This video was sponsored by Hungry Minds. If you’d like a copy of THE BOOK go to https://bit.ly/4qYEyfG and use code FASCINATING10.

In this video I go month by month through the year 1999, covering the biggest, weirdest and most memorable things that happened, from a bunch of failed space missions to the Y2K problem…

Fascinating History posts weekly videos about infamous flops, failures and mistakes from throughout history… and whatever other weird stories from the past catch my eye. Thanks for watching!

*LINKS:* 🔗
► My other channel: https://www.youtube.com/@FascinatingHorror
► Support this channel: https://www.patreon.com/fascinatinghorror | https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN5TIBm-idJXOa6BUh3sjuA/join
► Follow me: https://twitter.com/FunHistoryTales | https://www.instagram.com/funhistorytales/ | https://www.facebook.com/funhistorictales/
► Get in touch: hello@fascinatinghistory.co.uk

*CHAPTERS:* 🔖
► 00:00 – January
► 02:29 – February
► 05:00 – Ad Break
► 06:16 – March
► 07:57 – April
► 08:56 – May
► 11:01 – June
► 12:47 – July
► 14:53 – August
► 16:38 – September
► 17:39 – October
► 19:45 – November
► 22:08 – December

*MUSIC:* 🎵
► “Soft Knives” by SefCHol
► “Long Road” by Futuremono
► Computer Glitch sfx by TheHorribleJoke via Freesound
► TV Off sfs by Pfranzen via Freesound

*SOURCES:* 📑
► “Y2K” published by the National Museum of American History. Link: https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/object-groups/y2k
► “FAA, NSA, and Navy v. the Furby” by Terry Kraus, published by the FAA. Link: https://www.faa.gov/media/19696
► “‘Could Not Have Survived’: 20 Years Since NASA’s Ill-Fated Mars Polar Lander” by Ben Evans, published by America Space, 2018. Link: https://www.americaspace.com/2019/01/06/could-not-have-survived-20-years-since-nasas-ill-fated-mars-polar-lander/
► “Even in death, the peacemaker king brought sworn enemies together” published by The Guardian, February 1999. Link: https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/feb/09/5
► “The Clinton impeachment and its fallout” by Russell Riley, published by the Miller Center. Link: https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/impeachment/clinton-impeachment-and-its-fallout
► “78 Days of Fear: Remembering NATO’s Bombing of Yugoslavia” by Maja Zivanovic and Serbeze Haxhiaj, published by Balkan Insight, March 2019. Link: https://balkaninsight.com/2019/03/22/78-days-of-fear-remembering-natos-bombing-of-yugoslavia/
► “The Melissa Virus” published by the FBI, March 2019. Link: https://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/melissa-virus-20th-anniversary-032519
► “Bertrand Piccard and British co-pilot Brian Jones” by Jim Clash, published by Forbes, January 2017. Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimclash/2017/01/15/world-record-setter-brian-jones-on-first-balloon-circumnavigation-of-earth-with-bertrand-piccard/

#history #failure #disaster #business #mistakes #weirdhistory

37 Comments

  1. Napster wasn't the wild west of the internet… it was akin to sharing your music with a friend who then shared it to anther friend. Considering CD's were 20$ and now musicians make nothing, they actually lost money by banning it.

  2. In the spirit of good humour I would say the most depressing moment in this video was you, not only being forced to watch it, but being unable to enjoy it with the optimism and appreciation of a child.

  3. That year I mostly remember failing to convince most people that the new millennium would not technically start until a year later. But as I recall Marilyn vos Savant advising, don't be pedantic, it will be epic just to see the numbers turn over, and that I could additionally celebrate the real millennium the following year.

  4. I absolutely love this channel. It’s so lighthearted compared to fascinating horror, which I remember to watch most Tuesdays here in the USA. But at 15:30, I’m sorry to burst your bubble (so to speak), but it’s not the last time anyone’s used the cereal box to watch the eclipse. I made one to watch with my granddaughter for the 2024 eclipse. I didn’t understand how it worked until I made it. Then I was amazed (so much so, that I promise you I still have it today). 🤭🤗😁🤷🏻‍♀️
    Thanks for making me laugh on this channel. 😎👍🏻👍🏻

  5. New years 99 I dumped my girlfriend and left her walking and drove like mad 20 miles or so to get home just a few min before midnight struck. I decided I didn't wanna spend anymore time with that wacko and I never seen her after that lol.

  6. Back in 1999 you could find music just by looking it up on a search engine like lycos or yahoo, lycos has a filter to only show .mp3s there were other file sharing programs before napster, limewire and it didn't have just music, but programs or movies too.

  7. I may be off by a year or so, but I visited Taiwan around 1999 and got hooked on "pearl milk tea" – had to wait ten years for this to come to my area as bubble/boba tea.

  8. I graduated high school in 1999. So I was a Senior when Coumbine happened. It shook me to the core. I was also starting to recover from 7 years of depression and the realization that I could have been the shooters due to my messed up brain triggered me even more to change. I became passionate about psychology and behavior and now work as a job Coach for people with disabilities.
    On a happier note, my dad was a computer programmer, so I knew Y2K was nothing to worry about.

  9. The feared Y2K computer glitch was more commonly referred to in the UK as "the millenium bug". Personally I was open to the idea that the world COULD possibly end due not to some nuclear calamity or war but because in the early days of computing they only used two digit dates and always assumed someone else would get around to fixing that. And for decades everyone always assumed someone else would fix it. To me that seemed all entirely too believable.

  10. I turned five in '99, so I can't say I remember much of anything outside my circle.

    However, growing up, people around me talked about the tornado that hit downtown Salt Lake City in August that year, which was a pretty big deal in Utah since our state isn't known for having those very often. That thing took us by surprise and caused quite a bit of damage, and the fact that there was only one death from it is kind of a miracle.

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