This Month In YesterYear History - July

     

In "This Month in YesterYear History," we look back at the big pop culture moments from 

20 (2005), 25 (2000), and 30 (1995) years ago!   

Below, you'll find a little time capsule of what was significant during this month in history.  Hopefully, as you read these brief recaps of the past, you'll remember the who, when, and where of some long-tucked-away memories!  That's the whole point of this site! 

POINTS OF REFERENCE

2005:  On July 1st, Texas Rangers pitcher Kenny Rogers was fined $50k and suspended for 20 games after shoving a television cameraman.  On the 2nd, activist Bob Geldof launched a series of worldwide concerts called "Live 8" to highlight world poverty.  Concerts occurred in England, Japan, Italy, France, South Africa, Germany, Russia, and America.  Also, on the 2nd, Venus Williams won her 3rd of an eventual 5 titles at Wimbledon.  On July 6th, England celebrates as London is awarded the 2012 Summer Olympics.  On the 8th, Marvel superhero movie "The Fantastic Four," featuring Jessica Alba and Chris Evans, debuts in theaters.  Hurricane Denis causes billions of dollars worth of damage to the Florida panhandle on the 10th.  The American League wins the 76th MLB All-Star Game on the 12th in Detroit, Michigan.  On the 13th, "The Closer," starring Kyra Sedgwick, debuts on TNT.  The next day, the 14th, the instant cult classic film "Wedding Crashers," starring Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, hits theaters.  On the 15th, after turning down several million to stay in Anaheim, legendary NHL coach Mike Babcock leaves the Mighty Ducks and signs on to coach the Detroit Red Wings.  On the 16th, "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" appears in bookstores as the 6th in the Harry Potter series.  It sold 9 million copies in 24 hours.  I wasn't and am still not a Potter fan, but I drove around all afternoon looking for a copy for my girlfriend (now wife) that day.  I finally found one in a grocery store since it was sold everywhere.  On the 20th, Canada became the fourth country in the world to legalize same-sex marriages.  On the 26th, NASA canceled the planned launch of Space Shuttle Discovery, the first planned launch since the Columbia disaster in 2003.  They halt any further launches pending an investigation into a "foam-shedding' issue on Discovery's fuel tanks, which likely would have caused a second straight disaster.  The dwarf planet Eris was discovered on the 29th.  Also that day, a tornado hit England, causing 4 million pounds of damage and injuring 40.  

2000:  On the 1st, Vermont's civil union law goes into effect.  Vicente Fox was elected the first President of Mexico from an opposition party after more than 70 years of continuous rule by the Partido Revolucionario Institucional.  On the 6th real estate developer Stan Kroenke announces the acquisition of the Denver Nuggets, Colorado Avalanche and Denver's Pepsi Centre arena for $450 million.  On the 8th, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" is released in bookstores, the 4th in the series.  On July 8th, Venus Williams won her first title at Wimbledon.  Also on the 8th, Police fired tear gas into a crowd during the Zimbabwe vs South Africa World Cup soccer game, setting off a stampede that killed 12.  Pete Sampras wins his 4th straight Wimbledon singles title on the 9th.  On July 10th, Coldplay's debut album "Parachutes" is made available.  It won the 2002 Grammy for Best Alternative Album.  On the 11th, the American League wins the 71st MLB All-Star Game, this time in Atlanta.  On July 23rd, the Tour de France ended with Lance Armstrong as the winner, but he was later disqualified, leaving the race without a winner.  Tiger Woods, at 24, becomes the youngest golfer to win all 4 major titles.  On the 25th, Air France Flight 4590, the supersonic Concorde, crashed just after takeoff when it ran over debris from the previous departing aircraft.  All 109 aboard and 4 on the ground were killed.  When this happened, I was home from my summer job as a camp counselor, sick as a dog with a 104-degree fever and sinus infection, and I thought I was hallucinating when the news interrupted Saved By the Bell reruns.

