When Clueless landed in theaters the weekend of July 21, 1995, it was an immediate hit, earning nearly $11 million and trailing only Apollo 13 for box office supremacy. Pop culture-wise, it was also a smash, causing a teen stampede for plaid skirts and knee-high socks and spawning an alternative nation-friendly soundtrack (Mighty Mighty Bosstones! The Muffs! Counting Crows! Smoking Popes!) that eventually went platinum.
At the time of Clueless’ release, MTV was a champion of the movie, which wasn’t surprising: Star Alicia Silverstone, after all, was a veteran of 1993’s The Crush, as well as Aerosmith videos such as “Crazy” and “Cryin.’” In fact, Jen Chaney’s new book, As If!: The Oral History of Clueless, reveals that director/writer Amy Heckerling saw Silverstone’s appearance in the latter and knew she had found her lead.
Fittingly, Silverstone and the rest of the cast gathered for a Clueless premiere party that aired on MTV as part of the channel’s summer programming. In video from the event, co-host Daisy Fuentes noted the beachfront bacchanalia was “right down the PCH” from the MTV Malibu beach house, which is where MTV took up residence that summer. Besides interviews with the movie’s main players, Luscious Jackson performing the different, disco-fried mix of “Here” that appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack.
The following year, MTV kept the Clueless support going at its Movie Awards, enlisting Rue McClanahan, Estelle Getty, and Betty White to enact scenes from the movie while in the guise of their Golden Girls characters. The two-minute video is a dead-on spoof: Getty (wearing a honey-blonde wig as Cher) is slightly cranky as she makes deadpan cracks about aging, while White (playing Dee) is innocently sassy, and McClanahan as Tai is a perfect mix of flirty and Southern Belle sexual. Watch this clip (and the entire premiere party footage) below.
The Golden Girls in Clueless: