We're finishing the '90s. 1999, the end of the road for the '90s. And the 20th century-- the year 2000 was just around the corner.
But first, the world would have to get past the dreaded Y2K. '99 would be a cliffhanger ending with twists and turns right up to the finale, where it would be the end of the road for a famed director. A tragedy would unfold in Colorado, and there would be a hit on a King.
Whoa. Get ready. This finale is going to be a doozy.
You are here for me to enlighten you. Today, we're going to talk about the news, culture, sports, and entertainment and all that was weird in the '90s. This is Timeline.
[MUSIC PLAYING] This one has aged like a fine wine and is a vintage 1999. But before we get started, be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel and let us know what the '90s taught you about life. And be sure to stick around until the very end, when we'll let you know what new decade Timeline will be covering next, as well as a special announcement.
Now, are you ready to go back and party like it's '99? Is it newsworthy? Yes.
This is 1999. '99 started with new money for those in the European Union when the euro came into existence. Created to promote growth, stability, and economic integration in Europe, the euro took off as an overarching currency used for exchange between countries within the union.
It quickly became the world's second largest and second most traded currency after the Yankee dollar. Two days later, we go to New York, where Kendra Webdale was standing on the subway platform. As her end train was pulling up, she was pushed off the platform and onto the tracks from behind.
Everything happened so fast. Webdale didn't even have a chance to scream. Andrew Goldstein calmly leaned against the wall behind him, waiting for the NYPD.
Goldstein, who was mentally ill, later pled insanity to second degree murder and was convicted of all charges. Webdale's family played a significant role in getting a New York law passed giving judges the power to send people who meet certain standards to receive psychiatric treatment. Since then, 47 states have adopted Kendra's law.
Vietnam vet, WWF wrestler, and man who ain't got time to bleed Jesse "The Body" Ventura was sworn in as Minnesota's 38th governor on January 4. Running as a member of the Reform Party, Ventura warned the old guard that an independent group of young Americans were knocking on the door and demanding change. Three days later, President Bill Clinton's impeachment trial began with two charges.
The first one being Paula Jones for harassment. Jones alleged Clinton, then the governor of Arkansas, got an Arkansas State Police trooper to have Jones meet Clinton in his hotel room, where he exposed himself to her. The second charge was perjury and obstruction of justice.
A little over a month later, Clinton was acquitted as the Senate did not achieve the necessary two-thirds vote for impeachment. For the first charge, he was cleared with a vote 45 to convict, 55 to acquit. And on the second, 50 voted to convict and 50 to acquit.
After the hearing, Clinton apologized and said he was profoundly sorry for the burden he imposed on the American people. Take your hat off. Excuse me.
It's my hat. I'll wear it where I want. In mid-January, after six MVP NBA Final wins in 15 seasons with the Chicago Bulls, Michael Jordan retired from the NBA for the second time.
Jordan stated that he had lost the desire to perform at his hyper-competitive level of play. The fact that Scottie Pippen, Dennis Rodman, and Coach Phil Jackson were leaving Chicago made Jordan's decision all the easier. This wouldn't be his last retirement, though, as we flash forward to 2003, when Jordan announced his retirement from the NBA for a third time after putting two seasons in with the Washington Wizards.
He didn't have a press conference this time, but he did get a serenade from Boyz II Men and a three-minute standing ovation from Philadelphia fans at his last game. Excellent. The mind control device is nearing completion.
Stewie, I said no toys at the table. Damn you, vile woman! You've impeded my work since the day I escaped from your wretched womb.
Heading into February, we go to the Middle East, where King Abdullah II was sworn in before the Jordanian parliament only several hours after the death of his father, King Hussein. Decades later, Abdullah remains very popular worldwide for stabilizing his country, as well as making inroads with the promotion of interfaith dialogue. Being that he's a member of the Hashemite dynasty and a 41st generation direct descendant of the prophet Muhammad, Abdullah's political finesse is no surprise.
