This is clearly not a definitive list. I encourage you all to help us build the list by leaving your additions in the comments below.
1. Cheap Trick
Song: “Surrender”
Mention: … got my Kiss records out
2. The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Song: “Californication”
Mention: Cobain can you hear the spheres singing songs off station to station
Also: References David Bowie’s album Station to Station
3. Lynyrd Skynyrd
Song: "Sweet Home Alabama"
Mention: Well I heard mister Young sing about her
Well, I heard ole Neil put her down
Well, I hope Neil Young will remember
4. Johnny Rivers
Song: "Summer Rain"
Mention: Everybody kept on playing Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band
5. Better than Ezra
Song: “Extra Ordinary”
Mentions: (Many in this song, but my favorites):
Though I got more hooks
Than Madonna got looks
And just like that AC/DC song
Come on baby, shake me all night long
6. Billy Joel
Song: “We Didn't Start The Fire”
Mentions: (Again, lots in here): Roy Cohn, Juan Peron, Toscanini, Dacron
Dien Bien Phu Falls, Rock Around the Clock - Einstein, James Dean, Brooklyn's got a winning team
Davy Crockett, Peter Pan, Elvis Presley, Disneyland
7. Regina Spektor
Song: “On the Radio”
Mentions: (Guns N’ Roses song) On the radio we heard november rain
the solo's real long, but it's a pretty song
we listened to it twice 'cause the dj was asleep
8. Arctic Monkeys
Song: “Bet You Look Good On The Dance Floor”
Mentions: Your name isn't Rio, but I don't care for sand
9. Electric Light Orchestra
Song: “Shangri La”
Mentions: My Shangri-la has gone away,
Faded like the Beatles on Hey Jude
10. Bruce Springsteen
Song: “Thunder Road”
Mentions: Like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
11. The Beatles
Song: “Yer Blues”
Mentions: The eagle picks my eye, the worm he licks my bones
Feel so suicidal, just like Dylan's Mr. Jones
12. Wolfmother
Song: “Dimension"
Mentions: Purple haze is in the sky...
The Nintendo Switch is one of the hottest video game consoles of the past few decades, with worldwide sales topping 55 million (that's more than the Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64, and it's only a few million behind the original NES). The problem with a console being so popular is that it's not always easy to spot one on store shelves. If you haven't had luck finding one in recent months, you can enter this contest to win your very own Nintendo Switch, along with a copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, a pair of Switch-compatible Logitech wireless headphones, and a $300 Nintendo gift card. Head here for more details.
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Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin in House Party (1990).
New Line Home Video
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the classic coming-of-age comedy House Party. Written and directed by Reginald Hudlin, the movie starred the rap duo Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Martin of Kid ‘n Play as well as many other recognizable names including Martin Lawrence, A.J. Johnson, Tisha Campbell, Full Force, Robin Harris (who passed away just weeks after House Party was released), and the late John Witherspoon.
Centering the Black teenage experience in a way that had not yet made it into the mainstream, this now-classic comedy proved to Hollywood that the growing interest in Black cinema seen in the late 1980s was not just a fad. The film centers Black joy in a way media still continues to struggle with today, yet its universal appeal has endured even 30 years later. Here are some fun facts about the beloved film.
1. The idea for House Party started with a song.
While he was still a student at Harvard University in the early 1980s, Reginald Hudlin came up with the idea for a short film that would eventually morph into the feature-length House Party after listening Luther Vandross’s 1982 hit "Bad Boy/Having a Party."
"At the time, Black music videos weren’t really a thing, so I would come up with a music video in my head to a song," Hudlin told The Ringer about House Party's origins. "I kept thinking about what that would be, and then I thought: 'No, that’s a movie.'"
2. House Party could have starred Will Smith.
Much like the film itself, the casting process for House Party all started with a song. The song in question? DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince's "A Nightmare on My Street." Due to some legal issues that arose around sampling the music from A Nightmare on Elm Street, the rap duo ended up in a deal that put the House Party script in front of them. When the pair ultimately decided to pass on making the movie, it opened the door for Kid 'n Play to take on the project.
3. Kid ‘n Play met at a real-life house party.
On a 2016 episode of OWN’s Where Are They Now?, Play recalled meeting Kid at a party where he saw him rap. Both were in different groups at the time, with Play going by Playboy and Kid going by Kid Coolout. As time went on their groups broke up, leading the pair to team up and shorten their names to Kid and Play (or Kid 'n Play).
4. The Hudlin brothers have a cameo in House Party.
House Party writer/director Reginald Hudlin and his brother Warrington, who is also a producer on the movie, appeared in front of the camera, too. They played the two burglars who get chased out of the house by the dog.
5. House Party featured a Fly Girl.
A.J. Johnson, who played Sharane—BFF to Tisha Campbell’s Sidney—was a Fly Girl on In Living Color. Based on her dance background and her experiences in university, it was Johnson who suggested adding a dance battle to the film, which ultimately became one of the movie's most memorable moments. Johnson even choreographed her and Campbell’s moves.
6. Tisha Campbell and A.J. Johnson can still do the House Party dance.
Speaking of the iconic dance-off: Johnson and Campbell recreated their House Party routine in 2015 as a surprise for Alicia Keys's birthday party, which was House Party-themed.
7. House Party featured one of Martin Lawrence’s first roles.
Martin Lawrence and Christopher Martin in House Party (1990).New Line Home Video
Martin Lawrence had only appeared in one film, Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing, prior to being cast in House Party. He met his future Martin co-star Tisha Campbell while working on House Party.
8. "Ain't My Type of Hype" is not on the House Party soundtrack.
Full Force's "Ain’t My Type of Hype" was the song playing during the iconic dance-off scene, but it is not actually on the movie's official soundtrack. Full Force, the hip-hop group who also played the film’s villains, released the song after the soundtrack was completed and it ended up being one of their biggest hits.
9. There was a lot of improvisation and collaboration on the House Party set.
Robin Harris in House Party (1990).New Line Home Video
Input was taken from the very talented cast assembled: John Witherspoon and Robin Harris improvised most of their lines, and Full Force rewrote their characters to make them more humorous. "We had rehearsals where we would improvise and freestyle and I would incorporate their ideas into the script," Hudlin told Black Film. "You don’t have people that talented and say, 'Stick to the script.' Particularly [when] you’re making a comedy.”
10. House Party launched a film franchise.
House Party has spawned four sequels—House Party 2 (1991), House Party 3 (1994), House Party 4: Down to the Last Minute (2001), and House Party: Tonight's the Night (2013)—though none of them were directed by Hudlin. Kid 'n Play have appeared in all but one of the sequels.
11. LeBron James is producing an all-new House Party.
Harry How/Getty Images
In 2018, The Hollywood Reporterannounced that LeBron James and his producing partner Maverick Carter were planning to create a House Party movie for a new generation. But James was clear that the film wouldn't be a retread.
"This is definitely not a reboot," James said. "It's an entirely new look for a classic movie. Everyone I grew up with loved House Party. To partner with this creative team to bring a new House Party to a new generation is unbelievable." Though there is no word whether Kid 'n Play will be reprising their roles, Carter did say that they were "trying out some ideas for musicians to be cast in and to be a part of the project."
