48 Things That Happened In Summer Of 1997 That’ll Definitely Leave You Feeling Old
1.Tamagotchis had just been released in the US and was the must-have toy:
2.The Spice Girls were one of the biggest acts in the world and appeared on their classic "Too Hot to Handle" Rolling Stone cover:
They also had a huge summer hit with their song, "Say You'll Be There."
3.If you tuned into Nick at Nite's Block Party Summer the line-up was: Monkee Mondays, Lucy Tuesdays, Bewitched Be-Wednesdays, Happy Days Thursdays, and Jeannie Fridays:
4.Disney released its 35th animated movie, Hercules:
Disney
And the world was treated to the Muses. 🙌
5. And McDonald's sold the iconic Hercules plates as part of the promotion for it:
6.AOL launched its AIM instant messaging program — and teens would never be the same after it:
7.The Disney Channel released Northern Lights, which starred Diane Keaton and was the first movie under its Disney Channel Original Movies title:
Prior to this, Disney Channel movies were called Disney Channel Premiere Films.
8.The Rosie O'Donnell Show wrapped up its very successful, and also very long, first season:
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9.Buffy the Vampire Slayer also wrapped up its first season — which was only 12 episodes long:
The series debuted in March of that year.
10.South Park debuted its very first episode, "Cartman Gets an Anal Probe."
The creators of the show, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, created their first short with the characters five years earlier, in 1992, when they were students at the University of Colorado.
11.Married... with Children ended its run after 11 seasons after being canceled at the last minute (even the cast thought they'd be back for Season 12):
12.The Disney Afternoon block ended its run after almost seven years — but it did leave us with some classic cartoons and banger theme songs:
13.Mariah Carey announced she was separating from her husband and label honcho, Tommy Mottola.
They would divorce the following year.
14.Nude photos of Brad Pitt (taken by paparazzi in the 1995) were published in Playgirl.
Brad ended up suing and winning a restraining order against the magazine over invasion of privacy and infliction of emotional distress. The magazine would end up stopping reprints of the issue.
15.Brad Pitt was also in the news after he and Gwyneth Paltrow announced that they were breaking up after being together for two and half years:
16.Puff Daddy had the biggest hit song of the summer with "I'll Be Missing You":
Bad boy Records
The song spent 11 weeks at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
17.Backstreet Boys' "Quit Playing Games (With My Heart)"...
Sony Music
18....and Hanson's infectious "MMMBop" were two other songs of the summer:
UMG
19.Missy Elliott released her critically acclaimed and groundbreaking debut album, Supa Dupa Fly:
20.While Radiohead released their critically acclaimed and groundbreaking third album, OK Computer:
21.MTV premiered its sixth season of The Real World, which was set in Boston...
22....while Daria wrapped up its first season.
23.Netflix was founded:
FYI: The story that the idea to create Netflix came from one of the founders being charged a $40 late fee by Blockbuster is not entirely true.
24.Mike Tyson bit off a piece Evander Holyfield's ear during the third round of their WBA Heavyweight Championship fight:
25.The UK transferred sovereignty of Hong Kong back to China after controlling it for 156 years:
26.Gianni Versace was murdered in front of his Miami Beach home by serial killer Andrew Cunanan:
27.Princess Diana was killed, at age 36, in a car accident in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris:
28.Legendary actor James Stewart died at age 89:
29.Luc Besson's epic cult classic The Fifth Element was released:
Columbia Pictures
It went on the be the ninth-biggest-grossing movie of the year, internationally.
30.MTV ran a contest where you could win a chance to appear in the upcoming Scream 2:
31.Mike Myers hosted the fifth annual MTV Movie Awards:
He also used it to promote his new film, Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.
32.The ceremony also honored Chewbacca with its Lifetime Achievement Award — where he got a nice introduction by the late and great Carrie Fisher:
33.Men in Black was released and wasn't just the biggest movie of the summer, but also of the year:
34.Jurassic Park's highly anticipated sequel The Lost World: Jurassic Park was released and would go on to be the second-biggest movie of the year:
35.George Clooney starred as Batman in the critically panned Batman & Robin:
Warner Bros.
Since then, Joel Schumacher apologized to anyone who hated the film.
36.Fox and Pepsi sponsored a give-away of a perfect replica of the Simpson's house that was built in Henderson, Nevada:
The house was also completely decorated inside with items of furniture designed like the ones seen on the show.
37.Nintendo released its classic and revolutionary game, GoldenEye 007:
38.Popular TV commercials included the 1-800-Collect commercial that featured Phil Hartman as Max Jerome, Private Eye...
39....the "I Think I Love You" Levis' Wide Leg Jeans commercial...
40....and the Pure Moods commercial (which was blissful, but also played non-stop):
41.The first Lilith Fair tour took place (which was founded and headlined by Sarah McLachlan):
42.Oasis released their third album, Be Here Now, which became the fastest-selling album — selling over 420,000 copies on its first day alone — in UK history (at the time):
43.Fleetwood Mac reunited and released The Dance — their live album that was recorded as part of their MTV special — which went straight to No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and went on to be a huge seller. The success of the album led the band to fully reunite and tour again:
44.101 Dalmatians was the biggest-selling VHS tape of the summer. Although it had been released in April of that year onto home video, it was would continue to be a big-seller eventually selling 15 million copies:
Yup, kids couldn't get enough of the OG Cruella and the puppies!
45.George Lucas released the Star Wars: Special Edition Trilogy onto VHS — he would never release the original non-Special Edition films again:
46.Filming began on The Phantom Menace and hype for the long-awaited prequels was in full ~force~.
George Lucas had actually begun writing the script for Phantom Menace three years earlier, in 1994.
47.Jimmy Kimmel began his TV career as the co-host of Win Ben Stein's Money:
48.And finally, it was announced that Titanic was moving its release date from July (unable to meet its deadline) to December — leading to speculation that the movie was going to be a big flop:
