Pop Culture Happenings: June

None of the president’s men could put Nixon together again, the streams of pop culture got crossed creating a monster mash of ‘80s hits, and the King of Terror lived through his own horror story.

__1974__

50 years ago

On June 15, 1974, “All the President's Men,” by Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, published. The book detailed their investigation into the 1972 Watergate break-in, which led them to a conspiracy that included several White House administration officials and President Nixon himself. It also gives detailed accounts of Woodward's secret meetings with his source Deep Throat, whose identity was kept hidden for more than 30 years. A film adaptation, starring Robert Redford as Woodward and Dustin Hoffman as Bernstein, released in 1976.

__1984__

40 years ago

June of 1984 was a hot-spot of ‘80s pop culture happenings. On June 8, both “Ghostbusters” and “Gremlins” hit movie theater screens with lots of fun tips about how to battle ghouls and goblins, such as, “Don’t cross the streams,” and “Don’t get them wet or feed them after Midnight.” In music, Bruce Springsteen released his album “Born in the USA” on June 4, Cyndi Lauper scored her first U.S. No. 1 hit with “Time After Time” on June 9 and Prince released his album “Purple Rain” on June 25. Also, on June 6, Alexey Pajitnov first released the video game Tetris in the Soviet Union.

__1999__

25 years ago

On June 19, 1999, a driver struck author Stephen King with a van while King walked on the shoulder of Route 5, in Lovell, Maine. King sustained numerous injuries, including a collapsed right lung, multiple fractures of his right leg, a scalp laceration and a broken hip. During his long and painful recovery, King said he worried he’d never be able to write again. However, he has since written more than 35 novels and short stories. King recounts the accident in detail in his book “On Writing,” and he even wrote himself into his Dark Tower series, where the King character is first killed by the van, but the heroes of the story are able to go back and save him.