August is a big month for birthdays in my family. My birthday is in August as is my father’s, grandfather’s, two cousins and a niece. (All Leos!) But, we aren’t the only ones celebrating milestones in August—tomorrow MTV turns 25.
But, don’t look for the popular music television station to be hosting a massive bash to mark the occasion. Network officials say there will be no party. In fact, there are no plans to even mention the birthday on air. Insiders speculate that “when your average viewer is 20 years old – too young to remember Martha Quinn and not even born when Madonna buckled on her “boy toy” belt – perhaps it’s wise not to mention you’re 25.”
So, no streamers… no balloons… no Jessica Simpson jumping out of a cake. But, that doesn’t mean that I can’t take a moment to reminisce. After all, I was a part of the original MTV generation. And if you think about it where would reality TV be without MTV’s “The Real World?” Or the Osbournes, for that matter.
There’s no question MTV has made a mark on society over the past quarter century.
Here are a few of my most memorable MTV moments:
THE FIRST VIDEO
“Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles aired on August 1, 1981… and the rest is history, right? Believe it or not, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it. That all changed a few years later when millions of kids demanded their parents “buy cable so they could get their MTV.”
THRILLER
I can’t tell you how many times I have seen this video—since its debut on MTV on December 2, 1983. It’s been described as less a video than a “14-minute mini-movie with Vincent Price, ghouls and goblins.” Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” was an event in our house (my mom even stopped to watch) and it fueled the argument that music videos were works of art.
MADONNA
If anyone should be giving MTV a big, fat birthday present it is Madonna (who happens to be born on my birthday—another Leo). On September 14, 1984 the video vixen performed “Like a Virgin” at the first MTV Video Music Awards. She popped out of a cake dressed in a wedding gown, rolled around on stage and became a superstar.
NO MORE VJs
Can you name the original video jocks? J.J. Jackson left in 1985. Nina Blackwood followed him out the next year, as did Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter and Mark Goodman. Only Adam Curry lasted into the ’90s (maybe it was his hair). With the departure of the VJs MTV started phasing out of the music-only format and started to develop other programming.
REALITY WORLD
June 23, 1992—it’s a date I will never forget. I was on break from college and tuned into a new MTV program called “The Real World.” Seven strangers living in a camera-filled New York City loft… it didn’t get any better than that. The show became ground zero for reality TV. Do you remember Pedro Zamora (a gay roommate on the San Francisco season who died of AIDS)? I along with millions of other who watched MTV document his struggles will never forget.
The reality TV hits continued with the introduction of “Newlyweds” in August of 2003. I watched (along with millions of others) as Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey navigated through marital bliss. Who could have imagined that the lovebirds would be divorced less than three years later?
What is your favorite MTV moment?