[MUSIC PLAYING] 1993-- getting into
the meat of the '90s. '93 would see a
fiery confrontation in the Lone Star State. Is he the son of god? I hope he is. Dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Clever girl. And the beginning of
a new era in politics. You look like somebody just
walked over your grave. So sit back, relax, and
crack open a beverage. Did you order some kegs of beer? 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 is where you want
to be because we're about to cover all of 1993. But before we get started,
be sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel. And let us know in
the comments below, your favorite thing
from the 1990s. Now, are you ready
to go back to '93? Now youse can't leave. This is 1993. Help wanted! [INAUDIBLE] Hello, honey. The year would start
off with a breakup-- aw-- when Czechoslovakia
was officially dissolved into the Czech
Republic and Slovakia. Known as the Velvet Divorce-- a reference to the Velvet
Revolution of 1989-- the dissolution found
the two new countries dividing up their common
assets, like military equipment and land. The separation did result
in a few odd quirks. Several border towns were
literally split in half. But who got to keep the dog? The next day, Wired
magazine made its debut at the Macworld conference. The publication,
which promoted itself as the Rolling
Stone of technology, was an immediate success and
won two national magazine awards in its first four
years of publication. Wired, among other
things, coined the term "crowdsourcing." On the 6th of January, we
go to Washoe County, Nevada, where Jim and Jennifer Stolpa,
along with their four-month-old son, Clayton, were on their way
to a family funeral in Idaho, when they-- like
the Donner Party-- decided to take a shortcut. Their truck got stuck
on a gravelly road. And for four days, the family
waited inside the truck while a blizzard raged outside. When nobody came, the family
trudged through deep snow for over 12 hours. I told her, we're not
doing this for you. We're not doing it for me. We're doing it for the baby. Eventually, mother and son took
refuge in a natural snow cave while Jim set out on
foot to find help. After hiking over 30 miles,
Jim, finally showed up at road maintenance worker
David Peterson's home, suffering from frostbite and hypothermia. Ultimately, all survived. But both parents did
lose toes to frostbite. Also on January 6th, a sad day
for music as jazz pioneer Dizzy Gillespie died. Born John Birks
Gillespie, Dizzy learned to play the trombone at age 10. He later switched
to the trumpet. His zany stage presence
earned him the nickname Dizzy. Monsieur Moody will give
you his royal version because he is truly a prince. By the 1940s, Dizzy was
developing the bebop sound with legends like
saxophonist Charlie "Bird" Parker, pianist Thelonious
Monk, and drummer Kenny Clarke. Gillespie continued
performing until just under a year prior to death. On January 20,
President-elect Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd
president of the United States. And I will faithfully execute
the Office of President of the United States. The inaugural celebration
featured performers Aretha Franklin, Bob Dylan, Michael
Jackson, and LL Cool J. And was reported to be the
largest gathering ever held on the site. Moving into February, country
music star Willie Nelson settled a-- ho, ho, boy-- $16.7
million tax bill with the IRS. The Red-Headed Stranger
found himself in hot water when Nelson's accountants
had set up some illegal tax shelters. Nelson's lawyers negotiated the
bill down to a mere $6 million. But Willie still had
much of his property seized and sold at
government auctions. Lucky for Nelson,
most of that property was purchased by friends who
gave it right back to him. He also helped pay off his debt
by recording the album, The IRS Tapes, Who Will Buy My Memories. Willie needs your help. And he's reaching out the best
way he can, through his music. The next day, on February
3, Major League Baseball's executive council suspended
Cincinnati Reds owner Marge Schott for the use of racially
and ethnically insensitive language, and
fined her $250,000. Schott, who admitted to
making racist and anti-Semitic remarks, was banned from
baseball by a unanimous vote, and directed to attend
multicultural sensitivity training programs. Schott would return to work
the following November, but remained banned
from participating in day-to-day
operations until 1998. Three days later, tennis
