I've been watching on and off all weekend. It's mesmerizing. I saw a clip of Dennis Miller's monologue at the 93 Inaugural Ball, before he went around the bend. And in the early days, there were a lot of stilted interviews. Those mid-80s VJs didn't quite know how to ask a question that didn't answer as yes or no. Super-fun blast from the past.
Me too; been DVRing as well. Currently watching "Hour 6" - led off with U2 at Live Aid (you can see the beginnings of The Edge's bald spot during "Bad!"), leading into a Ben Stiller Show parody of the rooftop "Where the Streets Have No Name" video. Now it's "Parents Just Don't Understand." Saw the Madonna "Like a Virgin" at the VMAs earlier too. Definitely showing the kids "Thriller" tomorrow, too.
Question for the relative oldheads like me: Do you remember the first video you saw on MTV? Mine was "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work.
I was so excited when I heard Real World 3 voices this weekend. I wish MTV would do stuff like this more often. Early Real World is infinitely better than anything they have on now, including the Real World.
My small town didn't get cable for a while so we had to watch Friday Night Videos on network. One of the first was Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran and Take Me Home by Phil Collins.
Given the rest of my upbringing (which, at least as I recall it, involved constantly lagging behind what everyone else had), it is shocking for me to realize how early we had cable. We originally had one of the analog push button boxes, then for many years we had a settop box with the manual channel changing dial, which you could hack to unscramble the pay channels by using a folded 3x5 card. Let's just say that if one of those boxes existed today, I could get you your unscrambled Cinemax in under ten seconds.
We had one of those boxes too. It had a cord that connected it to the TV, and you could get extra channels by pushing two of the buttons at the same time.
Given that I did not have parents who spent a lot of money, it's remarkable how early we had cable. My dad was an old movie buff, so we had cable much earlier than many of my friends.
That said, I can't remember the first video I saw.
Billie Jean or Beat It. We were surprisingly early adopters as well -- not usually our family's thing. For example, I am fairly sure that I saw Star Wars in the last theater still showing it in St. Louis -- in the spring of 1978.
I can't remember the first video I saw, but I remember the first movie I saw on HBO. It was "Kiss Me Goodbye" with Sally Field, James Caan and Jeff Bridges, and I watched it again and again - I think I was fascinated by how often it was on and how much I could watch it. I still have lots of fondness for that movie.
I've been watching on and off all weekend. It's mesmerizing. I saw a clip of Dennis Miller's monologue at the 93 Inaugural Ball, before he went around the bend. And in the early days, there were a lot of stilted interviews. Those mid-80s VJs didn't quite know how to ask a question that didn't answer as yes or no. Super-fun blast from the past.
ReplyDeleteMe too; been DVRing as well. Currently watching "Hour 6" - led off with U2 at Live Aid (you can see the beginnings of The Edge's bald spot during "Bad!"), leading into a Ben Stiller Show parody of the rooftop "Where the Streets Have No Name" video. Now it's "Parents Just Don't Understand." Saw the Madonna "Like a Virgin" at the VMAs earlier too. Definitely showing the kids "Thriller" tomorrow, too.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for the relative oldheads like me: Do you remember the first video you saw on MTV? Mine was "Who Can It Be Now?" by Men at Work.
She Blinded Me With Science. Thomas Dolby.
ReplyDeleteLooks like I picked the wrong week to go to a beach house without cable. D'oh!
I was so excited when I heard Real World 3 voices this weekend. I wish MTV would do stuff like this more often. Early Real World is infinitely better than anything they have on now, including the Real World.
ReplyDeleteMy small town didn't get cable for a while so we had to watch Friday Night Videos on network. One of the first was Hungry Like the Wolf by Duran Duran and Take Me Home by Phil Collins.
ReplyDeleteI will always watch the SF or Hawaii seasons if they re-air.
ReplyDeleteMine was "City is Burning" by Heart. I have, to my knowledge, never heard it on the radio.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the very first, but two that stick out as songs I pretty much only heard on MTV in its early days were:
ReplyDeleteMexican Radio by Wall of Voodoo
Cars by Gary Numan
"She's A Beauty," The Tubes, but it was on a local music video show. We didn't have cable that soon.
ReplyDeleteGiven the rest of my upbringing (which, at least as I recall it, involved constantly lagging behind what everyone else had), it is shocking for me to realize how early we had cable. We originally had one of the analog push button boxes, then for many years we had a settop box with the manual channel changing dial, which you could hack to unscramble the pay channels by using a folded 3x5 card. Let's just say that if one of those boxes existed today, I could get you your unscrambled Cinemax in under ten seconds.
ReplyDeleteWe had one of those boxes too. It had a cord that connected it to the TV, and you could get extra channels by pushing two of the buttons at the same time.
ReplyDeleteGiven that I did not have parents who spent a lot of money, it's remarkable how early we had cable. My dad was an old movie buff, so we had cable much earlier than many of my friends.
That said, I can't remember the first video I saw.
Billie Jean or Beat It. We were surprisingly early adopters as well -- not usually our family's thing. For example, I am fairly sure that I saw Star Wars in the last theater still showing it in St. Louis -- in the spring of 1978.
ReplyDeleteI remember helping my sister fill out and mail many, many postcards to try and win that Bon Jovi contest.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember the first video I saw, but I remember the first movie I saw on HBO. It was "Kiss Me Goodbye" with Sally Field, James Caan and Jeff Bridges, and I watched it again and again - I think I was fascinated by how often it was on and how much I could watch it. I still have lots of fondness for that movie.
ReplyDelete