Episode 202: Back To The Future Turns 40, 1995 Year In Music Pt. 2, Symbols of the 1970s(7-2-2025)

Back to the Future turns 40. More of 1995, the year in music. Symbols of the 1970s.

July brings the heat and the fireworks, and so does Episode 202 of the podcast!

It begins with a look back at the king of time travel movies and one of the best movies ever, Back To The Future. 40 years ago this week, Doc and Marty began their adventures and we will look at the legacy and impact of this beloved film franchise. Tune in for the killer 8-bit version of the movie theme by Bitonal Landscape.

We return to 1995 to look at Part 2 of the year in music. This spans July through December. Legendary albums, untimely passings, and deep dives into under the radar alternative music since that was my jam in high school.

What do you think of when someone mentions the 1970s? This week's Top 5 will look at some symbols of the 70s. Fads, products, odd choices, and of course loads of disco.

There is a brand new This Week In History and Time Capsule centered around the death of iconic Doors frontman Jim Morrison.

Become a supporter on Patreon! $5/mo. gets you access to bonus podcast episodes and more!

Helpful Links from this Episode

• Purchase My New Book Cape Cod Beyond the Beach!
• In My Footsteps: A Cape Cod Travel Guide(2nd Edition)
• Hooked By Kiwi - Etsy.com
• DJ Williams Music
• KeeKee's Cape Cod Kitchen
• Christopher Setterlund.com
• Cape Cod Living - Zazzle Store
• Subscribe on YouTube!
• Initial Impressions 2.0 Blog
• Webcam Weekly Wrapup Podcast
• CJSetterlundPhotos on Etsy
• Serenading Romero
• 1995 Year In Music: Spotify Playlist

