Week of December 15, 1991
The presidents of five Soviet Central Asian republics agree that they will join the
Commonwealth of Independent states proclaimed by the leaders of the old
Soviet Union’s big-three Slavic republics
The foreign minister of the Russian Federation urges Secretary of State James
A. Baker to extend U.S. diplomatic recognition to Russia and its partners in the
new Commonwealth of Independent States to “stop the further disintegration in
this part of the world.”
The United Nations General Assembly votes to revoke its 16-year-old resolution
branding Zionism as “a form of racism and racial discrimination”
Bulletin
- Soviet Union to End December 31 - Soviet
President
Mikhail S. Gorbachev
, yielding in his battle to
preserve the crumbling Soviet Union - declares that he
will accept the new Commonwealth of Independent
States as its constitutional successor. Gorbachev is now
working on an orderly transition.
General Motors Corp says it will eliminate 74,000 jobs
and shut down 21 factories.
Russian Federation President
Boris N. Yeltsin
issues
decrees abolishing the Soviet Foreign and Interior
ministries and taking over the Kremlin and most central
government agencies on Russian territory.
The Federal Reserve Board slashes its discount rate
by a full percentage point - to 3.5% - the lowest since
1964.
New York Gov. Mario Cuomo announces he would not
run for the presidency. He said he could not enter the presidential contest while
New York State’s massive budget deficit remains unresolved.
Charles H. Keating Jr. and four associates plead innocent to a broad federal
indictment charging them with racketeering and fraud in connection with the 1989
collapse of a California savings and loan - Lincoln Savings & Loan.
Week of December 15, 1991
After 11 years,
John Williams
, conductor of the Boston
Pops says he’s leaving, He says he wants to devote more
time to serious compositions. Williams will leave in 1993.
Robert John Bardo receives life in prison without parole, for
the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer.
Nike Inc. is withdrawing about $5 million in shoes and
clothing from the marketplace after a federal judge from
they deliberately infringed on a smaller company’s
trademark. A preliminary injunction was issued against Nike’s advertising or
selling its Side 1 line of women’s aerobic footwear and apparel, ruling the line’s
name and logo were too similar to those of Sideout Sport.
Brian Henson, president of Jim Henson Productions announces that Jim Henson
Home Video has been formed and will market several hundred hours of TV
shows from the Henson library.
Marry -
Richard Gere
(42) to his
longtime girlfriend, supermodel
Cindy
Crawford
(25). The first for both.
Television news - Stone Phillips is
leaving 20/20 to join rival NBC to
anchor a new prime-time news
magazine with Jane Pauley.
Top TV -
60 Minutes - 22.7
Cheers - 19.1
Roseanne - 18.9
Murphy Brown - 17.8
Unsolved Mysteries - 17.5
Home Improvement - 17.2
Christmas on Division Street - 16.7
Designing Women - 16.7
Coach - 16.7
Major dad - 16.5
Murder, She Wrote - 15.2
Full House - 16.2
Movie-The Story Lady - 15.9
Face to Face with Connie Chung - 15.7
The Cosby Show - 15.5
Week of December 15, 1991
Northern Exposure - 15.5
Rescue 911 - 15.5
Evening Shade - 15.4
Wings - 15.3
A Different World - 15.2
WPOW (Power 96) Miami announces the resignation of programmer/morning
man Bill Tanner and co-host G. Michael McKay following their respective run-ins
with the law. Tanner faces four drug possession counts; McKay was accused of
sexual battery and indecent assault involving a 14-year-old boy.
MTV’s year-end rock report features R.E.M. Music
reporter
Kurt Loder
said that 1991 was “a pretty bad
year for the music industry (but) in some ways, a fairly
healthy year for music itself.” He cited the year’s bad
concert tour receipts as an example. One of the big
controversies of the music year was Ice Cube - free
speech vs. hate speech.
Heard more and more - Michael Jackson is now “the
king of pop.’
Reba McEntire dismisses five of her band members, including four who replaced
musicians killed in a March plane crash near San Diego. Sources say Reba
usually changes musicians at the end of the year.
