1993 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

1993 Fun Facts, Trivia and History

Quick Facts from 1993:

  • World-Changing Event: Intel introduced the Pentium family of 32-bit microprocessors.
  • The biggest song was Dreamlover by Mariah Carey
  • The Movies to Watch include Jurassic Park, Schindler’s List, Sleepless in Seattle, and Free Willy.
  • The Most Famous People in America were probably Denzel Washington and Julia Roberts.
  • Notable books include The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield and The Shipping News by E. Annie Prouls.
  • Sony (radio) Walkman: $29.98
    Price of Domino’s large pizza, two toppings in 1993: $9.99
  • The Funny Guy was: Jeff Foxworthy
    The Other Funny Guy was: Bill Hicks
    The Funny Late Night Host: Jay Leno
  • The Conversation: Ted Danson wore blackface and used the n-word at his girlfriend Whoopi Goldberg’s roast at The Friar’s Club.

Significant news events that occurred in 1993:

  • January: Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd President of the United States.
  • February: 1993 World Trade Center bombing: In New York City, a van bomb parked below the North Tower of the World Trade Center explodes, killing six and injuring over 1,000.
  • March: Rodney King testified at the federal trial of four Los Angeles, California police officers accused of violating his civil rights when they beat him during an arrest.
  • April: the Waco siege ended in a fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Texas, resulting in the deaths of 76 people.
  • May: the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals that expert testimony must be based on the scientific knowledge established through the scientific method.
  • June: the Signing of the Oslo Accords marked the beginning of the peace process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization.
  • July: the Great Flood of 1993 began in the Mississippi and Missouri River basins, resulting in widespread damage and dozens of deaths.
  • August: the Chemical Weapons Convention, which banned the production, stockpiling, and use of chemical weapons, came into force.
  • September: 47 people were killed in the Big Bayou Canot Rail Accident: An Amtrak Sunset Limited derails on a bridge that a barge had damaged near Mobile, Alabama. It is the deadliest train wreck in Amtrak’s history.
  • October: Actor River Phoenix died of drug-induced heart failure on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room.
  • November: The Maastricht Treaty, which established the European Union, came into effect.
  • December: STS-61: NASA launched the Space Shuttle Endeavour on a mission to repair an optical flaw in the Hubble Space Telescope.
Top Ten Baby Names of 1993:
Jessica, Ashley, Sarah, Samantha, Emily, Michael, Chris, Topher, Matthew, Joshua, Tyler
Fashion Icons and Sex Symbols:
Claudia Schiffer, Elle Macpherson
Hollywood Hunks & Leading Men:
Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert Redford
“The Quotes”
“I’m not a role model… Just because I dunk a basketball doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.”
– Charles Barkley

“Got Milk?”
– California Milk Processor Board

“The Truth is out there”
X-Files

Time Magazine’s Men of the Year:
The Peacemakers, Represented by Yasser Arafat, F.W. de Klerk, Nelson Mandela, and Yitzhak Rabin
Miss America:
Leanza Cornett (Jacksonville, FL)
Miss USA:
Kenya Moore (Michigan)
The Scandals:
Pepsi ran a contest in the Philippines in which it promised 1 million pesos, roughly $40,000, to the person who found the number 349 inside his bottle cap. Pepsi went on to mistakenly print 800,000 winning caps. #uhoh

A writer by the name of “Lisa Holst” created an article in 1993 that “around 8 spiders crawl into your mouth every year whilst you sleep”, but that “fact” was entirely made up. (snopes.com)

WWF boss Vince McMahon was charged with steroid distribution

Celebrity Accidental Movie Set Death:
Brandon Lee, on the set of The Crow
Celebrity Drug-related Death:
River Phoenix outside of the Viper Room in Los Angeles
US Politics:
January 20, 1993 (Wednesday) First inauguration of Bill Clinton.

Women were forbidden to wear pants on the floor of Congress until 1993.

The first time a state was represented in the U.S. Senate by two women was in 1993, with California’s Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer. Since then, women have only represented the state in the Senate.

Wut?
Creedence Clearwater Revival’s record label sued former lead singer John Fogerty because his song The Old Man Down the Road sounded similar to Run Through the Jungle. Although Fogerty was awarded attorney fees, the judge found that “an artist can’t plagiarize himself.”
World News:
The Chemical Weapons Convention has prohibited the use of tear gas in warfare but explicitly allows its use in riot control.

