9 items
Salsa royalty — Tito Puente, Ray Barretto, Sheila E., Tito Nieves and more — convened in 1994 to cut the theme for the Bronx film I Like It Like That. Two years later a Burger King ad campaign turned their "I Like It" into a Top 40 hit two years after the fact.
Amy Lee's voice pierces through a dark, orchestral surge; Paul McCoy's shout answers it back. That trade-off — her ethereal plea met by his aggressive roar — became the signature of Evanescence's breakthrough. The song exploded in 2003, hitting #5 in America, #1 in the UK for four weeks, and perfectly captured a moment when goth-tinged rock finally cracked mainstream radio.
One chaotic day at an indie record store, a crew of lovable misfits, and a washed-up '80s pop star named Rex Manning. It bombed in theaters — then home video made it a cult classic, and fans still celebrate Rex Manning Day every April 8. Damn the Man. Save the Empire.
Elliot Page's whip-smart pregnant teenager, Diablo Cody's Oscar-winning screenplay, a hamburger phone, and a Moldy Peaches soundtrack: Juno was the indie monoculture moment of 2007. Made for about $7 million, it earned $232 million and four Oscar nominations — and for a solid year, everyone you knew talked a little more like Juno MacGuff.
Written by guitarist Matt Slocum and sung by Leigh Nash, this track from Sixpence None the Richer's 1997 self-titled album went nowhere at first. Everything changed in early 1999 when Miramax picked it for She's All That and it landed on Dawson's Creek's soundtrack the same spring. The song detonated, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May and becoming an instant 90s classic.
A hypnotic loop of B.B. King singing "I've been downhearted baby" over a slow beat, recorded on a 16-track in a friend's garage — with a title borrowed off a Bruce Cockburn record because Chris O'Connor couldn't think of a name. Labels passed. Then The Cable Guy happened.
Street dancer meets ballet school, sparks and choreography ensue. The 2006 Baltimore dance romance that launched Channing Tatum, a five-film franchise — and, off-screen, the era's most beloved dance-movie couple.
Activision and Neversoft's skateboarding game, first released in 1999, about chaining tricks into massive combos and collecting the letters S-K-A-T-E across increasingly iconic venues. The punk, ska, and hip-hop soundtrack defined the era. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 2 (2000) is widely considered the series' peak and one of the best games ever made.
The Voice, no qualifier needed. Whitney Houston arrived in 1985 with a record-breaking debut and never slowed down: seven consecutive #1 singles — still unmatched — and, with The Bodyguard, the best-selling soundtrack of all time. For a stretch of the '90s, she simply was the pop ballad.