''Light a Candle for the Sinners, Set the World on Fire"--the first lines of Marilyn Manson's song, ''1996.''

Someone here said 1993 was a year of transition--the year the 90s finally become ''the 90s'' and really began to take on a sort of it's own definitive style separate from the 80s. I'd agree with that. However, I also think 1996 was a big year in it's own right. The 80s gave it's last gasps and its influence on the 90s effectively ended. A lot of the shows, music, etc of the early 90s began to go away, giving way to the stuff which would come to define the late 90s/early 00s.

For example, for better or for worse, shows like Hey Arnold, Dexter's Laboratory, Third Rock from the Sun, the O'Reilly Factor,Kenan and Kel, Johnny Quest, Doug, Judge Judy, Dragon Ball Z, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, and Hannity and Colmes all began in 1996. Meanwhile, shows like Tales from the Crypt, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Are you Afraid of the Dark, Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ren and Stimpy, and Rocco's Modern Life all ended that year.

Movies--Disaster films dominated the Box Office this year such as Twister and Independance Day. Come that to the much more lighthearted 1994 in which Forest Gump and the Lion King were the tops for that year.

Musically, the Macarena dominated the charts throughout the summer, perhaps a precursor to the soon to come onslaught of boy bands and girl groups. Bands which had come into being in the 80s, such as Guns N' Roses and Metallica began to wane; Guns N' Roses' guitarist Slash left the band that Halloween and they effectively broke up. Metallica cut their hair, which they were seen as selling out over, and put out Load which was panned and sold much less than the Black Album. The new metal bands which would come to define the late 90s-2001 formed or come into the mainstream around this time, as did the shock rock antics of Marilyn Manson (who would also come to define the late 90s) began to become mainstream. Gangsta rap fell out of popularity (temporarily) with the death of Tupac Shakur in September.

For the first year, Adventure Game sales (Adventure games were PC games popular in the mid 80s-mid 90s and were games such as Monkey Island, King's Quest, etc; another 80s icon) began to be overshadowed by the sales of PC shooters such as Quake; it was the beginning of the end for that genre. Companies such as Sierra Entertainment began to fall. Roleplaying games re-emerged from a decade's long decline with Diablo and would continue to rise through the late 90s with games such as Baldur's Gate.

I've always considered 1996 as the last old school year. I've always been quite fond of 1996. I remember going to the Dixie Classic Fair in October 1996. All of the rides at the fair were playing the Macarena! :D

I too liked 1996.  There were some great bands putting music out, such as Smashing Pumpkins.  1996 was also the year Tupac got killed.  I remember kids in my class talking about it when it happened.

1996 , a good year for some great dance songs ...

Be My Lover - La Bouche
Dub-I-Dub - Me and My
Love is Paradise - First Base
Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Kats
Disco's Revenge - Gusto
Children - Robert Miles
One and One - Robert Miles
Forever Young - Temperance
Where Do You Go - No Mercy
Ti Amo - Paul London
I'll Be Alright - MTS
Ready to Go - Republica

1996 was the best year of my life and is overall my favorite year of the 90's. Personally and culturally. I've never really thought of it as a transitional period, but I do think of 1997 as more of a transitional period.

The summer was the best time of my life. Funny because I was 16 and going in to 11th grade, and most people wouldn't classify that time of their life as the funnest, but I do. That summer was all about drinking, going to parties and doing the Macarena at every one of them!

There was just this period of time in the mid 90's when everything was good. From 1995 - early 1997.

I've always considered 1996 as the last old school year. I've always been quite fond of 1996. I remember going to the Dixie Classic Fair in October 1996. All of the rides at the fair were playing the Macarena! :D


What do you mean 'the last old school year'?

Anyways, I like 1996 too. Actually I LOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEDDD it!

What do you mean 'the last old school year'?

Anyways, I like 1996 too. Actually I LOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEDDD it!




Me too!
But I think (s)he meant it was the last year of the 90's where everything from the 90's was still in full effect. I think 1997 may have been the last old school year though. At least to me, January - July was still pretty "old school", but new school as starting, it was the transitional period to me. I went to rehabilitation in July of '97, and by the time I got back in September, there wasn't much old school anymore.

1996 top 100


1. Macarena (Bayside Boys Mix), Los Del Rio
2. One Sweet Day, Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
3. Because You Loved Me, Celine Dion
4. Nobody Knows, Tony Rich Project
5. Always Be My Baby, Mariah Carey
6. Give Me One Reason, Tracy Chapman
7. Tha Crossroads, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony
8. I Love You Always Forever, Donna Lewis
9. You're Makin' Me High/Let It Flow, Toni Braxton
10. Twisted, Keith Sweat
11. C'mon N' Ride It (The Train), Quad City Dj's
12. Missing, Everything But The Girl
13. Ironic, Alanis Morissette
14. Exhale (Shoop Shoop), Whitney Houston
15. Follow You Down/Til I Hear It From You, Gin Blossoms
16. Sittin' Up In My Room, Brandy
17. How Do U Want It/California Love, 2Pac
18. It's All Coming Back To Me Now, Celine Dion
19. Change The World, Eric Clapton
20. Hey Lover, LL Cool J
21. Loungin, LL Cool J
22. Insensitive, Jann Arden
23. Be My Lover, La Bouche
24. Name, Goo Goo Dolls
25. Who Will Save Your Soul, Jewel
26. Where Do You Go, No Mercy
27. I Can't Sleep Baby (If I), R. Kelly
28. Counting Blue Cars, Dishwalla
29. You Learn/You Oughta Know, Alanis Morissette
30. One Of Us, Joan Osborne
31. Wonder, Natalie Merchant
32. Not Gon' Cry, Mary J. Blige
33. Gangsta's Paradise, Coolio
34. Only You, 112 Featuring The Notorious B.I.G.
35. Down Low (Nobody Has To Know), R. Kelly
36. You're The One, SWV
37. Sweet Dreams, La Bouche
38. Before You Walk Out Of My Life/Like This And Like That, Monica
39. Breakfast At Tiffany's, Deep Blue Something
40. 1, 2, 3, 4 (Sumpin' New), Coolio
41. The World I Know, Collective Soul
42. No Diggity, BLACKstreet (Featuring Dr. Dre)
43. Anything, 3t
44. 1979, The Smashing Pumpkins
45. Diggin' On You, TLC
46. Why I Love You So Much/Ain't Nobody, Monica
47. Kissin' You, Total
48. Count On Me, Whitney Houston and Cece Winans
49. Fantasy, Mariah Carey
50. Time, Hootie and The Blowfish
51. You'll See, Madonna
52. Last Night, Az Yet
53. Mouth, Merril Bainbridge
54. The Earth, The Sun, The Rain, Color Me Badd
55. All The Things (Your Man Won't Do), Joe
56. Wonderwall, Oasis
57. Woo-hah!! Got You All In Check/Everything Remains Raw, Busta Rhymes
58. Tell Me, Groove Theory
59. Elevators (Me and You), Outkast
60. Hook, Blues Traveler
61. Doin It, LL Cool J
62. Fastlove, George Michael
63. Touch Me Tease Me, Case Featuring Foxxy Brown
64. Tonite's Tha Night, Kris Kross
65. Children, Robert Miles
66. Theme From Mission: Impossible, Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen
67. Closer To Free, Bodeans
68. Just A Girl, No Doubt
69. If Your Girl Only Knew, Aaliyah
70. Lady, D'angelo
71. Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First), John Mellencamp
72. Pony, Ginuwine
73. Nobody, Keith Sweat
74. Old Man and Me (When I Get To Heaven), Hootie and The Blowfish
75. If It Makes You Happy, Sheryl Crow
76. As I Lay Me Down, Sophie B. Hawkins
77. Keep On, Keepin' On, Mc Lyte
78. Jealousy, Natalie Merchant
79. I Want To Come Over, Melissa Etheridge
80. Who Do U Love, Deborah Cox
81. Un-Break My Heart, Toni Braxton
82. This Is Your Night, Amber
83. You Remind Me Of Something, R. Kelly
84. Runaway, Janet Jackson
85. Set U Free, Planet Soul
86. Hit Me Off, New Edition
87. No One Else, Total
88. My Boo, Ghost Town Dj's
89. Get Money, Junior M.A.F.I.A.
90. That Girl, Maxi Priest Featuring Shaggy
91. Po Pimp, Do Or Die
92. Until It Sleeps, Metallica
93. Hay, Crucial Conflict
94. Beautiful Life, Ace Of Base
95. Back For Good, Take That
96. I Got Id/Long Road, Pearl Jam
97. Soon As I Get Home, Faith Evans
98. Macarena, Los Del Rio
99. Only Wanna Be With You, Hootie and The Blowfish
100. Don't Cry, Seal

