25 Things We Can't Believe About 1990

Mc Hammer revived both Rick James and harem pants with this hip-hop hit. James sued and settled over the "Super Freak" sample; nothing could be done about the pants.

The not-yet-mainstream singer's bold mix of musical styles was celebrated on the first cover of 'EW' (and later that week, she won her first Grammy, for 'Absolute Torch and Twang').

You're welcome, 'Henry & June' and 'Showgirls.'

Pink Floyd's Roger Waters and friends performed this rock opera where the Berlin Wall had stood eight months earlier.

'SNL' used a time delay when the shock comic hosted; Nora Dunn and invited musical guest Sinéad O'Connor boycotted this episode.

There were some notes only dogs heard during her performance at a San Diego Padres game.

Nine months after the duo won the Best New Artist Grammy, it was revealed they didn't actually sing.

"Mack is not like a 9-year-old," costar Joe Pesci told EW of the kid who carried the comedy to a $476 million worldwide gross. "It's like working with a 30-year-old midget."

And that iconic "chung-chung" sound? It's a piece of music, composer Mike Post has said, that brings in royalties.

The Jamie Lee Curtis thriller was the cover of EW's issue 5. Regrets, we've had a few...

But the memorable part of that odd project was her single "Vogue," off the film's companion album, 'I'm Breathless.'

The first major feature to deal with the crisis, its impact went far beyond its $4.6 million box office gross. Bruce Davison even earned an Oscar nod.

Fans toasted the comedy's bicentennial episode, and by season's end it was the year's top-rated show.

The 'Beaches' ballad won Record of the Year and Song of the Year. "We Didn't Start the Fire" must have been too edgy.

EW mounted a campaign to turn the ailing network around. Twenty-five years later, it's at the top of the heap. Coincidence...?

The future governor of California excelled in both sci-fi action ('Total Recall') and comedy ('Kindergarten Cop').

Her debut album took 43 weeks to top the charts, but it was the best-selling album of 1991.

Arnold the pig shined in a reunion movie EW deemed "shamelessly hokey" but "affectionate."

"Interspecies relationships" were mentioned. Awkward!

Reflecting on the last 'Back to the Future' film, Michael J. Fox told EW, "I'm a little older now, and I'm very comfortable about just goofing around."

In 1990, EW's Owen Gleiberman gave 'Pretty Woman' a D for its "plastic screwball soap opera" quality. Twenty years later, he bumped that up to a B, in newfound appreciation of the Richard Gere–Julia Roberts chemistry.

On the computer, 'King's Quest-I-IV' had already launched, but the fifth installment in 1990 replaced the typing interface with point-and-click. And a little game called 'Final Fantasy' was released in the United States on the NES.

And a superstar was launched in Will Smith.

As footage of D.C. mayor Marion Barry smoking crack played a role in his trial, EW recalled the fallout from videotapes featuring Patricia Hearst, Rob Lowe, and more.

"If you're going to do a dinosaur book, people must be munched," author Michael Crichton told EW, but "the ideas... are much more important to me than the munches."