50 Fun Facts About 90s and 2000s

Windows 95, released in August 1995, introduced which now-familiar feature to the desktop?

Microsoft paid the Rolling Stones $3 million to use 'Start Me Up' in the ads; a million copies shipped in four days.

Toy Story, released in 1995, was the first feature film made how?

It was also Pixar's first feature; Tom Hanks and Tim Allen voiced Woody and Buzz, and John Lasseter won a special Oscar for the technique.

Which 1997 film was the first ever to gross $1 billion at the box office?

It also won 11 Oscars, tying Ben-Hur, and cost about $1 million per minute of screen time to make.

Which 1993 film held the title of highest-grossing movie of all time until 1997?

Spielberg's dinosaurs mixed ILM's computer graphics with Stan Winston's life-sized animatronics; the film took more than $914 million.

The Matrix (1999) made famous a slow-motion camera trick known as what?

Cameras arranged in an arc fire in sequence so the shot appears to orbit a frozen moment; the film won four Oscars, all technical.

Nirvana's Nevermind knocked which superstar's album off the top of the Billboard chart in January 1992?

The album has sold more than 30 million copies and is credited with finishing off hair metal.

The Spice Girls' 1996 debut single went to number one in how many countries?

The five nicknames were Scary, Sporty, Baby, Ginger and Posh; Geri quit in May 1998 and the group carried on as four.

The Backstreet Boys, the best-selling boy band ever, formed in 1993 in which city?

Their 1999 album Millennium was the best-selling album of that year in the US.

Which sitcom, set in a Manhattan coffee house called Central Perk, ran on NBC from 1994 to 2004?

Its finale drew 52.5 million American viewers, the fifth-largest audience for a series finale ever.

Seinfeld's 1998 finale was watched by roughly how many Americans?

The show's rule was 'no hugging, no learning'; TV Guide named it the greatest TV show of all time in 2002.

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will Smith's character grew up in which city before moving to Bel-Air?

The show ran from 1990 to 1996; only Smith and James Avery (Uncle Phil) appeared in every episode.

Which console, launched in 1996, stuck with cartridges while its rivals moved to CDs?

Its controller had the first standard analogue thumbstick; only Super Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64 were there at the North American launch.

The Tamagotchi's name combines the Japanese words for 'egg' and what?

Bandai released it in November 1996; its two inventors won an Ig Nobel Prize and more than 98 million have been sold.

In 1999 the NSA banned Furbies from its buildings over fears the toys could do what?

The inventor pointed out a Furby cannot record anything; it just fakes learning English by swapping out Furbish words on a schedule.

What were the first two Pokémon games, released for the Game Boy in Japan in 1996?

North America got Red and Blue in 1998; the original games had 151 Pokémon and the franchise is now the highest-grossing in the world.

Beanie Babies fuelled a 1990s collecting bubble largely because their maker Ty did what?

At the peak they made up a tenth of all eBay sales; most are worth almost nothing now.

Dolly the sheep, born in 1996, was the first mammal cloned from what?

She was named after Dolly Parton because the cell came from a mammary gland; she is now stuffed and on show in Edinburgh.

The first Harry Potter book was published in the UK in 1997 with an initial print run of how many copies?

The US edition became Sorcerer's Stone because Scholastic thought 'philosopher' sounded too dusty; it has now sold more than 120 million.

Google was incorporated in 1998, and its name is a misspelling of which very large number?

Larry Page and Sergey Brin ran it from Susan Wojcicki's garage; the project had earlier been called BackRub.

Napster, launched in June 1999, let people share what?

It hit about 80 million users before lawsuits from Metallica, Dr. Dre and the record industry shut it down in July 2001.

The Y2K bug arose because early programmers stored years using how many digits?

Around $300 billion was spent worldwide on fixes, and the actual failures at midnight were minor, like some Australian bus ticket machines.

The Sopranos, which began on HBO in 1999, follows a mob boss who reluctantly starts doing what?

Steven Van Zandt was cast as Silvio with no acting experience after David Chase saw him at a Rock Hall induction.

The Nokia 3310, announced in 2000 and famously indestructible, sold roughly how many units?

It shipped with Snake II, was made a Finnish 'national emoji' in 2015 and got a €49 remake in 2017.

The Razor scooter sold more than 5,000,000 units in how long after its 2000 launch?

It won Toy of the Year the same year; emergency rooms saw a spike in scooter injuries soon after.

The PlayStation 2, released in 2000, is the best-selling console ever. Roughly how many were sold?

