For some reason I really don't remember where I was when Cobain killed himself even though I was a fan of Nirvana. I do remember where I was when Magic Johnson retired because of HIV, 2pac was killed, 9/11 (who doesn't?), and when Moochie Norris was traded. Other than that nothing else really stands out in my mind.
While I like Cobain's music, his death didn't floor me the way Lennon, SRV, Randy Rhoads, George Harrison's deaths did. Pole is correct: "It's all relative"
When the Challenger blew up, I was in the school library, watching it on TV with the rest of my class (I wish I could remember how the teacher reacted, but I was only 10). When OJ fled, I was watching the game at my grandmother's house. When Diana died, I found out 4 days later walking by a newspaper stand in Chicago to pick up a dishwasher (I was moving at the time and didn't hear the news for quite a while -- the lag was mostly why it was memorable since I don't much care about Diana). I heard about 9/11 on NPR while getting ready for work.
Challenger: Between classes in third grade. Remember making tasteless jokes because we didn't understand the impact. We were 8, people! Cobain: I remember listening to 101 driving to Katy from Sugar Land with my girlfriend at the time. They cut into a song and a breaking news alert, and before they said what it was, I told her that Kurt Cobain was dead. That was bizzare. OJ: I'm a Rockets' fan, of course I remember! I also remember skipping my first of many college classes to watch all the hoopla leading up to the verdict. I ended up right in front of the television in our crowded dorm lobby (our dorm was right in the center of campus, so there were a lot of people in there). I was the only one happy at the verdict. Diana: Getting drunk at a party in Austin. When they first reported that she was in a wreck, we all joked that she probably broke a fingernail...not that big a deal. We woke up the next morning to find out we were wrong. JFK, Jr.: Woke up and it was all over the news. Watched it all day for some reason. 9/11: My parents woke me up. They were working a food show that didn't have televisions. They said that the place was buzzing with rumors that a plane had hit the WTC. I turned it on and it was true. I then called my sister out in California and we watched what we thought was a live shot of the second plane hitting, but it was just a tape. Horrible. Columbia: Woken up by ex-RM95's Girl's best friend who told us that it exploded over Dallas where I was living at the time.
OK, confess...how many of you first heard about the WTC attacks from this thread: http://bbs.clutchfans.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=21805 I know I did. I turned to my wife and said turn it on CNN, a plane has hit the WTC
9/11: I was out running and the DJ on 94.7 in Austin started laughing and said that a plane had hit the WTC. Both DJs were laughing hysterically, recalling the time that a blimp or something had run into the Statue of Liberty. I thought it was some whacko who was bored or drunk in the cockpit and shook it off and laughed along with them. 1 hour later, after i finished my run, I turned on CNN while showering and saw what ACTUALLY happened.
magic was one of my favorite players back then. i remember almost crying when i heard he was retiring. it's kinda weird when i think about now because i don't like him nearly as much as i used to. i remember where i was when i heard bradley nowell of sublime died. sublime was awesome.
Cobain: In gym class. As an 18-year-old grunger at the time, I was crushed. Sept 11, 2001: I was driving to a job interview. Heard the news on NPR. I pulled over to the side of the road and stared at the radio. Job interview was cancelled, obviously. My prospective boss told me, "This is going to destroy the economy. We may not be hiring again for years. Sorry." (by the way, it seems nuts to list "where I was" for the death of Kurt Cobain and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks).
I was in the fetal position on my living room floor. Great series. And if the damn refs didn't f**k us over, we beat Utah the next round to face you guys. Oh well.
Challenger: we didn't have school that day, actually, since it was our semester break. I was just sitting around the house and my dad called us from work when he heard about it. Cobain: I saw it written on a message board in my dorm hall. One girl had been upset about it and wrote it on her friend's board. I was hoping it wasn't true. Diana: this one bothered me more than a lot of the others, for some reason. We just got in late at night and turned on the TV and they were talking about it. That was the beginning of Labor Day weekend. We went tubing and all kinds of fun stuff that weekend, but for some reason the Diana thing stayed on my mind the whole time. 9/11: Woke up and started surfing the Web while eating breakfast. Saw it at first in the small "news sidebar" section of a web page, so it wasn't even in big type or anything. I was hoping somebody had hacked into it or I'd read it wrong. OJ and the Bronco: in a dorm hall at UT, trying to watch the game with about 30 people. I kept making the joke that OJ wasn't coming out of the Bronco because he was getting to watch or listen to the game in there. JFK, Jr.: in a restaurant in Dallas, where it was on TV. We all hoped he would be OK somehow. The others don't stick out as much (or, for the 1981 type stuff, I was too young to remember very well).