Listen to Episode 201 here

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:02

Hello world! And welcome to the In My Footsteps Podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund, coming to you from the vacation destination known as Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and this is episode 202! It's July, it's 4th of July weekend. We are kicking off the month with fireworks in the form of Gen X nostalgia, and I couldn't think of a better way to kick off July than looking back 40 years at one of my favorite movies of all time, Back to the Future. We're gonna go way, way back in the day, and we're going to do part two of 1995, the year in music. We're gonna look at July through December, what was going on, there'll be a brand new top five. We're gonna be looking at the top five symbols of the 1970s, the things you think of immediately when someone says 1970s. And there'll be a brand new this week in history and time capsule, looking back at the death of legendary Doors singer Jim Morrison. All of that is coming up right now on episode 202 of the In My Footsteps podcast. So, what are we gonna talk about this week? About how it's 4th of July weekend, insanity on Cape Cod. I say the vacation destination. It is every bit that. This is where the run of just crazy overcrowded streets and beaches and stores and restaurants on Cape Cod starts. The next six weeks or so, it's just batting down the hatches. I always say though, that is kind of the price we who live on Cape Cod pay for living in a place like this. It's an area that a lot of other people want to visit. It's like if you don't want tourists, go live somewhere that nobody wants to visit. I'm not gonna name any specifics. I don't want anyone to get upset. So welcome into episode 202. Welcome to the month of July. Thank you all for tuning in, making me a part of your week, getting your weekly dose of Gen X nostalgia from a crazy old man or at least middle-aged man. There is a lot of fun stuff to get into this week, but of course I cannot start the show proper without thanking my Patreon subscribers. Laurie, Mary Lou, Ashley, Kevin, Marguerite, Leo, Neglectoid, Crystal, Matt. Thank you all so much for being my biggest supporters, my biggest backers. If you want to become a Patreon member, $5 a month gets you access to bonus podcast episodes. It gets you access to the remastered Without a Map live streams. A brand new bonus podcast just went up yesterday from when this podcast goes live on Patreon. So all you subscribers go and listen. I talk about two different road races that I did, my failure and then redemption. The without a map live streams, I used to do those. They were on Instagram. They were kind of like post-game shows for the podcast, and it ended up being another thing on my plate that I just couldn't keep all the spinning plates going. So they fell by the wayside. But what I do now is I remaster the audio, the video, edit out some of the stuff where I ramble on and on and make them a little more fun to digest. Of course, I've got an ever-growing free tier on Patreon as well, so you can go become a free member and see some of the stuff I've got on there. In funny news before we get started, as you all know, I sprained my ankle a few weeks ago playing basketball, and so that is pretty much healed. So naturally, I had to decide what is the next challenge I put before myself. And what I did was I decided to almost break my hand. I joked that I made a hand sandwich and I used two steel bars from a reverse hyper machine that I have at my work. I use that as the bread. Even as we speak, my right hand is very yellowy brown from being totally bruised on the palm and the back of my hand. There are 85-year-old ladies that have more grip strength than I currently have. It'll probably be healed in another week or so. So stay tuned to see what I do next to cripple myself. I just can't seem to help myself. I wish I could go back in time to the days when I could do whatever and never be sore or hurt. My metabolism was better. Even though I can't go back in time, we can kick the podcast off by looking at the best time travel movie ever. We go back 40 years ago this week to look at Back to the Future. This is one of those segments of the podcast I've waited a long time to do. Back to the Future is one of my absolute favorite films ever, and it turns 40 years old this week, which normally would make me upset to realize that I am getting that much older, but it gives me a chance to talk about the movie, so it's not as bad. I am sure I'm not the only one in my age group that feels that way about Back to the Future, because there are a few films that have left as lasting an impact on pop culture as Back to the Future. It blended science fiction and comedy to become one of the defining films of the decade. Most kids, when they're young, they think about time travel, things like that. So having a movie where that is just right in front of you is just amazing. It spawned two sequels. There's even to this day, there's been rumblings of maybe they're gonna do a Back to the Future part four. I don't know how they do it now. I don't think Michael J. Fox could do a full movie, unfortunately, with his Parkinsons, and Christopher Lloyd is 86 years old, so I don't know about him playing Doc Brown. Think about that though. How old did you think Christopher Lloyd was when Back to the Future came out 40 years ago? And then you realize he was only 46? He was younger than I am now, and he looked like he was 75. It's like, when you think about that, it's like, oh man. The idea for Back to the Future originated with screenwriter Bob Gale, who began wondering whether he would have been friends with his father if they had been teenagers at the same time. He then collaborated with director Robert Zemeckis, and they developed the concept of a teenager traveling back in time and meeting his parents during their high school years. Interestingly, the script faced years of rejection when you think about what Back to the Future became. Studios, they either didn't understand the tone or wanted it to be edgier. Disney passed on the film due to the implications of Marty and his mother, you know, they kind of have a weird relationship for a bit, only because she doesn't know who he is. So I guess they didn't want to have a part of the movie where a mother is coming on to her son. It was only after Robert Zemeckis