Here’s a look at America’s top movies, music, and books for the week of January 5-11, 1992. While a lot of the Top 10 movies have since faded into the mists of memory, look at those albums. Most of those were huge then and are still. Sorry MC Hammer, no one cares about you anymore.

Note: Old Nielsen TV ratings seem to be hard to come by, so if anyone can point me toward a reliable source I’d be most appreciative.

Top 10 Movies

1. Hook
2. Father of the Bride
3. The Prince of Tides
4. Beauty and the Beast
5. JFK
6. The Last Boy Scout
7. Bugsy
8. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
9. The Addams Family
10. Cape Fear

I can say that I’ve only seen two of the movies on this list. Can you guess which ones?

Top 10 Albums

1. Nirvana, Nevermind
2. Garth Brooks, Ropin’ the Wind
3. Hammer, Too Legit to Quit
4. U2, Achtung Baby
5. Michael Jackson, Dangerous
6. Boyz II Men, Cooleyhighharmony
7. Guns N’ Roses, Use Your Illusion II
8. Guns N’ Roses, Use Your Illusion I
9. Metallica, Metallica
10. Michael Bolton, Time, Love & Tenderness

Other than owning the Guns N’ Roses and Metallica albums, I was obviously already out of touch with popular culture by 1992. And I hadn’t even graduated high school yet.

Top 10 Singles

1. Michael Jackson, “Black or White”
2. Color Me Badd, “All 4 Love”
3. Mariah Carey, “Can’t Let Go”
4. Boyz II Men, “It’s So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday”
5. Hammer, “2 Legit 2 Quit”
6. Nirvana, “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
7. Hammer, “Addams Groove”
8. George Michael and Elton John, “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”
9. CeCe Peniston, “Finally”
10. Marky Mark and the Funky Bunch, “Wildside”

Yup, same deal here.

The New York Times Best-Selling Fiction Books

1. Alexandra Ripley, Scarlett (Gone With the Wind sequel)
2. Stephen King, Needful Things
3. Danielle Steel, No Greater Love
4. Tom Clancy, The Sum of All Fears
5. Sidney Sheldon, The Doomsday Conspiracy
6. Chris Van Allsburg, The Polar Express
7. John Grisham, The Firm
8. Ken Follett, Night Over Water
9. Janet and Allan Ahlberg, The Jolly Christmas Postman
10. Disney’s Beauty and the Beast

I was never much of a reader, but The Firm was pretty damn good.

The New York Times Best-Selling Non-Fiction Books

1. Katharine Hepburn, Me: Stories of My Life
2. Robert Fulghum, Uh-Oh
3. James B. Stewart, Den of Thieves
4. Sam Smith, The Jordan Rules
5. Ralph Emery with Tom Carter, Memories
6. Oliver L. North with William Novak, Under Fire
7. Bill Cosby, Childhood
8. Erma Bombeck, When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It’s Time to Go Home
9. James A. Michener, The World Is My Home
10. Susan Faludi, Backlash

I don’t see ever getting around to any of these.

People found this post by searching for:

"1992 pop culture", "Pop Culture 1992", "hook movie", "hook movie poster", "nirvana nevermind album"