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In the beginning, nobody thought it would survive. Record labels were skeptical and cable operators were dismissive-perhaps rightfully so. MTV had an inventory of just one hundred clips, most by fringe British and Australian bands. The channel was available in only a few cities and towns. On the night the network launched, staffers celebrated at a bar in New Jersey because no Manhattan cable operator carried MTV.
When MTV debuted in 1981, its slogan was "You'll never look at music the same way again." But MTV's influence went beyond music-it soon changed network and cable television, radio, sports, film, fashion, teen sexuality, and even politics.
Highly respected music journalist Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum have assembled an unprecedented collection of stories from the early days of MTV, straight from the mouths of those who were part of the video revolution. I Want My MTV focuses on the network's first decade with accounts from major artists including Madonna, The Police, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Bon Jovi, and Chuck D of Public Enemy; executives; VJs; famous fans; and others whose careers were shaped by MTV. Their words chronicle the music industry's last great era-a time of excess, innovation, and grandiosity.
Reversible jacket featuring four music icons.
Long before iPods and Google, MTV was changing the face of popular culture. This lively insider's history of the station's shaky first years is guaranteed to evoke nostalgia, amusement and wonder.
— David Garber
"Riveting reading, and a book we expect to see on the best-seller lists."
"I WANT MY MTV chronicles MTV as I, and many others, would like to remember it: a lot of fun when it first came on the scene and a joy to watch every day"
Rob Tannenbaum has written for Blender, Rolling Stone, GQ, Details, Playboy, Spin, and The New York Times.
Both writers live in New York City.
Cast of Characters xiii
Introduction: "Ridicule is Nothing to be Scared of" xxxvii
Part 1 Pictures Came and Broke your Heart: "Video Killed the Radio Star" to "Thriller" 1981-1983
1 "It's the Greatest Thing in the World": First Glimpses of MTV 1
2 "I Didn't Know How to Plug in a Light": Music Videos (Only they Weren't Called that) in the 1970s 6
3 "We Were Just Idiots in Hotel Rooms": John Lack, Bob Pittman, and the Creation of MTV 14
4 "What's a VJ?": How MTV Hired its Hosts (Including a Case of Mistaken Identity) 31
5 "A Total, Unmitigated Disaster": MTV Launches with the Buggles, Blotto, and Thirty Rod Stewart Videos 40
6 "Girls Sliding on Poles": The First Dirty Music Video 45
7 "A Hail Mary Pass": How $1 Saved MTV from Bankruptcy 48
8 "Midgets, Models, and Trannies": The First Visionaries and Victims of the Music-Video Era 59
9 "Pouting and Shoulder Pads": Effeminate British Bands Spread Weird Haircuts Across the U.S. 85
10 "Shut that Door!": Office Sex and Power Struggles at MTV 103
11 "They Figured out a Whole New Persona": How Three Gnarly old Dudes Became Unlikely Video Stars 115
12 "Girls Belong in Cages": Metal Takes over the Airwaves 120
13 "That Racism Bullshit": MTV's Aor Format comes Under Fire 136
14 "I'm not Like Other Boys": Michael Jackson Saves a Struggling Network from Itself 143
Part 2 I Play my Part and you Play your Game: "Burning up" to "Here I go Again" 1983-1987
15 "The Two M's": Madonna Touches MTV for the Very First Time 159
16 "You Got Char-as-ma": Prince, Bruce, Billy Idol, and the Gods of 1984 167
17 "He's Got a Metal Plate in his Head": MTV and Van Halen Team up to Nearly Kill a Super-Fan 190
18 "Wannabe Cecil B. DeMilles": Everything-Budgets, Ideas, Hair-Gets Bigger 194
19 "Why Don't I Just Take $50,000 and Light it on Fire?": The Backlash Against MTV 206
