I Want(ed) My MTV
Today is MTV’s 25th birthday. I’d celebrate, but I’m way outside their key 14-to-20 demographic nowadays, so they probably wouldn’t notice me. Still…
I consider myself lucky to be in the “right place at the right time” to witness the early days of Music Television. We got MTV in Seattle in the fall of 1981, when I was a 16-year old high school junior. It was stunning – 24 hours of music videos from either Rod Stewart or bands you’d never heard of before. I can’t tell you how many hours/days/weeks of my life I spent in front of the TV, watching crappy music videos, listening to odd bands, and loving every minute of it.
Me: “Hello?”
Friend: “Hey – whatcha doin?”
Me: “Oh, nothing – just sitting around, watching MTV.”
Friend: “Yeah, me, too.”
It was more than wasted time in front of the idiot box – it was a whole new way of life.
Why, back in my day (makes me sound really old, doesn’t it?) MTV only had a few dozen music videos. We’d watch horrible crap like Southside Johnny and the Jukes, or this obnoxious song about the pleasures of “Two Triple Cheese, Side Order of Fries”. Then there was a risqué (for the time) Dr. Hook song about “Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk”, which the video featured a 3 solid minute butt-shot of a blonde walking down Hollywood Boulevard in holy-crap-how-does-she-breathe tight jeans. (My mother really hated that one.) And of course, there were Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Eat ‘Em Up, Yum.
Now, THAT’S entertainment.
Before long we were discovering all sorts of new bands – ABC, Aha, Adam Ant, the Go-Go’s, The Police, Duran Duran, Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow, Devo, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the B-52’s, and of course Madonna. (I remember watching her hump the stage during the MTV Music Awards, and asking my friend Bill, “Can she do that?” I guess she could – and more.)
Sure, their videos weren’t overly glossy, and often they used a cheap gel lens as their only “special effect”, but it was FUN. No over-the-top choreography, no computer manipulation and/or body enhancement, no product placements.
I haven’t watched MTV much in the last 15 years – it seems our paths veered off at some point around 1989 or so, and they no longer wanted me to sit there for hours nonstop lovingly admiring Madonna’s much-younger-then cleavage. (That’s probably a good thing.) I did watch the Osbournes a few times, mainly because Ozzy as someone’s father is still weird to believe. But other than that, I don’t have much use for MTV any longer.
And I’ll avoid the cliché about their not playing music videos any longer, because let’s face it – it’s been a mighty long time since The Police or Dire Straights were hip to teenagers. There’s tons of profit in showing 20 hours of reruns from The Real World or the Jessica Simpson Family Hour, which probably means more to MTV’s shareholders than breaking a new artist.
Still, I’ll remember all those nights, staring with an odd fascination at this new fangled technology - Music Videos. And they said it’d never last.
I consider myself lucky to be in the “right place at the right time” to witness the early days of Music Television. We got MTV in Seattle in the fall of 1981, when I was a 16-year old high school junior. It was stunning – 24 hours of music videos from either Rod Stewart or bands you’d never heard of before. I can’t tell you how many hours/days/weeks of my life I spent in front of the TV, watching crappy music videos, listening to odd bands, and loving every minute of it.
Me: “Hello?”
Friend: “Hey – whatcha doin?”
Me: “Oh, nothing – just sitting around, watching MTV.”
Friend: “Yeah, me, too.”
It was more than wasted time in front of the idiot box – it was a whole new way of life.
Why, back in my day (makes me sound really old, doesn’t it?) MTV only had a few dozen music videos. We’d watch horrible crap like Southside Johnny and the Jukes, or this obnoxious song about the pleasures of “Two Triple Cheese, Side Order of Fries”. Then there was a risqué (for the time) Dr. Hook song about “Baby Makes Her Blue Jeans Talk”, which the video featured a 3 solid minute butt-shot of a blonde walking down Hollywood Boulevard in holy-crap-how-does-she-breathe tight jeans. (My mother really hated that one.) And of course, there were Fish Heads, Fish Heads, Eat ‘Em Up, Yum.
Now, THAT’S entertainment.
Before long we were discovering all sorts of new bands – ABC, Aha, Adam Ant, the Go-Go’s, The Police, Duran Duran, Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow, Devo, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, the B-52’s, and of course Madonna. (I remember watching her hump the stage during the MTV Music Awards, and asking my friend Bill, “Can she do that?” I guess she could – and more.)
Sure, their videos weren’t overly glossy, and often they used a cheap gel lens as their only “special effect”, but it was FUN. No over-the-top choreography, no computer manipulation and/or body enhancement, no product placements.
I haven’t watched MTV much in the last 15 years – it seems our paths veered off at some point around 1989 or so, and they no longer wanted me to sit there for hours nonstop lovingly admiring Madonna’s much-younger-then cleavage. (That’s probably a good thing.) I did watch the Osbournes a few times, mainly because Ozzy as someone’s father is still weird to believe. But other than that, I don’t have much use for MTV any longer.
And I’ll avoid the cliché about their not playing music videos any longer, because let’s face it – it’s been a mighty long time since The Police or Dire Straights were hip to teenagers. There’s tons of profit in showing 20 hours of reruns from The Real World or the Jessica Simpson Family Hour, which probably means more to MTV’s shareholders than breaking a new artist.
Still, I’ll remember all those nights, staring with an odd fascination at this new fangled technology - Music Videos. And they said it’d never last.
posted by Tommy G at
1:15 PM
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