found success directing Romancing the Stone in 1984 that Universal Pictures and producer Steven Spielberg agreed to green light the project. I'm sure many of you know this fact, but for those of you that don't, originally Marty McFly's character was going to be played by actor Eric Stoltz, not Michael J. Fox. They actually filmed scenes with Stoltz, but it became apparent that his performance was too serious for the film's comedic tone. So Zemeckis actually made the call and he got rid of Eric Stoltz and brought in Michael J. Fox, who was starring in the hit sitcom Family Ties. Michael J. Fox was 23, 24 years old, and he was filming Back to the Future at night and working on Family Ties during the day. You imagine a schedule like that? When I was 23, 24, I was going to college part-time and working as a cook. I couldn't imagine working on a movie and TV show that were hits. I don't want to give away all the spoilers, but I'm figuring back to the future, most of you have seen it, so I don't think I'm going to be spoiling much. The film follows Marty McFly, who is 17 years old living in Hill Valley, California. He somehow has this eccentric scientist friend, Dr. Emmett Brown, and he invents a time machine built into a DeLorean car. DeLoreans looked like a time machine. They had the gallowing doors that open up and out. Every once in a blue moon, you will still see a DeLorean around. It's kind of like seeing a bald eagle for me on Cape Cod. Every once in a while there it is. I've seen a handful of DeLoreans in my life. As Doc Brown is demonstrating the DeLorean, the time machine, he is shot and presumably killed by terrorists. And to escape, Marty jumps into the time machine and ends up traveling back to 1955, where he then ends up meeting his parents before they meet each other. George McFly is played by Crispin Glover. Lorraine Baines is played by Leah Thompson. Marty spoils their first meeting, and he has to deal with getting them together, but also deal with the bully Biff Tannen, played by Thomas F. Wilson. As the movie goes on, there's a photo of Marty and his two siblings, and it begins to erase the people in it because it gets to look more and more likely that his parents won't meet, therefore erasing him from existence. So the movie becomes a race against time for Marty to get his parents together, but also get back to 1985. The movie ends up happily ever after, but actually better because Marty teaches his dad to stand up for himself and therefore stand up to the bully Biff. So when he goes back to 1985, he has a better life than he did when he left. That is very much the Cliff's Notes version of the plot of Back to the Future. There are so many memorable scenes, the very beginning with Marty blowing up that giant amplifier and then riding his skateboard behind the pickup truck as Huey Lewis and the news's Power of Love plays. Huey Lewis is actually in Back to the Future. He is the, I guess, teacher that turns down Marty's band. They're playing a way more heavy metal version of Power of Love, and Huey Lewis stops them and says they're just too darn loud. There's the whole scene of when Marty first goes back to 1955 and he then has to hide the DeLorean behind a billboard and walk into town into Hill Valley and him just discovering his hometown 30 years earlier. There's the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance where Marty ends up playing on stage Johnny be good. And then that whole scene when his parents finally get together and the picture of him and his siblings comes back to life. All of the actual time travel scenes, the 88 miles an hour being the specific speed you have to go, where the flux capacitor will kick on. And of course, the very last line of the movie, Rhodes, where we're going, we don't need roads, delivered by Doc Brown. That's one of the most quoted lines ever in movies. Back to the Future was released July 3rd, 1985. It was an immediate, massive success. It was number one at the box office for 11 straight weeks. It ended up grossing $380 million worldwide, which, when adjusted for inflation into 2025, is equal to about $1.1 billion. It was also nominated for several Academy Awards, winning the Oscar for Best Sound Effects Editing. The ending of the original Back to the Future, it ends with the cliffhanger where Doc comes back and he gets Marty and his girlfriend Jennifer. They have to go back to the future to do something about their kids. This leads into Back to the Future 2, where they traveled to 2015, so 10 years ago, where they had flying cars and hoverboards and self-drying clothes, and none of that happened. You imagine my disappointment when I saw Back to the Future 2 in 1989 and said, oh man, when I get to be in my late 30s, we're gonna have flying cars and hoverboards, and then here it is, nope. There was an immediate sequel, Back to the Future 3, where they travel back to 1885. I'm sure I will do deeper dives into those movies. Maybe I'll do them as a one segment. Considering that Back to the Future 3 is 35 years ago, there's an excuse to put it on the podcast. Back to the Future is a staple of pop culture now. It was adapted into video games, an animated series, a 2020 stage musical. But perhaps the greatest adaptation of Back to the Future was the one that I did with my dear old friend John back in 1993, our freshman year of high school. All I will say to start off, John, is you are so lucky I cannot find the original recording we did. I was planning on putting clips in. I looked all week, I cannot find it. What we did was our own version of the entire movie. Instead of calling it Back to the Future, we shortened it to Back Foo, which still makes me laugh. Because when they did the stage musical, I reached out to John. I said we should have done our own and called it Back Fuzical. I don't know why that's so funny. So what we did was we had a microphone, not too much different from the one that I'm using right now for the podcast. We would splice in sound effects, music from the original movie, but all of the characters were played by he and I. John was Marty, I was everyone else, pretty much. I was Doc Brown, so I sounded like this. Marty, what are you doing? And he would always remark that my Doc Brown sounded like Al Bundy, which I guess is pretty accurate. Now it sounds more like Napoleon Dynamite. Marty, you idiot! I was also George McFly, so I was kind of a little more of a wimp.