And after that, I just space out for about an hour until I-- [GROANS] Space out? Yeah. I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working.
In late February, Eminem's The Slim Shady LP was released. Eminem won twice at the Grammy Awards for Best Rap Album and Best Rap Solo Performance for "My Name Is". The song is also notable because Eminem's mother, Deborah Nelson, sued him in a $10 million slander case because of his lyrics "I just found out my mom does more dope than I do.
" Nelson did not get millions. Instead, she was awarded $25,000 for her two-year-long trial. And after legal fees, she was left with $1,600.
[MUSIC PLAYING] Come on. Fox presents-- [FARTS] --a family comedy for the new millennium. What are you looking at?
Malcolm in the Middle, premiering this January on Fox. Six days after he screened the final cut of Eyes Wide Shut to Warner Brothers, Stanley Kubrick died in his sleep at the age of 70 from a heart attack on March 7. Kubrick's family held a small, private funeral for him at his home, Childwickbury Manor.
Kubrick was buried underneath his favorite tree on his lush, 200-acre estate. Guests called the event less of a funeral and more of a British picnic, complete with cellists, clarinetists, and vocalists. The United States got its own LEGOLAND on March 20 near San Diego.
It was the third LEGOLAND ever built, and the first LEGOLAND to exist outside Europe. The first LEGOLAND opened in Denmark in 1968, followed much later by a second location in England in 1996. While no death-defying roller coasters, LEGOLAND became one more stop on a California West Coast road trip.
Launching their world-record trek from Chateau d'Oex, Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard made the first non-stop flight around the world in a balloon. The pair landed in Egypt after floating for 19 days, 21 hours, and 55 minutes, having traveled the distance of 25,361 miles, setting seven new world records, including distance, duration, and altitude. We know what you're wondering.
How did they go to the bathroom? The 10-by-17-foot Gondola had a pressure-operated toilet, along with a single bunk, a kitchen, and a cockpit with GPS navigation. Ricky Martin made the transition from former boy bander to a full-blown crossover pop megastar on March 23 when he released his English language debut, "Livin' La Vida Loca".
When the former Menudo member's "Livin' La Vida Loca" dropped, everyone and their great grandparents knew who Ricky Martin was. Two weeks later, Martin found himself at number one on the Billboard 100. Seriously?
You couldn't turn on anything without hearing that song. I can't get it out of my head, still. [GUNSHOTS] If you were going to mark one of the '90's most impactful events, Columbine, which took place on April 20, would surely make everyone's list.
It was at 11:19 AM on that day when Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold walked into their high school and systematically began shooting their classmates. Almost one hour after Harris and Klebold began firing, the two had taken the lives of 12 students and 1 teacher and injuring 21 others before taking their own lives. The pair had been planning this attack for over a year.
I'd been training my whole life for the day I could join the Krusty Krew, and now I'm ready. [YELPING] Moving into May, the highest wind speeds ever measured globally were recorded when a powerful F5 tornado destroyed southern Oklahoma City and its surrounding suburbs. Beginning at 6:23 PM, the tornado ripped through 38 miles of Oklahoma, annihilating homes, apartments, businesses, buildings, and churches while taking the lives of 36 people and causing over $1 billion in damage.
After the tornado flamed out at 7:48, a major disaster declaration was pushed by President Clinton the following day. [MUSIC PLAYING] I hate to be a worrywart, but we're just not going to take any chances around here. I mean, we could be without power, without resources.
The experts are split on the effects that could have. Watch your step. It could be bedlam, so we're stocking up.
And when the millennium hits, we'll be ready. Did somebody say McDonald's? Two days later, a Michigan jury found The Jenny Jones Show liable in the death of Scott Bernard Amedure, the man who confessed his crush on his friend, Jonathan Schmitz, on an episode of the show.
Did you think Donna has a crush on you? No, we're good friends. Well, guess what?