champion Arthur Ashe died. I have known since the
time of my brain operation in September, 1988,
that I have AIDS. It was transmitted through
a blood transfusion after one of my open-heart
bypass operations. Ashe was the only
African-American man to win Wimbledon, as well as
the US and Australian Opens. Born in Richmond,
Virginia, Ashe learned to play on a segregated
playground near his family home. He would eventually attend UCLA. And in 1963, he became the
first African-American member of the US Davis Cup team. His prize winnings over
the next several years would also make him the first
black millionaire in tennis. And his life off the
court would make him famous as a social activist. On February 11, Bill
Clinton nominated Janet Reno to be attorney
general of the United States. Confirmed by the
Senate a month later, Reno would become the first
woman to hold the position, as well as the second longest
serving attorney general in the history of the country. I guess most of MTV's viewers
first initiation to you and your name was
through the rap song. Yes, I don't understand
all the words. I'm a god. You're God. I'm a god. I'm not the God. I have been stabbed, shot,
poisoned, frozen, hulled, electrocuted, and burned. Every morning I wake up
without a scratch on me, not a dent in the fender. I am an immortal. On February 20, legendary
carmaker Ferruccio Lamborghini died. Lamborghini, who worked as a
mechanic in the Italian army during World War
II, made a fortune with a tractor company that made
tractors, and later, heating and air conditioning systems. Inspired by his
love of his Ferrari, he would go on to found an
eponymous car company that built some of the fastest,
gaudy, and most expensive sports cars in the world. Fun fact-- Lamborghinis are
all named after famous fighting bulls. [MUSIC PLAYING] The answer is Captain Kirk. I knew it. Gosh-- [CHIMES] --if only I could call
a number, answer trivia questions, and win
fabulous prizes. Well, now you can! Call Trivia Treasures,
1-900-321-1000. Choose from music, sports,
movies, science fiction. Captain Kirk! On February 26, we go to
the World Trade Center in New York City, which was
rocked by a bomb that exploded in the WTC's parking garage. Arriving ambulances
were confronted with two dead victims,
literally hundreds of injured, and at least 15 hurt
seriously by flying debris. Most of the terrorists
connected with the plot were arrested before
they could leave the US. But Ramzi Yousef, the
driver of the van containing the explosives, escaped. He would finally be arrested by
Pakistani authorities two years later, on February 7, 1995. The message we wish to send is
that no time period too long and no effort too great
to make those who kill or injure Americans immune
from the US Justice System. In late February, ATF agents
raided the Branch Davidian cult compound near Waco, Texas. The agents were trying to
arrest leader David Koresh, after receiving a tip that
the Branch Davidians were stockpiling firearms, and
Koresh had fathered children with girls as young as 12. The raid did not go as planned. And instead of an
arrest, the ATF found itself in a firefight
and then a two-month standoff with the cult members. Good evening, everyone, and
thank you for joining us. A fanatical, scripture-quoting
religious leader, who moved to Waco to await
the end of the world, instead may be to blame
tonight for the deaths of several federal agents. On April 19, US Attorney
General Janet Reno ordered the ATF to
move in with tear gas. And I'll stand in
front of a tank. You can run over me, but I'll
be biting one of the tracks. No one's going to hurt
me or my families. That's American policy here. The attack triggered
a fire which quickly consumed the compound,
killing 80 Branch Davidians. Moving into March, we go
to Anaheim, California, where the NHL welcomed the
Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Owned by the Walt
Disney Company, the Mighty Ducks were named
after the juggernaut film starring Emilio Estévez. The Ducks? Man, what brand of jerk
came up with that name? As a matter of fact, I did. But I didn't have a choice. We're being sponsored. By who? Donald and Daisy? They played their first
game seven months later, on October 8, 1993-- which they lost. They actually wouldn't
secure their first win until two games
later, on October 13. Butthead, I just,
like, felt something. Uh. Yeah, heh heh heh heh. OK. Heh heh. Ew, (COUGHING) oil
smells like turds. Yeah, (COUGHING) maybe
