50 Fun Facts About 1989

Which singer, born in Pennsylvania in December 1989, named her 2014 pop album after her birth year?

Taylor Swift called the album 1989 to mark a symbolic rebirth as she left country music for pop. It won her the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Which handheld console reached North America in July 1989 bundled with the puzzle hit Tetris?

Game Boy buyers found Tetris in the box, which drew in adults who had never owned a console. The grey handheld and its Color successor sold more than 118 million units.

Which animated family moved from shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show to a Fox series of its own in December 1989?

The Simpsons opened with a Christmas special in which Homer bets on a greyhound that finishes last. It became America's longest-running scripted primetime series.

In which city did a spokesman's muddled press conference on 9 November 1989 send crowds through border crossings?

Berlin filled with East Germans after Günter Schabowski, asked when new travel rules began, guessed that they applied at once. A checkpoint commander gave way that night and let the crowds through.

Which US state's coastline was blackened when the tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in March 1989?

Alaska saw more than 10 million gallons of crude pour into Prince William Sound after the ship hit Bligh Reef. Congress answered with the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.

Which invention did Tim Berners-Lee first outline in a March 1989 proposal to his bosses at CERN?

The World Wide Web had no name yet when the memo landed: it was headed Information Management: A Proposal. His manager judged the idea vague but exciting and let him pursue it.

Which actor played the Joker opposite Michael Keaton in Tim Burton's 1989 blockbuster Batman?

Jack Nicholson took the part on strict terms: top billing, his own shooting schedule and a share of the film's earnings, merchandise included.

Which soft drink brand dropped its Madonna commercial in 1989 after protests over her Like a Prayer video?

Pepsi cancelled the sponsorship after religious groups called for a boycott of its products. Madonna still kept her $5 million fee.

Which pop duo scored three US number-one singles in 1989 while secretly lip-syncing to other singers' vocals?

Milli Vanilli were Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan, hired to front songs recorded by session singers. They won the Best New Artist Grammy, the only Grammy ever revoked.

Which action star voiced baby Mikey's thoughts in the 1989 comedy hit Look Who's Talking?

Bruce Willis is heard only by the audience, wisecracking as an infant while John Travolta and Kirstie Alley play the adults. The low-budget comedy grossed $297 million worldwide.

In which city did a lone man carrying shopping bags halt a column of tanks in June 1989?

Beijing was where the man known only as Tank Man stepped in front of the lead tank near Tiananmen Square, a day after troops cleared it. He has never been identified.

Which dissident playwright became Czechoslovakia's president in December 1989 after the Velvet Revolution?

Václav Havel was swept in by weeks of demonstrations at which crowds jingled their keys to show support. Alexander Dubček became speaker of parliament the day before.

Which country's dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu was overthrown, tried and shot on Christmas Day 1989?

Romania staged the only violent overthrow among that year's Warsaw Pact revolutions. The dictator and his wife Elena were the last people executed there before the death penalty was abolished.

Which opposition movement led by Lech Wałęsa won a landslide in Poland's semi-free elections of June 1989?

Solidarity won all but one of the 100 Senate seats and every seat it was allowed to contest in the lower house. By the end of August it led Poland's government.

Which former CIA director and UN ambassador was sworn in as US president in January 1989?

George H. W. Bush was the first sitting vice president to win the White House since Martin Van Buren in 1836.

Which novelist was forced into hiding in February 1989 after Ayatollah Khomeini called for his death?

Salman Rushdie lived under police protection for nine years over his novel The Satanic Verses. He later titled a memoir after the alias he used in those years, Joseph Anton.

Which country began its Heisei era in January 1989 when a new monarch succeeded his late father?

Japan's Showa era ended with the death of Emperor Hirohito, and the new era name was announced at a press conference shortly afterwards. His son Akihito reigned until he abdicated in 2019.

Which hurricane struck South Carolina near Charleston in September 1989 after battering Puerto Rico?

Hugo came ashore at Sullivan's Island with 140 mph winds and a record storm surge. Its $11 billion in damage made it the costliest tropical cyclone on record at the time.

Which country did US troops invade in December 1989 to seize its ruler, General Manuel Noriega?

Panama's ruler hid in the Vatican's embassy while US troops outside reportedly played loud rock music day and night. He surrendered after ten days.

Which country did the last Soviet troops leave in February 1989 after more than nine years of war?

Afghanistan had tied down the Soviet army for nearly a decade. The final armoured column drove home across a bridge into Soviet Uzbekistan under General Boris Gromov.

Which NBC sitcom about a New York stand-up comedian began with a poorly tested pilot in July 1989?

Seinfeld nearly ended there: NBC left it off the schedule until an executive cancelled a Bob Hope special to pay for four more episodes. It went on to run for nine seasons.

Which teen sitcom set at Bayside High School began its NBC run in August 1989?

Saved by the Bell was reworked from a Disney Channel series called Good Morning, Miss Bliss. That show was set in Indianapolis and built around a teacher played by Hayley Mills.

Which comedian hosted America's Funniest Home Videos when it first aired as a one-off ABC special in 1989?

Bob Saget stayed on for the first eight seasons once the special became a weekly series, hosting it while also starring in the sitcom Full House.

Which 1989 film, loosely based on a Hans Christian Andersen tale, began the era called the Disney Renaissance?

The Little Mermaid earned Disney animation's first Oscar nominations since The Rescuers in 1977. It won two, for its score and for the song Under the Sea.

Which 1989 film, following an Atlanta widow across twenty-five years, won the Academy Award for Best Picture?

Driving Miss Daisy began as a play by Alfred Uhry, and the film made 80-year-old Jessica Tandy the oldest Best Actress winner up to that time.

