I Want My Mtv!

So Mtv's 25. That makes me a very old kid I guess. I was definitely raised on Mtv and let me tell you that was a happy childhood. Looking at some of these videos they seem a little cheesy to the more jaded of us but I think they're as cool as I did then. And as a kid watching this I just thought that when I was a grown up the world was going to be that cool too.

I'm watching VH1 Classic's replay of the first day of programming which I actually didn't see because we didn't have Mtv from the beginning. I don't think it was available here right away. Just looking at Pat Benatar it just takes you back to what I believe was a better time. I mean I remember adults complaining about Ronald Reagan and I knew we could blow up any second. Prince said so in "1999" and Sting made it super clear in "Russians" and Simon Lebon thought that someone was about as easy as a nuclear war which didn't sound very nice. And somehow they all made me happy about it. Maybe it was because they all looked so good at the time. But these mini-musicals that we watched religiously every day after school gave us something to sing about and to dance to. So the world seemed like a great place. I'd go back there in a second. Even the weirder songs like "Fishheads", "99 Luftballoons", and "Mexican Radio" seem like old friends. And how about all those creepy little kids like the girl in The Art of Noise video for "Close to the Edit"? Where did they go? I miss them all.

So I'd like to thank all those people who made my childhood so happy even if some of them aren't with us anymore. Thank you Mark Goodman, J.J. Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn. Thank you to all the singers and bands who inspired me as a kid, especially, Culture Club, Wham!, U2, INXS, Depeche Mode, Tears For Fears, Michael Jackson, Madonna, Cyndi Lauper, the Police, Corey Hart, John (Cougar) Mellencamp, Fleetwood Mac, The Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Tina Turner, David Bowie, Don Henley, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Run D.M.C., The Beastie Boys, L.L. Cool J, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam, Prince & the Revolution, Sheila E., Weird Al Yankovic, Grace Jones, Eurythmics, Survivor, Phil Collins, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, ABC, Adam Ant, Falco, A-ha, Mr. Mister, The Hooters, Level 42, The Fine Young Cannibals, the Human League, Howard Jones, Samantha Fox, Night Ranger, the Clash, Bruce Springsteen, Def Leppard, Mötley Cruë, RATT, Poison, Bon Jovi, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Foreigner, Loverboy, Berlin, Chicago, Donna Summer, Heart, Hall & Oates, Kenny Loggins, Bryan Adams, Scorpions, Styx, Journey, Pat Benatar, Rick Springfield, Billy Idol, Queen, and first and foremost Duran Duran. I love you guys.