Nostalgia Project:1989

1989 was a year full of everything. Great music, great movies, and world changing events!

Top 3 Movies and TV Shows

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• Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (one can only wish it stayed the last)
• Batman
• Back the Future II

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Dead Poets Society came in fifth, but I think it is one that transcends time and left a lasting impression. Over the years, the scene with the students standing on the chairs yelling , “Oh captain, my captain” has popped up in films and television.

The Top TV Shows

1989 was ground breaking with TV series.

The Cosby Show (NBC)

Roseanne (ABC)

Cheers (NBC)  Say it with me,” Norm!”

While the following shows may not have been in the top their first season (1989) you have to admit they were pretty awesome and changed our culture:
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• Seinfeld
• The Simpsons (aired December 1989)
• Quantum Leap

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Top Songs

Chicago, “Look Away”

Bobby Brown, “My Prerogative”

Poison, “Every Rose Has it Thorn”

Paula Abdul, “Straight Up”

Many of my favorite songs came out in 1989, it was a year filled with great tunes. We remember some more than others, like #8, “Girl, You Know It’s True” for reasons other than the song. Here are some other titles that you might recognize: Bette Midler, “Wind Beneath My Wings,” White Lion’s “When the Children Cry” was number 61. A shocker just because of how low on the chart and how much it is played, #93 is “Smooth Criminal.” Finally, since this group has made a comeback and is currently touring again, “You Got the Right Stuff,” New Kids On the Block.

Top Books:

Nonfiction

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1. A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking
2. All I Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten by Robert Fulghum

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Fiction

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1. The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
2. The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie

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Other books that made the list, that I have read:

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• Number the Stars
• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom (come on everyone: a told b and b told c, I’ll meet you at the top of the coconut tree)
• Is Your Mama A Llama? – this book is on my list because I love the illustrator. I met Steven Kellog in 1983 and have a special place in my heart for him.

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And now for the News:

As I mentioned at the beginning, 1989 was a year full of news!

Jan 24th – The first reported case of AIDS transmitted by heterosexual oral sex. Until this time, it was thought to be the homosexual disease. This disease scared everyone.

Feb 22nd – US authors demonstrate against Iranian death treats against Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. I never read the book, but I remember the author running for his life. Never heard about him later. However, a Google search of him shows that he is alive and has written more.

Mar 13th – The 27th shuttle, Discovery 8, launched, with the first woman to do the countdown.

Mar 24th – Worst US oil spill, Exxon’s Valdez spills 11.3 million gallons of crude oil off the coast of Alaska. Living in the Northwest, this was a huge story. We kept wondering how it would affect the area, the fishing industry.

Oct 17th – Earthquake in SF (6.9) cancels the third game of World Series, kills 67. When you think of large disastrous earthquakes in the US, this one comes to mind. The freeway collapse, trapping people. I remember the images very well.

Nov 9th – East Berlin opens its borders. The biggest in my mind was the Berlin Wall coming down. When President Reagan challenged Gorbachev to tear down the wall back in 1987, no one really thought it would happen. That wall was an impermeable structure dividing a country, families, and a continent. But in 1989 it fell, which led to another huge event in 1990.