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From groundbreaking speeches to technological revolutions, join us as we count down the moments that shaped our collective history and culture. Our countdown spans from pivotal political events to entertainment milestones that redefined generations. Which cultural watershed left the biggest impact on your life? Let us know in the comments below!
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00:00Oh yeah, I'll tell you something, I think you'll understand.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the pop culture moments that have shaped our world, for better or worse.
00:14In Dallas, Texas, three shots were fired at President Kennedy's motorcade in downtown Dallas.
00:20The first reports say that President Kennedy has been seriously wounded by this shooting.
00:26Number 100, Prince Plays the Super Bowl.
00:34Purple Rain, meet Real Rain, an electrifying show that set the gold standard for live performance on America's biggest stage.
00:47Number 99, Pokemon Franchise Launches.
00:52A pair of Game Boy cartridges became a cultural juggernaut, spending games, TV, cards, and childhood itself.
00:59It's a Japanese term short for Pocket Monster.
01:03This could be this year's Christmas boom.
01:06And the Pokemon is creating a monster of a commotion for American kids.
01:11That's all they're wanting now is pure Pokemon.
01:13We haven't sold any Yo-Yos or Star Wars merchandise in a long time.
01:16Number 98, Apple's 1984 Computer.
01:19In 60 seconds, Apple turned a computer launch into a cinematic rebellion and redefined advertising itself.
01:26We shall prevail.
01:31On January 24th, Apple Computer will introduce Macintosh.
01:36And you'll see why 1984 won't be like 1984.
01:42Number 97, Parasite.
01:44This satirical black comedy thriller won Best Picture and proved that transcendent stories weren't limited to the English language.
01:50Number 96, Gundam Style.
02:14A South Korean earworm crossed borders, language, and logic, ushering in an age of viral globalization and becoming the first YouTube video to hit a billion views.
02:28Number 95, Frozen.
02:30Disney's modern fairy tale froze the box office and gave the world arguably its most inescapable anthem, Let It Go.
02:37Let it go, let it go, can't hold you back anymore, let it go, let it go, turn away and slam the door.
02:51Number 94, Summer of Barbenheimer.
02:54Two vastly different films, one action-packed weekend, a cinematic double helix of pink and plutonium that revived the communal joy of moviegoing.
03:02Barbenheimer mania is here.
03:05Double feature Barbenheimer.
03:06We're doing the double headers, hurting Oppenheimer and Barbie today.
03:08It's Barbenheimer.
03:09These guys just saw Barbie, now it's time for Oppenheimer.
03:13Yeah, very excited.
03:14This duo made their own Barbenheimer shirts.
03:16The fact that we have history in the morning and Barbie in the evening is super like, ah, thank you.
03:21Number 93, Beyonce's Lemonade.
03:24Part film, part confessional, part revolution.
03:27Beyonce turned personal pain into a cultural manifesto on race, womanhood, and power.
03:33Okay, okay, okay, ladies, now let's get information.
03:36What did I say?
03:37Okay, ladies, now let's get information.
03:40Number 92, Toy Story.
03:43The first fully computer animated film proved digital storytelling could have as much heart as hand-drawn classics.
03:49You are a toy!
03:52You weren't the real Buzz Lightyear!
03:54You're an accent figure!
03:56You are a child's plaything!
04:00You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity.
04:04Farewell.
04:05Oh, yeah, well, good riddance, you loonie!
04:08Number 91, The Slap.
04:10One shocking moment at the Oscars split Hollywood, social media, and the world over what seemed like a harmless joke.
04:16It's the Oscars moment that shocked the world.
04:19Actor Will Smith, you know, walking up on stage slapping Chris Rock in the face after he told a joke about Smith's wife.
04:25Moments later, Smith would win for Best Actor, his first win, and earn a standing ovation.
04:30Now a new apology from one of the most well-known celebrities in the world.
04:35Number 90, Friends Premiers.
04:37Six good-looking, affable New Yorkers made coffee, sarcasm, and found family the new American dream.
04:43Okay, look, this is probably for the best, you know?
04:46Independence, taking control of your life.
04:49And hey, if you need anything, you can always come to Joey.
04:53Me and Chandler live right across the hall, and he's away a lot.
04:56Joey, stop hitting on her, it's her wedding day.
05:01What, like there's a rule or something?
05:04Number 89, Donald Trump elected to presidency.
05:07Reality TV met real politics in a campaign that shattered precedent and ushered in an uncharted political era.
05:14We will make America strong again.
05:17We will make America wealthy again.
05:20We will make America proud again.
05:23We will make America safe again.
05:26And yes, together, we will make America great again.
05:32Thank you, God bless you, and God bless America.
05:37Number 88, Taylor Swift's Eris Tour shatters records.
05:40Taylor Swift turned concerts into cultural pilgrimages, an economic, emotional, and generational phenomenon.
