1.
SpongeBob SquarePants made its debut on Nickelodeon — and it also aired its iconic “Pizza Delivery” episode that August:
2.
Britney Spears continued to stir controversy for being “too sexy” (which was fallout from her iconic Rolling Stone cover):
Rolling Stone
3.
Disney released Tarzan into theaters, the film would mark the end of the Disney Renaissance:
4.
Lisa Kudrow hosted the 1999 MTV Movie Awards:
Frank Micelotta Archive / Getty Images
6.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace toys were the hottest toys around and had collectors everywhere snatching them up:
Matt Campbell / AFP / Getty Images, Hector Mata / AFP / Getty Images
7.
MTV began airing its eighth season of The Real World, this time set in Hawaii:
8.
The second season of Sex and the City premiered on HBO:
9.
Doug and The Nanny both ended their runs:
Viacom, CBS
10.
The Sixth Sense was an absolute sensation and since there was no Twitter, not too many people had the ending ruined:
11.
The Blair Witch Project scared audiences and had many people thinking it was real. It also became one of the most profitable films of all-time.
Artisan Entertainment
12.
Apple released its iBook and everybody wanted one:
Ted Thai / The LIFE Picture Collection via
13.
Dial-up internet was still very much the norm. Also, not even half of the U.S. had internet access in their homes at the time:
14.
Napster launched and forever changed the music industry:
15.
George W. Bush, then-Governor of Texas, announced he was planning on running for president of the United States:
New York Daily News Archive / Getty Images
16.
John F. Kennedy Jr., his wife Carolyn, and his sister-in-law Lauren Bessette died in a plane crash off the coast of Martha’s Vineyard:
17.
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? premiered on ABC and became an instant hit:
Getty Images
18.
Angelina Jolie (who was at the time an up-and-coming actor) graced the cover of Rolling Stone’s annual “The Hot List” issue:
Rolling Stone
19.
American Pie was an unexpected hit and would go on to bring back teen sex comedies:
21.
Backstreet Boy’s “I Want it that Way” was the biggest video on TRL — although it faced fierce competition from the video for NSYNC’s “I Drive Myself Crazy.”
Sony Music
22.
Christina Aguilera released her debut single, “Genie In A Bottle.” It would also go on to become the song of the summer:
Sony Music
23.
Other big songs of the summer were Destiny’s Child’s “Bills, Bills, Bills” and Jennifer Lopez’s debut single, “If You Had My Love”:
Sony Music
24.
Renee Russo started a huge trend when women started copying the hairstyle she had in The Thomas Crown Affair:
United Artists
26.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was published in the UK:
Bloomsbury
27.
And finally, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace was released into theaters. It would go on to become the biggest movie of the year: