MTV's Golden Era: From "Video Killed the Radio Star" to "Jeremy"

I am currently reading I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution, by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum (pub. date: Oct. 2011). We Gen Xers are, for sure, the book's target audience. If you were between the ages of 10 and 18 when MTV launched in 1981, you will enjoy this book, which covers only what the authors call "MTV's Golden Era": the years 1981 to 1992.

The book's format--an oral history, with quote after interesting quote from musicians, music execs, video directors, VJs, etc.--keeps the book flowing. You get great information without too much dull exposition.

The book begins, well, at the beginning, when MTV was just a gleam in some radio executives' eyes. What's interesting is just how quickly and half-assedly everything was thrown together. They got the okay in January 1981 and were determined to launch on August 1st (when, they figured, kids were home on summer vacation and had nothing better to do than watch videos all day). The founders had seven months to come up with a station name, logo, and catch-phrase; to figure out how to make record companies give them free videos; and to hire all the video disc-jockeys.

The book includes surprising information. For example, I didn't know that Michael Nesmith of the Monkees was one of the main players at the beginning (though he left before MTV even launched due to creative differences with the rest of management). In fact, it turns out that he deserves much of the credit for MTV. In the late 70's, Nesmith developed a show, called PopClips, that played nothing but videos. A pilot was made but it wasn't a success. The concept for MTV was born.

So the origin story is pretty interesting. But the book's strength is the information it shares about all the craziness that occurred behind the scenes of the making of your favorite videos.

"Save a Prayer" video: Nick Rhodes
and John Taylor (on on elephant)

About Duran Duran's "Save a Prayer" video, which was filmed in Sri Lanka, Nick Rhodes says: "John and I were on an elephant, Simon was on one with Andy, and Roger was on one of his own. And they brought a female elephant who let out this enormous noise, which one of the guys in the crew was taping. He thought, Oh, this will be funny, and he played it back through the speakers. Nobody knew that it was her mating call. So the elephant with Roger on its back charges down the swamp and mounts this other elephant. Roger's hanging on for dear life.... If he'd fallen off, he could have been trampled to death. It was funny as hell, but also quite hairy for a moment."

Dr. Magnus Pyke in the "She Blinded
Me With Science" video

This story Thomas Dolby tells about the "Blinded Me With Science" video cracked me up: "My dad, a professor of classical archaeology at Oxford University, was one of the scientists in the video. And we had Dr. Magnus Pyke, a famous British TV personality and bona fide scientist. When I saw him a few years later, he cursed me, because in America, people would walk up behind him in the street and shout, 'Science!' He was a man of accomplishment, and was annoyed by that."

I love that: Sneaking up on a proper Oxford scientist and screaming "SCIENCE!"at him. That's classic America vs. England right there.  

And since this book is about musicians, you'll be happy to know there's plenty of insider info on groupies, drugs, drinking, sex, and inflated egos.

Stevie Nicks in the Arizona desert,
filming the "Hold Me" video

Simon Fields, a video producer, says this about Fleetwood Mac:
"'Hold Me' was a f#*@ing nightmare, a horrendous day in the desert. John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn't want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn't talk to her. They were a fractious bunch."


And how about this juicy tidbit from Joe Elliott, which will make you want to call up Def Leppard's "Foolin'" on YouTube:

Joe Elliott and his "wedding tackle" in the
"Foolin" video

"...there's a fantastic scene when I'm chained to a pyramid and I break out of the shackles. I sit up and look at the camera and sing, 'Is there anybody out there?' And if you look at the video--which I suggest you do, because it's quite funny--you can see that underneath my white trousers I have on tighty whities. I wasn't wearing them on the first take. [The director] Mallet watched that scene back through the lens and said, 'Dear boy, I can see your wedding tackle. You need to put some underpants on. They'll never show this on the telly if we don't clean it up a bit.'"


So if you watched MTV as much as I did in the 80's, you will definitely get a kick out of this book. I don't know if I'd shell out the $18 Amazon is asking for the hardcover (my copy was a Christmas present--thanks, hon!) but the paperback is coming out in September. It's worth checking out.