that's why it's so expensive. On March 12, we go
to Mumbai, India, where in between
1:30 and 3:40 PM, 13 bombs exploded
around the city. The first happened at the world
famous Bombay Stock Exchange, then the Air India Building,
the Sea Rock Hotel, the Plaza Cinema, the Century
Bazaar, the Sahar Airport, and the headquarters of
the Hindu Shiv Sena party. When all was said and done,
257 people lost their lives, and left another 1,400 injured. March 22 would be a sad day
for Major League Baseball. Sometime after 8:00 PM,
Cleveland Indians pitcher Steve Olin, Tim Crews, and Bob Ojeda
set out in Little Lake Nellie, Florida, in Crew's bass boat. The boat was traveling at a
high rate of speed in the dark, and then collided with a
dock by a private home. Olin died instantly, and
Crews died the next morning. Ojeda, the only survivor,
told authorities they had circled the lake
several times without incident. Further tests indicated
that Mr. Cruise had a blood alcohol content of
0.14% at the time of the crash. At the end of March,
tragedy struck the set of the movie The
Crow, when actor Brandon Lee, son
of Bruce Lee, died in a tragic on-set accident. While filming,
actor Michael Massee was meant to fire a revolver
at Lee as he entered the room. However, in the preceding
scene, the same gun had been loaded with
dummy rounds, which were made with the
tips of real bullets so that the gun would appear
loaded when shot in a close-up. When the dummy
rounds were removed, one of those bullet tips
separated and remained in the gun. When the gun was
fired, the blanks shot the bullet tip at Lee,
striking him in the abdomen. Brandon was rushed
to the hospital, but succumbed to his
wound shortly thereafter. (SINGING) Yeah, it's Scrabble,
America's good time game. Alfred M. Butts, inventor of
the board game Scrabble, died. Butts invented the game
during the Great Depression when he couldn't find
work as an architect. Despite going on to sell
over 100 million copies, the game's marketability
wasn't recognized by manufacturers at
first, and it wound up going unsold for
over two decades. However, in 1952,
a Macy's executive saw an independently
made version of the game being
played at a resort hotel and decided to put
Scrabble on the shelves. On April 16, Chancelor
Johnathan Bennett-- better known to most of the
world as Chance the Rapper-- was born in Chicago, Illinois. The future rap star
grew up in West Chatham, on Chicago's South Side. His love of music began at an
early age with Michael Jackson. However, once he heard Through
the Wire, by Kanye West, he fell in love with hip-hop. And in 2011, he would record
his first mixtape, 10 Day. The next day, a federal
jury announced their verdict in the civil trial against
Sergeant Stacey Koon and officers Theodore Briseno,
Laurence Powell, and Timothy Wind, of the LAPD. This time they were on
trial in a federal court for violating King's civil
rights by their unreasonable use of force. Wind and Briseno
were acquitted again, but Koon and Powell were
convicted and later sentenced to two and a half
years in prison. I think justice has been served. Nothing left to burn. I just feel that way. I'm just glad for Rodney King. [MUSIC PLAYING] I'll never forget the
time Mom went to the store and forgot to get the
Crunch Berries cereal. No crunch? Good thing Captain
Crunch has a fax machine. Then there they were. The Captain, the only
berries that crunch, and part of my
balanced breakfast. Heard Mom messed up big-time. April 21 brought the end
of a 10-day-long prison riot that involved 450 prisoners
in a southern Ohio correctional facility in Lucasville, Ohio. The riot's main catalyst
stemmed from Muslim prisoners who were afraid
they would be forced to receive tuberculosis
vaccines, which would have violated their faith. Let there be no reprisals
once this is over. They have committed suicide, but
we know have blatantly killed. The rioters did $40
million worth of damage, killed nine inmates, and
took eight guards hostage. [TECHNO MUSIC] At the end of April, we
go to Hamburg, Germany, where tennis star Monica
Seles was knifed in the back by a disturbed man named Guenter
Parche during a changeover between games. Seles wasn't seriously
injured, but she was taken to the hospital. [APPLAUSE] Seles wouldn't play again
for the rest of the year. Considered mentally
deficient at his trial, Parche was sentenced to
two years on probation. I'm off. But, um, Sam, can I let