^ Top 100 what?

1996 will always be special to me, because that's the year I graduated from high school.  :)

^ Top 100 what?

The top 100 songs of 1996. Got it from http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1996.htm

I too liked 1996.  There were some great bands putting music out, such as Smashing Pumpkins.  1996 was also the year Tupac got killed.  I remember kids in my class talking about it when it happened.


I went crazy when that happened.

The top 100 songs of 1996. Got it from http://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1996.htm


I figured that was from Billboard cause it was mostly rap, hip-hop and R&B :D

12... besides personal stuff... nothing really stood out in the media, IMHO

I figured that was from Billboard cause it was mostly rap, hip-hop and R&B :D


1996 was a big year for R&B wasn't it?
I was never too crazy about R&B in my younger days.

^ I don't even know half the songs on that list, so where I am it wasn't LOL


Just for the hell of it, here's the Top 100 songs in Canada of 1996

01 | You Learn - Alanis Morissette
02 | Ironic - Alanis Morissette
03 | Change the World - Eric Clapton
04 | Give Me One Reason - Tracy Chapman
05 | Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion
06 | Ahead By A Century - The Tragically Hip
07 | Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms
08 | Key West Intermezzo - John Mellencamp
09 | Missing - Everything But the Girl
10 | Head Over Feet - Alanis Morisette
11 | I Want to Come Over - Melissa Etheridge
12 | One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men
13 | Old Man & Me - Hootie and the Blowfish
14 | Let's Make A Night to Remember - Bryan Adams
15 | 1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
16 | One of Us - Joan Osborne
17 | It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion
18 | The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You - Bryan Adams
19 | Time - Hootie and the Blowfish
20 | Exhale (Shoop Shoop) - Whitney Houston
21 | Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey
22 | Nobody Knows - The Tony Rich Project
23 | He Liked to Feel It - Crash Test Dummies
24 | Name - Goo Goo Dolls
25 | Tucker's Town - Hootie and the Blowfish
26 | Wonderwall - Oasis
27 | You'll See - Madonna
28 | I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis
29 | Free to Decide - The Cranberries
30 | Birmingham - Amanda Marshall
31 | Everything Falls Apart - Dog's Eye View
32 | Walls - Tom Petty
33 | The World I Know - Collective Soul
34 | Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods
35 | Closer to Free - BoDeans
36 | Jerk - Kim Stockwood
37 | Dreamer's Dream - Tom Cochrane
38 | Flood - Jars of Clay
39 | Fast Love - George Michael
40 | Leave it Alone - Moist
41 | Nowhere to Go - Melissa Etheridge
42 | You Still Touch Me - Sting
43 | Killing Me Softly - The Fugees
44 | Hand in My Pocket - Alanis Morissette
45 | Don't Cry - Seal
46 | Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
47 | Who You Are - Pearl Jam
48 | Gift Shop - The Tragically Hip
49 | Wildest Dreams - Tom Cochrane
50 | Looking For It - Jann Arden
51 | Beautiful Goodbye - Amanda Marshall
52 | Black Cloud Rain - Corey Hart
53 | E-Bow the Letter - R.E.M.
54 | Jealousy - Natalie Merchant
55 | Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot - Sting
56 | So Far Away - Rod Stewart
57 | You're Making Me High - Toni Braxton
58 | Better Off As We Are - Blue Rodeo
59 | Beautiful Life - Ace of Base
60 | That Girl - Maxi Priest
61 | Until it Sleeps - Metallica
62 | Mouth - Merill Bainbridge
63 | Blessed - Elton John
64 | When Love and Hate Collide - Def Leppard
65 | I Don't Want to Think About It - Wild Strawberries
66 | Lucky Love - Ace of Base
67 | Everything You've Done Wrong - Sloan
68 | Good Mother - Jann Arden
69 | Wonder - Natalie Merchant
70 | Free As A Bird - The Beatles
71 | Jesus to A Child - George Michael
72 | Good Intentons - Toad the Wet Sprocket
73 | The Good in Everyone - Sloan
74 | Good Friday - The Black Crowes
75 | Burden in Hand - Soundgarden
76 | Wrong - Everything But the Girl
77 | Your Little Secret - Melissa Etheridge
78 | Angel Mine - The Cowboy Junkies
79 | Shoebox - The Barenaked Ladies
80 | Test For Echo - Rush
81 | When You Love A Woman - Journey
82 | How Bizarre - OMC
83 | Champagne Supernova - Oasis
84 | Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel
85 | Lack of Water - The Why Store
86 | Real Love - The Beatles
87 | Some Bridges - Jackson Browne
88 | What's Up With That - ZZ Top
89 | A List of Things - Damhnait Doyle
90 | Crawl - Tom Cochrane
91 | Only Love - Sophie B. Hawkins
92 | Waiting For Tonight - Tom Petty
93 | A Common Disaster - The Cowboy Junkies
94 | Fall From Grace - Amanda Marshall
95 | Work it Out - Def Leppard
96 | Mission: Impossible - Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.
97 | Back For Good - Take That
98 | Forever - Mariah Carey
99 | My Friends - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
100 | Spiderwebs - No Doubt