It's Scott that has the crush on you. You lied to me. [LAUGHTER] Amedure's family received over $29 million, claiming that Jones and her producers used ambush tactics to lure Schmitz on the show, telling him they were going to reveal his secret female admirer.
They reasoned that the producers created a dubious situation with no concern for the possible outcome. Saying it could be a man or it could be a woman was a lie, wasn't it? In your-- Told him something that it couldn't have been.
Sure. In that particular show, no, I was not aware that that could be embarrassing. I didn't think that it would be embarrassing.
The decision would be overturned in 2002, when a Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that Jones had no duty to anticipate and prevent the act of murder committed by Schmitz three days after leaving the studio. The Jenny Jones Show would air its last episode one year later. We go to Kansas City, where, on May 23, in front of a live audience, pro wrestling lost Owen Hart, who fell 78 feet to his death in a stunt gone wrong in WWF's Over the Edge pay-per-view event.
During his entrance against The Undertaker, Hart was in a harness connected to a grapple line. He was supposed to hover a few feet over the mat then free himself with a quick release mechanism. Instead, his grapple line accidentally became untethered, and Hart crashed onto the top rope, missing the turnbuckle by a foot.
I have the unfortunate responsibility to let everyone know that Owen Hart has died. Hart was pronounced dead on arrival at Truman Medical Center. Six days later, on May 29, Discovery became the first space shuttle to dock with the International Space Station.
Manned by the STS-96 crew, Discovery's job was to deliver hardware to the barebones ISS. After 27 years of service, Discovery retired after 39 flights for a total of 8,783 hours in space, with 149 million miles on the odometer. You can now find Discovery at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Virginia.
Heading into June, the music world changed forever when Sean Fanning and Sean Parker launched Napster, allowing anyone to download songs for free. Napster came at a time when albums could cost up to $20-- that's almost $32 adjusted for inflation. The party didn't last for long, though.
On March 13, 2000, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich filed a lawsuit against Napster. Napster hijacked our music without asking. Our catalog of music simply became available for free downloads on the Napster system.
The argument I hear a lot that music should be free must then mean the musicians should work for free. And on July 11, 2001, Napster shut down its entire network. In the middle of June, we go to Maine, where, during his daily walk, Stephen King was hit by a minivan driven by Bryan Smith.
Smith, who had almost a dozen driving citations, bounced the rider off his windshield and into a ditch. It just happened. Bang.
There it was. And I woke up with my lap on sideways. Smith was arrested and pleaded guilty, earning him six months in jail, which was suspended, much like his driver's license.
Meanwhile, King suffered from a collapsed lung, nine breaks in his lower leg, a gash on his head, four broken ribs, and a shattered hip. We fast forward to September 21, 2004, when King released The Dark Tower 7-- The Dark Tower. King, who was never very happy with the leniency Smith got, created a character named Bryan Smith.
King described the character as a simpleton who hits and kills a character after being distracted by his dog, which is pretty much what happened to King. Revenge is a dish best served cold. Coming back to '99 and staying with authors, JK Rowling's Prisoner of Azkaban was released on July 8, selling 68,000 copies in just three days in the UK alone.
The film adaptation of Prisoner of Azkaban would eventually debut at number one on May 23, 2004, holding that spot for a couple of weeks yet having the distinction of being the lowest grossing of all eight installments. That said, Azkaban is still viewed as the best Potter film among critics and purists alike. In what is still considered one of the most important events in women's athletics, the FIFA Women's World Cup Final took place on July 10, pitting the United States against China at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California.
The match was played in front of over 90,000 spectators and ended in a scoreless draw following two extra times. This led to a penalty shootout, ending with United States' Brandi Chastain sneaking a line drive past China's goalkeeper, Gao Hong, for a 5 to 4 win. Of course, what everyone remembers about this match was Chastain's reaction.
En route to a wedding of his cousin, John F. Kennedy, Jr. flew his three-month-old Piper Saratoga from New Jersey's Essex County Airport.
