In the summer of 1996, a song by two middle-aged Spanish singers — Los del Río — took over every wedding, ballpark, and school dance in America, complete with its own arm-swinging routine. How long did the "Macarena" sit at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100? 4 weeks 8 weeks 14 weeks 22 weeks None By the late 1990s, Beanie Babies had gone from pellet-stuffed toys to a full-blown speculative mania, with collectors convinced the little animals would fund their retirements. In 1999, one Las Vegas divorce case produced a photo that summed up the whole craze. What did the judge order the splitting couple to do? Sell the collection and split the cash Divide their Beanie Babies one by one on the courtroom floor Donate the entire collection to charity Submit the collection to a professional appraiser None Every time an America Online user connected in the 1990s, a friendly voice announced "You've got mail!" — a phrase so famous it became a Tom Hanks movie. The man behind the voice, Elwood Edwards, recorded it in 1989 on a cassette deck in his living room. What did AOL's predecessor pay him for it? $200 $5,000 $50,000 plus royalties Nothing — he volunteered None On June 17, 1994, some 95 million Americans watched a white Ford Bronco roll slowly down a Los Angeles freeway trailed by a fleet of police cars, as O.J. Simpson's low-speed chase became one of the most-watched events in TV history. What major sporting event did networks interrupt to show it? The U.S. Open golf tournament A World Cup soccer match Game 5 of the NBA Finals A heavyweight title fight None In December 1996, America's hottest Christmas gift was a giggling red puppet, and stores became genuinely dangerous places to stand between a parent and a shelf. During the Tickle Me Elmo frenzy, what happened to a store clerk in Canada? He was trampled by a crowd of about 300 shoppers He was locked in a stockroom overnight He sold his own Elmo for $10,000 He was fired for hiding the toys None Stumper. As December 31, 1999 approached, Americans braced for the Y2K bug — the fear that computers reading "00" as 1900 would crash banks, power grids, and planes at midnight. Roughly how much did the United States spend preparing for a disaster that never came? About $1 billion About $9 billion About $100 billion About $600 billion None Time's up
