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The ’90s

The cast of Cop Rock—in a rare moment of not singing about law and order.

There’s a time and a place for a jaunty Hall & Oates pastiche, but—as the creators of 'Cop Rock' discovered the hard way—it’s probably not in the middle of a self-described “baby merchant” getting caught in a child abduction sting.

Jon O'Brien
Christopher Reid and Christopher Martin in House Party (1990).

Reginald Hudlin's 'House Party' proved to Hollywood that the growing interest in Black cinema seen in the late 1980s was no mere fad.

Faridah Gbadamosi








Highlander: The Series, starring Adrian Paul, was an international hit.

'Highlander' ran from 1992 to 1998 and developed a cult following for its depiction of good-looking immortal beings lopping off each other's heads.

Jake Rossen


Matthew Peyton/Getty Images

Pro wrestler "Rowdy" Roddy Piper was known for his Scottish kilt and bagpipes, but he was also a serious martial artist and even recorded a pop song.

Jake Rossen


L to R: Beastie Boys Ad-Rock (Adam Horowitz), MCA (Adam Yauch), and Mike D (Michael Diamond) pose in Portugal 1998.

Though Beastie Boys effectively disbanded following the 2012 death of Adam "MCA" Yauch, the band has been collecting fans for more than 40 years with its uniquely intoxicating, and ever-evolving, sound.

Todd Gilchrist






"Once you get your hands on Bop It!, you're not gonna want to stop it!"

Bop It, the popular kid's toy, started out as something called Remote Out-of-Control that required players to pull, twist, or bop it. The last one stuck.

Jake Rossen




Fran Drescher, Daniel Davis, Charles Shaughnessy, and Lauren Lane star in The Nanny.

If you’ve never seen the sitcom 'The Nanny'—which starred Fran Drescher and aired on CBS from 1993 to 1999—all you need to do is listen to the theme song once and you’ll basically be caught up.

Elizabeth Yuko


Employees at the Niagara Mohawk Power Company control facility in Buffalo, New York, go through a round of Y2K testing toward the end of December 1999.

Y2K was not the world-ending catastrophe that the media, governments, and tech gurus had predicted. But it still led to some weird, expensive, and sometimes hilarious glitches.

Jason Serafino
Warner Bros. Pictures/Getty Images

In 1997, an episode of the 'Pokémon' animated series used a strobe-light effect during a battle sequence. Hundreds of viewers in Japan suffered seizures and other symptoms. More than two decades later, no one is exactly sure why.

Jake Rossen
Beastie Boys via YouTube

With their raucous mix of rock and hip-hop, the Beastie Boys were a band everyone could love. They also made killer music videos, and “Sabotage” is arguably one of the best in the history of the medium.

Kenneth Partridge