In 2018, we’ll be celebrating many significant pop culture anniversaries from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Grease” to the arrival of “Sex and the City” and departure of “Seinfeld.” Here’s our annual, extremely subjective list of notable anniversaries — designed, as always, to make you shout out loud, “I can’t believe it’s been that long!”
50th anniversary
On these dates in 1968:
• ‘ROWAN & MARTIN’S LAUGH-IN’ PREMIERES
JAN. 22: Fast-paced (for the time) laugh-a-minute hour that revolutionized the sketch-variety show (for the time). Some say presidential candidate Richard Nixon’s September cameo (“Sock it to me?”) helped give him the edge in his neck-and-neck race with Hubert Humphrey.
• OTIS REDDING’S ‘THE DOCK OF THE BAY’ HITS NO. 1
MARCH 16: This wistful posthumous hit, recorded three days before his death in a December 1967 plane crash, was the soul singer’s legacy.
• ‘2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY’ HITS THEATERS
APRIL 6: Stanley Kubrick’s film would break sci-fi barriers. How sad is it that today when we hear its majestic theme song (“Thus Spake Zarathustra”), we first think of the 1970s Elvis waddling on stage.
• ’60 MINUTES’ DEBUTS
SEPT. 24: A half-century later, it’s still ticking.
40th anniversary
On these dates in 1978:
• ‘SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER’ FEVER
MAY 13: Yvonne Elliman’s rendition of “If I Can’t Have You” hit No. 1. In doing so, the movie’s soundtrack album became the first soundtrack to score four No. 1 singles — a record that still stands. The others were three BeeGees’ songs: “Night Fever,” “Stayin’ Alive” and “How Deep Is Your Love.”
• ‘GREASE’ HITS THEATERS
JUNE 16: The ’50s-set movie (based on the Broadway musical) that millions are still hopelessly devoted to.
• ‘NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE’ DEBUTS
JULY 28: Double secret probation … “Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life.” … “Toga! Toga! Toga!” What more can we say?
• ‘MORK & MINDY’ PREMIERES
SEPT. 14: “Happy Days” spinoff unleashes a maniac named Robin Williams on an unsuspecting world.
30th anniversary
On these dates in 1988:
• ‘THE WONDER YEARS’ DEBUTS
JAN. 31: Baby-boom nostalgia hits TV courtesy of Neal Marlens’ memories of his Huntington junior high.
• PUBLIC ENEMY RELEASES ‘IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK’
APRIL 19: One of the greatest hip-hop albums by the greatest hip-hop group from Long Island.
• ‘DIE HARD’ DEBUTS
JULY 15: Bruce Willis goes from TV star to movie star as terrorist-fighting NYPD cop John McClane.
• NWA RELEASES ‘STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON’
AUG. 8: Gangsta rap gets a voice thanks to Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E and such cuts as the title track and “(Expletive) Tha Police.”
25th anniversary
On these dates in 1993
• WHITNEY HOUSTON’S ‘I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU’ HITS NO. 1
JAN. 2: Houston’s soaring version of the Dolly Parton song (from “The Bodyguard”) hits No. 1 and will remain atop the charts for nine weeks on its way to becoming an “American Idol” and Karaoke staple.
• BILLY JOEL RELEASES ‘RIVER OF DREAMS’
AUG. 10: Who knew at the time that this would be Billy Joel’s last original album? (And who could predict it wouldn’t matter 25 years later when he sells out Madison Square Garden once a month?)
• ‘LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN’ DEBUTS
AUG. 30: The late-night talk-show wars begin as Dave debuts on CBS with Bill Murray and Billy Joel as his first guests.
• ‘NYPD BLUE’ DEBUTS
SEPT. 21: Groundbreaking cop drama stretched the boundaries of network TV, but, really, did we need to see Dennis Franz’s butt?
20th anniversary
On these dates in 1998:
• ‘TITANIC’ WINS BIG
MARCH 23: “Titanic” dominates the 70th Academy Awards ceremony.
• ‘SEINFELD’ ENDS
MAY 14: The fabled show about “nothing” went out with a one-hour episode in which the four pals end up jailed for violating a small town’s good Samaritan law. Their crime: They did “nothing” to stop a carjacking.
• ‘SEX AND THE CITY’ DEBUTS
JUNE 6: With “Seinfeld” gone, another quartet of Manhattan friends with dating problems becomes our obsession.
• BRITNEY SPEARS RELEASES ‘… BABY ONE MORE TIME’
SEPT. 30: The former Mouseketeer’s first single would go on to sell 10 million copies.
10th anniversary
On these dates in 2008:
• ‘BREAKING BAD’ DEBUTS
JAN. 20: Before this powerful drama debuted, we just knew Bryan Cranston as a dorky dentist (“Seinfeld”) and a dorky dad (“Malcolm in the Middle.”) Who knew that his dorky chem teacher would evolve into one of TV’s most memorable characters?
• JAY-Z AND BEYONCE GET MARRIED
APRIL 4: And they said it would never last.
• ‘THE DARK KNIGHT’ DEBUTS
JULY 18: The darkest of all of the Caped Crusader movies, made more poignant by the Oscar-worthy performance by the late Heath Ledger (he died in January) as The Joker.
• TINA FEY’S FIRST SARAH PALIN APPEARANCE ON ‘SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE’
SEPT. 13: You betcha, this was an impersonation for the ages.