05:48But now, after grossing an estimated $2.6 billion, handing out $55 million in bonuses to her team last Christmas,
05:56spawning a box office-busting concert film, and celebrating a record-setting fourth album-of-the-year Grammy win,
06:02it's time for Taylor Swift's Next Era.
06:05Number 87, Black Panther.
06:07More than a blockbuster, it was a cultural event, a celebration of black excellence and Afro-futurism
06:14that proved superhero movies could carry real-world weight.
06:16No need to call you. I can handle this alone.
06:21I will get Nakia out as quickly as possible.
06:32Just don't freeze when you see her.
06:35What are you talking about?
06:37I never freeze.
06:39Number 86, Netflix disrupts the entertainment industry.
06:43House of Cards and Orange is the New Black, ushered in streaming's golden age, seemingly ending appointment TV once and for all.
06:49This is Netflix.
06:51Today, the world's largest subscription video service will debut House of Cards,
06:55its most ambitious move so far into original online programming.
06:59The website Deadline.com says Netflix has paid about $100 million for two seasons of that show.
07:06Number 85, The Matrix.
07:08Bullet time, philosophy, and leather coats.
07:11A sci-fi revolution that made everyone question what was real.
07:14You feel it.
07:16You felt it your entire life.
07:19That there's something wrong with the world.
07:21You don't know what it is, but it's there.
07:23Like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.
07:28It is this feeling that has brought you to me.
07:31Do you know what I'm talking about?
07:37The Matrix.
07:39Number 84, Assassination of Charlie Kirk.
07:42A shocking act that ignited chaos online and in the streets, forcing America to reckon with the digital culture it created.
07:49All of a sudden I hear a pop.
07:51I see Charlie.
07:52I think it's got his carotid.
07:53I just saw him grab.
07:54It looked like his neck.
07:55And there's just blood pouring out everywhere.
07:58And his eyes kind of rolled back.
08:01And at that point I kind of looked up because it sounded like it came up from behind me up the hill.
08:06And it was just one pop.
08:09And then we all dropped to the ground.
08:11And then they told us all to run.
08:12Number 83, Arab Spring.
08:15From Cairo to Tunis, millions took to the streets and social media to demand freedom, opening a new chapter in civil disobedience.
08:23The scenes that we've seen in many of the Arab Spring countries, first in Tunisia, then in Egypt, then in Libya and in Syria, are these images of usually young men who are willing to die for ideals of freedom, for notions of rights.
08:46Number 82, Iran hostage crisis.
08:4952 Americans held for 444 days, an international standoff that broadcast the dawn of modern terrorism.
08:56Some 60 Americans, including our fellow citizen, whom you just saw, bound and blindfolded, are now beginning their sixth day of captivity inside the U.S. embassy in Tehran.
09:07It's Friday morning there now.
09:09But throughout this night in Washington, officials will continue their search for some way to negotiate the hostages' freedom.
09:15Number 81, Cuban Revolution.
09:18Castro's triumph reshaped the Americas, birthing both a socialist experiment and a decades-long geopolitical standoff.
09:25The revolutionary leader now took to the public square in Havana to tell the people what victory meant.
09:31There would soon be general elections.
09:34There would be a free press beholden to no one.
09:37There would be land for the peasants.
09:39This revolution, Fidel Castro told the people standing in the sun of the Prado, is as native as the Cuban palm.
09:48Number 80, Great Recession.
09:50When Wall Street collapsed, so did global confidence, ushering in an age of anxiety, protest, and reinvention.
09:56The Dow tumbled more than 500 points after two pillars of the street tumbled over the weekend.
10:03Lehman Brothers, a 158-year-old firm, filed for bankruptcy.
10:07I don't think anyone really expected a bank as big as we've been to, you know, be in a position that it's in now.
10:12Number 79, Star Trek The Original Series premieres.
10:16Boldly going where no show had gone before, Star Trek turned science fiction into a hopeful vision of diversity, diplomacy, and discovery.
10:24The simple fact is, unless there's something seriously wrong with the ship's equipment, there's only one person within a hundred-mile circle.
10:32All right, we'll triangulate on them.
10:34We'll let Professor Crater explain what happened to his wife.
10:40Remember my instructions, Lieutenant.
10:42Keep a tight fix on us.
10:44If we let out a yell, I want an armed party down there before the echo dies.
10:47Number 78, Janet Kate.
10:50A halftime wardrobe malfunction changed live television forever and set off America's strangest culture war.
10:55What people don't understand is, he was to take and rip the piece off that he did.
11:02The letter piece.
11:03Right, but more came off than what was supposed to.
11:05So he was supposed to pull that off and we'd just see the red there.
11:10And he ripped the whole thing.
11:11Number 77, We Are The World.