1996...great year I remember it very well. Speaking of R&B, it was awesome in 1996 definitely better than now. "You're The One" by SWV, Twisted by Keith Sweat, Why I Love You So Much by Monica, "Diggin On You" by TLC. The best hip-hop songs were California Love and Tha Crossroads, another great song is the Loungin remix by LL Cool J. Alternative was excellent with bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Garbage, Oasis seeing success. Be My Lover by La Bouche was another great song from 96. One of the songs I remember best that year other than Macarena is that Donna Lewis song "I Love You Always Forever", that song always takes me back to my childhood.

I know most of them, but not all. I only recognize them by their names, I wouldn't be able to tell you how they go except for the 1996 songs I have on my itunes. In 1996 I was more into underground dance music than the radio like I was in 1995.

I'm not crazy about old school R&B. Some of it was okay, but the really slow romantic songs I never liked. There were some I liked.

About the songs Brian mentioned,

Twisted - Keith Sweat was a song I loved. Along with Nobody. His music I didn't mind too much because it stood out a little from the other R&B music from the mid 90's era. Diggin' On You - TLC I loved too, but anything by TLC I'd listen to.

California Love gets a thumbs up along with Loungin'. But I never liked the remix as much as the regular. "1979" by The Smashing Pumpkin is definitely a classic. I loved it since it came out, and I wasn't too much into the rock/grunge either back then. I loved 1979, but the only problem was I could never understand a word being said except for the first 2 lines. "Shakedown in 1979, the cool kids never had the time"

I Love You Always Forever gets a thumbs up from me, but nobody I knew could know I loved that song back then :)

Probably the only real news-worthy story that year was the crash of TWA Flight 800 in July that killed all 230 People on board. It ruined an otherwise perfect year with a booming stock market, a fairly peaceful world, the Internet taking off QUICKLY, Cellphones rapidly climbing, and cars getting rounder.

Magic Carpet Ride - Mighty Dub Kats



I bought this record back in early '95.    8)

The year of 1996 was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty and did it?

1996 was the year of years for me!