Kennedy took off into the hazy horizon with his wife, Carolyn Bessette, and her sister, Lauren. Unqualified and unlicensed to fly by instruments only, Kennedy became spatially disoriented and flew nose first into the Atlantic. Three days later, on the 21st, Navy divers recovered Kennedy and the Bessette sisters.
Beginning on Thursday, July 22 and concluding on Sunday the 25th, Woodstock returned for the third time. From day one, it was a [BLEEP]-show-show for poor infrastructure, lack of water, lack of shade and shameless price gouging. On Saturday night, the 400,000-plus festival attendees finally revolted.
40 minutes into Limp Bizkit's set, Fred Durst whipped the unwashed masses into a frenzy. Thousands began chanting the lyrics to "Break Stuff". And thus began their two-day demolition of the former Griffiss Air Force base.
By the time the Chili Peppers ended their headlining set with a cover of Jimi Hendrix's "Fire", a good portion of the festival grounds were literally en fuego. After 22 days, 20 stages, and 2,405 miles, American cyclist Lance Armstrong won the 82nd Tour de France on July 25, billed by organizers as the Tour of Renewal. After a series of doping scandals in the pro cycling world that occurred during and after the 1998 Tour de France, this was Armstrong's eighth Tour de France win.
Flash forward to January 2013, when Armstrong admitted to Oprah Winfrey that he did indeed use performance-enhancing drugs. This came a year after the investigation of the United States Anti-Doping Agency that, not only did Armstrong use performance enhancers, but he was also the ringleader of the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport had ever seen. Do you think you've gotten what you deserve?
I deserve to be punished. I'm not sure that I deserve a death penalty. Armstrong received a lifetime ban, and he was stripped of all wins from August 1998 onward.
Sticking with sports, in late July, pro skateboarder Tony Hawk landed the first-ever 900 degree at the 1999 X-Games in San Francisco Are you kidding me? Thank you. This is the best day of my life.
The trick also won him first place in the skateboard division for Best Vert Ramp Trick. Hawk's record held for a while until 2012, when 12-year-old Tom Schaar landed the first-ever 1080. I can do a 1080.
Oh my god. And I just want to apologize to Mike's mom, and Josh's mom, and my mom. I'm scared to close my eyes.
(WHISPERING) I want to tell you my secret now. I see dead people. How often do you see them?
All the time. On August 7, the West Nile virus landed in the United States, when several cases of meningoencephalitis, a condition connected to muscle weakness, was discovered among two patients at Flushing Hospital Medical Center. These initial cases quickly spread across Queens then the rest of America with the unproven belief that the virus entered in an infected bird or mosquito.
Those who suffered with extreme cases of the virus experienced sudden paralysis in their arms and legs, as well as disorientation and high fevers. Two days later, after firing his cabinet, Russian President Boris Yeltsin fired his prime minister and gave the role to a political noob, Vladimir Putin. This was the fourth time Yeltsin completely cleaned house in 17 months.
Stepashin had been prime minister for only three months before this latest round of pink slips. That said, Yeltsin was a big fan of the Putin, predicting the former KGB officer had a big future in Russia. You're going to be hearing a lot more about Putin when we get to the 2010s.
Oh, that chest. [MUSIC PLAYING] Comedy Central presents all-new shows from comedy's rising stars. Wrote a script and gave it to a guy who reads scripts.
And he read it, and he said he really likes it. But he thinks I need to rewrite it. I said [BLEEP] that.
I'll just make a copy. Comedy Central presents Mitch Hedberg. Tuesday at 10:00, only on Comedy Central.
In late August, Michael Johnson set the new world record for the men's 400 meter at the 1999 World Championships in Seville, Spain. Johnson, at the relatively old age of 31, was running among the world's fastest humans. Yet Johnson made it look like he was competing against the JV team.