Speaker: 15:24

Hey, what are you guys doing? Leave me alone. I don't wanna leave the diner.

Speaker 1: 15:30

Then I was also Biff Tannan, so I was a tough guy. Hey McFly, I thought I told you never to come in here. Make like a tree and get out of here. And I was also Lorraine.

Speaker 2: 15:42

So I'd be like this, Marty, you must be a Salah. That's why you have that life preserver.

Speaker 1: 15:48

There would be scenes that we recorded where I would just be having a conversation with myself in three different voices. And John would say in in the future I'd be in the mental institution doing the same thing, and they'd think it was normal there. So we spent weeks after school recording bits and pieces of this back foo. It ended up being probably an hour. The audio cassette, I think, is still in my mother's basement. John made a CD version of it, which pfft I can't find, and I know if I had asked him for it, he wouldn't have sent it, because he knows what I was gonna do with it. I figured I couldn't tell you about what we did and not try to give you some of the voices that I haven't done in forever. So there's the compromise. Back to the future, the actual movie, not the one that John and I did. It remains timeless because of its heart. It's not just about time travel, it's about family, destiny, the idea that anyone can shape their own future. As Doc Brown says, your future hasn't been written yet. No one's has. Your future is whatever you make it, so make it a good one. It's funny, that's kind of a take on what I say at the end of the podcast. Don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. It's not quite as memorable as Doc Brown, but it is in the same vein of your future hasn't been written. Forty years this week, after its release, Back to the Future still resonates with audiences of all ages. It blended sci-fi comedy, heartfelt storytelling. It's been cemented as one of the most beloved films of all time. I can watch that movie anytime it's on, and then I will naturally have to watch the two sequels. Whether I'm watching it or you're watching it for the first time or the 50th time, Back to the Future continues to remind us that great storytelling like time itself is never out of date. This week in history, we are going back 54 years to July 3rd, 1971, and the death of iconic Doors frontman Jim Morrison. The rock band The Doors formed in Los Angeles in 1965 when UCLA film student Jim Morrison encountered keyboardist Ray Manzarik on Venice Beach. Morrison shared some of his poetry, and after that, he and Manzarick began collaborating musically, soon adding guitarist Robbie Krieger and drummer John Densmore to complete the lineup. The band took its name from Aldos Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. Itself a reference to a quote by William Blake: If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. The Doors released their self-titled debut album in 1967, and it was an immediate success. Anchored by the haunting hit Light My Fire, it showcased Morrison's brooding charisma, poetic lyrics, and unpredictable stage presence. The Doors blended rock, blues, jazz, psychedelia. It created a sound that was intellectually provocative, but so quintessentially 60s. Preceding albums like Strange Days, Waiting for the Sun, and LA Woman cemented the doors as one of the most iconic acts of the era. Morrison was dubbed the Lizard King, and he became a symbol of rebellion and sensuality. But Jim Morrison also struggled with the darker side of fame, battling alcoholism, drug use, and a growing disillusionment with the rock star lifestyle. By 1971, after a string of legal issues, including a high-profile arrest in Miami for allegedly exposing himself on stage, Morrison retreated from the public eye. He and his longtime partner Pamela Corson moved to Paris seeking peace and anonymity. The couple lived quietly, with Morrison reportedly spending his days walking the city, reading poetry, writing, and occasionally indulging in drinking drugs. On the morning of July 3rd, Corson found Morrison unresponsive in the bathtub of their apartment. Authorities determined that he had died of heart failure, and since no foul play was suspected, no autopsy was conducted. So this lack of official documentation surrounding the cause of death later fed into the persistent rumors and conspiracy theories. Morrison was buried in Paris's Per Lachaise Cemetery, joining other cultural icons like Oscar Wilde and Frederick Chopin. The modest grave has since become a pilgrimage site for fans around the world. But, like I said, there were rumors. In the years following his death, rumors swirled that Morrison had faked it all and was still alive. There were some who claimed he was tired of the fame and sought to escape the pressures of stardom. Theories included sightings of Morrison in Africa, the American Southwest, even working as a ranch hand. These urban legends were fueled by the mysterious circumstances of his death. No autopsy, only a handful of people seeing his body, and the suddenness of the funeral. Some even suggested that Morrison had planned it, inspired by his own fascination with death, mythology, and the idea of transformation. Rayman Zarek occasionally would stoke these rumors himself, saying in interviews that Morrison was the type who could vanish and reinvent himself. Though most regard the theories as only speculation. That being said, they have helped maintain Morrison's mystique. Despite a relatively brief career, Jim Morrison left an enduring legacy. He's a member of the famed 27 Club. Which, if you're not sure of what the 27 Club is, I did a segment on that in episode 37, so you can go back in the archives. Morrison's lyrics were influenced by people like Rimbaud, Nietzsche, and Beat Poets. He elevated rock music to new intellectual heights, viewing himself not just as a singer, but a poet and a shaman. The Doors continued on briefly after Morrison's death, but naturally never recaptured the same magic when their front man was there. Over time, Morrison's reputation only grew as new generations discovered his music, writings, and rebellious spirit. And then in 1991, Oliver Stone created the film The Doors, with Val Kilmer playing Jim Morrison. Morrison's death remains one of Rock's most mysterious and iconic losses. Whether viewed as a doomed romantic, a visionary poet, or a reckless provocateur, Morrison's presence still looms large in pop culture. The unanswered questions surrounding his final days have only deepened that legend. As Morrison once wrote, Death makes angels of us all and gives us wings where we had shoulders smooth as raven's claws. And as far as we know, Jim Morrison passed away 54 years ago, this week in history. Jim Morrison supposedly left this earth on that day. What was going on in the world of pop culture back then? Well, let's find out. The number one song was It's Too Late by Carol King. This is off of her iconic second album, Tapestry. This song is bundled on the same single with I Feel the Earth Move. So they're seen as two, like there's not a side A, side B. Tapestry is seen as Carol King's greatest album, one of the greatest albums of all time, routinely ranked in the top 2025 albums ever made. And the Tapestry album itself has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide. The