you in on a little secret? I knew you'd come back. You did? You can never be unfaithful
to your one true love. You always come back to her. Heading into May, an
era came to an end when Cheers aired
its final episode. To the folks at NBC, Cheers
and not just a TV show, it's all we've got,
ladies and gentlemen. Over 42 million households
watched the 98-minute finale, which made it the second
highest-rated season finale of all-time, right
behind the finale of MASH. Wow. [INAUDIBLE] [SCREAM] [WAILING ROAR] [RUMBLING VOCALIZATION] On June 20, Michael Jordan
and the Chicago Bulls defeated the
Phoenix Suns, 99-98, in game 6 of the NBA Finals. The Phoenix Suns, led
by that season's NBA MVP, Charles Barkley, had the
best record in the league. Nonetheless, the
Bulls pulled through, securing a third consecutive
NBA championship. Michael Jordan, as
you might suspect, was named MVP of the series. Just three days later, late
night talk shows got years worth of comedic material
when Lorena Bobbitt picked up a kitchen knife and proceeded
to cut off the-- ahem-- member of her sleeping
husband, John Wayne Bobbitt. And I found myself in
the street with a [BLEEP] in one hand and a
knife in the other. So yeah, that happens. It happens. This is a true story. Lorena eventually went on trial. (TEARFULLY) I remember when-- when he told me
about the syringes to go through my bones,
and I was going to die. And would be found not
guilty by reason of insanity, spending five weeks in
a psychiatric hospital. John Wayne Bobbitt was later
charged with marital assault, in a separate trial. And was also acquitted of
the charges against him. Next, we land on the
4th of July in New York, where people were treated
to a lot more than fireworks when the Pizza Hut blimp crashed
into an apartment building on Manhattan's West Side. The blimp's crew had radioed
for help after part of the tail broke and fell into
the Hudson River. I was on 48th Street. It was up in the air. All of a sudden, it exploded. The crashing blimp
in the afternoon sky sent rooftop sunbathing
apartment dwellers scrambling. We thought it was a parachutist,
because the thing was just this huge balloon
that came flying down. Meanwhile, the blimp's
gondola, along with its pilot and co-pilot, were left
stranded atop the building. No serious injuries
were reported. (SINGING) Bigfoot, don't
let it sneak up on you. On July 23, a
little over a month after his NBA championship,
superstar Michael Jordan's father, James, was murdered
along a North Carolina highway. The elder Jordan had
pulled over on US Highway 74, just south of Lumberton,
North Carolina, to take a nap, when Daniel Andre Green
and Larry Martin Demery spotted his car. The two men shot Jordan,
dumped him in a swamp, and made off with his car. It wasn't until the thieves went
through the victim's belongings when they realized who he was. The two were captured. And both men were eventually
convicted and given life sentences. Coming up next on WBZ News 4-- I don't know how we'll get
through the rest of these days and whatever, but Reggie was
a Celtic, he was a captain. During an off-season practice
at Brandeis University, 27-year-old basketball
star Reggie Lewis died. Lewis had only recently
been misdiagnosed with a condition called
focal cardiomyopathy, after collapsing on the court
during game 1 of the Boston Celtics playoff series. Lewis was led to believe he
had a less serious condition and was encouraged to
return to training. Lewis' death was attributed
to a heart defect known as hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy, which is the most common cause
of death in young athletes. Heading into August,
in a 96 to 3 vote, the United States Senate
confirmed Supreme Court nominee Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Ginsburg, who had been nominated
to replace the retiring justice Byron White, would be
the first Jewish judge to sit on the court
since Abe Fortas, and would become an
icon for women's rights. I have had the great good
fortune to share life with a partner, a man who
believed a woman's work, whether at home or on the job,
is as important as a man's. On August 9, 27-year-old
Heidi Fleiss, also known as the
Hollywood Madam-- well, hello there-- pleaded
not guilty to pandering and other criminal charges. Fleiss, who had been
managing her own prostitution ring since 1990,
had gained notoriety when the media learned that her
clientele included celebrities. While Fleiss was convicted,
the judge was later overturned. In 1996, federal
