• The weather: A cyclone formed over Lake Huron with tropical characteristics, nicknamed ‘Hurricane Huron.’ The storm had a maximum speed of 73 mph.
• The Top Song was Don’t Speak by No Doubt
• The Big Movies included Independence Day, Twister, and Mission Impossible
• Price of Keebler Chips Deluxe cookies, 16 oz: $1.59
  Duncan Hines cake mix, 18.25 oz: 96 cents
  Plymouth Voyager: $15,999.00
• The World Population was ~ 5,738,000,000
• US Life Expectancy: Males: 73.1 years, Females: 79.1 years
• Tickle Me Elmo was introduced.
• Homestar Runner is an animated Internet cartoon by Mike Chapman and Craig Zobel, created in 1996 and hit peak popularity in 2000.
• And… Tom Cruise was sailing in his yacht off the island of Capri and saw a sinking sailboat in flames. He immediately set sail toward the accident and pulled the five victims to safety.

“Show me the Money!”
– Cuba Gooding, Jr., in Jerry Maguire

During the 1996 democratic convention, Al Gore said, “I would like to demonstrate for you the Al Gore version of the Macarena,” then remained motionless for a few seconds, and eventually asked, “Would you like to see it again?”

Tom Cruise sent letters and gifts to the boy who originally played the little boy in Jerry Maguire but was replaced by Jonathan Lipnicki because he “just didn’t want that first actor to go to the movies, look at the screen and think he’d failed. I wanted him to love movies his entire life.”

The day before the 1996 US presidential election, the NYT Crossword contained the clue “Lead story in tomorrow’s newspaper” — the puzzle was built so that both electoral outcomes were correct answers, requiring seven other clues to have dual responses.

Elton John charted a Top 40 single every year from 1970 to 1997.

Charlie Sheen paid $6,537.50 to buy 2,615 tickets to a Major League Baseball game at Anaheim Stadium, hoping to catch a home run ball. Sheen and three friends sat alone, 20 rows up, but no home runs were hit that day.

Jim Carrey was the first actor to make $20,000,000 to star in a single film, The Cable Guy.

Philip Boit was the first Kenyan to participate in the Winter Olympics. Competing in the 10 KM classic cross-country race, he came in last. The winner, Bjørn Dæhlie, waited for Boit to reach the finish line to hug him. The moment affected him so much that Boit named his son after Dæhlie

The BBC applied to register the TARDIS as a trademark and was challenged by the Metropolitan Police. The courts found no evidence that any police force registered the image as a trademark. The courts ruled in BBC’s favor.

When the movie The Rock premiered on Alcatraz in 1996, a man windsurfed to the island wearing a wing-collar tuxedo shirt and bow tie snuck into the celebrity party.

Mary Tyler Moore offered a restaurant $1,000 to sell her a 65-year-old lobster so she could return it to the wild. Rush Limbaugh then offered $2,000 to eat the lobster. The restaurant denied both offers and kept the lobster as a mascot.

A painting was stolen from the Museum of Bad Art. The museum offered a reward of six dollars and fifty cents for its return, and the purported thief demanded a $5,000 ransom. It was later returned with no ransom paid.

After the release of the 1996 film Scream, which involved an anonymous killer calling and murdering his victims, Caller ID usage tripled in the United States.

When the receiver died, a man was flying a remote-controlled model plane in Dublin. The plane continued with no guidance for 5 miles, then ran out of fuel and glided to a stop on the runway of Dublin Airport.

During a blizzard in Allentown, PA, the Orlando Magic, Marilyn Manson, and the cast of Sesame Street Live were all stranded in a hotel together

Muhammad Ali threw his 1960 Olympic Gold Medal into the Ohio River, following being refused service at a “whites-only” restaurant. He would be awarded with an honorary medal in 1996.

The Dana Carvey Show, which aired just 7 episodes, had a writing team that included Louis C.K., Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell, Bob Odenkirk, Charlie Kaufman, Robert Smigel, Dino Stamatopoulous, and others.

Oprah started her famous book club.

Febreze fabric refresher began test-marketing in 1996. By 1998, it was sold nationwide.

Top Gun was the lowest-priced VHS ever for a major movie when it was released ($27 when others were $30 to $100) because it had a Diet Pepsi commercial before the movie.

In 1996, Travelocity opened online. Early on, it was primarily travel agents who booked flights on American Airlines.

Animal Hero: Let’s talk about Binti Jua – a Gorilla who, in 1996, tended to a three-year-old boy who had fallen into her enclosure and was knocked unconscious and bleeding. After she heard the keepers coming in, she gave up the child freely.

Human Hero: 18-year-old Keshia Thomas, while marching to protest a KKK rally in Michigan, protected a white man, who had an “SS” tattoo and a confederate flag shirt, from the attacks of a crowd. She threw herself on him to deflect the mob’s strikes, believing that “nobody deserves to be hurt.”

