…Or at least I use to.
25 years ago today MTV went on the air. With less than 200 videos and not much of plan it all began.
I can remember many hours (as many as 4 day) from age 10 to 18 watching it. By today’s standards the production quality was very low. One camera, a VJ, and some off the cuff remarks about what we just saw, or what was coming next.
Hangbangers Ball (heavy metal), Yo! MTV Raps, and 120 Minutes (alt-rock, before for it was a section that takes up 1/3 of Tower Records) we a window to music and culture I didn’t have access to in Wyoming. [My two top five finishes in dance competitions at Homecoming dances can be credited to hours of praying and replay videos recorded from Yo! MTV Raps.]
I would hook a tape recorder to the back of the VCR to record songs that I would never hear on local radio (or find in the local record store).
I can remember…Waiting up until midnight to see the “Thriller” video. Spending all day watching Live Aid. Adam Curries long flowing blond hair. Down Town Julie Brown’s “Wubba Wubba Wubba”. The first time KISS appeared with out make-up. “The Stud Boy” and “Stick Pen Quinn” on Remote Control. Martha Steward and Allen Hunter asking the flavor of the month about their newest video.
Today it is different. MTV is hours of reality tv. Stories of 16 years birthday parties and living on the beach. Not something that I can relate to now. (I don’t know if I could back then).
I asked a group of high school students what MTV stood for. They didn’t know.
No one paid attention when MTV turned 20 (despites the networks best effort). Really why would a 12 year old care the network is 25? If nothing else it might turn them off.
Not that the good old days were better. Or for that matter worse. They were just different.
[see USAToday's MTV's top moments]

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