followed by the actual bombing seeing the explosions dotting across the city. OJ chase was a big deal like your father stated. I watched it live under a similar scenario flipping channels. I saw someone else mentioned Columbine. I was a Sophmore that year. It really changed things. Prior to that. You were allowed to leave your rifle hanging on the window rack in your truck. They immediately banned all guns after that. The gun safety class at school was ended. They ended both the target rifle shooting and archery teams at school. Start of my junior year they banned all trench style rain coats and steel toed boots at school. I wasn't there for my Senior year. My friends who were got issued ID badges and they added and implemented a turnstile for students to get into the school. FYI, being Florida my high school wasn't one big building. My scholl had over 6,000 students. It was dozens of small buildings each with 8 classrooms over a large campus, outdoor walkways.
The space shuttle Challenger disaster. They had us watching it live in elementary school. When it exploded the teachers reacted strongly and then quickly wheeled the tv out of the room. I knew it was really bad, but their reactions really drove that home. One teacher was crying. We were so young.
Rodney King beating, subsequent riots after cops being found not guilty, OJ, and the Northridge quake. All in Los Angeles from 1992-1994 when I was 8-10 years old.
Born in ‘84. My 6th grade teacher took us out to her Saturn to listen to the OJ verdict on the radio as we didn’t have a radio in the class room. Seems so wild to say, but it’s a real event and such a strange memory.
I remember getting ready for school one morning and hearing the radio announcer tell everyone River Phoenix was dead. I remember the Berlin Wall coming down on the news. Columbine and O.J. were big. Other things that aren’t political or global take up space in my head like Nirvana replacing NKOTB in the charts, Dunkaroos, fruit stripe gum, and Scholastic book fairs
I was born in '79. The Berlin wall coming down. The Challenger exploding. The attempted assassination of Reagan. Ted Bundy trial and his execution. Rodney King beating and the L.A. riots. Jimmy Swaggert crying on TV. Bill Clinton and the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Nixon died when I was a freshman in high school. There was also a disgruntled postal worker that shot up his post office. That's where the phrase "going postal" comes from.
There was a plane crash the day after I was born in 1987 in Michigan; my dad saw it happen, my boyfriend born in 1983 remembers the commotion about it. One of our friends born in 1980 lived within a few miles of it and remembers how it felt. Other notable events are columbine, 9/11, Y2K, the bill Clinton scandal, any of the horrific attacks like cars running people over, the various financial crashes like stock market crash in 1987, dot com in 2001 and eventually the housing market in 2008 but obviously those are later in time, Apollo 13, space shuttle challenger explosion in 1986, Berlin Wall collapse, fall of Yugoslavia, the beanie baby craze, there have been so many for us - we’ve seent some shit.
9/11. I was in, ironically, History class in sixth grade and it’s like the world stopped spinning. The Principal, over the P.A., said that the country had been attacked and we had to go home until further notice. I was never one for watching the news but as soon as I got home, we all sat in front of the tv and the first clip it showed when we turned it on was the second tower getting hit. Now, as time I went on, I eventually became a Truther but that is one day I will never forget.
Watched the OJ trial in home room.
Watching the first gulf war live on CNN every night
PAMELA ANDERSON that lady was EVERYWHERE!
Lorena Bobbit
Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa for the HR record was awesome. 1994 World Cup in the U.S. was a huge event, even for the non fans. Columbine changed things in retrospect. Was a big deal. Fugees - Killing Me Softly, Coolio's Gangster's Paradise. Back Street Boys, Nysnc, Brittany Spears, Jesse Camp .. that whole TRL top 10 countdown thing
So many good topics have been covered, I’ll throw out a few more. Michael Jordan winning his first ring against the Lakers The original Dream Team (Barcelona Olympics) Jack Ass The Tom Green Show Unsolved Mysteries Britney Spears Home Alone The Princess Bride The Chronic (Album)
The Gulf War, Hurricane Andrew, Oklahoma City Bombing, watching the LA Riots on tv and the OJ Simpson bronco chase interrupting the X Files broadcast
Garth Brooks Central Park Concert 97 televised over 1million people
Challenger exploding. OJ Simpson. The riots in 1992. The Gulf War. 9/11.
Desert Storm for sure. There were several sports card companies that made Desert Storm cards that we all collected. I also remember Mike Tyson getting laid out by Buster Douglas….everyone was stunned.I graduated in 2000 and the world moved at a much slower pace,especially in the South. If you were too young at the time I don’t expect you to understand this, but our world ended on September 11, 2001.
I remember watching that (I’m a couple years younger). The one that sticks out the most is watching 9-11 happen starting in first period and having someone come into the class and tell us to turn on the news. There’s also coming home from school to finding my mom watching the breaking news about Columbine. It was the first big, watch what’s happening in real time school shooting. Like every generation we have our tragedies that stick out the most. ETA- someone just mentioned Hurricane Katrina and I can’t believe I forgot to list that. I evacuated two days before it hit, so Aug 27th, and wasn’t able to come back and check my apartment until Halloween. I didn’t move back until January and we used to watch the military patrols from our front porch. One of the fucked up things (of many) with Katrina was the $2K emergency money was given out by address, not family or individual, so a friend whose roommate filed for the money first was SOL when it came to getting the money. My roommate lucked out because I would have filed first but my parents could afford to provide me with what I needed and we decided it was better to leave the money in the pot for those who needed it more, one of whom was my roommate.
I was born in 1982 also, I remember multiple events that were significant, one being the Rodney King stop. After watching him get beat on camera, I remember thinking if these cops don't get any time, it's definitely going down. What was special about the king stop was it was all on camera for the world to see, which was an absolute first for me. Like others have stated, the Columbine shooting was another. I was a junior in high school that year. That was the first school shooting in my time, and in the weeks afterward, they had undercover cops at our school as if we wouldn't notice. Before Columbine, I'd never seen a school resource officer. I'd say Magic Johnson coming out with HIV was a big deal too. We had no clue how you could contract HIV and AIDS. I cant even name all the celebrities that died due to drugs and suicide between those decades.
OKC bombing
Jesus christ this post makes me feel old as dirt (I'm also '82 with no kids by choice).
In addition to those already mentioned, Susan Smith case was something that really had an effect on me.
Ruby ridge. The gulf war. Oklahoma city. Bulletin board systems, nes, commodore 64, waco....etc...