Vol. 4  No. 52

Pick Hits

At The Movies

The Comedy

It may have seemed that the year of the asteroid would have taken this spot, but with a strong finish in the unlikely guise of Adam Sandler and the Waterboy, the comedy makes an appearance as the movie most people wanted to see. Cameron Diaz and Ben Stiller made audiences roar in the offbeat and very lucrative Something About Mary, Eddie Murphy garnered up the laughs and box office dollars in a remake of Dr. Dolittle, and Jackie Chan had his first bonafide North American hit in Rush Hour.   

Off The Record

The Soundtrack

Although soundtracks have sold well in the past, (Grease, Saturday Night Fever, The Bodyguard) the music industry has never seen so many hits in one year. Inspiring half a dozen chart-topping songs, the movie tracks to City of Angels, Bullworth, Armageddon, and the Titanic stormed to the top of the charts, in some cases out selling the films that spawned them. Look for this trend to continue as more and more acts turn to this form of compilation record making to keep in the limelight between albums. 

On Line

Future Web historians may refer to 1998 as the year mainstream retailers finally got it and started moving their collective wares toward an online economy. E-commerce sites like eToys, Amazon.com, and CDnow spent money lavishly on positioning deals with Web portals. Internet stocks were Wall Street's hot ticket items of 1998. Amazon.com shot $46.25 in one day after a market analyst set the target price for the book/CD seller at $400. Not bad for a stock that started 1998 at just under $25 per share.

The Buzz... - Year In Review

The Canadian Divas continued their reign over popular music, with Celine Dion leading the pack with three successful albums out this year alone, selling over 10 million combined discs to become the leading artist in the world. Shania Twain’s follow up lp, Come On Over, moved 8 million plus so far, and Alanis Morissette’s Supposed Former Infatuation Junky secured the angry young artist as a solid producer. The big surprise, however, goes to those underachieving home country heroes, the Barenaked Ladies, who came out of nowhere to place Stunt in the Billboard top 10 for over 3 months.

The Chicago Bulls added another championship to their dynasty, John Elway shook a monkey off his back when he and the Denver Broncos beat the Green Bay Packers for Super Bowl XXXll, and the NBA passed on the beginning of the season in favor of a strike. But the big news was in baseball as Mark MacGwire and Sammy Sosa battled it out for the home run record, with big Mac setting the new benchmark at 70.

Seinfeld said goodbye while still on top, The Simpsons set a new record for most episodes of an animated series, and Larry Sanders had a memorable farewell. But what dominated the air waves this year was scandal, from Jerry Springer to the White House, sleaze was it. Most fun news item this year, former professional wrestler, Jesse Ventura, captures the governors seat for Minnesota in a stunning upset.

Gone But Not Forgotten

Frank Sinatra, 82, Legend; Carl Wilson, 51, Musician; Roddy McDowall, 70, Actor; Shari Lewis, 65, Puppeteer; Tammy Wynette, 55, Singer; Sono Bono, 62, Politician; Henny Youngman, 91, Comedian; Lloyd Bridges, 85, Actor; Gene Autry, 91, Singer/Cowboy; Phil Hartman, 49 , Comedian; Flip Wilson, 64, Comedian; Bob Kane, 83, Batman Creator; Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, Althlete; Robert Young, 91, Actor; Linda McCartney, 56, Musician; Roy Rogers, 86, Gentleman;

Resolutions...

Garth Brooks: "We're ending a three year tour, so I think to be the Dad my girls haven't had for three years probably will be my New Year's Resolution for '99."

Backstreet Boys: "Just to really achieve all of the goals we have set in mind and to stay together as a group and to keep on going as long as we can go, God willing."

Shania Twain: "Write a lot of new songs. I have to definitely get down with that."

'N SYNC: "Success, baby, success...stay focused...keep working hard...start working out."

Dru Hill: "To be as big as the Spice Girls...to get some sleep."

Hanson: "That we don't die...having a good year."

Jerry Springer: "My New Year's Resolution is I hope next year I get what I want rather than what I deserve. I hope no one I know ends up on my show."

Everclear: "Learn how to chill. I need to learn how to take time off. I'm a workaholic, and I need help because I don't know how to stop working.”

Semisonic: "1998 was so intense and weird and different. I think '99 can only be a whole new bag. I've had a great set of New Year's Resolutions ever since the late '80s. I've been working on them ever since. Some are so good, I just keep them around."

Stone Cold Steve Austin: "I always break 'em, so why try?"