number one movie was Shaft, and you could get into the theater with a ticket costing $1.65. This is a crime action thriller, also a black exploitation film about private detective John Shaft, played by Richard Roundtree, who is hired by a Harlem mobster to rescue his daughter who was kidnapped by Italian mobsters. The film won an Oscar for Best Original Song, The Theme from Shaft by Isaac Hayes, who some of you younger people might know as Chef from South Park. The movie is 88% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes and made $13 million on a budget of $500,000. It also spawned several sequels and a remake. The number one TV show was Hawaii 5-0. This is the action drama series starring Jack Lord about police on the islands of Hawaii. The show was on for 12 seasons and 282 episodes between 1968 and 1980. It's one of the most recognizable TV show themes that there ever has been. And it spawned a reboot series that came out in 2010 and lasted for 10 seasons. And if you were around back then, July 3rd, 1971, you've got all these different eight-tracks you want to listen to, but you only want to listen to a few songs on each. Well, you're in luck because there's something that I never knew existed until this week. If you go into Radio Shack, you can get yourself an eight-track recorder. Yes, that's right. You could make yourself mix eight-tracks. The eight-track recorder is by a company called Realistic. What you really can do is you can get your blank eight-tracks, which I also didn't know they made, for $1.99 each, stick them in the eight-track recorder and record songs off the radio just like we kids did in the 80s and 90s with mixtapes. The blank eight-track cassettes come in 40 or 80 minute versions, and it costs $159.95 or $1,269 when adjusted for inflation to 2025. So it's pretty expensive, and also it says it weighs 24 pounds, which is pretty heavy for something that it says is 16 inches long and 10 inches wide. You could probably do some damage with that thing if you threw it at someone. So that wraps up the time capsule this week in history. But now, speaking of the 70s, we got a brand new top five. It's gonna be the top five symbols of the 1970s. I think I may have just talked about one just a few seconds ago, but let's find out. Well, I just had my lunch break, my halftime break of the podcast. I hope all of you went and got a sandwich. Because now it's time for us to return to the 1970s. We are gonna have a brand new top five here. Top five symbols of the 1970s. What does that mean? It's basically if someone says to you 1970s, what do you picture in your head? I will admit for this list, I tried to keep it more products pop culture. I didn't go deep into the news like gas shortages or water gate. If you like this type of list, I did a Symbols of the 1990s top five back in episode 57, and I did a Symbols of the 1980s top five in episode 93. So if you're looking for other decades. As with most of these top five lists, they are in no particular order, and I've got some honorable mentions. So let's talk about some things that you think of when you hear 1970s. We'll start with the honorable mentions. Honorable mentions for symbols of the 1970s include clackers, which were those plasticky balls with the string that you would swing them around, they would make that clack noise. They eventually got banned, but at least in the early 70s they were a symbol of the decade. Another honorable mention is wood trimming or paneling, either on walls or on the sides of station wagons. My Nana had wood paneling on her living room and down the hallway, I remember. Another honorable mention is the Atari 2600. It was the first widely available video game console. This is later 1970s, it was a symbol of. Another brief symbol of the 1970s was the pet rock, which was a rock that came in a box that looked like a McDonald's Happy Meal complete with straw, like it was a pet. Those sold millions, by the way. So whatever. Foolish idea you think you have, try for it because you never know. And the final honorable mention is shag carpeting. This was that really thick carpeting that a lot of houses had, especially in the living rooms. Back in episode 161, I did a segment on passing fads of the 70s, and I talked about shag carpeting and how they actually created something called a shag carpet rake. To clean your carpet, you'd have to rake it. Man, crazy times to be alive. Alright, so that wraps up the honorable mentions. Let's get into the actual top five symbols of the 1970s, starting with number one, bell bottoms. These are any type of pants that have the flared legs that come out at the bottom like a bell. They're still around today. You can look online and find bell bottom trousers, pants, any type of pants. These originated in the British Navy in the 1800s, where their uniform had pant legs like that. It was in the 1960s in Britain, where the bell bottom became more of mainstream culture with people wearing them in their typical outfits. But it was in the 70s where it was everywhere. Everybody had bell bottom pants stylish going out in the town with those. When Sonny and Cher on their TV show would wear the bell bottoms, that's where it really took off in America. And although they're still around today, their popularity quickly diminished in the late 70s with the rise of punk rock culture. Number two is disco music. I said the top fives are in no particular order. I'm sure a lot of you out there, when you first heard symbols of the 70s, you probably thought of disco music. This type of music emerged in the late 60s, early 70s. The disco beat is very well known. Kind of the thumping bass line, the brass, the horns. It was New York City, Studio 54, where the disco culture really took off. You had tons of famous disco artists like the Bee Gees, Abba, Donna Summer, Coolin' the Gang, and loads of other kind of below that, not one-hit wonders. It is said that disco was almost like a reaction to the rock-dominated late 60s, and then punk music was a reaction to the disco music. The end of disco began with disco demolition night in 1979, which I talked about in episode 152. Within a few years, disco had all but faded away, kind of getting absorbed into RB and funk and hip-hop. But every now and then you'll hear a song that reminds you of those disco hits. Because pop culture is always cyclical. Number three is eight-track cassettes. You heard me talk about them a few minutes ago in the time capsule. In the 70s, you had vinyl albums, you had audio cassettes, and then you had eight-tracks. The first eight-track cassettes were created in 1964 by a consortium consisting of Bill Lear of the Lear Jet Corporation, RCA Victor Records, General Motors, Ford Motor Company, and Motorola. That's a lot of heavy hitters to create this new audio technology. One advantage of eight-track cassettes was that you could basically play them on a continuous loop. So if you played through the whole cassette, there was no rewind. It would just start at the beginning again. The 8-track was extremely popular in the 1970s, but quickly fell out of fashion in the mid-80s with the rise of audio cassettes, the Sony Walkman, and then the burgeoning compact disc industry, which really launched in the mid-1980s. I still remember