the summer of

What it was like to be 15 in 1998 in Canada

To be fifteen in Canada in 1998 was to have “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion everywhere, Titanic on every screen, and Traders on after school. That year, gas cost $0.52/L and Furby, the talking toy nobody could find by December was the new thing. Born in 1983? You turned 15 in 1998 — a teenager from 1996 to 2002, right in the window a soundtrack bonds to you for life.

Compiled by the Original Lore archive from period charts, box-office and price records. How we build these · sources noted throughout.

▶ Play your 1998 reel with sounda 30-second video of your year — the song, the screen, the turn.

the mixtape of 1998

My Heart Will Go On — Celine Dion

  1. Torn — Natalie ImbrugliaThat acoustic opening was everywhere, Natalie's heartbreak the default soundtrack of every quiet bus ride home.
  2. Iris — Goo Goo DollsFrom the City of Angels film, this swelling ache was the slow dance you replayed for years.
  3. One Week — Barenaked LadiesThe Barenaked Ladies rapped fast and dumb and joyful, and everyone raced to memorize every word.
  4. Northern Touch — Rascalz feat. Kardinal Offishall, Thrust & ChoclairCanadian hip-hop planted its flag, and this posse cut made kids proud of a scene finally their own.
  5. S'il suffisait d'aimer — Celine DionCéline's French ballad reminded every household which language her biggest heart really sang in.

▶ Play your 1998 reel

why this one mattered

A Québec girl's voice became the whole country's shared cry that year — inescapable at school dances, on every car radio, tangled up with the biggest movie anyone had ever seen. If you were fifteen in Canada in '98, you didn't choose this song; it chose you.

the year-end #1 was #1 on the RPM Singles Chart for six consecutive weeks starting March 2, 1998, and the top Canadian-artist entry on RPM's year-end Top 100 (the overall year-end #1 was 'Torn' by Natalie Imbruglia). Source: Wikipedia 'List of number-one singles of 1998 (Canada)'; RPM Year-End.

what topped the Canadian box office in 1998

  • Titanic
  • Saving Private Ryan
  • Dr. Dolittle
  • The Red Violin
  • Armageddon

the tv shows you are binging in 1998

  • Traders
  • Twitch City
  • Made in Canada
  • Dawson's Creek
  • This Hour Has 22 Minutes

the games you are playing in 1998

  • Pokémon Red/Blue
  • Banjo-Kazooie
  • Star Fox 64
  • StarCraft
  • Half-Life
  • The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

what things cost in 1998

What things cost in 1998
a gallon of gas$0.52/L
minimum wage$6.85/hr
a movie ticket~$6.65
a first-class stamp$0.45
the average income~$58,000 avg. family income (approx., Statistics Canada trend)

trending this year

Furby
Bastian730, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Furby
iMac
Photo by Stephen Hackett (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Imac_G3_Bondi_Blue_side.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
iMac
Pokémon
Photo by Xabi Vazquez (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Game_Boy_Color_Pikachu.jpg · CC BY 2.0
Pokémon
DVD players
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Toshibo-Nuon-SD-2300-DVD-Player-Front-1.jpg · Public domain
DVD players
Canada's first budget surplus in nearly 30 years
AI-generated illustration
Canada's first budget surplus in nearly 30 years

the gadgets you just got

Furby
Bastian730, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Furby
iMac
Photo by Alterations by David Fuchs; original by Rama, licensed CC-by-SA (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:IMac_G3_Bondi_Blue,_three-quarters_view.png · CC BY-SA 4.0
iMac
Game Boy Color
Photo by Evan-Amos (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nintendo-Game-Boy-Color-FL.jpg · Public domain
Game Boy Color
Sony PlayStation
Photo by Niklas Sobieski Larsson (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Playstation_Comparison_(SCPH-1002_and_SCPH-9002).jpg · Public domain
Sony PlayStation
Pager
Photo by Jorgebarrios (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Beeper_Motorola_Bravo_Express_-_CTC_Chile_-_1.jpg · CC BY-SA 4.0
Pager