Things I'm Sad My Kids Won't Experience

The world has changed so much over the past few decades. Many of the changes are incredible and awesome, but not all. Occasionally, I'll catch myself thinking fondly about something I did or experienced when I was younger, and it will occur to me that, because the world is so different now, my kids probably won't have the pleasure of that experience.

Here are some things I'm bummed they'll (probably) miss out on:

I remember being 12 and going to the
record store to buy my brother an Ozzy
record for his birthday. This album
cover was an education.

Poring Through Records at a Divey, Yet Excellent, Record Store
Remember when the only way to learn what the singers of the songs you loved looked like was through the record store? Remember wasting countless hours trying to decide which album to spend your allowance money on? And the record store was educational, too: How else was I going to learn about Satanism if not via Ozzy Osbourne's album covers?

Receiving a Love Letter in the Mail
I don't mean to brag but I've received a few love letters in my day. Sure, I've gotten love emails too, but there is no comparison: Hand-written sweet nothings beat those printed out on 8.5 x 11 computer paper any day.

MTV Circa 1982
The town I grew up in didn't get cable until practically the 90's (boo!). But the next town over got it in the early 80's, and luckily my grandparents lived in that town (yay!). Whenever we'd go over their house for dinner, my brother and I would turn on MTV, sit on the floor a foot from the screen, and become zombified for hours. It was the most awesome thing ever invented and I was completely obsessed. I think we somehow even convinced the adults to let us leave the TV on DURING DINNER. I remember jumping up from the table mid-turkey-eating and running into the family room upon hearing the beginning strains of INXS's "The One Thing." Michael Hutchence was so hot in that video my tween self could hardly handle it. MTV blew my mind on a regular basis back then.

No idea where this photo is from, but this is pretty
much how I remember it. 

A Huge Blizzard (Like the One in 1978) That Closes School for Weeks
Okay, so it's possible. But if this winter is any indication of how this Climate Change thing is going, massive blizzards are a thing of the past. I will never forget, in 1978, opening up our front door to find an impenetrable wall of snow. Poor grown-ups: Their cars were buried, the shoveling was murder, and their annoying kids were home from school for two weeks. But for us kids it was unbelievable: School was cancelled for two weeks (!!), and all we did was build epic forts and sledding tracks that led downhill from the front yards of our houses to the back. Incredible speeds were attained, no helmets were worn, much hot chocolate was drunk. Legendary.

Visiting a Europe Where the Residents Actually Seem Foreign
My mother is British so we spent a lot of family vacations in England, and back in the 70's and 80's (and even the early 90's) there was very little American influence over there. One or two McDonalds in London, maybe. The city was still very Dickensian then--stark, historic, beautiful, and so, so different from America. My last visit to London was in 2005, and I spent the whole trip marveling at how American the city looked and felt. The ratio of quaint, dingy pubs to garish, cheesy chain stores had officially tipped in the wrong direction. I'm sure it's even worse now. The same goes for Paris, Rome, Madrid, etc. Too bad. Where does a person have to go to escape America's clutches?

But on the other hand, technological advances have certainly made life better in many ways. Here's a list of a few things I'm glad my kids (hopefully) will never have to suffer through:

Catching the Chicken Pox
Using a Fax Machine
Dial-Up Internet
Acid-Wash Jeans
MS-DOS
And the worst of the worst: 
Having to Type Up Their College Applications One-By-Excruciating-One

What I Learned From Reading "Bossypants"

To all my funny and fiercely intelligent (yet awkward) friends from back in our Middle School days, here's something you should know: Tiny Fey is one of us!

She's an ex-geek, but she had just enough going on that she didn't end up a total loser. She took the pain and ostracism she experienced in her tween and teen years, mined it for material, and turned in into comedic gold.

