Happy Birthday MTV!
30 Years Ago today, Dr. J. woke up early, and has he was want to do on lazy summer days. He was sitting in Dad’s chair, flipping though the 36 cable channels available in those halcyon early days of cable TV and he stumbled upon this:
Dr. J. was immediately hooked. Dr. J. loved the concept, radio with pictures. Each of the original VJ’s had their own appeal. Mark Goodwin reminded Dr. J. of his best friend’s older brother who liked Ted Nugent and would punch Dr. J. so he didn’t feel left out when his best friend was getting roughed up by said older brother. Alan Hunter and Dr. J. liked the same sort of music. The late J.J. Jackson was a big ole teddy bear. Martha Quinn was the girl next door and Nina Blackwood was the girl you wished was next door. Dr. J. loved the MTV in his youth, and would do homework while the top 20 video countdown was playing in the background. It was the background music of his adolescence.
Then, at somepoint after Dr. J. graduated from college, the Real World debuted and MTV jumped the shark. Since then it’s been a critical downward spiral for the network. While it probably still appeals to the kids, it is no longer music television. Perhaps Viacom could have taken a page out of Logan’s Run and put the channel out of its misery when it turned 21.
Dr. J. takes solace in the fond memories of his youth, and 80’s-on-8 on his satellite radio which is just like his MTV, just without the TV part…