11:14Dozens of megastars sang for charity, proving that pop culture could wear its conscience on vinyl.
11:18We are the children, we are the ones who make it brighter than day, so let it start giving.
11:27Number 76, Bob Dylan Goes Electric.
11:31When Dylan plugged in, the folk faithful booed and rock music grew up overnight.
11:35Number 75, Donald Trump is re-elected.
11:47A political comeback like no other.
11:49It reignited the cultural divisions that millions of Americans thought had vanished.
11:53The Fox News decision desk can now officially project that Donald Trump will become the 47th president of the United States.
12:02The former president's comeback will be complete with a win in Wisconsin, a state that he narrowly lost four years ago.
12:10Number 74, Death of Kurt Cobain.
12:12The voice of a generation was silenced, leaving behind feedback, anguish, and the end of rock's last great rebellion.
12:19He was among the most powerful voices of his generation, an originator of a music style and fashion called grunge.
12:25As lead singer for the hugely successful rock group Nirvana, which has sold 15 million albums worldwide.
12:32Kurt Cobain's tenure as a living rock and roll icon was brief and troubled.
12:37Number 73, Launch of Sputnik.
12:39A beeping metal sphere from the Soviet Union sent humanity and the space race hurtling into the future.
12:45This is Russia on October 4th, 1957.
12:48On the launching pad is Sputnik's M. Lee First.
12:51Freely translated to mean traveling companion to the earth.
12:53The Soviet Union is launching the first earth satellite.
12:57Number 72, Rise of TikTok.
12:59In just a few years, 15-second videos reshaped fame, music, and the very rhythm of global attention.
13:06TikTok, it's like the party you want to be at at the moment.
13:09You'll see hair tutorials, cooking tutorials.
13:13People can create challenges, they can create duets, they can interact, they can engage.
13:17TikTok is the most downloaded app of 2020.
13:20Since its global release less than two years ago, TikTok and its Chinese counterpart, Douyin,
13:26have amassed 800 million monthly active users.
13:29Number 71, Assassination of Brian Thompson.
13:32A shocking act of violence that upended political discourse and intensified a nation's ideological fracture.
13:38This is the Ivy League graduate and valedictorian who police say is the suspected CEO assassin.
13:45Luigi Nicholas Mangione.
13:47Number 70, Iron Man.
13:50A once risky Marvel property launched an empire, revitalizing Robert Downey Jr.'s career
13:55and setting the stage for the cinematic universe model that would dominate 21st century Hollywood.
14:00The truth is, I am Iron Man.
14:09Number 69, Miracle on Ice.
14:12A group of American amateurs stunned the Soviet hockey machine.
14:15It was a Cold War miracle frozen in time and a major morale booster.
14:19A group of young Americans took a giant step toward one gold medal in ice hockey.
14:24They astounded the experts by beating the veteran Soviet team 4-3 and they can win America's first gold medal in hockey
14:31in more than 20 years if they beat a strong team from Finland tomorrow.
14:35In the Soviet Union, there wasn't much flag waving as the game went on.
14:39Number 68, Titanic.
14:41James Cameron's romantic epic conquered the box office, the Oscars, and every teenage heart on Earth.
14:46Open your eyes.
14:47I'm flying!
14:56Jack!
14:58Number 67, Diego Maradona's Hand of God and Goal of the Century.
15:02In one game, Maradona captured both the brilliance and controversy that defines soccer's mythology.
15:08Oh, you have to say that's magnificent.
15:12There is no debate about that goal.
15:15That was just pure football genius.
15:19And the crowd in the Azteca Stadium sent him inside one, away from another,
15:27and the coolness under pressure to play the ball home with the side of his foot.
15:33Number 66, The Dark Knight.
15:35Christopher Nolan's crime epic transcended comic book roots,
15:39giving the genre moral gravity and Heath Ledger's Joker an immortal place in film history.
15:44There's no going back.
15:45You've changed things.
15:47Forever.
15:48And why do you want to kill me?
15:51I don't want to kill you!
15:54What would I do without you?
15:56Go back to ripping off mob dealers?
15:58No, no.
15:59No.
16:00No, you.
16:01You complete me.
16:04Number 65, Launch of MySpace.
16:07Before Facebook or TikTok, MySpace made everyone a digital tastemaker and invented the idea of online cool.
16:14MySpace, as you know, changed pop culture.
16:16Yes.
16:16Like it did.
16:16Did you have an idea that that was going to happen?
16:18No, that's the one thing.
16:19People asked, did you know it was going to be big?
16:21And that was the plan.
16:22I mean, we were thinking very big, but sort of the way that it just became, you know,
16:26this thing that's cool for people and that there's music and film and fashion and all
16:31these things I didn't really expect.
16:33I'm not a cool guy, you know, I didn't expect that to happen.
16:35So I don't know how it happened.
16:36Number 64, Tam Luang Cave Rescue.
