From left, Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin in STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)
From left, Noah Schnapp, Caleb McLaughlin, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Sadie Sink, Charlie Heaton, Natalia Dyer in Stranger Things (Netflix)
Noah Schnapp, Finn Wolfhard, Millie Bobby Brown, Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin in Stranger Things (Netflix)
From left, Sadie Sink, Caleb McLaughlin, Finn Wolfhard, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown in Stranger Things (Netflix)
From left, Sadie Sink, Noah Schnapp, Millie Bobby Brown, Finn Wolfhard, Caleb McLaughlin in STRANGER THINGS (Netflix)
Freddy Mercury with Queen on stage at Live Aid on 13 July 1985 at Wembley Stadium, London.
(AP Photo/Mark Allan)
(AP Photo)
Comedian David Letterman shown June 5, 1985. (AP Photo/Wally Fong)
Actress Keira Knightley poses for photographers upon arrival at the premiere of the film ‘The Aftermath’ in London, Monday, Feb. 18, 2019. (Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
Actor Robert Downey Jr. poses during an Asia Press Conference to promote his latest film "Avengers Endgame" in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 15, 2019. The movie will open on April 24 in South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
Whitney Houston holds her Grammy in Los Angeles after winning best female pop vocal performance for her song "Saving All My Love For You," Feb. 26, 1986. (AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)
British and Irish singers perform on stage at the Live Aid concert at Wembley Stadium, London, England, July 13, 1985. From left are George Michael of Wham!, Bob Geldolf, Bono of U2, Freddie Mercury of Queen, Andrew Ridgley of Wham! and Howard Jones. (AP Photo)
Rebel Wilson, left, and Anna Kendrick star in “Pitch Perfect 3,” scheduled to open in theaters on Dec. 22.
FILE – In this May 20, 2018, file photo, Bruno Mars presents the Icon award at the Billboard Music Awards at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Mars will mark the end of his massive “24K Magic World Tour” by providing meals to 24,000 Hawaii residents in need for the Thanksgiving holiday. The singer, who was born and raised in Honolulu, Hawaii, announced Sunday, Nov. 11, he has donated money to the Salvation Army’s Hawaiian and Pacific Islands Division, which holds an annual Thanksgiving meal program to help those in need. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
FILE – In this Dec. 12, 2018, file photo, Juventus’ Cristiano Ronaldo reacts during the Champions League match at the Stade de Suisse in Bern, Switzerland. Police in Las Vegas say they are still investigating a Nevada woman’s claim that Cristiano Ronaldo raped her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse in 2009. (Alessandro della Valle/Keystone via AP, File)
In 1985, bored with its 99-year history of unimaginable success, Coca-Cola ditched its iconic recipe in favor of something called New Coke.
The rollout was so legendarily disastrous, it’s become the stuff of cautionary tales. You could barely give it away.
This May, though, so many people tried to buy part of a special commemorative batch of New Coke tied to the third season of “Stranger Things” (Thursday, Netflix), they repeatedly crashed the website.
Such is the power of nostalgia.
“Stranger Things 3” wears its 1985 setting on its sleeve, complete with shoutouts to “Back to the Future,” mall culture, “Never Surrender” singer Corey Hart — and, yes, New Coke.
Still, it barely scratches the surface of the best pop culture year ever.
Need proof? In 1985:
(Courtesy)
■ Not content with just “Back to the Future,” Michael J. Fox also stars in “Teen Wolf.” Other new movies include “The Breakfast Club,” “The Goonies,” “Fletch” and Tim Burton’s first feature, “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.”
(AP Photo)
■ The charity concert Live Aid draws attention to both the ongoing famine in Ethiopia and the undeniable power of Queen, whose iconic performance was re-created, nearly in its entirety, for “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Elsewhere, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young organize Farm Aid, and a time capsule of musicians from Bruce Springsteen to Stevie Wonder gathers under the name USA for Africa to record “We Are the World.”
(AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)
■ Whitney Houston releases her self-titled debut album that includes “How Will I Know,” “Saving All My Love for You” and “Greatest Love of All.” At the opposite end of the spectrum, Eddie Murphy sings “Party All the Time.”
(AP Photo/File)
■ “The Golden Girls” and “Moonlighting” arrive on TV, as does Woodrow Huckleberry Tiberius “Woody” Boyd on “Cheers.”
A Blockbuster video rental store is shown in Dallas, Tuesday, Feb. 10, 2004. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
■ The first Blockbuster video store opens in Dallas. At its peak, the company had more than 9,000 locations. Today, there’s just one stubborn holdout, located in Bend, Oregon.
(MGM)
■ Apollo Creed dances into the MGM Grand’s Ziegfeld Theater — with an assist from James Brown, his horn section and a bevy of showgirls — as part of the greatest boxing entrance ever orchestrated in “Rocky IV.”
(AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)
■ The world first glimpses the wonders of Robert Downey Jr. when he appears in “Weird Science” and “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and joins the cast of “Saturday Night Live.”
(AP Photo/David Bookstaver)
■ David Letterman reads his first Top 10 List, “Top 10 Things That Almost Rhyme with Peas.”
(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
■ The Nintendo Entertainment System arrives in America.
(AP Photo)
■ WrestleMania debuts, with guest timekeeper Liberace, six months before the launch of the bonkers Saturday morning cartoon “Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling.”
■ Japanese animation giant Studio Ghibli, makers of such fare as “Spirited Away” and “Howl’s Moving Castle,” is founded.
(Photo by Vianney Le Caer/Invision/AP)
■ Keira Knightley, Bruno Mars, Anna Kendrick, Cristiano Ronaldo and Paul Stastny are born.
(AP Photo/Lennox McLendon)
■ DJ Jazzy Jeff meets the Fresh Prince, Salt meets Pepa, and Calvin meets Hobbes.
