30 Years of Hurt: A new nostalgia series
30 years ago this week in pop culture, politics & football
I’ve had 20 May 2026 bookmarked for ages.
Do you know why? Because 30 years ago today, the now-iconic football anthem Three Lions was released. A partnership between The Lightning Seeds and Baddiel & Skinner that instantly cemented itself into English pop culture.
It’s the perfect blend of Britpop, football, tongue-in-cheek self-deprecation, and a sense of national unity that, through rose-tinted specs, appears far less toxic and divisive than Saturday’s nauseating Unite the Kingdom march through London.
I’m sure plenty of you are tempted to stop reading at this point: you might despise Three Lions and everything it’s come to represent. The obnoxious lager lout stereotype that most people associate with football fans, the fact that the St George’s Cross is still badly painted on roundabouts and electrical boxes, and the presumption that the song is just intensely irritating if you don’t like football or Britpop.
Either way, some people claim that the track laid the foundations for the ‘Summer of Love’, and as Euro ‘96 frenzy swept the nation, it was impossible to ignore its impact. I remember begging my Uncle Bob to turn the radio up whenever it came on in the car: we’d belt it out and urge passersby to join in, which they often did.
But this isn’t a newsletter about Three Lions. I simply chose that track as my starting point. That the chorus line “30 years of hurt” is now precisely 30 years old felt irresistible to me. And so, here we are.
I aim to post a weekly series of newsletters that hurtles us back 30 years every time. A snapshot of highlights and landmarks from the worlds of pop culture, politics, and football: a glorious smorgasbord of nostalgia, ranging from musical superstardom to landslide election results, to the tragic loss of Princess Diana, through to the Millennium Bug and further.
Will I manage to keep this up and do it justice? Who knows. It just feels like a fun project for me and, if I enjoy writing this newsletter as much as I expect to, then in theory, you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I hope you will.
I’ve enabled paid subscriptions at the minimum price of £3.50 per month, simply for those who want to support what I’m doing. But the content will always be entirely free to view, and it’s very much a labour of love.
20 May 1996
Well, in case you need a rapid injection of ‘90s nostalgia to get you in the mood for hitting that ‘Subscribe now’ button, Gina G’s Eurovision anthem (Ooh Aah) Just A Little Bit had just risen one place to top the UK singles chart, having spent its 7th week at No.2.
It only spent one week at the summit — being replaced by the aforementioned Three Lions, but still managing to spend a total of 10 weeks in the Top 10, and a commendable 27 weeks in the Top 100. This was, of course, decades before streaming counted towards chart position, and chart positions therefore carried serious weight.
On the flipside, this date also saw Manic Street Preachers release their highly influential album Everything Must Go. It went on to become one of the defining releases of this era in British rock music, with the single A Design for Life sounding as powerful and fresh now as it ever did. It was their first album as a trio, following the tragic and mysterious disappearance of guitarist Richey Edwards.
A week earlier, Oasis caused a “stampede” when tickets for their Knebworth shows went on sale. Over 2.5 million people applied for tickets, and not one of the lucky gig goers regretted it.
John Major was knee-deep in crises
The Tories suffered a significant blow during May’s local elections, losing nearly 600 seats around the country and setting the tone for a tumultuous year. In fact, the infamous BSE crisis was triggered on this very date.
Major’s health secretary, Stephen Dorrell, announced to parliament that 10 people had contracted the deadly brain condition vCJD, and admitted a link to the consumption of BSE-infected meat. The term “mad cow disease” would soon be on everybody’s lips, if not quite as many beef products.
It rapidly led to a worldwide ban on British beef products, causing billions of pounds in losses. Major would go on to declare a “Beef War”, but the impact of this was long-lasting and undoubtedly contributed to his Downing Street downfall.
Meanwhile, in the world of men’s football…
The English FA had recently announced that Glen Hoddle would replace Terry Venables as manager of the men’s side following the summer’s Euro ‘96 tournament. Venables had announced his plans to step down back in January, and Hoddle’s appointment caused a great deal of excitement amongst English football fans.
On 11 May, Man Utd sealed an historic domestic double. Six days after being crowned Premier League champions for the third time in four seasons, Eric Cantona’s volley condemned Liverpool’s “Spice Boys” to a 1-0 defeat in the FA Cup Final. Ferguson’s men were the first team in history to win the domestic treble for the second time.
In the world of television
This date saw the passing of beloved actor Jon Pertwee, known for iconic comedy roles in Carry On films and also for being the third Doctor. The following day saw Bill Treacher make his final appearance as Arthur Fowler in EastEnders.
Later in the week, Paul Doody won the seventh series of Stars in Their Eyes with a memorable performance as Marti Pellow.
Finally, on 16 May 1996, the BBC’s Working Lunch series featured this behind-the-scenes glimpse at the creation of the very first Grand Theft Auto. You don’t need to be a gamer to know the impact that GTA had, and still has to this day. It’s fascinating to see how it was created in a Dundee studio, if you can manage to overlook the fact that the only woman interviewed is also the only employer to be asked how they ended up working on the project.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this first instalment of 30 Years of Hurt. Please help me out by spreading the word, and stay tuned to find out what else 1996 has up its sleeve…