20 "Don't be a Wanker all your Life": "Do they know it's Christmas?," "We are the world," and Live Aid 211
21 "A Whopping, Steaming Turd": The Worst Video Ever Made 216
22 "A Wedding Dress with Nothing Underneath it": Madonna Takes-and Pops out of-the Cake at the First Video Music Awards 222
23 "No Cable Network is Worth $500 Million": MTV Gets New Owners: the Founding Team Trashes a Hotel, then Heads for the Exit 227
24 "Gacked to the Tits": Twenty-Four Stories About Drugs 237
25 "They Diss the Beatles": Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys Smuggle Rap onto MTV 241
26 "His Name is David Fincher. He's a Genius": Rick Springfield, Christopher Cross, and the Humble Beginnings of a Hollywood Star 252
27 "There I Am, with My Rack": The Rise of the Superdivas, Male and Female 266
28 "The Legion of Decency": Censoring Videos, for Fun and Profit 278
29 "Hickory Dickory Dock, this Bitch was...": Backstage at the Video Music Awards 284
30 "I'd Like to Thank my Cheekbones": Jon Bon Jovi and Tawny Kitaen Take Hair Metal to the Top 295
Part 3 Where do we go Now: "With or without you" to "U can't Touch this" 1987-1990
31 "The Islands of Misfit Toys": 120 Minutes and the Rising up/Selling out of Alternative Rock 317
32 "Martha was Heartbroken": MTV Finds a New, Mouthier Squad of VJs 330
33 "A True Television Network": The New Boss Orders up a Riotous Show that Forever Changes the Network 345
34 "That's What Hype can do to you": Club MTV Launches the "Upskirt Shot" and a Pop Scandal 358
35 "The First Time I Smelled Freebase": MTV Parties Down at Spring Break 365
36 "I Brought Snowballs to the Desert": Sucking up to MTV's Laddish New Power Broker 372
37 "People in the Hood Rushed to Get Cable": How Ted Demme Did, Didn't, Maybe Did, and Absolutely did Create Yo! MTV Raps 379
38 "We've Always Loved Guns N' Roses": Chicks and a Snake, Headbangers Ball, and the Return of Hard Rock 396
39 "Those Harem Pants Came out of Nowhere": Rap Busts a Move into the MTV Mainstream 410
40 "Ego-Fucking-Maniacs": Michael Bay, Cher, and all 9:08 of "November Rain" 422
41 "I Want to have a Nickname": How MTV Helped Michael Jackson Elect Himself "The King of Pop" 435
Part 4 Nothing Lasts Forever, and we Both Know Hearts can Change: "Justify my Love" to "Jeremy" 1990-1992
42 "Rhythm Nation": Superstars and One-Hit Wonders Stage a Dance-Off in your Living Room 440
43 "Your Manager's an Asshole": Fistfights and Pyro Farts: War Breaks out at the Moscow Peace Festival 453
44 "Kermit Unplugged": An Acoustic Music Show Morphs into a Worldwide Megabrand 457
45 "Silly, Superficial, and Wonderful": Cindy Crawford and Jon Steward Bring Beauty and a Laughs to MTV 463
46 "Tired of Cheap Sex Songs": R.E.M., U2, and Van Halen (!) Elevate the Art Form in the Nineties 468
47 "A Monkey Could do it": Pauly Shore and the Third Generation of VJs 474
48 "A Pep Rally Gone Wrong": "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Grunge, and the Hair Metal Apocalypse 481
49 "You'r no Better than a Rabbit!": Fearless Twentysomethings Shape a Presidential Election 498
50 "Getting out of the Music Business": This is the True Story... of What Happened When the Real World... Took over MTV...and Made Music Videos...Obsolete 505
51 "Let's Get Crazy Tonight": Tears, Tequila, and Broken Glass: MTV VIPs Celebrate the First Decade 510
52 "Fat City": The Bubble Bursts on Music Videos' Golden Era 512
53 "You have no Idea How I Miss it": Fans, Stars, Staff, and Detractors Reflect on the Video Age 518
Acknowledgments 527
Index 529
10 Songs That Changed MTV
The Buggles, "Video Killed the Radio Star" (1981)
The first video ever played on MTV was a two-year old obscurity, but its wacky futurism—and rallying-cry title—proved irresistible to the network's programmers. Directed by Russell Mulcahy, the foremost auteur of MTV's early years.