tax evasion charges would land her seven
years in prison. But in the end, she
only served 20 months. On August 23, Michael
Jackson made the news for all the wrong reasons. While the singer was in Thailand
preparing for performances that were part of his Dangerous tour,
local Los Angeles news station KNBC aired a report claiming
that Jackson was the subject of a criminal investigation. These statements about
me are totally false. I am hoping for a speedy end
to this horrifying experience to which I have been subjected. The report repeated claims
by an unnamed woman, who said that her
child was abused at one of Jackson's homes. [MUSIC PLAYING] Get ready as Marvel
Comics dream team bursts onto Super Nintendo,
in Spider-man and the X-Men in
Arcade's Revenge. It'll take all your mutant
powers, Spidey's webs, Wolverine's adamantium claws,
Cyclops' optic blast, Storm's lightning, and Gambit's
exploding cards to foil Arcade's
diabolical plot. If this is too much action for
you, take it up with this guy. On September 4, French born
actor Hervé Villechaize took his own life. Villechaize, who
left a note saying he was depressed
by health problems, was best known for
playing Tattoo on Fantasy Island, and his catchphrase-- [BELL CHIMING] Da plane, da plane! And was also memorable as
the henchman Nick Nack, from the James Bond film,
The Man with the Golden Gun. [SPEAKING FRENCH] Agent Mulder, I'm Dana Scully. So who did you tick off to get
stuck with this detail, Scully? Actually, I'm looking
forward to working with you. I've heard a lot about you. Oh, really? I was under the impression that
you were sent to spy on me. You were actually the winner
of the sidekick competition. Yeah. You actually weren't
even entering. What happened to you? I got on the back of a box of
donuts this scratch-off-and-win thing. Right, right. Here I am. All right. Thank God I love donuts. So, how was your
date last night? Huh? Ha, boy it feels strange,
a son asking his father how his date was
last night, when he could ask the date herself. You gotta do what Randall
"Pink" Floyd wants to do, man. The older you do
get, the more rules they're going to try
to get you to follow. You just got to
keep livin', man-- L-I-V-I-N. [MUSIC PLAYING] On September 26, after being
sealed up inside for two years, four men and four women
emerged from Biosphere 2. The experiment was
testing whether humans could sustain themselves
in a finite environment. The biosphere itself
contained microcosms of an ocean, savanna,
desert, marsh, and rainforest, and over 3,800
species of plants and animals. Associate Director of
Research, Abagail Alling described the experience as
an extraordinary challenge. Moving into October, we turn
to some-- maybe-- cult news, when the Church of Scientology
was granted tax-exempt status by the IRS. While the church had
once held such status, it was revoked due to
concerns that the money was being used to enrich
founder, L. Ron Hubbard. The church allegedly
used methods like blackmail,
burglary, falsification of records, fraud, harassment,
tax evasion, theft, and frivolous lawsuits,
among other criminal acts, trying to force the
government's hand. "One certainly couldn't
contest anyone as holy as the commissioner of
the IRS, whom I believe gives God his orders." LRH. In the end, a
settlement was reached, where the church agreed to fork
over $12 1/2 million to settle their tax debt, which was
estimated to be closer to $1 billion. On October the
1st, 1993, the IRS issued letters
recognizing Scientology and every one of
its organizations as fully tax-exempt. [CROWD CHEERING] The war is over! On October 3, US
military forces set out on a snatch-and-grab
mission to arrest two lieutenants of the Somali
warlord Mohamed Farrah Aidid. However, the operation
went off the rails fast. Two Blackhawk
helicopters were downed with rocket-propelled
grenades, and another chopper landed a block
north of its target. US Rangers and Delta
Force attempted a rescue, but found themselves
caught in a firefight and cornered for a whole night. 18 American soldiers
and hundreds of Somalis died in the melee. Fast-forward to 2002, when
the film Blackhawk Down, directed by Ridley
Scott, debuted. On October 6, still reeling
from his father's passing, Chicago Bulls superstar
Michael Jordan shocked the sports world by
announcing his retirement. When I lose the
sense of motivation and the sense of to prove
something as a basketball player, it's time