16:39A flooded cave, a ticking clock, and a multinational effort that showed humanity at its best.
16:45How many of you?
16:47How many?
16:4813?
16:49Yeah, 13.
16:50Brilliant.
16:51Yeah, yeah.
16:51I don't know what I'm talking about.
16:55Do you want to be back back?
16:57No, no, no.
16:59Okay, come on.
17:01Backpack, is we going to die?
17:03No, not today.
17:05Number 63, Pokemon Go phenomenon.
17:08For one surreal summer, strangers roam the streets hunting Pikachu, turning augmented reality
17:13into a worldwide obsession.
17:14One shout, and hundreds stampede, in the hopes of capturing Pokemon, fictional cartoon creatures,
17:23on their phones.
17:23It's kind of a semi-rare Pokemon, so everyone flocked over to catch one of their favorites.
17:28All this activity surrounding a place that's used to peace and quiet.
17:33Number 62, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series.
17:36After 108 years, the Chicago Cubs broke baseball's longest curse, and millions cried, laughed, and
17:43screamed, believing in baseball all the way.
17:45Here's the 0-1.
17:47This is going to be a top point.
17:48Brian, the Cubs win the World Series.
17:52Brian makes the play.
17:54It's over.
17:56And the Cubs have finally won it all.
17:59It's 7-10.
18:01Number 61, Cuban Missile Crisis.
18:03Thirteen days on the brink, when humanity came closer to annihilation than ever before, and
18:09diplomacy barely held.
18:10Good evening, my fellow citizens.
18:13This government, as promised, has maintained the closest surveillance of the Soviet military
18:20buildup on the island of Cuba.
18:22Within the past week, unmistakable evidence has established the fact that a series of offensive
18:31missile sites is now in preparation on that imprisoned island.
18:36Number 60, hashtag MeToo movement.
18:39A hashtag became a reckoning, and millions of women shattered decades of silence across every
18:44industry.
18:44It started with this tweet by actress Alyssa Milano, who shared it for a friend, asking
18:49anyone who has been sexually assaulted or harassed to write MeToo in reply to this.
18:55If all women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote MeToo as a status, we might
19:00give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.
19:04Number 59, collapse of the Soviet Union.
19:06The red flag came down over the Kremlin, ending an empire and the half-century struggle that
19:12defined the modern world.
19:13Mikhail Gorbachev's dreams of holding the Soviet Union together may have received a
19:18death blow today.
19:20The Union's three Slavic republics announced they are forming a separate commonwealth of
19:24independent states.
19:25Russia, the Ukraine, and Belarusia control much of the Soviet Union's economic power,
19:31enough to challenge the rapidly fading strength of Gorbachev's central government.
19:36Number 58, Napster flips the music industry on his head.
19:39A college student's side project blew up the music industry and changed how the world consumes
19:44sound.
19:45It's always been legal to share music with your friends.
19:48What Napster does, via the internet, is to give you 50 million friends.
19:53Not surprisingly, the industry didn't like it.
19:56They were worried music fans would stop buying CDs.
19:59They argued their copyright was being infringed, and tonight they feel vindicated.
20:03I believe it's the right decision.
20:06Napster has built a business on the basis of taking what someone else owns and making
20:12it available.
20:13Number 57, The Cosby Show premieres.
20:16Long before Cosby retired from public life in disgrace, he was America's dad.
20:20America's favorite TV family redefined representation and sitcom success, before its legacy became
20:26irreversibly complicated.
20:27Who's in trouble now?
20:30Theodore.
20:31Oh, good, because I thought it was me.
20:34Take a look at this.
20:37Four D's.
20:39You better handle it, because if I handle it, he's going to smile and say,
20:42no problem, and I'll have to kill him.
20:46So you want me to kill him for you?
20:48Number 56, Assad regime falls.
20:50After years of brutal civil war, the collapse of Syria's dictatorship revamped the face of
20:56Middle Eastern politics and alliances.
20:58This is a new victory, my brothers, for the entire Islamic nation.
21:02Victory, my brothers, marks a new chapter in the region's history.
21:05We have avoided the dangers of leaving Syria as a playground for Iranian ambitions, spreading
21:11sectarianism and corruption.
21:13Number 55, AI boom.
21:15Artificial intelligence went mainstream, flooring the lines between creator and creation almost
21:20overnight.
21:21So you are the CEO of OpenAI, 37 years old.
21:25Your company is the maker of ChatGPT, which has taken the world by storm.
21:29Why do you think it's captured people's imagination?
21:33I think people really have fun with it, and they see the possibility, and they see the ways
21:38this can help them, this can inspire them, this can help people create, help people learn,
21:42help people do all these different tasks.
21:44Number 54, Walt Disney World opens its gates.
21:46A theme park turned into an empire, an engineered fantasy that redefined entertainment itself.
