Over the next week at The Ringer, in honor of the release of Woodstock 99: Peace, Love, and Rage, we will explore events that changed the world as we knew it—specifically ones that marked the ends of established eras and triggered the beginnings of then-unknown futures. Some will be overt and well established. Others will be less trodden and perhaps more speculative. But all will entertain an immovable idea that when things die, there is someone or something that pulled the trigger. Welcome to This Is the End Week.
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July 23, 2021
The Death of the ’90s, As Foretold by a Bald Dude With a Sampler
Months before the disastrous Woodstock ’99 festival, Moby released an album that may have spelled the end of the ideals of the decade
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July 23, 2021
Ben Simmons, the Pass, and the End of the Process
Ben Simmons’s time in Philadelphia likely concluded with one feeble dump-off pass at the end of the biggest game of his life. The dunk not taken will likely mark an end point to one of the more hotly debated, misunderstood, and maligned team-building exercises in NBA history. So … did it work?
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July 22, 2021
Dale Hansen Is Signing Off, Taking the Anchorman Era With Him
The Dallas sportscaster will end a 41-year run delivering the local news when he retires in September. His style, which has earned him internet fame in recent years, harkens back to a bygone era of broadcast television.
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July 20, 2021
Steve Wynn’s Mirage Transformed Las Vegas and the Very Idea of Luxury
Las Vegas was at a crossroads when Wynn’s mega-casino opened in 1989. Its success upped the ante on decadence and changed how Americans pursue pleasure and entertainment on the Strip.
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July 19, 2021
The Death of the All-Powerful Director
In 1980, the tumultuous filming and release of Michael Cimino’s ‘Heaven’s Gate’ changed Hollywood forever
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July 19, 2021
An Introduction to “This Is the End” Week
Cause and effect is an undeniable law in the universe. Knowing which moments will have an outsized impact on our future is the challenge.