Human Hero: Wladimir Klitschko auctioned off his 1996 Olympic gold medal in March 2012 for charity. The buyer paid $1 million but immediately returned it because he wanted it to stay in the family.

Actor Hero: Mark Harmon rescued two teenage boys from a car accident outside his home. He used a sledgehammer from his garage to break a window and pull the two out of the burning car.

Cost of a Superbowl ad in 1996: $1,085,000

The distinctive sound of the Martian’s speech in Mars Attacks was made by reversing the sound of a duck’s quack. #ackack

As an April Fool’s Day prank, the Taco Bell Corporation took out a full-page ad in six major newspapers saying that it had bought the Liberty Bell and was renaming it the Taco Liberty Bell. The National Historical Park in Philadelphia received hundreds of outraged calls.

The United States campaign finance controversy was an alleged effort by the People’s Republic of China to influence domestic American politics during the Clinton administration. Also, it involved the fund-raising practices of the administration itself.

Jackie Stern was arrested for wearing a Medal of Honor he did not earn, a judge forced him to write an apology letter to all living Medal of Honor recipients as punishment. There were 171 recipients he wrote letters to.

Richard Jewell, a security guard, became a short-term national hero when he saved hundreds of people by spotting a bomb at the 1996 Olympics. He was later wrongly accused of the crime, enduring an unfair ‘trial by media’, which took a toll on him personally and professionally.

When Atari was shut down in 1996, the (historically valuable) source code to Asteroids and Centipede notes were thrown out as trash.

Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, was captured. He had killed and injured 23 people in his 17-year spree. He was turned in by his brother, David, who recognized the writing style and the content his brother was talking about.

Billy Bailey became the last man in the United States to be executed by hanging. When asked why he chose the gallows over the standard lethal injection, he said, “I’m not going to let them put me to sleep.”

A Nostradamus prophecy often taken as a prediction of the 9/11 attacks was a hoax. It was written by Neil Marshall in 1996.

Several of Sublime’s most well-known songs, What I Got, Santeria, Wrong Way, and Doin’ Time, were not released until after songwriter Bradley Nowell passed away

The IRA planted a bomb in Manchester City center and told the authorities they had an hour to evacuate the area. The police successfully evacuated 75,000 people in what has been called the most ‘extraordinary policing operations’ in UK history. There wasn’t a single fatality.

A man broke into a New Zealand radio station, held the manager hostage, and demanded that the station play Rainbow Connection by Kermit the Frog nonstop. Police came before it was played.

A Canadian mining company, Bre-X, announced a huge discovery of gold and, in the process, went from a penny stock to $280/share and valued at $4 billion. In reality, it was all a fraud, and the lead geologist was shaving off gold from his wedding band to add to drill core samples.

Rage Against the Machine played Saturday Night Live with host Steve Forbes. In protest of billionaires like Forbes, they hung two upside-down flags from their stage, against staff’s wishes. After a confrontation with SNL stagehands, they were kicked out before the second song.

Rap Star Murder: Tupac Shakur killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.

Beauty Pageant Queen Murder: JonBenet Ramsey was killed in her basement, and the killer was never found.

Actress Overdose Death: Margaux Hemingway, age 42, from a deliberate overdose of phenobarbitol

Beanie Babies caught on (although they had been around since 1993). The McDonald’s mini-beanie-babies giveaway fueled the madness.

(Data is compiled from charts including Billboard’s Pop, Rock, Airplay, R&B/Dance, and Singles Charts. The Hot 100 is the primary chart used for this list.)

March 23, 1996 – May 3, 1996: Céline Dion – Because You Loved Me

May 4, 1996 – May 17, 1996: Mariah Carey – Always Be My Baby

May 18, 1996 – July 12, 1996: Bone Thugs-N-Harmony – Tha Crossroads

July 13, 1996 – July 26, 1996: 2Pac featuring K-Ci & JoJo / Dr. Dre and Roger Troutman – How Do U Want It / California Love

July 27, 1996 – August 2, 1996: Toni Braxton – You’re Makin’ Me High / Let It Flow

August 3, 1996 – November 8, 1996: Los Del Rio – Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix)

November 9, 1996 – December 6, 1996: Blackstreet featuring Dr. Dre – No Diggity

December 7, 1996 – February 21, 1997: Toni Braxton – Un-Break My Heart

(according to boxofficemojo)
1. Independence Day
2. Twister
3. Mission: Impossible
4. Jerry Maguire
5. Ransom
6. 101 Dalmations
7. The Rock
8. The Nutty Professor
9. The Birdcage
10. A Time To Kill

12 Monkeys, 101 Dalmations, A Time To Kill, Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, The Birdcage, Broken Arrow, The English Patient, Eraser, Fargo, The First Wives Club, Happy Gilmore, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Independence Day, James and the Giant Peach, Jerry Maguire, Michael, Mission: Impossible, The Nutty Professor, Phenomenon, Ransom, The Rock, Scream, Space Jam, Star Trek: First Contact, Trainspotting, Twister