Which actor played Harrison Ford's father in the 1989 adventure Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade?

Sean Connery first turned the part down because he was only twelve years older than Ford. He had avoided big franchise films since leaving James Bond behind.

In which state does Kevin Costner's farmer build a baseball diamond in his cornfield in 1989's Field of Dreams?

Iowa kept the ballpark: the diamond laid out for filming on a farm near Dyersville is still maintained as a tourist attraction.

Which actor played English teacher John Keating in the 1989 boarding-school drama Dead Poets Society?

Robin Williams was nominated for Best Actor but lost to Daniel Day-Lewis. The film's only Oscar went to Tom Schulman's screenplay.

Which director also played pizza delivery man Mookie in his 1989 Brooklyn drama Do the Right Thing?

Spike Lee shot the film on a single block in Bedford-Stuyvesant and set nearly all of its story on one hot summer day.

Which gadget does Marty McFly ride to escape Griff's gang in 1989's Back to the Future Part II?

Hoverboard rumours spread after director Robert Zemeckis joked in a making-of featurette that the boards were real but withheld because parents feared for safety.

Which singer's 1989 chart-topper rattles through more than a hundred headline events from 1949 onward?

Billy Joel had the idea for We Didn't Start the Fire just after turning 40, and started its list in the year he was born. It became his third US number one.

Which Washington State band released its debut album Bleach on the Sub Pop label in June 1989?

Nirvana had the recording paid for by guitarist Jason Everman, who is pictured on the cover even though he did not play on the album.

Which former Lakers cheerleader topped the US album chart in October 1989 with her debut, Forever Your Girl?

Paula Abdul waited 64 weeks for the album to reach number one, the slowest climb to the top the chart had then seen. The Jacksons had discovered her while she choreographed the team's cheerleaders.

Which comic strip about a micromanaged office engineer did Scott Adams launch in April 1989?

Dilbert spent many of his early strips on bizarre inventions and megalomaniacal schemes before the office satire took over.

Which voice actor behind Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Tweety died in Los Angeles in July 1989?

Mel Blanc was billed as The Man of a Thousand Voices, and his will asked that his grave marker carry Porky Pig's cartoon sign-off.

Which author's 1989 debut novel The Joy Luck Club follows four Chinese immigrant families in San Francisco?

Amy Tan built the book like a round of mahjong: four parts of four sections each, making sixteen interlocking stories told by mothers and daughters.

Which planet did NASA's Voyager 2 fly past in August 1989, still the only spacecraft to visit it?

Neptune showed the probe a vast storm, the Great Dark Spot. When the Hubble telescope looked for it five years later, the storm was gone.

Which European country became the first in the world to legally recognise same-sex partnerships in October 1989?

Denmark's registered partnerships gave couples almost all the rights of marriage. Full marriage followed there in 2012, when the partnership law was replaced.

Which Eastern Bloc country began dismantling its fortified border fence with Austria in May 1989?

Hungary's border guards cut the first sections in front of Western TV crews summoned for the occasion. That summer many East German holidaymakers stayed on in the country, hoping to cross.

Which energy breakthrough did chemists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann announce in Utah in March 1989?

Cold fusion was meant to yield nuclear power from a tabletop cell of heavy water. It was a brief media sensation until many labs found they could not repeat the excess heat.

Which quarterback led a 92-yard drive in the final minutes to win Super Bowl XXIII in January 1989?

Joe Montana threw the winning touchdown pass with 34 seconds left as the 49ers came from behind to beat the Bengals. Jerry Rice was named MVP after catching passes for 215 yards.

Which Cincinnati Reds manager accepted a permanent ban from baseball in August 1989 over gambling on games?

Pete Rose remains baseball's all-time hits leader with 4,256. In 2025, months after his death, baseball lifted the ban and made him eligible for the Hall of Fame.

Whose NHL career points record did Wayne Gretzky break in October 1989 while playing for the Los Angeles Kings?

Gordie Howe's mark of 1,850 points fell in only Gretzky's 780th game. The older man, Gretzky's boyhood idol, was on hand to congratulate him.

Which team, nicknamed the Bad Boys, swept the Lakers in 1989 to win its first NBA championship?

The Detroit Pistons had lost the previous year's Finals to the Lakers in seven games. The Lakers side they swept in the rematch was riddled with injuries.

Which city's NBA team did Michael Jordan eliminate from the 1989 playoffs with the buzzer-beater known as The Shot?

Cleveland led by one point with three seconds left when Jordan hung in the air over Craig Ehlo and scored as time expired. The 101-100 win decided the best-of-five series.

Which American cyclist won the 1989 Tour de France by eight seconds, the closest finish in the race's history?

Greg LeMond started the final day 50 seconds behind Laurent Fignon and overturned it in a time trial into Paris, helped by aerodynamic handlebars borrowed from triathlon.

Which 17-year-old American became the youngest man to win a Grand Slam singles title at the 1989 French Open?

Michael Chang fought through severe leg cramps to come from two sets down against Ivan Lendl in the fourth round. He then beat Stefan Edberg in a five-set final.

Which team swept the 1989 World Series after an earthquake struck minutes before the start of Game 3?

The Oakland Athletics had to wait ten days to resume against their neighbours across the bay after the Loma Prieta quake. It was the first World Series sweep since 1976.

Which Canadian team beat the Montreal Canadiens in 1989 to lift its first Stanley Cup?

The Calgary Flames, who began life in Atlanta in 1972, were the first team to win the Cup after relocating. They clinched it in Montreal, on the Canadiens' own Forum ice.

Which London club won the 1989 English league title with a stoppage-time goal at Liverpool on the final day?

Arsenal finished level with Liverpool on points and goal difference, so the title was settled on goals scored, the only time that has decided the English league.