Since announcing he had prostate cancer last month - Frank Zappa (51) is still
composing music - mostly classical.
Billboard’s Top Pop Artists for 1991
-
Mariah Carey
Garth Books
C&C Music factory
Michael Bolton
Wilson Phillips
Whitney Houston
Vanilla Ice
Paula Abdul
Amy Grant
Madonna
Black Crowes
R.E.M.
Extreme
Week of December 15, 1991
Hammer
Queesryche
Color Me Badd
L.L. Cool J
Boyz II Men
Bette Midler
Another Bad Creation
Jesus Jones
Roxette
Nelson
Tesla
Rod Stewart
Billboard’s New Pop Artists for 1991
-
C&C Music Factory
Color Me Badd
Boyz II Men
Another Bad Creation
Jesus Jones
Hi-Five
Firehouse
EMF
Cathy Dennis
Enigma
Top albums this week in 1991 -
Dangerous - Michael Jackson
Ropin’ the Wind - Garth Brooks
Time, Love and Tenderness - Michael
Bolton
Too Legit To Quit -
Hammer
Achtung Baby - U2
Metallica - Metallica
Use Your Illusion II - Guns ‘N Roses
Unforgettable - Natalie Cole
Nevermind - Nirvana
No Fences - Garth Brooks
Waking Up the Neighbours - Bryan Adams
C.M.B. - Color Me Badd
Diamonds and Pearls - Prince
We Can’t Dance - Genesis
CooleyHighHarmony - Boyz II Men
Heart in Motion - Amy Grant
Week of December 15, 1991
Spellbound - Paula Abdul
Use Your Illusion I - Guns ‘N
Roses
Decade of Decadence - Motley
Crue
Music From For The Boys - Bette
Midler
Music For The People - Marky
Mark & The Funky Bunch
Blue Light, Red Light - Harry
Connick Jr.
For My Broken Heart - Reba
McEntire
Death Certificate - Ice Cube
Keep It Comin’ - Keith Sweat
Hot Hits -
All 4 Love - Color Me Badd
It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye To
Yesterday - Boyz II Men
Black Or White - Michael Jackson
Can’t Let Go - Mariah Carey
Set Adrift On Memory Bliss - P.M. Dawn
Finally - Ce Ce Peniston
2 Legit 1 Quit - Hammer
Wildside - Marky Mark & The Funky Bunch
When A Man Loves A Woman - Michael Bolton
That’s What Love Is For - Amy Grant
Keep Coming Back - Richard Marx
Cream - Prince and the N.P.G.
No Son of Mine - Genesis
O. P.P. - Naughty By Nature
Let’s Talk About Sex - Salt-N-Pepa
Smells Like Teen Spirit - Nirvana
Don’t Cry - Guns ‘N Roses
Addams Groove - Hammer
Live For Loving You - Gloria Estefan
Can’t Stop this Thing We Started - Bryan Adams
Top hits in Britain
-
When you Tell Me That - Diana Ross
Week of December 15, 1991
Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me - George Michael/Elton John
Justified and Ancient - the KLF/Tammy Wynette
Driven By You - Brian May
Ride Like The Wind - East Side Bat
Stars - Simply Red
If You Go Away - New Kids On The
Block
Rocket Man -
Kate Bush
Too Blind To See It - Kym Sims
Top Country -
For My Broken Heart - Reba McEntire
My Next Broken Heart - Brooks & Dunn
You Can Depend on Me - Restless
Heart
The Chill of An Early Fall - George
Straight
Leave Him Out Of This - Steve Warniner
You Don’t Count The Cost - Billy dean
Look At Us - Vince Gill
Sticks and Stones - Tracy Lawrence
Cadillac Style - Sammy Kershaw
Shameless - Garth Brooks
Some Guys Have All The Love - Little Texas
(Without You) What Do I Do With Me - Tanya Tucker
Top movies this week in 1991 -
Hook
The Last Boy Scout
Star Trek VI
The Addams Family
Beauty and the Beast
My Girl
Cape Fear
For The Boys
American Tall 2
Curly Sue
Week of December 15, 1991