when I was a kid, I had mostly vinyl albums, but I had one eight-track cassette. It was Def Leopard's 1983 album, Pyromania, which has a fire coming out of a building's windows on the front. I don't think that I asked my mother to buy me the eight-track. I think someone had it and gave it to her, and she's like, I don't want this. Here, you have it. Number four is Pong. One of the original arcade games, video games. The table tennis game that consisted of two long pieces on either side of the screen, knocking a dot back and forth across the middle line. Very simple, very primitive by today's standards, but it revolutionized the video game industry in the 1970s. Pong first was released in 1972 by the Atari Company. The game was so successful in video arcades that Atari created a home version of Pong in 1975. It was its own console. Could you imagine every video game you liked if you had to buy its own console? Not just a cartridge that you would put in the system, but a whole system in general. It was branded Telegames by Sears, and you could get it for the Christmas season in 1975 for $98.95. Or just a shade under $600 when adjusted for inflation to 2025. For a system that is Pong, just Pong, $600. Obviously, video games became way more advanced, challenging, immersive. So Pong became obsolete by the late 1970s, although it's still you can play it online right now, it's pretty easy. And finally, number five on the list of top five symbols of the 1970s is Polaroid instant photos. These are around again now as a novelty kind of a niche. But back in the 1970s, when you would press the shutter to take a photo, and the little white photo paper with the thicker bottom and the photo would slowly develop, that was so brand new. It was like what you do on your smartphone, but it was in the 70s. You could take pictures of someone, see it develop, and if you didn't like it, take another one immediately rather than waiting for your film to develop and then getting all the pictures back and realizing half of them are terrible. In 1972, the Polaroid Company released the SX 70 camera. This is the one that introduced the front ejecting prints that you're probably thinking of with the Polaroid instant camera. Not surprisingly, Polaroid instant cameras became a hit with the youth of America. Being able to be out with your friends and take a bunch of photos and see them right away. It's not the same as today, where you've got fifty thousand photos of what you ate yesterday, but it was more than the people the generation before that would have maybe one family portrait that they'd have to use for a few years. Polaroid remained popular throughout the eighties. As you got to the late 80s, early 90s, when you started to see the disposable cameras and then later 90s with digital cameras, there was no need for the Polaroid with the front ejecting pictures. But like I said, pop culture is always cyclical. So if you go online, if you go into any of the stores, Target, Best Buy, you will find vintage yet new Polaroid instant cameras. So you can have your own 70s fun time. Get some bell bottoms, get a Polaroid instant camera, sit in your living room and play pong. It's fine if you do it if you're young. If I do it, it's a midlife crisis. So that wraps up the top five. Speaking of midlife crisis, we're gonna wrap the show up by going back in the day and looking at 1995, the year in music, part two. Thirty years ago, I'm going to try to edit out my tears as I realize how long ago that was. So let's talk about some mid-90s music. Back in episode 177, I did 1995 The Year in Music Part 1, and we looked at January through June, and I said, don't worry, once we get to July, I'll do part two. Thinking at the time, oh that's way off in the future. Well, here we are, halfway through 2025. So it's time for us to look at 1995 The Year in Music Part 2, July through December. Ah, yes. Cast your gaze back 30 years, unless you're under 30, then hell with it. We were all so much younger. I was getting ready to start my senior year of high school, basking in the afterglow of grunge music that was starting to fade away, but I wasn't worried because alternative music was still going strong. If I wanted to get new music, I had to buy a CD or CD singles. I was probably going to strawberries music, maybe Tape World or Record Town in the Mall. We had and still have Spinnaker's records on Main Street in Hyenis, Newberry Comics. There was Coconuts Music. I think that was it as far as music went, where I could go on Cape Cod in 1995. We kick it off with July 9th, where the Grateful Dead has its very last performance as a full band at Soldier Field in Chicago. Jerry Garcia's health was failing. A month later he would be dead. And don't worry, for everyone out there who's big Grateful Dead fans, I will be doing a segment about Jerry Garcia on the anniversary of his death when that comes up on the calendar in a few weeks. On July 18th, the late legendary singer Selena becomes the first Hispanic woman to have an album debut at number one on the Billboard Top 200. She also becomes the first and only female singer to have five albums placed in the top 200 simultaneously. On August 9th, I mentioned previously the death of Grateful Dead lead singer, guitarist Jerry Garcia. The same day, the band KISS performs on MTV Unplugged without makeup, having the original band all back together, which set the stage for the band's reunion tour the following year. On September 1st, the actual physical Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is opened in Cleveland, Ohio. As of April 2025, there are currently 371 members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. For all of you boy band lovers, September 5th, the Backstreet Boys released their debut single, We've Got It Goin' On. The song only reached number 69 on the Hot 100, which was not predictive of the success the Backstreet Boys would have. On October 11th, rapper Tupac Shakur is released from prison in New York on $1.4 million bail, which was paid by Suge Knight. And in return for that, Tupac signed a three-album deal with Suge Knight's Death Row Records. On October 21st, Blind Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon is found dead from a cocaine overdose at the age of 28. For those that don't know, Blind Melon had the hit song No Rain in 1993. That video has the little girl dressed as a bee in it. On October 23rd, Def Leppard enters the Guinness Book of World Records for performing three concerts on three different continents in the same day. They were in Tangier in Morocco, London, England, and Vancouver, British Columbia. On December 4th, the Beatles released Free as a Bird, their first new single in nearly 25 years. It was used to promote their anthology, DVD, special albums, all that that came out. I'll be doing a deeper dive into the Beatles' anthology 30 years later, when that comes up later in the year. So that was some of the news of the second half of 1995. What were the major albums that came out? July 11th saw the release of Shaggy's third album, Boombastic, which is the one that broke him through to the mainstream. Shaggy's the one he's got the very unique voice. It sounds like he's got a frog in his throat. He'll talk like this. This is how he'll raps. That's my Shaggy