The first thing I learned from reading Tina Fey's book Bossypants is how to prevent your dorky kid from getting so bullied that you have to switch school districts. Here's what Tina suggests. Your nerd spawn must:

1. Have a sense of humor;
2. Have a friend--just one is necessary, but it's preferable that he's gay;
3. Find one thing that he or she is good at.

I also learned how to raise a daughter who is "an achievement-oriented, drug-free, adult virgin" (something that all parents of girls want). Your daughter must experience and/or have:

1. Bad skin;
2. A childhood calamity (Tina Fey's face was slashed by a stranger);
3. A ridiculous amount of parental praise;
4. Involvement in local theater;
3. A strong father-figure/fear thereof.

Ms. Fey didn't lose her virginity until she was well into her twenties. Now, I certainly wouldn't wish a childhood calamity on my little princess, but nor do I want her starring in the 20th season of 16 and Pregnant. So I'm pretty much willing to try any old cockamamie idea if it might possibly spare my babygirl heartbreak and STDs.

I also learned that Tina Fey is a true child of the 1980's, as evidenced by this photo:

Tina Fey, 1988

As Tina explains, buying this white denim suit is the moment she associates with entering womanhood:

I bought it with my own money under the advisement of my cool friend Sandee. I wore it to Senior Awards Night 1988, where it blew people's minds as I accepted the Sunday School Scholorship. That turned-up collar. The jacket that zipped all the way down the front into a nice fitted shape. 

That's hard-core 80's right there.

I would recommend Bossypants to serious Tina Fey fans only. It's an amusing look at this talented lady's childhood, with anecdotes that anyone raised in the late 70's-early 80's will relate to. She also provides some interesting insider information: After 9/11, when Anthrax was found at 30 Rock (where SNL is based) Ms. Fey, who was then head writer and "Weekend Update" co-anchor, walked out and didn't return until Lorne Michaels sweet-talked her back.

But the book contains no real groundbreaking info, unless you consider the fact that Sarah Palin, when she appeared on SNL, offered her daughter Bristol to babysit Tina's toddler groundbreaking.

Don't pay full-price for the hardcover, but if you can get it from your local library, I promise you won't regret it: it's a great beach-read or a the perfect airplane companion. If you are a Tina Fey fan, don't miss it.

Remember When "Being Green" Referred to Kermit the Frog?

 Anonymous Artist, 1971

Back in the 70's when I was a kid, there was plenty of talk about "ecological awareness" and "conservation." My elementary school even had a tree-planting ceremony every year on Earth Day (or was it Arbor Day?). But compared to nowadays, these efforts seem quaint in hindsight. Towns didn't have recycling programs back then, and cars were worse gas guzzlers (though there were fewer of them on the road). People might've looked outward at how they could help "Save the World" but no one really looked at their own lives and tried to "Go Green" on a daily basis. It was all macro, not micro. The oil crisis and protesting hippies did manage to raise consciousness about the state of the environment but for most people, helping meant signing petitions or sending a yearly check to Greenpeace.

80's Extravagance

Then came the 80's: OUR decade, the one in which we came of age. We were bombarded with "greed is good," "conspicuous consumption," "bigger is better," neon, shoulder pads, and Aqua Net. Hardly earthy-crunchy stuff. Recycling was certainly something I was aware of, but American culture at the time did not applaud or reward conservation. It was pretty much BUY BUY BUY! MORE MORE MORE!

Now it's GREEN GREEN GREEN all the time. Don't get me wrong, I am all for saving Mother Earth. We recycle, I tote my water in a reusable bottle, bring my own bags to the grocery store, and we've held off purchasing a second car (my husband bikes to the train station). Also, I figure the fact that I lived for ten years in Manhattan--a Manhattanite's carbon footprint being 30% less than the average American--has earned me some green brownie points.

So what if I use disposable diapers, toxic RAID, and energy-sucking halogen bulbs? Kill me already. I feel guilty sometimes, especially when I'm around moms who use cloth diapers and drive hybrids, but I try not to beat myself up. I could be a lot worse. And Kermit said it best: "It's not easy being Green."