21:52Walt Disney World is a tribute to the philosophy and the life of Walter Elias Disney, and to
22:02the talents, the dedication, and the loyalty of the entire Disney organization that made
22:09Walt Disney's dream come true.
22:11Number 53, Death of Michael Jackson.
22:14The world mourns the king of pop as fans from every corner of the globe danced in grief and
22:19disbelief.
22:19And that stunned reaction here sums up the mood of a generation.
22:24His death will surely be seen as one of those iconic moments in American life, with many
22:28people saying they will always remember precisely where they were when they first heard the news.
22:34And that, in its own way, is a tribute to Michael Jackson and his impact on this country.
22:40Robert Moore, News at 10, New York.
22:42Number 52, January 6, United States Capitol attack.
22:45The heart of American democracy was stormed on the president's orders, revealing a deeply
22:50fractured society.
22:51Events in Washington have taken a violent and tumultuous turn in the past few hours,
22:56as thousands of supporters of President Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol building, venting
23:01their anger at the victory of Joe Biden in the presidential election.
23:05They forced the evacuation and lockdown of Congress itself, where lawmakers were all set to approve
23:11the election result.
23:12Number 51, The Dark Side of the Moon.
23:15A sonic masterpiece that turned existential dread into one of the best-selling albums ever
23:20made.
23:32Number 50, Avatar.
23:35James Cameron's 3D epic turned cinema into spectacle again, and reminded Hollywood of the power
23:40of pure immersion.
23:40Hey, wait a second.
23:42Hey, where are you going?
23:45Wait up.
23:47Just, hey, slow down.
23:49Wait up, I just wanted to say thanks for killing those things.
23:52Ah!
23:53Damn!
23:54Don't thank.
23:57You don't thank for this.
24:01This is sad.
24:03Very sad only.
24:05Number 49, L.A. Riots.
24:07The acquittal of four officers in the Rodney King beating ignited days of rage that exposed
24:13America's racial fault lines.
24:15Mayor of Los Angeles has just declared the city under a state of emergency.
24:19Mayor Tom Bradley is asking the governor to declare a state of emergency.
24:24This after the verdict for four Los Angeles police officers after a year of turmoil and
24:29conflict in the LAPD.
24:31Number 48, Death of Osama Bin Laden.
24:34A decade after 9-11, America watched justice delivered in a midnight raid that felt like
24:39history closing a wound.
24:41Good evening.
24:43Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has
24:48conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden, the leader of Al-Qaeda, and a terrorist
24:54who's responsible for the murder of thousands of innocent men, women, and children.
25:00Number 47, Brexit.
25:02With one vote, Britain stunned the world, shattering political norms and testing the
25:07idea of a united Europe.
25:09Well, at 20 minutes to five, we can now say the decision taken in 1975 by this country to
25:16join the common market has been reversed by this referendum to leave the EU.
25:23Number 46, Action Comics No. 1.
25:26Superman's debut wasn't just the birth of a hero.
25:28It was the creation of the modern myth, the blueprint, for every caped crusader to follow.
25:34Number 45, Nintendo Entertainment System launches.
25:38Nintendo revived video gaming from the ashes, turning 8-bit icons into a multi-billion dollar
25:43empire of nostalgia.
25:44What is it that fascinates kids so much about these games?
25:47What is it?
25:49Their adventures and all that.
25:51It's when they're bored, they have something to do instead of spending quarters.
25:55A game counselor for Nintendo says a score of 10 million is not a record, but it is an
26:00accomplishment, something a lot of kids apparently try to reach.
26:03Number 44, Woodstock.
26:05Half a million people gathered for three muddy, chaotic days that defined peace, love, and
26:11rebellion.
26:12Come on, haze, I'm in my brain.
26:16They need these, don't see the same.
26:19Number 43, Munich Massacre.
26:22Terror struck the games as the world watched athletes taken hostage, not knowing that they
26:26wouldn't make it home.
26:27On all days, the stadium pulled 80,000-year track of fuel fans.
26:32Today, instead, they came to a memorial service.
26:35An hour of memory for 11 fellow athletes from Israel, slain yesterday during an abortive
26:40attempt by Palestinian guerrillas to gain the release of Arab-held prisoner in Israel.
26:46The Munich Philharmonic chose Beethoven's Heroica Symphony with which to begin.
26:50Number 42, Death of Queen Elizabeth II.
26:53After 70 years on the throne, her passing closed the last living chapter.
26:57This is BBC News from London.
27:01Buckingham Palace has announced the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
27:07In a statement, the palace said the Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
27:13The King and the Queen consort will remain at Balmoral this evening and will return to
27:19London tomorrow.
27:20Number 41, Barack Obama elected to presidency.
27:24Hope won, history shifted, and the image of America's first black president became a global
27:29emblem of possibility.