January-Not much happened, but it was bound to change....
February-This was when I went to the church that I'm STILL a member of...and a worker of.
March-I went to Deer Creek and that was sweet.
April-School sucked, but everything else didn't.
May-I found some old tapes and taped over some things that I shouldn't have.
June-Summer was fun at the time.
July-I went to Yogi Bear Park and saw my brother play baseball.
August-Same as June.
September-As the Summer winds-down, I see a new teacher and lose a few friends....At least there's Facebook!
October-This was an interesting month.
November-School sucked a little, but that's the time of puberty in my year so...
December-I had the best Christmas ever! Too bad 1997 was the year of POOP!

1996 was the year Bill Clinton announced that "The era of Big Government is over"
It was also the year of the Macarena, and when Motorola introduced the "StarTrac" cell phone, the smallest and lightest phone then to date.
Yasser Arafat was re-elected President of the PLO; The Iraq disarmament crisis continued.
Rubert Mugabe became Dictator of Zimbabwe.
Benjamin Nethanyahu was led the Likud Party and thus Israel.
NASA announces ALH84001, a meteorite from Mars, once had life.
The Summer Olympics are held in Atlanta and bombed.
Osama Bin Laden declares Jihad on the US.
Bill Clinton signs welfare reform.
The first Dow Jones closure topping 6,000

As far as my life:

January--My dad's pet cockatiel, Louie, dies at the age of 14, of an infection.
February--My niece Megan is Christened; my parents and I take a trip upstate during the Mid-winter recess. My sister Jenn meets a man named James and quickly begins dating him; They would marry in 2000.
March--My sister Nicole's Sweet 16. Jenn moves out of our house and begins living with James.
April--My parents, I and my sister Jenn and her new boyfriend James take a trip to Timothy Lake over the Easter break.
May--Sometime around May, we rescue (from our yard) a pregnant feral Cat; it has kittens.
Late Spring-Early Summer 1996: My sister Jenn moves out of my and my parents' house to move in with James. My sister Nicole and my dad fall out and do not speak for 5 years.
June--I graduate from Kindergarten.
July or August: My father and I travel to Virginia, staying at a Days Inn, and go to Busch Gardens Williamsburg
August: My dad's family has a family reunion in Long Island; my dad and I go; My parents and I go Upstate. My sister Kim has a son.
September: I start 1st Grade
October: My parents begin negotiations to buy a house in NJ; Three or four houses are looked at; A house is chosen at the end of October.
November: I turn 6. My parents purchase the house in Mid November; The process of moving begins and continues from November through December.
December 31st: The move from Brooklyn NY to New Jersey is finished; It continues up to the very last week of December. We close our apartment in Brooklyn out officially January 1st 1997.

I figured that was from Billboard cause it was mostly rap, hip-hop and R&B :D
I counted 47 songs that were Hip-Hop/Rap and R&B from that list.