June 30, 1993, Gohan saved the world after defeating Cell in Dragonball Z episode 191: The Battle is Over… Thank You, Son Goku.

The Odd:
In 1893, prominent feminist Mary Elizabeth Lease predicted that by 1993, all food would be synthetic, thus “liberating women from the drudgery of the kitchen.”
Pop Culture Facts & History:
The Aaron Burr “Got Milk?” commercial from 1993 was the first in its series and was directed by Michael Bay.
Earring Magic Ken was released in 1993. The re-designed Ken looked like a stereotypical gay man. Kitsch-minded gay men bought the doll in record numbers, making Earring Magic Ken the best-selling Ken model in Mattel’s history.

Dark Horse Comics released a one-shot comic where NBA player Charles Barkley fought against Godzilla.

Reggae singer Snow’s single Informer hit No.1 on the Billboard charts in 1993 while in jail. He only learned from a fellow inmate who got out, heard the song, and called Snow in jail.

Hawaiian singer Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s 1993 album Facing Future is the best-selling album of all time by a Hawaiian artist. His version of Over the Rainbow has been licensed for many films, TV shows, and commercials. The album reached platinum status in 2005.

In Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Professor Lupin sleeps through most of the train ride to Hogwarts. The date is September 1, 1993. There really was a full moon the previous night; he was exhausted because he’d transformed the night before. #details

Hocus Pocus was released in July 1993 instead of October because Disney did not want it to compete against their other Halloween-themed film, The Nightmare Before Christmas, which was due for release in October by Touchstone Pictures.

Ted Turner, media mogul and founder of CNN, had a cameo in the 1993 movie Gettysburg, which Turner Pictures helped produce. He appeared briefly as Confederate Col. Waller T. Patton and is shot during the Pickett’s Charge scene. He also reprised his role in the prequel Gods and Generals.

While filming Mrs. Doubtfire, Robin Williams improvised so much that there were PG, PG-13, R, and NC-17 edits of the film.

Sharon Stone played the same character from 1992’s Basic Instinct in the 1993 Schwarzenegger action movie Last Action Hero.

The European release of the futuristic film Demolition Man replaces Taco Bell references with Pizza Hut.

Wendy’s founder, Dave Thomas, dropped out of high school to work full-time and did not graduate until 1993, when he obtained a GED.

The McDonald’s Super Size option started as a cross-promotion for the 1993 Jurassic Park movie. It was called ‘Dino Size’ and was so successful that after the movie left theaters the option remained under its new name ‘Super Size’.

Despite the title of the 1990 novel and 1993 movie Jurassic Park, most of the dinosaurs depicted in these sources were from the Cretaceous period, not the Jurassic.

Steven Spielberg received a bachelor’s degree for completing a course on film and electronic arts at university. He submitted his own Schindler’s List to pass the advanced filmmaking class exam.

After Steven Spielberg screened Schindler’s List for John Williams to compose the score, Williams was so moved he had to walk outside for several minutes. Upon returning, Williams said that the movie needed a better composer than him to which Spielberg replied “I know, but they’re all dead.”

Cosmonaut Aleksandr Serebrov was the first person to play a videogame in space, Tetris, on his Game Boy, while orbiting Earth on the MIR Space Station in 1993

On Frazier, the character of Roz Doyle (played by Peri Gilpin) is named in tribute to a producer of the television series Wings (which has the same creators as Frasier), who died from breast cancer in 1991.

Wheel of Fortune’s Vanna White sued Samsung Electronics in 1993 over its use of a humorous ad featuring a robot turning letters on a game show, alleging a violation of her personality rights. White was awarded $403,000 in damages.

Elvis Presley’s 1961 song Can’t Help Falling in Love With You peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1993, the UB40 version spent 7 weeks in the #1 spot.

At the 1993 Lollapalooza show, Rage Against the Machine stood on stage naked with duct-taped mouths for 14 minutes in protest against the Parents Music Resource Council. The only sound was feedback from the guitars.

Vijay Singh played the lowest PGA score of 63.

Only two players in MLB history have hit a game-winning, bottom-of-the-ninth home run to win the World Series; Bill Mazeroski for the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1960, and Joe Carter for the Toronto Blue Jays in 1993.

The NFL’s’ New England Patriots had the worst record in the NFL from 1989-1993. They went 19-61 during that span.