27:30CBS now estimates because of victories in California, Washington, Oregon, and Hawaii.
27:38CBS projects that Senator Barack Obama of Illinois will be the next president of the United States.
27:44He defeats John McCain, the senator from Arizona and Vietnam war hero.
27:48And no matter whom you voted for, you'd have to agree this is an incredible milestone in the
27:53history of this country.
27:54Number 40, Joe Biden drops out of presidential race.
27:58After weeks of mounting pressure, the 46th president ended his half-century career and reshaped
28:03the final act of modern American politics.
28:05I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America's future,
28:14all merited a second term.
28:16But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy.
28:22That includes personal ambition.
28:24Number 39, Hurricane Katrina.
28:26America's most devastating natural disaster revealed the brutal intersection of poverty,
28:31race, and government failure.
28:33The water is getting too deep and it's getting deeper.
28:36We're told there's a hospital about six blocks away and we're going to try to make it there.
28:40Each encounter gets more and more profound.
28:42We've got people in three-story houses that's still trying to survive in the houses.
28:47An airboat offers to take us to the hospital, but it sinks in the maze of tight corners.
28:52Number 38, Chernobyl disaster.
28:55An invisible explosion of radiation exposed the cracks in Soviet secrecy and scarred a generation's
29:00faith in progress.
29:01Good evening, here's what's happening tonight.
29:03The Soviets are saying little, but what is known is cause for concern.
29:07A nuclear accident has occurred at a Soviet atomic plant in the Ukraine.
29:11It is believed serious, but details of damage, injuries, or casualties are few so far.
29:16Eyewitness News reporter Liz Gonzalez has more on this accident.
29:19What is thought to be the first such accident the Soviets have ever made public?
29:23Number 37, Pac-Man.
29:25A yellow circle with an endless appetite became the first true pop icon of the digital age.
29:31Anyone who's ever put a quarter into a video game certainly knows this sound.
29:35It belongs to a game called Pac-Man.
29:38But Pac-Man is more than just another video game.
29:41It's rapidly becoming an international craze known appropriately as Pac-mania.
29:46Number 36, Elvis Presley on Ed Sullivan.
29:50When Elvis swiveled his hips on live TV, youth culture found its first lightning rod, and
29:54parents found their first panic.
29:55Number 35, COVID-19 pandemic.
30:09Empty streets, masks, and lockdowns.
30:12The world stopped, and our screens became our only windows to it.
30:15All right, we have breaking news now.
30:16Let's get to it.
30:17It has to do with COVID-19.
30:18And the World Health Organization has just declared a global coronavirus.
30:25It is a pandemic at this point.
30:28Let's talk about what that means.
30:29The criteria of a pandemic describes the worldwide spread of a new disease, involves a new virus
30:35against which most people do not yet have any immunity.
30:38Number 34, Facebook launches.
30:41What started in a dorm room became a social network that redefined friendship and rewired democracy.
30:47Mark, if somebody was to put the question to you about the magnitude of what you think
30:52you've launched, how big do you think your product or your service is?
30:56Well, it's impossible to tell.
30:58When we first launched, we were hoping for, you know, maybe 400, 500 people.
31:02Number 33, Columbine.
31:05A suburban horror broadcast nationwide.
31:07It altered schools, media, and America's understanding of violence lurking beneath the surface.
31:12You go to Columbine?
31:13Yes, I do.
31:14It's pretty fun there.
31:15It's a lot like any other school except for, you know, the whole thing that happened, but
31:20we try to not think about that and everything.
31:22Just try and keep it, don't think about it and everything.
31:26And if you don't try to think about it and you just let it go on, then it's pretty much
31:31just like any other school.
31:32Number 32, Y2K panic.
31:35As the clock struck midnight, the world held its breath, expecting apocalypse from a computer
31:39glitch that never came.
31:40The new year, the new millennium has moved from New Zealand and across the Pacific and
31:45so on.
31:45We've been watching the internet.
31:47A number of AOL subscribers are overseas and there have been absolutely no anomalies.
31:54No anomalies at all.
31:55Number 31, American Fantasy number 15.
31:58When a teenage wall crawler called Spider-Man swung onto the page, he redefined heroism for a
32:03generation that saw itself in his struggle.
32:05Number 30, George Floyd protests.
32:09One horrific video sparked an uprising, forcing institutions and individuals to confront centuries
32:15of racial injustice.
32:16They gathered hours before.
32:19Furious at the death of 46-year-old George Floyd.
32:22When is it really gonna change?
32:24When is it really gonna stop?
32:25The outrage building nationwide.
32:28In Los Angeles overnight, Black Lives Matter protesters blocked a major freeway.
32:32Number 29, Clinton-Lewinsky scandal.
32:34Politics, infidelity, and the 24-hour news cycle collided in a spectacle that defined the
32:40modern scandal.