Johnson pulled away from the pack, winning with a new world-record time of 43. 81 seconds. He's got it.
He's got it. World record Superman flies again. Hurricane Floyd touched down in the Bahamas on September 7 and plowed through the East Coast of America for two days.
Floyd also caused the fourth-largest evacuation in US history when authorities ordered 2. 6 million coastal residents across five states to evacuate their homes. I am drenched up to my chest.
I'm getting stuff out. Y'all get over here. I never, in my life, rode a boat before.
But I had to take a chance to get out of the water. We were almost sinking in the church. In the end, Hurricane Floyd caused 85 fatalities and $6.
5 billion in property damage, becoming the costliest in North Carolina's history until Hurricane Florence said hold my beer in 2018 and caused $24 billion worth of damage. And, in a rare move by the World Meteorological Organization, the name Floyd was retired from ever being used again for any other future Atlantic hurricane. Shit, man.
Now it's all gone. All gone. Do you know what a duvet is?
Comforter. It's a blanket. It's just a blanket.
Now, why do guys like you and I know what a duvet is? Is this essential to our survival? Things you own end up owning you.
I think we deserve a little junk food after the workout we had this morning. Would you like to try our new beef and cheese pot pie on a stick, just $1. 99, for a limited time only?
You are so busted. This really doesn't concern you. Well, actually, Janine is senior drive-thru manager.
So you are on her turf. [LAW AND ORDER SOUND] Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Is there a specific reason you called us out?
Whoever did this sliced off his cigar and took it with him. Is that specific enough? Who would want to cut your penis off?
Take a number. A little more than two months after the apocalyptic Woodstock '99 flamed out in a blaze of shame, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival kicked off its inaugural weekender on October 9. Coachella was the complete opposite of Woodstock.
Instead of catering to mediocre top 40 rap-rock fans, Coachella organizers featured heavier artists like Beck, Morrissey, Tool, Pavement, and A Perfect Circle, which turned out to be their second live performance. The United Nations Population Fund decided on October 12 as the day of 6 billion-- the approximate day that the world's population hit the 6 billion people on Earth mark. The organization designated the birth of Adnan Mevic, the first son of Fatima Helac and Jasminko Mevic in Sarajevo as lucky number 6 billion born two minutes after midnight.
Birth today of the 6 billionth person on the planet-- a beautiful baby boy in a city returning to life-- should light a path of tolerance and understanding for all people. Outside research shows that the 6 billionth person was born approximately a few months earlier on June 18 or 19. Nice try, Adnan.
You were just a pawn in the UN's master plan. Superstar who dominated basketball in the 1960s and '70s was found dead today at his home in Los Angeles. Chamberlain was 63.
Wilt the Stilt first dominated the game as a team at Overbrook High School in Philadelphia and at the University of Kansas, then as a pro, where he went on to win two NBA Finals, four league MVPs, played in 13 all-star games. And he's still the only NBA player to score 100 points in one game. After basketball, Chamberlain played Bambaataa in Conan the Destroyer.
Yet Chamberlain will be most remembered for his autobiography, in which he stated he had sex with over 20,000 different women. Chamberlain came to this number by making notation in his day calendar every time he got it on. You slept with 20,000 women.
It's the kind of thing that you say, and then people bring it up later on. Bring it up later on. It's not just me.
Have you seen-- there's a clock in Times Square. I didn't think that-- OK. Yeah!
On the same day as Chamberlain's death, we go to Pakistan, where General Pervez Musharraf seized control of the country in a non-violent coup d'état. This came after weeks of tensions bubbling up between Pakistan's civilian leadership and its armed forces. These armed forces immediately spread out across the country to seize control of airports, state broadcasting networks, and communication facilities.
In a brief address to all of Pakistan not long after the initial takeover, Musharraf said that his armed forces had stepped in to save the country from an economic and political crisis. I shall not allow the people to be taken back to the era of sham democracy, but to a true one. Staying in the region, we go to Pakistan's neighbor, India, where, in late October, the Odisha cyclone, the most intense recorded tropical cyclone in the North Indian Ocean, landed.
