MTV The 80’s

Last night, Shrew and I were left to our own devices in the Hell’s Kitchen chat room, since Music Maven had to leave. I happened to mention off-hand that I had shown my Big Girl the first MTV video I had ever seen when I was just about her age, and somehow 11:45 came around and we realized that we were still awake, slamming each other with our old favorites on YouTube! Whoops!

Anyway, I still remember the hype over our cable company bringing MTV to the masses…this new wave in music was a bit controversial in these here parts, so of course, every tween and teenager for miles around made sure that they tuned in the minute it came on. The impact was incredible! We would watch for hours and hours. That was back when MTV was all videos…a couple of minutes of news each hour, but otherwise all music all the time. (In fact, was that their motto?? I don’t remember… sounds familiar though.) I know I had never seen anything like it…it was an assault on the senses that we just didn’t get back then. Music pounding, images flashing, weird story lines, or lack of story lines that kept you wondering, “Whaaat????” We saw the band, whereas the artists had been faceless voices until then, unless of course, you had the good fortune to see them live. We emulated the clothes, the hairstyles…hung posters in our lockers of the “cute” ones from Teen Beat magazine. It was a revolution.

So I wanted to share this with my daughter…share the impact that visual music had on us at the time. The first video I ever saw was Duran Duran’s “Hungry Like the Wolf.” She was SO NOT impressed. I realized why. Kids today are bombarded with images all the time…fast moving, high speed, high def, with theatre quality sound…ALL THE TIME. This video was mild and poorly made compared to what they are used to now.

I was a little bit sad. What is left for our kids to get excited about? It takes more and more to top that which they are used to. In our family, we make time for the simple things. We play outside, the kids are into sports and healthy living, we spend quality family time playing board games, and going for bike rides, and camping. We make them “unplug” now and then. But, they are products of the multimedia generation, and I guess I wish I could see them mesmerized by something new, like we were when MTV came to be.

Anyway…let’s take a walk down memory lane. Feel free to add your own links in the comments! But beware, watch the clock. You could easily waste an afternoon here.

Hungry Like the Wolf-Duran Duran