32:41As you know, in a deposition in January, I was asked questions about my relationship
32:46with Monica Lewinsky.
32:49While my answers were legally accurate, I did not volunteer information.
32:55Indeed, I did have a relationship with Ms. Lewinsky that was not appropriate.
32:59In fact, it was wrong.
33:01Number 28, Birth of Google.
33:03Two grad students built a search engine that quietly organized and monetized the world's
33:08curiosity.
33:09The Google boys, as part of their PhDs, created a search engine, software that finds useful
33:14information on your behalf on the internet.
33:18It does what Yahoo or Excite do, but Larry and Sergei believed it did it much better and
33:22believed they could form a company based on it.
33:25Number 27, The Simpsons premieres.
33:27A hilariously dysfunctional cartoon family rewired television forever, blending satire, slapstick,
33:33and heart for generations.
33:35Marge, where's the extension card?
33:37For heaven's sakes, Homer, it's in the utility drawer.
33:40Sorry, I'm just a big kid.
33:42And I love Christmas so much.
33:46Oh!
33:46Yeah!
33:47Every year.
33:49All right, children, let me have those letters.
33:51I'll send them to Santa's workshop at the North Pole.
33:54Number 26, O.J. Simpson is not guilty.
33:5795 million people watched the verdict that turned a murder trial into America's first
34:02true crime show.
34:03We, the jury, in the above entitled action, find the defendant, Orenthal James Simpson, not
34:08guilty of the crime of murder in violation of penal quote section 187A, a felony upon
34:14Nicole Brown Simpson, a human being, as charged in count one of the information.
34:19Number 25, HIV-AIDS crisis begins.
34:22A mysterious illness became a global tragedy and a test of compassion, activism,
34:27and government denial.
34:28Bobby Campbell of San Francisco and Billy Walker of New York both suffer from a mysterious,
34:33newly discovered disease, which affects mostly homosexual men, but has also been found in
34:39heterosexual men and women.
34:41The condition severely weakens the body's ability to fight disease.
34:45Many victims get a rare form of cancer called Kaposi's sarcoma.
34:49Number 24, Fall of the Berlin Wall.
34:52Concrete crumbled, strangers embraced, and the Cold War's symbolic barrier fell.
34:56Live on television.
34:58From the Berlin Wall specifically, take a look at them, they've been there since last
35:01night, they are here in the thousands, they are here in the tens of thousands.
35:06Occasionally they shout, die mal muss weg, the wall must go.
35:09Thousands and thousands of West Germans come to make the point that the wall has suddenly
35:14become irrelevant.
35:16Something, as you can see, almost a party on.
35:18Number 23, March on Washington.
35:21A quarter million people gathered before the Lincoln Memorial in a peaceful roar for justice.
35:25It was the high-water mark of the civil rights era.
35:32Number 22, Summer of Love.
35:34Hippies, psychedelia, and San Francisco's Hite-Ashbury turned rebellion into fashion and
35:40music into a spiritual revolution.
35:42What do you mean, Flower Child?
35:43Well, in San Francisco, Flower Child is like a peace lover, happiness, you know, go to
35:48lovin's and be-ins, and I want to hear Ginsberg.
35:52Are you here to see that party's legalized?
35:54Would you like to see this?
35:55Yes, yes.
35:56Why?
35:57Well, because it's not, um, you can't get addicted.
36:00Number 21, Death of Princess Diana.
36:03Her tragic death in a Paris tunnel turned global grief into a media reckoning and marked the
36:08moment royalty met tabloid modernity.
36:11We have reports from Paris that Diana, Princess of Wales, has been killed in a car accident
36:17and that her partner, Dodie Fired, has also been killed.
36:22They were apparently being pursued by paparazzi on two motorcycles.
36:26Number 20, Russian invasion of Ukraine.
36:29War returned to Europe in the social media age, when long-standing political tensions
36:33in Europe boiled over in real time.
36:36Yeah, the distinct sound of explosions on the horizon here in Kiev, we've heard at least
36:41four, what appear to be strikes, lighting up the night sky just in the last, really,
36:4610 minutes or so.
36:48Um, as you say, it looks like the darkest day has come to pass following this speech
36:53by Vladimir Putin.
36:54Number 19, Live Aid.
36:56For one day, the world's biggest stars sang in unison across continents, proving pop
37:01culture could move mountains and millions.
37:03Number 18, The Birth of MTV.
37:22The Buggles declared Video Killed the Radio Star, and music found his face, 24 hours a day.
37:27Video Killed the Radio Star, the cheers came and broke your heart.
37:34Number 17, Jaws.
37:36Up-and-coming filmmaker Steven Spielberg, a mechanical shark, and John Williams' score taught Hollywood
37:42a new word, blockbuster.
37:44You're gonna need a bigger boat.