We knew that it was a national calamity when the first reports came. The dimensions of the tragedy that will unfold here cannot be imagined. Although the Odisha cyclone's damage was seen most in India, Myanmar and Bangladesh suffered some of the runoff.
On November 21, Elián González, along with his mother and 12 others, left Cuba in a small boat on a 90-mile trek to Florida. Midway into the journey, a storm hit, filling the boat with water and killing the engine. González was put into an inner tube.
When he woke up, the storm was gone and all but him and two others were alive. Fisherman found González three miles off the coast of Fort Lauderdale. Eventually, Gonzalez was handed over to his uncle, Lazaro.
Fidel Castro stepped in. And after speaking with Elián's biological father in Cuba, said he wanted Elián back in Cuba, where he belonged, setting up one very ugly custody battle. In 2000, in a pre-dawn raid, over 130 US federal agents showed up at the Miami home where González was staying with relatives.
They were heavily armed in response to threats of violence from the family members that housed Elián. They broke-- they broke Elián's bed. He was saying que pasa?
Que pasa? Que pasas? What's going on?
I just held his head like this. My god, America. What did you do to this boy?
After a confrontational standoff, US officials seized Elián, who was later returned to Cuba and his father. In late November, 40,000 street protesters gathered outside the Washington State Convention and Trade Center. They were protesting issues such as worker's rights, sustainable economies, and environmental and social issues, vandalizing Downtown Seattle businesses in the process.
The mayor of Seattle declared a civil emergency later that day. Moving into December, during a record release party at the Kit Kat Club in Manhattan for Q-Tip's highly anticipated solo debut Amplified, JAY-Z stabbed Record Producer Lance "Un" Rivera. Jay's fourth album, Volume 3-- Life and Times of S.
Carter, was scheduled to be released that month. But he was angry when he discovered bootleggers had uploaded copies to Napster. Jay-Z believed Rivera did it.
Rivera was stabbed in the stomach and shoulder. And although he pleaded guilty to third degree assault, Jay-Z has maintained his innocence. On the last day of the year, Boris Yeltsin gave his televised resignation speech, praising Russia and his administration for all of its advances in cultural, political, and economic freedoms.
Yeltsin also apologized to the people of Russia. He wasn't the most well-liked man in the country, though, with approval ratings at a Siberian frigid rate of only 2%. Russians were very happy leaving 1999.
Speaking of leaving 1999, on the last day of the 20th century, the big fear was Y2K. The Y2K theory was that, once the clock struck midnight on December 31, global computer systems wouldn't be able to process the 2 and 0 in the year 2000. This could cause software malfunctions to bring down worldwide industries and even air traffic.
Companies spent billions of dollars restructuring and securing their data and rewriting code. End of the world predictions and apocalyptic scenarios were commonly mentioned. During that time of tribulation, the Antichrist will come to great power.
But in the end, nothing really happened. Whomp, whomp. And that is how 1999 would end.
We hope you enjoyed this trip down '90s memory lane. And maybe you found your favorite flannel in the closet and listened to Pearl Jam's "Ten" again. Be sure to watch or rewatch all of our Timeline '90s videos, as well as our Timeline The '80s.
We know why you're still here. What decade will Timeline do next? We're going to be taking a break in between decades.
But in the not-so-distant future, season three of Timeline will be the '70s. What would you like to say to the people of the 21st century? Hey.
But before we do that, we're going back in history for something else. Get your appetites ready, because we're introducing a new series that will follow the history of your favorite food-- from its humble beginnings to what it is today. Coming soon-- Weird History on Food with season one on cheese.
Bon appetit. So what do you think? What was your favorite story from Timeline The '90s?
Let us in the comments below. And while you're at it, check out our other Timeline videos from our Weird History.