Chris Farley- I was working at Enterprise Rent A Car and my buddy called me and told me. I was a big fan. Challenger- I was sitting in typing class and they announced it over the loudspeaker. My Principal was on the verge of tears. Kurt- Skipping class in college. I wasn't a big fan at the time. I remember just laughing at how incoherent Courtney's speech was. What an idiot. Diana- Watching SNL. Not a big deal to me. I was upset because they broke in live and I wanted to see the rest of the show. OJ- Sitting in a bar in Huntsville Texas watching the game and getting pissed because the Rockets were winning and we were missing it. 9/11- My clock radio went off because I had a job interview that day. Instead of hearing the show I had it set to, I just heard some lady crying and saying "the whole building is just...gone". Jumped up and turned on the TV. Horrible day. Columbia- It was a beautiful day so I was going to wash my car. As I turned on the radio and started backing up, I heard them talking about it. Pulled back in and turned on the TV.
Thanks for the link on that one, I wasn't on here during the day at work, but we listened to the radio for our info. Also, the only reason I remember about the Pope was that I was going to a Catholic school. A nun came in the room and said the holy father had been shot, I was like who the hell would the holy father be?"
Forgot about Chris Farley. My girlfriend at the time, the infamous shanna, called me at work to tell me. When she first heard, she just heard the "far" in Farley and died. She thought it was Brett Favre and she wasn't looking forward to telling me about that. I ate in the same building he died in about a week later.
Challenger: Watched the event in kindergarten class that day. Didn't realize how big an event it was until I came home and it was plastered all over the news but still really couldn't soak it up being that young. Cobain: All I remember was hearing something about it on MTV, do not really remember too much about this event though. OJ: Where else? Diana: Over my uncle's house. I was watching his place for him while he was at the lake and heard news late that night about the crash then woke up that morning to hear of her death. JFK, Jr.: I really don't remember any details about the event. 9/11: I was watching SportsCenter when a live anchor interrupted and said something referring to the attacks. I thought it was another SC spoof but when I turned to ABC I was horrified. Columbia: Saw it on Yahoo! News and then watched on television. Called my aunt in Houston who wasn't even aware that it happened but began watching the story right away.
9/11: In high school after 2nd period, a friend told me that a plane had crashed into the WTC. At first I thought it was a joke, and started asking him how he could expect me to believe such a stupid thing. I think I even cracked a joke or two. Then in my next class period we watched for an hour the unfolding of the WTC hits and the Pentagon hit. Incredible, sad stuff. Diana: Just come in from a late-night meeting with some friends and turned the TV on while undressing. When I saw the wreckage of her car, I sat down and stared at the screen. Granted I never liked the woman but my throat still choked up and I was in shock for about 15 minutes. Mark McGwire breaking the HR record: I fell asleep during the game because I'd had a late night the day before. I woke up just in time to see him crossing jome plate. It's also because the 50 other people I was watching wtih started cheering.
I end up sleeping through a lot of history, apparently. For 9/11, I was asleep and awoke to the television news on NBC. I couldn't figure out what was going on. They kept showing this blank space with smoke billowing and talking about hijacked planes and the World Trade Center. It wasn't until several minutes later when they replayed the second plane hitting and the towers collapsing that I figured it out. For Columbia, I woke up, went to the living room and turned on the TV to see the news report. I was especially sad about that one because I knew a guy from my hometown was on-board (Rick Husband) and that he had just come and spoken to my son's school a couple of weeks before the mission. I figured his school would be watching the whole mission closely because of that, and I figured my son would be upset. Reagan Assassination Attempt - I was home from school pretending to be sick, and happened in to the TV room during a news report about what had happened. I watched the rest of the day. Challenger - I was in class in 9th grade at Tolland High School in Connecticut. I don't remember which class it was, though (seems like it was study hall). Cobain - I remember sitting in my apartment in Amarillo and seeing a report on the news. I thought it was unfortunate, but while I was a fan of Nirvana, I wasn't that attached to the people in the band. I don't remember where I was when I heard that Farley died, but I remember when I heard about Phil Hartman. I was driving down I-30 going home to my place in Arlington and the guy on the Ticket Ticker mentioned it (tastelessly, no less). Hartman's death upset me because I was such a fan from SNL and NewsRadio, and having him murdered in his own home by his wife seemed an especially bad way to go. JFK, Jr. - I was asleep again. I woke up and checked the Dallas Morning News website, and the top headline was "JFK, Jr. Plane Missing", and I thought "Why is it news that someone stole JFK, Jr's plane?" It took me a little bit to figure out what they meant. I actually wasn't watching the Rockets during the O.J. thing, but I don't remember what I was watching. I was staying with my mother in Arkadelphia at the time, and we watched the coverage together. When the O.J. verdict was announced, my friend Brad and I left school after class and hurried to his in-laws' house (who were out-of-town) and made sandwiches and watched the verdict (and I think both of our reactions were along the lines of "huh.")