37:46Number 16, Vietnam War Protests.
37:49From campus sit-ins to burning draft cards, a generation fought not just a war abroad, but a culture war at home.
37:55The deepening American involvement creates uneasiness and a growing anti-war sentiment at home.
38:02There are confrontations, sometimes peaceful, sometimes violent, between protesters and police.
38:08Tracks must be cleared before trains can proceed with GIs destined for duty in South Vietnam.
38:17Number 15, Star Wars.
38:19In one summer, George Lucas turned pulp sci-fi into myth, and launched the blockbuster era with a galaxy far, far away.
38:26Obi-Wan.
38:29Now that's a name I've not heard in a long time.
38:34A long time.
38:36I think my uncle knows him.
38:38He said he was dead.
38:40Oh, he's not dead.
38:41Not yet.
38:43Well, you know him.
38:44Well, of course I know him.
38:46He's me.
38:47Number 14, Apple Drops the iPhone.
38:50Steve Jobs held up a small piece of glass, and quietly reinvented how the world communicates.
38:55Shops, and dreams.
38:57An iPod.
38:58A phone.
39:01And an internet communicator.
39:04An iPod.
39:06A phone.
39:10Are you getting it?
39:15These are not three separate devices.
39:19This is one device.
39:21Number 13, I Love Lucy premieres.
39:24Lucille Ball's iconic sitcom broke barriers for women, and defined the sitcom as America's shared living room ritual.
39:31We must know two men who are single and attractive.
39:36Two men who are single.
39:43Two men.
39:47Boy and a dog.
39:48Number 12, Nelson Mandela is released from prison.
39:53After 27 grueling years, the world watched him walk free.
39:56It was a moment of grace that symbolized Hope's victory over apartheid.
40:00Others, and fellow South Africans, I greet you all, in the name of peace, democracy, and freedom for all.
40:17Number 11, Birth of YouTube.
40:19What began as a site for sharing random clips became the stage where an entire generation learned, laughed, and built fame from pixels.
40:26All right, so here we are in front of the elephants.
40:29The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really, really long fronts, and that's cool.
40:42And that's pretty much all there is to say.
40:44Number 10, Watergate Scandal.
40:47A break-in, a cover-up, and a resignation.
40:50The political thriller that made America permanently skeptical of power.
40:53The post says the espionage operation on the president's behalf was called the Offensive Security Program.
40:59It began in 1971, according to the newspaper, and was aimed first at the major contenders for the Democratic presidential nomination.
41:06Its goal, infiltration and subversion.
41:09Number 9, The Godfather.
41:10Francis Ford Coppola's masterpiece turned the American crime saga into high art, and permanently changed the language of cinema.
41:17Now you come to me and you say, Don Corolla and give me justice.
41:23But you don't ask with respect.
41:26You don't offer friendship.
41:29You don't even think to call me godfather.
41:33Instead, you come into my house on the day my daughter's to be married, and you ask me to do murder.
41:39Money.
41:39Number 8, Apollo 11.
41:42That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.
41:50Number 7, Thriller.
41:53The king of pop moonwalked into history with the best-selling album ever, blending music, cinema, and spectacle like never before.
42:00Cause there's this dinner, dinner, night, night, and no one's gonna save you from the beast about the strike.
42:08Number 6, Brown vs. Board of Education.
42:10The Supreme Court struck down school segregation, igniting the civil rights movement, and forcing America to confront its racial divide.
42:18Number 5, September 11 attacks.
42:21The world watched helplessly as the Twin Towers fell, an event that redefined geopolitics, media, and the 21st century itself.
42:29Number 4, Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
42:32The atomic bomb ended one war, and began another, the Cold War, the nuclear age, and a new kind of fear.
42:40On August 5th, 1945, in the sixth year of the Second World War, a single bomb destroyed the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
42:49Its stone etched by heat, which reached thousands of degrees, a monument recorded the passage of the blast.
43:03And burned into the pavement was the silhouette of one of the many who perished on that fateful day.
43:08Number 3, Assassination of John F. Kennedy.
43:12A gunshot in Dallas shattered America's post-war innocence, and birthed the modern age of televised tragedy.
43:17From Dallas, Texas, the flash, apparently official, President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Central Standard Time.
43:272 o'clock Eastern Standard Time, some 38 minutes ago.
43:32Number 2, The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.
43:357 million Americans tuned in, and four lads from Liverpool turned a TV appearance into the birth of modern pop culture.
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44:06Number 1, I Have a Dream.
44:10Martin Luther King Jr. stood before the Lincoln Memorial and delivered words that still echo through history,
44:16presenting a vision of equality that became the conscience of a nation.
44:19I have a dream that one day, this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed.
44:32We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal.
44:38Which pop culture moment impacted you the most?
44:41Be sure to let us know in the comments below.
44:42We'll see you next time.
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