A built-in DVD player helped: at launch it cost about the same as a standalone DVD player, and it stayed in production until 2013.

Which 2001 film won the very first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature?

Mike Myers gave the ogre a Scottish accent; the film was loosely based on a 1990 picture book by William Steig.

Steve Jobs launched the first iPod in October 2001 with which slogan?

It had a 5 GB hard drive; the iTunes Store followed in April 2003 and Apple sold about 450 million iPods before retiring the line in 2022.

The Bratz dolls, launched in 2001, originally came as Cloe, Jade, Sasha and who?

By 2005 they had grabbed about 40 percent of the fashion-doll market; a decade-long court fight with Mattel ended in MGA's favour.

The Fox singing contest that crowned Kelly Clarkson its first winner in 2002 was based on which British show?

Kelly Clarkson won season one against Justin Guarini; the show topped the US ratings for eight straight years.

Crocs, the foam clogs launched in 2002, were first sold at what kind of event?

All 200 pairs of the original 'Beach' model sold out; the charms that plug the holes are called Jibbitz.

Which rival overtook Myspace as the world's largest social network in 2009?

News Corp paid $580 million for it in 2005; every new user's first friend was co-founder Tom.

Which social network launched in February 2004, open at first only to Harvard students?

Anyone over 13 with an email address could join from 2006; the name comes from printed student directories.

The Motorola Razr V3, released in 2004, became the best-selling phone of which type ever?

About 130 million were sold; it ruled the US market until the iPhone 3G arrived in 2008.

Which 2004 comedy, written by Tina Fey, gave the world an unofficial holiday on 3 October?

It was adapted from a non-fiction parenting book, Queen Bees and Wannabes, and grossed $130 million on a $17 million budget.

Lost, which premiered in 2004, follows the survivors of which fictional airline's Flight 815?

It was shot on Oahu; the pilot cost up to $14 million, then the most expensive in ABC's history.

The Livestrong wristband of 2004 was yellow in reference to what?

Nike and its ad agency designed the $1 band; about 80 million were sold and it launched a wave of charity wristbands.

The 2004 dual-screen DS handheld was the first mainstream console to feature what?

Its two screens and games like Nintendogs and Brain Age pulled in non-gamers; 154 million were sold.

The US version of The Office, which began in 2005, is set at a paper company in which Pennsylvania city?

Greg Daniels adapted Ricky Gervais's British original; Steve Carell's Michael Scott ran the Dunder Mifflin branch.

YouTube's first video, uploaded in April 2005, was titled what?

Co-founder Jawed Karim filmed it at San Diego Zoo; Google bought the site for $1.65 billion the following year.

In August 2006 astronomers voted to reclassify Pluto as what?

It failed the new third test for a planet: it has not cleared the neighbourhood around its orbit.

The Wii console of November 2006 came bundled with which game that became its killer app?

Its motion-sensing remote pulled in families and grandparents; more than 101 million consoles were sold.

Steve Jobs unveiled the 2007 iPhone as three devices in one: an iPod, a phone and what?

It went on sale in June at $499 with no App Store; third-party apps only arrived with the iPhone 3G in 2008.

Heelys inventor Roger Adams worked as what?

He patented them in 1999; a study found a third of injuries happened on the very first try.

The Channel Tunnel, opened in 1994, links Folkestone with which French town?

At 50.46 km it remains the only fixed link between Great Britain and mainland Europe.

'Macarena', the 1996 US chart phenomenon, was originally recorded by which Spanish duo?

The Bayside Boys remix, with an added English section, spent 14 weeks at No. 1 between August and November 1996.

Where was the first season of Survivor, first broadcast on May 31, 2000, set?

It aired as a summer replacement show and was filmed in March and April 2000.

Wikipedia began in 2001 as a feeder project for which expert-written encyclopedia?

Larry Sanger proposed the wiki on January 10, 2001; the site launched five days later, on what is now called Wikipedia Day.

Which game did The Sims overtake in 2002 to become the best-selling PC game at the time?

Will Wright's 2000 life simulator was published by Electronic Arts and had passed six million copies.

Which launch game helped the Xbox to a record-breaking North American debut in November 2001?

Bill Gates pushed the console partly because the PlayStation 2's DVD playback looked like a threat to the Windows PC.

The controller for 2005's Guitar Hero was modelled on which real guitar?

Harmonix developed the game and RedOctane published it for the PlayStation 2, inspired by Japan's Guitar Freaks.