Why did the suit have nipples? Because Joel Schumacher decided that the only way to make Batman cooler was to lean into the neon-lit absurdity… Read More »1997 Archive: Batman & Robin

 Why did everyone cry for three hours straight? Because James Cameron proved that a giant iceberg was the only thing capable of stopping Leonardo DiCaprio’s… Read More »1997 Legacy: Titanic Mania

 Why did we love the “Welcome!” voice? Because in 1997, hearing a computer talk to you was the closest thing we had to living in Star… Read More »1997 Vintage: Verity (AOL 4.0)

 Why did Apple suddenly look cool? Because Steve came back, told everyone their computers were ugly, and decided that “Thinking Different” was better than actually… Read More »1997 Archive: The Return of Steve Jobs

 Why were they everywhere? Because the 90s “billboard wars” reached their peak, proving that the only thing more powerful than the internet was a really… Read More »1997 Archive: The Wonderbra Ads

 Why did kids start liking books? Because J.K. Rowling convinced an entire generation that their mid-tier suburban life was just a mistake and an owl… Read More »1997 Vintage: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

 Why was it so depressing? Because Thom Yorke predicted that we’d all become “paranoid androids” trapped in a digital cage—and we all bought the CD… Read More »1997 Classic: Radiohead’s “OK Computer”

 Why was the chess world in mourning? Because a giant IBM computer finally beat the world champion, officially starting the era where humans realized we… Read More »1997 Archive: Deep Blue Beats Kasparov

 Why was he walking so aggressively? Because the music video taught us that if you have a good enough string section, you don’t have to… Read More »1997 Archive: The Verve’s “Bitter Sweet Symphony”

 Why did they start with DVDs by mail? Because Reed Hastings got a $40 late fee for Apollo 13 and decided to build an entire empire just… Read More »1997 Vintage: The Birth of Netflix