what everyone is snacking on

Wunderbar
AI-generated illustration
Wunderbar
Crispy Crunch
AI-generated illustration
Crispy Crunch
Smarties
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Smarties-UK-Candies.jpg · CC0
Smarties
Poutine
Wikimedia Commons, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Poutine_from_Windsor,_ON.jpg · CC0
Poutine
Kraft Dinner
Photo by Beosmrx (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kraft_dinner_preparation.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Kraft Dinner

what everyone is drinking

Caesar
Photo by AirIntake (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Caesar_Cocktail.JPG · CC BY-SA 3.0
Caesar
Canada Dry ginger ale
Photo by Lynette (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Canada_Dry_ginger_ale_bottles.jpg · CC BY 2.0
Canada Dry ginger ale
Sunny Delight
President's Choice Cola
Photo by Kiliweb (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:President%27s_Choice_Cola.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
President's Choice Cola
Tim Hortons coffee
Photo by Calgary Reviews from Calgary, Canada (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tim_Hortons_Coffee_Roll_Up_the_Rim_to_Win_-_Please_Play_Again_-_Reessayez_SVP.jpg · CC BY 2.0
Tim Hortons coffee

what made the news in 1998

  • Google is founded in California, quietly changing how the world searches for information (Sept. 1998)
  • The Nagano Winter Olympics mark the first time NHL players compete for Olympic hockey gold
  • Frank Sinatra dies at age 82 (May 1998)
  • Pokémon mania hits North America as Game Boy games and trading cards launch
A catastrophic ice storm coats Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, leaving millions without power for weeks (January 1998)
Photo by Deb (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1998_ice_storm_Aylmer_Quebec_Canada.jpg · CC BY 2.0
A catastrophic ice storm coats Eastern Ontario, Quebec, and the Maritimes, leaving millions without power for weeks (January 1998)
Canada's men's hockey team, with NHL pros at the Olympics for the first time, loses a shootout to the Czech Republic in Nagano (Feb. 1998)
Photo by Canadaolympic989 (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nagano_1998-Russia_vs_Czech_Republic.jpg · CC BY-SA 3.0
Canada's men's hockey team, with NHL pros at the Olympics for the first time, loses a shootout to the Czech Republic in Nagano (Feb. 1998)
Swissair Flight 111 crashes into the Atlantic off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, killing all 229 aboard (Sept. 2, 1998)
Photo by Hayden Soloviev (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Peggy%27s_Cove_Swissair_Flight_111_Memorial.jpg · CC BY 4.0
Swissair Flight 111 crashes into the Atlantic off Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, killing all 229 aboard (Sept. 2, 1998)
Titanic sweeps the Oscars with 11 wins, cementing Céline Dion's theme song as inescapable (March 1998)
Photo by Linda Bisset (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Celine_Dion_by_Linda_Bisset.jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Titanic sweeps the Oscars with 11 wins, cementing Céline Dion's theme song as inescapable (March 1998)
Canada posts its first federal budget surplus in nearly three decades (Feb. 1998)
Photo by World Economic Forum (Wikimedia Commons), source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paul_martin_2004_(cropped).jpg · CC BY-SA 2.0
Canada posts its first federal budget surplus in nearly three decades (Feb. 1998)

what everyone is saying

  • "toonie"the $2 coin, still novel two years in
  • "klick"a kilometre — 'it's like ten klicks from here'
  • "Molson muscle"an affectionate term for a beer belly
  • "chirping"trash-talking, especially on the ice
  • "housecoat"what everyone else calls a bathrobe

the summer of 1998.

you think you've got all the time in the world.

…and then it cools. Play the reel to feel where 1998 goes.

Turn 1998 into a 30-second reel →

▶ Play your 1998 reel with sound