^ I don't even know half the songs on that list, so where I am it wasn't LOL


Just for the hell of it, here's the Top 100 songs in Canada of 1996

01 | You Learn - Alanis Morissette
02 | Ironic - Alanis Morissette
03 | Change the World - Eric Clapton
04 | Give Me One Reason - Tracy Chapman
05 | Because You Loved Me - Celine Dion
06 | Ahead By A Century - The Tragically Hip
07 | Follow You Down - Gin Blossoms
08 | Key West Intermezzo - John Mellencamp
09 | Missing - Everything But the Girl
10 | Head Over Feet - Alanis Morisette
11 | I Want to Come Over - Melissa Etheridge
12 | One Sweet Day - Mariah Carey/Boyz II Men
13 | Old Man & Me - Hootie and the Blowfish
14 | Let's Make A Night to Remember - Bryan Adams
15 | 1979 - The Smashing Pumpkins
16 | One of Us - Joan Osborne
17 | It's All Coming Back to Me Now - Celine Dion
18 | The Only Thing That Looks Good on Me is You - Bryan Adams
19 | Time - Hootie and the Blowfish
20 | Exhale (Shoop Shoop) - Whitney Houston
21 | Always Be My Baby - Mariah Carey
22 | Nobody Knows - The Tony Rich Project
23 | He Liked to Feel It - Crash Test Dummies
24 | Name - Goo Goo Dolls
25 | Tucker's Town - Hootie and the Blowfish
26 | Wonderwall - Oasis
27 | You'll See - Madonna
28 | I Love You Always Forever - Donna Lewis
29 | Free to Decide - The Cranberries
30 | Birmingham - Amanda Marshall
31 | Everything Falls Apart - Dog's Eye View
32 | Walls - Tom Petty
33 | The World I Know - Collective Soul
34 | Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money in My Hand - Primitive Radio Gods
35 | Closer to Free - BoDeans
36 | Jerk - Kim Stockwood
37 | Dreamer's Dream - Tom Cochrane
38 | Flood - Jars of Clay
39 | Fast Love - George Michael
40 | Leave it Alone - Moist
41 | Nowhere to Go - Melissa Etheridge
42 | You Still Touch Me - Sting
43 | Killing Me Softly - The Fugees
44 | Hand in My Pocket - Alanis Morissette
45 | Don't Cry - Seal
46 | Breakfast at Tiffany's - Deep Blue Something
47 | Who You Are - Pearl Jam
48 | Gift Shop - The Tragically Hip
49 | Wildest Dreams - Tom Cochrane
50 | Looking For It - Jann Arden
51 | Beautiful Goodbye - Amanda Marshall
52 | Black Cloud Rain - Corey Hart
53 | E-Bow the Letter - R.E.M.
54 | Jealousy - Natalie Merchant
55 | Let Your Soul Be Your Pilot - Sting
56 | So Far Away - Rod Stewart
57 | You're Making Me High - Toni Braxton
58 | Better Off As We Are - Blue Rodeo
59 | Beautiful Life - Ace of Base
60 | That Girl - Maxi Priest
61 | Until it Sleeps - Metallica
62 | Mouth - Merill Bainbridge
63 | Blessed - Elton John
64 | When Love and Hate Collide - Def Leppard
65 | I Don't Want to Think About It - Wild Strawberries
66 | Lucky Love - Ace of Base
67 | Everything You've Done Wrong - Sloan
68 | Good Mother - Jann Arden
69 | Wonder - Natalie Merchant
70 | Free As A Bird - The Beatles
71 | Jesus to A Child - George Michael
72 | Good Intentons - Toad the Wet Sprocket
73 | The Good in Everyone - Sloan
74 | Good Friday - The Black Crowes
75 | Burden in Hand - Soundgarden
76 | Wrong - Everything But the Girl
77 | Your Little Secret - Melissa Etheridge
78 | Angel Mine - The Cowboy Junkies
79 | Shoebox - The Barenaked Ladies
80 | Test For Echo - Rush
81 | When You Love A Woman - Journey
82 | How Bizarre - OMC
83 | Champagne Supernova - Oasis
84 | Who Will Save Your Soul - Jewel
85 | Lack of Water - The Why Store
86 | Real Love - The Beatles
87 | Some Bridges - Jackson Browne
88 | What's Up With That - ZZ Top
89 | A List of Things - Damhnait Doyle
90 | Crawl - Tom Cochrane
91 | Only Love - Sophie B. Hawkins
92 | Waiting For Tonight - Tom Petty
93 | A Common Disaster - The Cowboy Junkies
94 | Fall From Grace - Amanda Marshall
95 | Work it Out - Def Leppard
96 | Mission: Impossible - Adam Clayton and Larry Mullen Jr.
97 | Back For Good - Take That
98 | Forever - Mariah Carey
99 | My Friends - Red Hot Chilli Peppers
100 | Spiderwebs - No Doubt
Songs from that list that weren't hits in the US:

Number 6, 13, 14, 18, 23, 25, 29, 30, 32, 36, 37, 40,41, 42, 47, 48, 58, 49, 51, 50, 52, 55, 58, 63,  64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 77, 79, 78, 80, 85 86, 87, 90, 92, 93, 94, 95, 95, 98 88, 87.

Amanda Marshall never made it big in the US and Tom Cochrane is a one-hit wonder in the US I think having a hit in the US in 1992 with "Life Is A Highway". Bryan Adams was popular on the US still 1996 approached. Canada never really got that big in rap music being popular since 1997 the way the US did.