impression. July 18th saw Selena's Dreaming of You, I mentioned before, that went to number one. August 15th saw the release of Garbage's self-titled debut album that includes the awesome only happy when it rains. August 15th also saw the release of Blind Melon's album Soup, which was the last one released before Shannon Hoon's death on October 21st. August 22nd saw the release of the album Pet Your Friends by Dishwalla, which included the hit song Counting Blue Cars. September 5th saw the release of the album American Standard by alternative band Seven Mary III, which had the hit song Cumbersome. You notice you can see my alternative influences. When I start looking back at the big albums and songs of '95, there's a lot of if you didn't listen to alternative music, you'd be like, who in the world is Dishwalla or Seven Mary III? September 12th saw the release of the Red Hot Chili Peppers album One Hot Minute, which was the first one with new guitarist Dave Navarro. I'm a big Chili Peppers fan. I did not think this album was that good. No offense, Dave Navarro's great, but John Frashanti was the guitarist that put the Chili Peppers on the map. Or at least he was the guitarist when they got really big. I'm sure there are some of you Chili Peppers fans that think One Hot Minute is their best album. But you're in the same category with the people that think the best lead singer of Van Halen was Gary Sharon. So I'm sorry. For all you romantics out there, on September 19th, Michael Bolton released his greatest hits. Put that on, lower the lights and get some candles and red wine. It's fine if you're there with someone else. If you're by yourself, I feel bad for you. September 26th saw the release of Mariah Carey's daydream album. It has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide and included the hit songs Fantasy, One Sweet Day, and Always Be My Baby. Also on September 26th, Prince released the Gold Experience. This was the first album he released under his love symbol logo. It included the hit song The Most Beautiful Girl in the World, which peaked at number three on the charts. October 2nd saw the release of Oasis's second album, What's the Story Morning Glory. This is considered their best album. It had Wonderwall, Champagne Supernova. I just checked to make sure, but Oasis is still on tour, so Liam and Noel Gallagher have not killed each other yet. So get your tickets fast because I think that is gonna end up happening. You can't just fight for 20 years and then reunite on tour and not have something happen. October 10th had several big albums get released, including Green Day's Insomniac, which was their highly anticipated follow-up to Dookie. No Doubt released Tragic Kingdom, which had tons of hit songs. Don't Speak, Just a Girl, Spiderwebs, Excuse Me, Mr. It introduced me to Gwen Stefani. I instantly had a crush on her. Even though No Doubt had been out for a few years, they were more underground, much like Sublime was. I think a lot of high school boys had crushes on Gwen Stefani in 1995. Also on October 10th, Janet Jackson released her Design of a Decade greatest hits album. Speaking of another one, I had a crush on when I was younger. Back to my alternative roots. Also on October 10th, Dog's Eye View released their album Happy Nowhere, which had the hit song Everything Falls Apart. Again, if you don't listen to alternative music back then, you have no idea who I'm talking about. Well, that's what Spotify's for. On October 31st, Alice and Chains released their self-titled album, which is the one that has the three-legged dog on the front. It had the songs Grind, Heaven Beside You. It was also the last full studio album the band did with original lead singer Lane Staley. His drug addiction got so much worse. They did the Unplugged show in '96. They did a couple of new songs for their box set compilation in '99. And that was pretty much it. On November 1st, Incubus released their debut album, Fungus Among Us. It would take five years for them to break through to the mainstream with their hit song Drive. On November 6th, Queen released their album Made in Heaven, which was the last album that included songs from Freddie Mercury. It was where they completed songs he was working on at the time of his death in 1991. On November 20th, the Beatles released Anthology Volume 1. I mentioned Free as a Bird. That was the single with Volume 1. Real Love would be the new song released with Volume 2. And Volume 3 of the anthology ended up with no new songs, but the song that was supposed to be released now and then came out last year. And finally, on December 5th, Pearl Jam released an EP featuring legendary singer-guitarist Neil Young. It included the song I Got Id. The EP was called Merkin Ball. The second half of 1995, the hit songs stayed at number one for a long time. 26 weeks, there was only eight number one songs. Started it off. Waterfalls by TLC was number one for seven weeks. Kiss from a Rose by Seal and You Are Not Alone by Michael Jackson were each number one for one week. Fantasy by Mariah Carey was number one for eight weeks. Shoop by Whitney Houston was number one for one week. And the last five weeks of 1995 saw One Sweet Day from Mariah Carey and Boys to Men at number one. One Sweet Day would set a record at the time by being number one for 16 straight weeks. The song basically was number one most of my senior year. As far as deaths in the second half of 1995, I mentioned Jerry Garcia from The Grateful Dead, famed DJ Wolfman Jack. I mentioned Blind Melon lead singer Shannon Hoon, and also jazz trumpeter Don Cherry. To kind of start wrapping this up, the top five best-selling albums that were released in 1995 today are Queen's Made in Heaven at 5, Michael Jackson's History, Greatest Hits Album at 4, Oasis What's the Story, Morning Glory at 3, Mariah Carey's Daydream at 2, and Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill at 1. So that's the best-selling album from 1995. At least the ones released in 1995. For me, 1995, The Year in Music, it's alternative. It's Radioheads The Benz. It is Smashing Pumpkins, Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness. It is Alice and Chain self-titled. It is What's the Story Morning Glory by Oasis? It's Green Day's Insomniac, Goo Goo Dolls A Boy Named Goo. It's the Foo Fighters self-titled debut album. It's the alternative supergroup Mad Season with Lane Staley from Alice and Chains. There was a lot of great music, a lot of great times in 1995. I can't believe it was 30 years ago. I was saying just the other day to my buddy Mike while we were out walking or running the local track in the scalding heat. I said, next year is our 30-year high school reunion. And we pretended that the tears we were crying was just sweat from the heat. I kinda laugh because I don't feel like it was that long ago. I feel relatively energetic and relatively healthy for someone who will be 48 in four months. I'll have to go on Spotify and create a best of 1995 songs playlist for any of you that want to relive my youth. But until I do that, that will wrap up 1995 The Year in Music Part 2. Also known as Revenge of the Midlife Crisis, as I finish this segment. I was gonna wrap up this podcast by playing some sad music and just going off lamenting where has my youth gone.

