MEANWHILE, IN THE REAL WORLD...

EVERYTHING ELSE THAT HAPPENED IN 1998

headlines J.K. Rowling’s second book in the series, Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets, is published…

Pop singer

George

Michael is arrested for lewd behaviour in a Los

Angeles public toilet.

He pleads no contest, and is fined and given community service… A new internet search engine named Google launches… hmmm, wonder whatever became of it?

MOVIE

Hugely successful Japanese horror movie Ring introduces us to the most terrifying vengeful spirit ever to crawl out of a TV… The Big Lebowski becomes the finest stoner comedy for people who don’t even smoke… Johnny Depp goes full gonzo as legendary journalist Hunter S. Thompson in Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

tv

Celebrity Deathmatch is the only place you’ll see a plasticine Marilyn Manson wrestling a plasticine Charles Manson to the death… Utterly surreal British sketch show Big Train is a barking-mad treat from the makers of Father Ted.

Charts

The good news? Aerosmith keep the rock flag flying with the biggest hit of their career. The bad news? It was with the soulsapping I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.

HERO

During an interview to promote his new industrial metal band, 2wo, Rob Halford becomes the first high-profile metal musician to announce that he is gay.

villain

Interscope records are accused of payola after paying a US radio station $5,000 to play Limp Bizkit’s Counterfeit 50 times. Sure, worse things have happened, but that’s just cheating.

rip

Former Black Sabbath drummer Cozy Powell (car crash)… Original X Japan guitarist Hide (suicide)… Snot singer Lynn Strait (car crash).

wtf?

The UK finally officially abolishes the death penalty – even though the last executions took place in 1964.