I'm 24.

I'd have to say what I remember about 1996 were those Creepy Crawler toys being really really popular at my elementary school for some odd reason, the gatorade and pog crazes dying down, at least in Vancouver and an awesome christmas.

and lets not forget that the worlds first graphical, commercial online game went commercial on September 27th, 1996. The game? Meridian 59. Its the parent to the entire online game craze thats hit the market in the last few years. Granted it was shut down by 3DO in 2000 and purchased by two of the former developers who relaunched it in 2001-2002...its pretty much dead now, despite what the website claims.

Overall I still prefer 1997 and 1998

1996: Two weddings and a funeral.  Went to San Francisco for the first time (wedding), Chicago twice (wedding and funeral), Bought my truck brand new (just sold it this past Tuesday, 155,000 miles later).  Started working @ Five-O Café spinning 80's music on Wednesdays and a mix of 70's funk & soul, 80's pop & new wave and 90's alternative, hip-hop and funk Fridays-Sundays.

1996

Lemon Tree, a song by German pop group Fool's Garden became an International smash, even reaching the Top 10 here in Canada.  

Somehow though, it only reached #113 in the States.  Must've gotten lost in the mix of Grunge and Gangsta Rap which was dominant Stateside at the time :-\\

Fun fact: Every single #1 hit* in 1996 featured female vocals.
*according to the Top 40 Mainstream chart, and in America only.

January 6-February 17: "One Sweet Day" - Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men
February 24-March 23: "Missing" - Everything But the Girl
March 30-May 11: "Ironic" - Alanis Morissette
May 18-June 18: "Because You Loved Me" - Celine Dion
June 22-July 6: "Killing Me Softly" - The Fugees
July 13-August 24: "You Learn" - Alanis Morissette
August 31-November 9: "I Love You Always Forever" - Donna Lewis
November 16: "It's All Coming Back to me Now" - Celine Dion
November 23-December 7: "Head Over Feet" - Alanis Morissette
December 14-December 28: "Don't Speak" - No Doubt

(source)

By the by: You guys should check out this blog post, Worst Years in Music: 1996. It's really funny. Especially this last part, about the Macarena:

This wasn’t a song. This wasn’t even a phenomenon. This was a goddamned daily ritual in 1996. Seriously. You know how whenever someone makes a movie about the 1920s, everyone dances the Charleston all the time? Well, one day, there’s going to be serious cultural studies about the 1990s. Not in a “I Love The ’90s” way, where you get a bunch of B-list comedians and celebrities together to wax nostalgic about stuff that happened seven years ago, but in an anthropological kind of way. In a “the past is a different country” kind of way. And I honestly think that, amongst all the Starbucks and Internet references, every scene is going to have random extras in the background who haven’t even been born yet doing the Macarena. That is how we shall be portrayed. I mean, other stuff happened in the 1920s besides the Charleston, Charlie Chaplin, and cigarette holders, but no one cares. What about Calvin Coolidge? Leopold and Loeb? The invention of television and celebrity culture? Nope. The 1920s were all about people dancing the fudgeing Charleston as far as you’re concerned. So, seventy years from now, when they wheel us over to the high school to see our great-grandkids in the Barack Obama Memorial High School production of that “charming 1990s farce” Angels In America, will, in the interest of recreating the decade, be performing the Macarena.

It was that big. It was that important. Literally, in ‘96, we’d all wake up, eat breakfast, brush our teeth, do the macarena, shower, go to work or school, have lunch, do the macarena, go home, watch “Friends”, and do the macarena. They even did the macarena at the Democratic National Convention. Al Gore made a joke out of *not* doing the macarena. The only reason they didn’t do it at the Republican National Convention was that they didn’t want Bob Dole to feel left out.

I’ll bet you can still do the macarena. I’ll bet you’re doing it right now.