for me to move away from the game of basketball. At the time, Jordan was
the highest paid athlete in the world, with
endorsement deals from corporate giants
like Nike, Hanes, McDonald's, and Gatorade. Right before Halloween, horror
movie icon Vincent Price died. Price, famous for
his roles in movies House of Wax, The Fly,
House on Haunted Hill, and The Masque of
the Red Death, also played villain
Egghead on Batman, recorded music with the
likes of Alice Cooper, and reemerged in the
'80s for his monologue in Michael Jackson's
song Thriller. On Halloween, some sad film news
when Italian director Federico Fellini died. Best known for films
like 8 1/2, La Strada, and Nights of Cabiria, Fellini's
memorial service was attended by over 70,000 people. Heading into November,
we go to Caesar's Palace, in Las Vegas, where
during a heavyweight fight between Evander Holyfield
and Riddick Bowe, James Miller, also
known as the Fan Man, tried to crash the
fight from the skies, wearing a fan-propelled glider. The parachute on his glider
got caught in the lights, and Miller slammed
into the ring ropes. Bowe's entourage, believing they
were under terrorist attack, pummeled Miller
into unconsciousness with their walkie-talkies. Miller was rushed
to the hospital and eventually arrested. Holyfield would go
on to win the bout. In late November, Calvin
Cordozar Broadus, Jr., better known to the world
as Snoop Doggy Dogg, released his debut
album, Doggystyle. Critics were near unanimous
in praise of Doggystyle. And today, it is
considered a defining album of his genre and an essential
classic to gangster rap fans. How would you describe your
flow on this album, I mean-- your flow, Snoop? Laid back, just trying
to let everybody know who I am-- a small
introduction to me. Doggystyle remains Snoop's
best-selling album, selling over 11 million
copies over its lifetime. Moving into December,
we go to Colombia, where kingpin Pablo Escobar was
taken out by Medellin police. Escobar, who had escaped
from prison the year before, was Colombia's
most-wanted fugitive. Police tracked
Pablo to a safehouse in a residential
neighborhood north of Bogota, by tracing a call he had made. Escobar attempted
to evade capture by running across the
rooftops of adjoining houses. But the police
caught up with him. Pablo took several rounds,
including one through the ear. Two days later, on December
4, musician Frank Zappa died. The eccentric
multi-instrumentalist gained fame with a 1966
release of the first album from his band, The
Mothers of Invention. Though rejected from the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice in his lifetime, he would
finally be inducted in 1995. Zappa's legacy has since been
embraced by guitarists and fans of outside-the-box rock music. On December 9, US
Air Force officials began the demolition
of 150 missile silos in the Show-Me
State of Missouri. The work, part of the
Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty that the US had signed with
the former Soviet Union, saw all Minuteman
II missiles stripped of their nuclear warheads. The warheads were handed over
to the US Department of Energy, who dismantled them. And the missiles
themselves were handed over to NASA, who used them to
launch satellites into space. [MUSIC PLAYING] Finally, on Christmas, Cirque Du
Soleil opened a permanent show called Mystére, at the Treasure
Island Hotel in Las Vegas. Founded by fire-breather
Guy Laliberté in 1983, Cirque Du Soleil debuted as part
of Quebec's 450th anniversary celebration of explorer Jacques
Cartier's discovery of Canada. The show appeared at the
Los Angeles Arts Festival and became an instant hit. A later iteration of the act,
entitled Nouvelle Expérience, toured the US and resided in Las
Vegas throughout 1992 and 1993. And that's how 1993 ended. 1994 was just days away. And it would be a year
where a rock star would meet his untimely end, a
former running back would flee, and the King of Pop would marry
into rock-and-roll royalty. But that is for next year. Coming soon, 1994. It stinks. So what do you think? Where were you in 1993? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're
at it, check out some of these other
Timeline videos.
Everything? I don't see my deeply traumatic childhood.
My memory of 1993 was everything on tv was filmed in Oregon. Literally every show was in a rainy forest.
Bruh, no mention of the debut of Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers? That show blew my 8 year old mind.
/r/thirtyyearsago