Speaker: 53:11

Oh god, how am I this old?

Speaker 1: 53:20

Alright, anyway. Thank you for indulging that. Until next week, that's gonna wrap up episode 202 of the In My Footsteps podcast. Thank you for laughing with me, at me, it's all good as we did our deep dive into Gen X nostalgia for the 202nd time. I'm so grateful to all of you who make this your weekly appointment listening. I do my research. I know most of you that listen are within my age range, so I can say you all know how I feel. Next week, the train keeps rolling. I'll be back with episode 203. We're gonna look at VH1's Behind the Music series, which was always one of my favorite shows on their network when I watched it, and it wasn't just MTV Lite with all their reality shows. If you enjoy my work, my content, you can become a subscriber on Patreon for five dollars a month, or you can join for free, join the free tier. My plan is to start doing more polls for you to vote on Patreon for things you want to hear on the podcast. So go over there and do that. You can always buy me a coffee. That's cheaper. You can do it for as little as a dollar, which won't buy me a coffee, but that's fine. The best way, though, I always talk about the best way to support me or any content creator is to share what they do, get the word out about what they do. I've said it a whole bunch that typically on a normal week I spend 15 to 20 hours doing content work in addition to my full-time job where I smash my hand into a fine pulp. I tell you, this past week when it was real feel of 115, and I had a hand that I couldn't even pick up a feather if I wanted to. Yeah, that was a barrel of laughs. Happy birthday a few days ago from when this podcast goes live to my old friend Amy. Super talented, super fun. She created the original In My Footsteps podcast logo. I remember I had these grand dreams of selling the bumper stickers with the logo and splitting the profits with Amy. I didn't sell too many. So if you want your half of the profits, it's like 50 cents. I'll just I'll mail it to you. And also, happy early birthday to one of my oldest friends, John. You heard me talk about him during Back to the Future. Happy birthday to his wife, Janelle. What I have noticed about my old friends, people that I've known for 30 years plus, all of their wives are like the perfect compliment to them. John with Janelle, Barry with Rachel, Steve with Amanda, Greg with Amanda, not the same Amanda, Mike with Beth. It's good. It shows that I know how to choose good friends. But I don't have a better half yet. So those are my birthday shout outs. Also, just please stay cool. If it's hot where you are, it's hot pretty much everywhere. If you're doing things for 4th of July, fireworks, parties, be safe. I don't want to hear about any of my listeners blowing their hands off with fireworks or setting their houses on fire from their grill. Just order Uber Eats and watch fireworks on TV. Boy, that sounds like someone that's an old man. I'm sorry. I can't help it. I'm not gonna cry and play the sad music again. That was a one-shot deal. But remember, in this life, don't walk in anyone else's footsteps. Create your own path and enjoy every moment you can on this journey we call life because you never know what tomorrow brings. Happy Fourth of July weekend. Thank you all for tuning in. This has been the In My Footsteps podcast. I am Christopher Setterlund. You already knew that. Talk to you all again.