Duran Duran, "Rio" (1982)
Yacht rock gets no yachtier. Part of director Russell Mulcahy's exotic trilogy of Duran Duran videos, "Rio," along with "Hungry Like the Wolf" and "Save a Prayer," cast Duran as sherbet-suit wearing globetrotters whose only interests were sex and sailing. MTV's first pinups.
Michael Jackson, "Billie Jean" (1983)
Before Michael and "Billie Jean," MTV followed the programming strictures of rock radio, which meant, in essence, no black music, save for a few rock outliers (Musical Youth, Bus Boys). CBS Records executives insist they had to muscle a reluctant MTV into airing "Billie Jean"; MTV maintains they loved it the moment they saw it. Either way, "Billie Jean" became a hit, paving the way for "Beat it" and then "Thriller," which transformed MTV like no video before or since.
ZZ Top "Gimme All Your Lovin" (1983)
The unlikeliest of MTV's first wave of stars, this crusty Texas roadhouse trio embraced synthesizers and drum machines for their 1983 album Eliminator. Of equal importance, they hooked up with director Tim Newman and a trio of mini-skirted, long-legged models for the "Gimme All Your Lovin'," "Legs," and "Sharp Dress Man" videos, and became MTV staples.
Rick Springfield, "Bop Til You Drop" (1984)
Why does this random synth-funk track from the Aussie mullet behind "Jessie's Girl?" merit inclusion here? Its video marked the directorial debut of none other than Oscar-nominated auteur David Fincher, whose MTV canon includes Madonna's "Vogue" and Aerosmith's "Janie's Got a Gun," among many classics.
Run-DMC, "Rock Box" (1985)
The first rap video to get played on MTV featured extensive hard-rock guitar from Eddie Martinez, which likely helped bridge the gap between MTV's white suburban viewership and this nascent urban art form. A year later, the Aerosmith/Run-DMC "Walk This Way" video converted a nation of Slim Shadys into hip-hop fans.
Motley Crue, "Home Sweet Home" (1985)
Neither the first metal power ballad nor the first video to melodramatize life on the road, but the first of each in the hair-metal era, and as such not only a monster MTV hit (it had to be "retired" from the request show Dial MTV) but a hugely influential clip: director Wayne Isham utilized the same slow-mo live shots for his run of career-making Bon Jovi videos.
Neil Young, "This Note's For You" (1988)
The song is a trifle, really, but the video, directed by Julien Temple, is a bracing satire of the commercialization of music and music videos, and led to one of the oddest moment in VMAs history: The clip, banned from MTV, won the Video of the Year award in 1989.
Metallica, "One" (1989)
Prior to "One," Metallica refused to make music videos. "One" is barely that—shaky performance footage of the band interspersed with long stretches of clips from the 1971 film "Johnny Got His Gun." But the video instantly became MTV's most requested, proving that even the coolest refuseniks would cuddle up to MTV.
Pearl Jam, "Jeremy" (1992)
Even its in MTV-mandated censored form, "Jeremy" remains one of the most striking videos of all time (the original version featured the lead character killing himself on-screen). Pearl Jam sold millions thanks to MTV's tireless airplay of "Jeremy," and then decided never again to appear in another music video.
Anonymous
Posted January 25, 2012
Makes it all seem so ridiculous and makes you want your MTV all over again.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted January 6, 2013
Video killed the radiostar
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Alexi
Posted January 7, 2012
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Very interesting read though some of the stories are a little dry. It would have been nice to see more pictures. With each chapter, I find myself with a list of videos, songs, or interviews to revisit and spot those little details they mention. Overall, a very enjoyable read!
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.No doubt this was an informative and sometimes fun, gossipy read; but there were 8 pages of pictures for about 600 pages of words! I really would have liked to see more pictures of the artists, VJs, etc... Sometimes the stories got a little dull and I just skipped ahead to some of the good stuff.
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Posted January 11, 2012
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Overview
In the beginning, nobody thought it would survive. Record labels were skeptical and cable operators were dismissive-perhaps rightfully so. MTV had an inventory of just one hundred clips, most by fringe British and Australian bands. The channel was available in only a few cities and towns. On the night the network launched, staffers celebrated at a bar in New Jersey because no Manhattan cable ...