Top 10 Most Memorable Events of 1995

Stemming from a shelved project co-developed with Nintendo, Sony’s PlayStation - a radical departure from cartridge style gaming - hit the Japanese market in December of 1994. But it was not unveiled to the world at large until E3 in May of 1995. Retailing at $299US and doubling as a CD player, the PS1 turned heads and even won a fan in Microsoft CEO Bill Gates. In all, 7918 titles were eventually sold for the PlayStation, totalling 962 million games sold, with driving-sim “Grand Turismo” becoming the best selling game overall. The platform was eventually retired in 2006 with over 100 million units sold.

Following months of speculation, rallies, and even a funeral, the Winnipeg Jets were sold to American investors for $68 million in October of 1995. Although always a strong contender in their WHA days, by the 1990s, the Jets’ NHL history of lackluster seasons and weak ticket sales had caught up to them. On May 3rd of ‘95, the notion of keeping the team in Winnipeg was dead, leading fans to hold a “funeral” for the Jets three days later. Despite government involvement, the sale went through and in December, Phoenix - not Minnesota - was revealed to be the team’s new home.

Already reeling from the Kobe (koh-bay) earthquake on January 17, Japan was hit by what was considered the worst attack since WWII on March 20th, 1995. Following a sarin gas attack of the Tokyo subway system by the cult Aum Shinrikyo, at least a dozen people were left dead, over 50 were harmed and a thousand more were temporarily affected. During morning rush hour, five members released the chemical onto busy subway trains. The cult’s leader Shoko Asahara claimed no responsibility, ... but he also previously claimed to be both Jesus and Buddha. The attack and the subsequent raid on Aum’s laboratory led to almost 200 convictions throughout the decades, with more than a dozen given death sentences.

Peace seemed possible in Bosnia on January 1st, 1995 when former US President Jimmy Carter brokered a ceasefire between Bosnian Serbs and Muslims. However, by May, tensions had renewed. When Serb forces refused to move weaponry out of Sarajevo, NATO responded with air attacks on Serb ammo depots as part of Operation Deliberate Force, while Serbs retaliated by attacking Muslims and violating UN-designated safe zones. The summer saw Serbs seize Srebrenica and Zepa, but it also saw additional NATO airstrikes, which pushed Bosnia, Serbia, and Croatia to the negotiation table in November. The product of those talks - The Dayton Accords - was signed on December 14th.

Sure, now we all have our broken Buzz Lightyear dolls - er, action figures - and we wore out our VHS copies ages ago, but “Toy Story” was an absolute game-changer in1995 as it was the first full-length feature film to be made entirely of CGI. Pixar’s debut feature film, “Toy Story” began in some form in 1991, but the story took some time to work out - mostly because early drafts saw Woody cast as a unlikable, raging jerk. “Toy Story”’s $362 million box office take and best screenplay Oscar nomination, meanwhile, legitimized computer animation and proved Pixar could be a serious player in Hollywood.

Shortly after attending a peace rally in Tel Aviv in November 1995, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was shot in the back and would later die of a punctured lung. His assassin was Yigal Amir, a 25-year-old law student and an Israeli Jew who killed Rabin in protest of the Oslo Accords, who believed the PM’s signing of the agreements endangered Jewish lives. Rabin, the first native born Israeli PM, was committed to peace in his region and even won the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize - an award he shared with Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat and politician Shimon Peres. Rabin’s funeral was attended by 80 world leaders, including Bill Clinton who eulogized Rabin.

Although soon-to-be giants Amazon and Yahoo! came along the year prior, 1995 saw the beginnings of internet mainstays eBay, Craigslist, Match.com, GameFAQs, and Snopes.com. The year also saw the birth of AltaVista.com, ClassMates.com, CareerBuilder.com, RaptureReady.com, anddddd YachtWorld.com. You know... YachtWorld? 1995 also saw investors begin to throw good money at anything with .com in the name, often on pure speculation or novelty. Start-ups operated on a “get large or get lost” mantra of growth before profits. Not surprisingly, many also crashed and burned... hard, when the dot-com bubble burst several years later.

When Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman were found murdered in June of 1994, all signs - and the State of California - pointed to Simpson’s ex-husband, OJ Simpson. However, despite a slow speed chase during which he threatened suicide, OJ and lawyers Robert Shapiro, Johnnie Cochran, F. Lee Bailey, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Gerald Uelmen, Robert Blasier, Carl E. Douglas, Barry Scheck, and Peter Neufeld maintained his innocence. Owing to accusations of planted evidence by the LAPD, sloppy prosecution, and a jury that didn’t quite get all that science-y stuff, OJ was found not guilty following 133 days of televised courtroom testimony.

Supported by a Rolling Stones-powered ad campaign and Jay Leno, and also armed with a Brian Eno-composed start up theme and videos from Weezer and Edie Brickell, Windows 95 arrived as the multimedia-platform that year. Introducing the Start button, Internet Explorer, and MSN, Windows 95 also favored the sleek and modern CD-Rom over the more traditional floppy disk. Despite the stench of Microsoft Bob lingering in the air, the OS - code-named Chicago- sold 7m copies at at least $100 a pop in just 5 weeks. Perhaps not surprisingly, 1995 was also the year Bill Gates was announced to be the world’s richest man. Good for Bill...

Before we unveil our top pick here are a few honourable mentions.
- NY Mayor Rudolph Giuliani Signs Smoke-Free Air Act, Banning Smoking in Most Public Places
January 10, 1995
- UN Withdraws from Somalia (UNOSOM II)
March 28, 1995
- The Quebec Referendum
October 30, 1995
- ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ Comic Strip Ends
December 31, 1995

At 9:02AM local time on April 19th, 1995, a truck rigged with a diesel-fertilizer derived bomb exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The blast destroyed the Murrah building and killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children. The bomber - Timothy McVeigh, a disgruntled former US soldier with anti-government beliefs - selected the building as it held offices for the DEA, Secret Service, and, most importantly, the ATF, the bureau who conducted the Waco Siege two years to the day prior. McVeigh was arrested soon after, initially for an unrelated traffic offense, but was found to have TNT prices on his person. His co-conspirator Terry Nichols was also arrested later on.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the most important event from 1995? For more totally crunk Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.