16 Forgotten 1990s Pop Culture Moments

Before young adult novels fully embraced the harder subjects of humanity, most comprised childlike ideas and simple plotlines. The Animorphs series broke the mold, incorporating more mature topics like war, PTSD, suicidal ideation, treason, and the constant struggle between finishing homework and having to save the world from total destruction. 

The 54-book collection, which followed the trials of kids with the ability to morph into any animal they touched, was a hit among young readers in the 1990s. With no guaranteed happy endings tied into the sci-fi fantasy tales that included very real human experiences, Animorphs paved the way for the success of future series featuring similar themes, like Netflix’s Stranger Things.

Founded in 1992, FUBU, a Black-owned business whose acronym stood for “For Us, By Us,” became a national brand after LL Cool J donned one of their hats in a commercial for Gap in 1999. 

Unrecognized by Gap's production and public relations teams, the commercial aired for weeks before the company realized the hat was the star. As fans flocked to Gap stores in hopes of grabbing the latest FUBU gear, sales rose 300%. FUBU founder and Shark Tank investor Daymond John shared the details of how the commercial came to fruition: 

Man, that Gap, FUBU, LL Cool J commercial - he's a true understanding of the influence. Gap calls him up to do a commercial. They don't care that he can wear a FUBU hat. They don't even know what FUBU is. All of a sudden he slips “For Us, By Us” in the commercial. We couldn't make enough product. So the kids started going to Gap for FUBU. 

Gap finds out almost three weeks later, after the commercial's airing. They spent about 30 million dollars on this commercial. They pull the commercial. But then, all of a sudden, they find out the target market they were trying to hit increased 300% because the kids thought they can get FUBU at the Gap. Gap blows up, FUBU blows up, LL Cool J remains the superstar who slips FUBU in the Gap commercial. Forget about the Starbucks cup in Game of Thrones. This is probably history's biggest advertising coup.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Lukas Haas, and Kevin Connolly shared a competitive camaraderie at the beginning of their careers. As they auditioned for the same roles and fought for their place as America's newest heartthrobs, they bonded over their shared experiences. But when seemingly every teenage girl in the world became infatuated with DiCaprio after his role in Titanic, the group's normal nightly outings and antics reached an all-time high. 

Dubbed the “Pussy Posse,” the young stars used their newfound fame to get into exclusive New York night clubs - where they would then hound women, set off stink bombs, and heckle the paparazzi. The clique also starred in an improvised and ill-fated film, Don's Plum, which echoed their misogynistic and juvenile behavior. 

Beginning as a short film, Don's Plum showed the group of actors as friends smoking cigarettes and talking crassly about their lives at dinner. According to one of the filmmakers (and former friend) Dale Wheatley, there was a lot of behind-the-scenes drama that played out in the movie, such as DiCaprio's harassment toward Amber Benson's character. DiCaprio reportedly didn't think she was a strong enough actor and did this in an attempt to make her quit the project.

Once DiCaprio and Maguire discovered the film would be a feature, though, the real drama began. DiCaprio was worried that it wouldn't be good, while Maguire was allegedly concerned about what the ad-libbed dialogue would do to his reputation.

The actors were ultimately able to ban the film from being released in the US and Canada, and had certain moments of dialogue cut from any release. 

The Spice Girls broke formal protocol when they met the UK's Prince Charles at a charity ball for the Prince’s Trust in 1997. First, Melanie “Mel B” Brown ("Scary Spice") and Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice") took turns kissing the future king on the cheek, also breaking formal protocol.

Then, as the other girls pointed and laughed at Prince Charles's blushing cheeks, Halliwell took it one step further by calling him “very sexy” and patting his bottom. (Rumors initially stated he was pinched, not patted, on his royal rear.) While the prince was visibly embarrassed by the exchange, Halliwell said of the incident:

I didn’t pinch Prince Charles’s bum, as was reported… I patted it. Patting him on the bottom was against royal protocol but we’re all human.

At the peak of Vanilla Ice's career (after his hit single “Ice Ice Baby” had taken the 1991 music charts by storm), Madonna, then 33, attended the then-24-year-old rapper's concert. After making her way backstage to introduce herself, Vanilla Ice (real name Robert Van Winkle) was shocked to realize she held a romantic interest in him. 

The two began dating, and, according to Vanilla Ice, it wasn't long before Madonna was ready to propose. In an Entertainment Weekly interview, he recalled the whirlwind turn of events: 

Things were going so crazy and fast, man. I was just like, “What? I thought the guy was supposed to do that… What do you mean? Wait a minute, this is too fast. I'm just getting started here and I'm way too young for this.”

While he didn't accept her proposal, he and Madonna continued their relationship up until her October 1992 release of Sex, a coffee table book that featured explicit photos of celebrities. Despite being featured in the publication, Vanilla Ice claimed that the “Material Girl” hadn't asked his permission to include him:

I was dating her during that time, so I had no idea about a sex book, I'm doing my own thing. I said, “How could you do that to me? And why did you do that to me?” I could've sued her. I didn't want to. I was like, “I don't need that controversy. Let's just let it go and you go your way, I go mine.”

Nearly a decade before she starred alongside Richard Gere in Runaway Bride, Julia Roberts fled from her own wedding in 1991. She and fiancé Kiefer Sutherland had been engaged for 10 months at the time, with plans to say “I do” at 20th Century Fox's Soundstage 14 on June 14. 

Roberts did make headlines that day, but for much different reasons than tabloid writers initially surmised. After ending things with Sutherland three days before they were supposed to tie the knot, Roberts was spotted on the day of their planned nuptials with Sutherland's best friend, Jason Patric. The Notting Hill star and Patric ran off to Ireland, where they returned as an official couple. 

While rumors swirled regarding the strained relationships of all three Hollywood A-listers, Sutherland stated there was no bad blood between the three: 

[T]he truth, where I'm coming from… you fall in love… there's nothing you can do about that. She's an extraordinary person and he is too and timing is what it is and everybody moves on from that.

The Stand By Me star also provided a fresh perspective on what he felt Roberts was experiencing so soon after her rise to fame from Pretty Woman:

She was arguably the most famous woman in the world, and this wedding that was supposed to be something between the two of us, became something so big… And then in the middle of that, I think she had courage. It wasn't what she wanted to do, in the end. And I think it took a lot of courage, in amongst all of that other stuff, to be able to say, “I can't do this.”

Patric and Roberts ended things the following year.