1996 was one of my favorite years of the 90's. I was mostly listening to alternative, and favorite songs include "Going the Distance" by Cake, "Hey Man Nice Shot" by Filter, "Stupid Girl" by Garbage, and this one song by Butthole Surfers that I can't remember the title. With movies, I remember seeing Twister in the theater, but Independance Day after it was released on VHS. One of the major highlights of the year is having the Olymipcs in Atlanta, where I lived at the time. I remember seeing a lot of people associated with the Olympics including friends of a U.S. diver coming to Wendy's where I worked that summer. But the best memory is a week long camp trip to Colorado with the other h.s. students. I wasn't playing video games at the time since it was kind of the dead period between the Sega Genesis/Super NES and Playstion/Nintendo 64 generations.

The BEST year of the 90's for me!

I got a job working a grocery store, where I still work, moved into my first house, and my brother began ski jumping.

I would have to say that the Macrena, Gerardo, and Billy Ray Cyrus, were the worse things, to come out of music, that time period!

;D

I was listening to on CD, No Doubt, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Alanis Morrisette, and Ace of Base.

Strike - Inspiration {1996}

Original music video...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSpEH21InwU


Dan

I was 16 years old. I had a crush on Jonathan Brandis (RIP). I got into Sailor Moon. I joined Arts And Crafts in the Library. My bro and I got Sega Saturn and beat Nights...Into Dreams. Oh, and I also got into artwork, such as sketching, painting, and drawing portraits. My dad gave me an artist kit with charcoal pencils on my Sweet 16th birthday.

I cool year for me.  Its the year I graduated high school.  I worked as a lifeguard during the summers.  I remeber nights I spent hanging out with my friends, driving my Camaro up and down the strip, smoking cigarettes, blasting my sound system (although I was nice enough to always turn it down when I drive in a residential area).  I also liked the quiet times with my girlfriend and the time with my family.  Although most of my time was spend being wild and getting into trouble, I did spend a week voluntering for a habitat of humanity project, which was a very rewarding feeling to do something good.  The end of the summer was sad, since me and my girlfriend went away to different colleges, I missed her so much. 

January 20th 1996 - US female Figure Skating championship won by Michelle Kwan

1996 was good year because i get a playstation for my birthday! :D my first ps1 game was Mortal Kombat 3.... second one was Twisted Metal 2 i believe

1996 will always be special to me, because that's the year I graduated from high school.  :)



Me too!  :D

January 31st 1996 – An explosives-filled truck rams into the gates of the Central Bank of Sri Lanka in Colombo, Sri Lanka killing at least 86 and injuring 1,400.

February 1st 1996 – The Communications Decency Act is passed by the U.S. Congress.

February 3rd 1996 – The Lijiang earthquake in Lijiang, Yunnan, China.

February 3rd 1996  Muralitharan no-balled for throwing in ODI vs West Indies at the Gabba

  Somebody give Philip Eno a kick, I think he's stuck...

One of my favorite years. Went up and down Virginia, from Jellystone Park in Lurray to Colonial Williamsburg, sometime around July or August 1996.

I've been especially nostalgic for the summer of '96 lately, especially with the Olympics and a lot of bands/artists from that time releasing music this year, such as Garbage, Smashing Pumpkins, No Doubt, Alanis Morisette, and Dave Mathews Band.

You also had some good R & B music that year.

That was also the year that Canadian girls discovered the Backstreet Boys.  8)

You also had some good R & B music that year.


R&B songs I like from '96 include "My Boo" by Ghosttown DJ's, "Making Me High" by Toni Braxton, and "Hey Lover" by LL Cool J. I'm not sure what you classified the Fugees as, but I remember "Killing Me Softly" being huge that year.

One album from '96 I completely forgot about until recently is Rage Against the Machine's "Evil Empire". I wonder if I still have that CD somewhere.

Other songs worth mentioning that I didn't earlier:

George Michael - "Fast Love" (as much as I hate to admit it. It has a good beat)
Butthole Surfers - "Pepper"
Coolio - "1, 2, 3, 4 (Somethin' New)"
Everclear - "Santa Monica"
Beck - "Where It's At"
Luscious Jackson - "Naked Eye"
The Cardigans - "Love Fool"
Alanis Morisette - "Ironic"

It was reported that Take That were the UK's biggest single selling artists with sales over 3.9.million.