The 1988 Jamaican Bobsled Team were the underdogs representing the tropical nation in the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Canada, and were mortalized in the 1993 film Cool Runnings.

Cost of a Super Bowl ad in 1993: $850,000

The Habit:
Magic: The Gathering collectible cards
1st Appearances & 1993’s Most Popular Christmas Gifts, Toys and Presents:
Power Rangers action figures, 1850’s Southern Belle Barbie, Barbie Batgirl giftset, Beanie Babies were released, with a fairly small market, and  Magic: The Gathering role-playing card game
Popular and Best-selling Books From 1993:
The Bridges of Madison County by Robert James Waller
Cat’s Cradle by Anne Akers Johnson and Sarah Boore
The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield
The Client by John Grisham
Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King
Dragon Tears by Dean Koontz
The Giver by Lois Lowry
Lasher by Anne Rice
Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel
Nightmares & Dreamscapes by Stephen King
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha by Roddy Doyle
Pleading Guilty by Scott Turow
The Scorpio Illusion by Robert Ludlum
See I Told You So by Rush Limbaugh
The Shipping News by E. Annie Prouls
Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend by Robert James Waller
Without Remorse by Tom Clancy
Vanished by Danielle Steel
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
Best Film Oscar Winner:
Unforgiven (presented in 1993)
1993 Entries to The National Film Registry:
An American in Paris (released in 1951)
Badlands (released in 1973)
The Black Pirate (released in 1926)
Blade Runner (released in 1982)
Cat People (released in 1942)
The Cheat (released in 1915)
Chulas Fronteras (released in 1976)
Eaux d’artifice (released in 1953)
The Godfather Part II (released in 1974)
His Girl Friday (released in 1940)
It Happened One Night (released in 1934)
Lassie Come Home (released in 1943)
Magical Maestro (released in 1952)
March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany (released in 1938)
A Night at the Opera (released in 1935)
Nothing But a Man (released in 1964)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (released in 1975)
Point of Order (released in 1964)
Shadows (released in 1959)
Shane (released in 1953)
Sweet Smell of Success (released in 1957)
Touch of Evil (released in 1958)
Where Are My Children? (released in 1916)
The Wind (released in 1928)
Yankee Doodle Dandy (released in 1942)
The Big Movies: (according to boxofficemojo)
1. Jurassic Park
2. Mrs. Doubtfire
3. The Fugitive
4. The Firm
5. Sleepless In Seattle
6. Indecent Proposal
7. In The Line Of Fire
8. The Pelican Brief
9. Schindler’s List
10. Cliffhanger
1993 Most Popular TV Shows:
1. 60 Minutes (CBS)
2. Home Improvement (ABC)
3. Seinfeld (NBC)
4. Roseanne (ABC)
5. Grace Under Fire (ABC)
6. Coach (ABC)
7. Frasier (NBC)
8. Murphy Brown (CBS)
9. Murder, She Wrote (CBS)
10. Thunder Alley (ABC)

1993 Billboard Number One Songs:
November 29, 1992March 5, 1993:
I Will Always Love You – Whitney Houston

March 6March 12:
A Whole New World (Aladdin’s Theme) – Peabo Bryson & Regina Belle

March 13 – April 30:
Informer – Snow

May 1May 14:
Freak Me – Silk

May 15July 9:
That’s The Way Love Goes – Janet Jackson

July 10July 23:
Weak – SWV (Sisters With Voices)

July 24September 11:
I Can’t Help Falling In Love – UB40

September 11 – November 5:
Dreamlover – Mariah Carey

November 6December 10:
I’d Do Anything For Love (But I Won’t Do That) – Meat Loaf

December 11December 24:
Again – Janet Jackson

December 25, 1993 – January 21, 1994:
Hero – Mariah Carey

Sports:
World Series Champions: Toronto Blue Jays
Super Bowl XXVII Champions: Dallas Cowboys
NBA Champions: Chicago Bulls
Stanley Cup Champs: Montreal Canadiens
U.S. Open Golf Lee Janzen
U.S. Tennis: (Men/Ladies) Pete Sampras/Steffi Graf
Wimbledon (Men/Women): Pete Sampras/Steffi Graf
NCAA Football Champions: Florida State
NCAA Basketball Champions: North Carolina
Kentucky Derby: Sea Hero