Problem: Background: Rhett & Link are an American Internet comedy duo consisting of the two YouTube users Rhett James McLaughlin (born October 11, 1977) and Charles Lincoln "Link" Neal, III (born June 1, 1978). Self-styled as "Internetainers" (from "Internet" and "entertainers"), they are known for their online viral videos, comedy songs, ten-episode TV series Rhett & Link: Commercial Kings for the Independent Film Channel, their daily morning talk-show titled Good Mythical Morning (GMM), their YouTube Red series Buddy System, and more recently, their YouTube channel "This Is Mythical." In their 2008 documentary, Looking for Ms. Locklear, they chronicled their search for the first grade teacher in whose class they met for the first time. All their work is put under their one banner name, Mythical Entertainment.
Context: Rhett and Link met on September 4th, 1984 (this is the exact date they started school in Harnett County) at Buies Creek Elementary School in Buies Creek, North Carolina, where they attended first grade, a meeting about which they have subsequently written a song and made a movie (Looking For Ms. Locklear - 2008). They met through having to stay in at recess, as they were both doodling on their desks. In an interview on The Tonight Show, they state that they stayed in during recess because both of them had written swear words on their desks. They stayed in and colored in mythical creatures such as a unicorn (hence their YouTube channel name, GMM/Good Mythical Morning).  At age fourteen, they wrote a screenplay entitled Gutless Wonders and began shooting a film based on it. They shot only a couple of scenes, and the film was never finished. This screenplay ultimately was read in multiple episodes of Good Mythical Morning. In high school they shot a 25-minute film-parody on the tragedy of Oedipus Rex. Rhett was Oedipus, and Link was his father's servant. Rhett and Link were both members of a punk rock band as teenagers known as "The Wax Paper Dogz" and have played at an Independence Day festival.  Later, they were roommates at NC State, where Link studied industrial engineering and Rhett studied civil engineering. They earned degrees and worked in their respective fields for a time. Link briefly worked at IBM, while Rhett worked at Black & Veatch.  Both men now reside in Los Angeles, California, where together they run a production company named Mythical Entertainment, located in Burbank. They both currently have wives, and they each have kids. Rhett married Jessie Lane in 2001 and has two children: Locke and Shepherd. Link married Christy White in 2000 and has three children: Lily (Lilian), Lincoln (Charles Lincoln IV), and Lando.
Question: WHen did they get their start?
Answer: Rhett and Link met on September 4th, 1984

Problem: Background: SMAP was a Japanese boy band, composed of Masahiro Nakai, Takuya Kimura, Goro Inagaki, Tsuyoshi Kusanagi, and Shingo Katori. The group was created in 1988 by music producer Johnny Kitagawa, founder of Johnny & Associates, originally as a six-piece with Katsuyuki Mori, until his departure from the band in 1996. After making their debut in 1991, the group took the Japanese entertainment industry by storm, becoming the most successful boy band in Japanese history and the bestselling band in Asia, often referred to as a "national treasure" and a "fortune and property of the country" in Japan. SMAP was regarded as an iconic figure in Japan, after achieving an unprecedented level of success in numerous genres in the entertainment industry, including music, television, film, radio, and theater, as a group and individually.
Context: On January 1, 1991, the band held their first concert in Nippon Budokan and their first tour from March through April, before releasing any music. On September 9, 1991, they released their first single, "Can't Stop -Loving-" from Victor Entertainment, which peaked at #2 on the charts. Subsequent singles, "Seigi no Mikata wa Ate ni Naranai", "Kokoro no Kagami", "Makeru na Baby" peaked in the top 10. The band asked the fans to write the lyrics for "Kokoro no Kagami", and the one submitted by a fourteen-year-old girl was chosen. The song was later used in a Panasonic television commercial. They were invited to perform the song at Kohaku Uta Gassen, an annual music show, on December 31, 1991.  At the same time of their debut, the Japanese music industry experienced what is frequently referred to as an "Idol Ice Age", where many of the popular music shows that aired weekly since the 1980s ended, and singers and bands lost a place to perform, resulting in scarce opportunities for TV exposure. Therefore, the agency decided to market the band through variety programs, where members participated in sketch comedies and game shows along with other television personalities. This non-mainstream marketing approach turned out to be a success, as the members' humorous and playful spirits on these shows propelled them to gain new fans, despite not having many musical performances on television since their debut.  In 1991, the band's first self-titled television show, SMAP no Gakuen Kids, got renewed and changed to, I Love SMAP, which aired until 1996. From October 7, 1991, Inagaki launched his radio program, Stop The SMAP, still airing as of 2016. From April 1992 to September 1995, the group appeared regularly on a weekly variety program, Yume ga Mori Mori. Due to the fact that this was the first time in Japanese history, that a band participated in a sketch comedy, this rare act attracted wide attention.  On January 1, 1992, they released their first album, SMAP 001, which peaked at #14 and released another album, SMAP 002, in the same year and peaked at #6. Their singles, "Egao no Genki", "Yuki ga Futtekita", "Zutto Wasurenai", "Hajimete no Natsu", "Kimi wa Kimi dayo", "$10", and "Kimi iro Omoi", released from 1992 through 1994, all peaked at the top 10. They headlined three tours in 1992, from January to August. In 1993, they released their third and fourth album, SMAP 003 and SMAP 004, which peaked at #11 and #3 respectively. In 1992, Inagaki starred in a drama television series, Hatachi no Yakusoku, as the main role. In 1993, Kimura starred in a drama television series, Asunaro Hakusho, which became a massive hit, with an average household share rating of 27% and 31.9% for the season finale. Kimura's popularity soared and from then on, members of the band started their acting careers individually.
Question: Are there any other interesting aspects about this article?
Answer:
At the same time of their debut, the Japanese music industry experienced what is frequently referred to as an "Idol Ice Age",