1995:  On the first, all NBA business, apart from the draft, was announced to be postponed until a new agreement with the players' union could be reached.  On July 2nd, the Los Angeles Dodgers' pitcher Hideo Nomo was the first Japanese player selected for the All-Star Game.  Also on the 2nd, Ringo Starr's third "All-Starr" band debuts.  Tom Weiskopf defeats Jack Nicklaus by four strokes to win his only major on the Champions Tour.  The Birmingham Barricudas (of Alabama) join the Canadian Football League on the 3rd.  The team only lasts one season.  On the 8th, the Ottawa Senators picked Bryan Berard as the first-round pick in the NHL draft.  Jerry Garcia's last (unplanned) concert with the Grateful Dead is on the 9th at Soldier Field in Chicago.  The United States raised international postage to 60 cents on the 10th.  The National League wins the MLB All-Star game 3-2 on the 10th.  On the 11th, Shaggy releases his most popular song, Bombastic.  The next day, Enrique Iglesias released his debut album to the world.  Ramon Martinez of the LA Dodgers pitches a no-hitter against the Florida Marlins in a 7-0 victory on the 14th.  Northern Virginia gets a brand new area code for phone numbers, 540, on July 15th.  Annika Sorenstam won the first of 10 major LPGA titles on the 16th.  On the 17th, Forbes announced that Bill Gates was the richest man on Earth, worth $12.9 billion.  Someone who may be somewhat important to world history in about ten years, a then little-known man named Barack Obama, writes a book that debuts on the 18th titled "Dreams from My Father."  The iconic 90s teen comedy, Clueless, hits movie theaters nationwide on the 19th.  On the 20th, the Regents of the University of California voted to end all affirmative action in the University of California system by 1997.  I think 2025 California would like to have a talk with 1995 California.  On the 22nd, Susan Smith was found guilty of drowning her two children in South Carolina.  The Hale-Bopp Comet was discovered on the 23rd, and is visible to the naked eye a year later, leading to the mass-suicide of the Heaven's Gate cult.  On the 27th, the Korean War Veterans Memorial was dedicated to Washington, DC.  On the 29th, the Carolina Panthers beat the Jacksonville Jaguars in their first exhibition game with the NFL.  Also on the 29th, Monica Seles returns to tennis after being stabbed in an on-court attack in 1993.  On the 31st, Walt Disney Corporation announced the purchase of Capital Cities/ABC for $19 billion, gaining control over the ABC grouping of television networks, including ABC Sports and ESPN.    

TOP MOVIES

2005: "War of the Worlds" - 

This science fiction and action thriller was directed by Steven Spielberg and written by Josh Friedman and David Koepp, based on H. G. Wells' 1898 novel, The War of the Worlds.  Tom Cruise stars in the leading role alongside Dakota Fanning, Miranda Otto, and Tim Robbins, with narration by Morgan Freeman.  It follows an American dock worker (Cruise) who must look after his children, from whom he lives separately, as he struggles to protect them and reunite them with their mother when extraterrestrials invade Earth and devastate cities with giant war machines.

Produced by Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Cruise/Wagner Productions, the film was shot in 73 days, using five different sound stages and locations in California, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, and Virginia.  It was surrounded by a secrecy campaign so few details would be leaked before its release. 

War of the Worlds premiered at the Ziegfeld Theatre on June 23, 2005, to generally positive reviews, with praise for effectively capturing the thrilling and suspenseful elements of Wells' novel while modernizing the action and effects.  It was a commercial success, grossing over $603 million worldwide against a $132 million production budget, making it the fourth-most successful film of 2005.  It earned Academy Awards nominations for Best Visual Effects, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Sound Editing.

2000: "The Perfect Storm" -  

The Perfect Storm is a biographical disaster drama film directed by Wolfgang Petersen and based on the 1997 non-fiction book of the same name by Sebastian Junger.  The film tells the story of Andrea Gail, a commercial fishing vessel lost at sea with all hands after being caught in the Perfect Storm of 1991.  The film stars George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, William Fichtner, Karen Allen, Bob Gunton, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, and John C. Reilly.

The Perfect Storm was released on June 30, 2000.  Despite mixed reviews, the film grossed $328 million worldwide, becoming the eighth highest-grossing film of 2000.

The Perfect Storm received mixed reviews from critics, with a 46% approval rating on critic site Rotten Tomatoes, with a consensus of, "While the special effects are well done and quite impressive, this film suffers a lack of any actual drama or characterization.  The end result is a film that offers nifty eye-candy and nothing else."  Jeffrey Westhoff of the Northwest Herald was less kind.  He gave the film a rating of two out of four, saying, "Once the digital effects commence, The Perfect Storm has all the impact of watching a friend play Nintendo."

1995: "Apollo 13" -  

Directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Ed Harris, and Kathleen Quinlan, Apollo 13 dramatizes the true story of the aborted 1970 Apollo 13 lunar mission.  It is also an adaptation of the 1994 book, Lost Moon, by astronaut Jim Lovell.   

The film tells the story of astronauts Lovell, Jack Swigert, and Fred Haise aboard the ill-fated Apollo 13 for the United States' fifth crewed mission to the Moon, which was intended to be the third to land on the lunar surface.  En route, an onboard explosion deprives their spacecraft of much of its oxygen supply and electrical power, which forces NASA's flight controllers to abandon the Moon landing and improvise scientific and mechanical solutions to get the three astronauts to Earth safely.

Howard went to great lengths to create a technically accurate movie, employing NASA's assistance in astronaut and flight-controller training for his cast and obtaining permission to film scenes aboard a reduced-gravity aircraft to realistically depict the weightlessness experienced by the astronauts in space.

The movie received critical acclaim and was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture (winning for Best Film Editing and Best Sound).  In total, the film grossed over $355 million worldwide during its theatrical releases.  Since then, it has been considered among the best movies of all time.

TOP SONGS

2005:  "We Belong Together" by Mariah Carey

2000:  "Everything You Want" by Vertical Horizon

1995:  "Waterfalls" by TLC

TOP TV NEWS

July 2005:

1st:  The PAX Network is rebranded as i: Independent Television.

6th:  The Mind of Mencia, starring comedian Carlos Mencia, debuts on Comedy Central.  I was excited about this, but I was totally let down.  I had been listening to Carlos' comedy CDs (remember those?) for years before this and was a big fan.  His career was pretty much ruined after a beef with Joe Rogan exposed him for stealing certain bits from other comics.

10th:  Hogan Knows Best debuts on VH1.  As the Hulkster said himself, the show ruined his life.  His son went to jail, his wife went nuts and left him for a much younger man, and his daughter no longer talks to him.

20th:  Street magician Criss Angel debuts his show on A&E, called Criss Angel Mindfreak.  

20th:  Reality dance competition So You Think You Can Dance premieres on FOX.

July 2000:  

5th: The first season of CBS's long-running reality show, Big Brother, launches.  It was the only televised American season of the program to use the traditional format of eliminating contestants via televoting.  

10th:  Crossing over with Jon Edward debuts on Sci-Fi.  I sat next to him on a plane once from Las Vegas to New York.  He stared at the seatback in front of him the entire time, which these days is a trend that has a lewd term used to describe it.  Google it.

11th: NBC aired the MLB All-Star Game from Atlanta's Turner Field.  This was NBC's final broadcast of the All-Star game, and all games since have been on FOX.

14th:  After a year of rotating guest critics, Buena Vista Television announces that Richard Roeper, a film critic for the Chicago Sun-Times, will become the permanent co-host alongside Roger Ebert, following Gene Siskel's death.  

15th:  NASCAR airs its final event on CBS, the Chevy Silverado 200.  

16th:  The iconic Nickelodeon show, Keenan and Kel, ends after four seasons.

20th:  Will & Grace moves permanently to Thursday nights, ending two years of airing on various nights.  

25th:  Frasier moves back to Tuesday nights after two years on Thursday due to competition from Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?

28th:  Kathie Lee Gifford makes her final appearance as co-host on Live! after 17 years, eleven and a half of which were in national syndication.  Regis Philbin continues to serve as the only host until Kelly Ripa was introduced as the new co-host a year later.  

July 1995:

4th:  Thunder Alley, an ABC sitcom starring Ed Asner as a retired race car driver, is cancelled after one season.

11th:  ABC airs the MLB All-Star Game from Arlington, Texas.  It was ABC's first broadcast of the All-Star Game since 1988 and also their last All-Star broadcast (to date).

19th:  After the success of Real World, MTV's Road Rules debuts on television.  MTV thought, "Let's do this but in an RV instead of an apartment."  It worked.  I enjoyed the first few seasons, even as an 11 or 12-year-old.

31st: The Walt Disney Company announces that it will acquire and merge with Capital Cities/ABC Inc.  This purchase includes the ABC network and stakes in other ABC-owned networks like A&E, Lifetime, and ESPN.