Over the course of my lifetime MTV was invented, revitalized the music industry, made and lost huge record companies huge sums of money, created the massive appetite for reality television and has generally remained a pop culture touchstone. I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution by Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum explores the first ten years of MTV or as people like to call it, when MTV still played music videos.
I Want My MTV is an oral history so you get to hear the perspective of all sorts of people involved in the creation and success of the channel from MTV execs to musicians, music video directors, VJs and record company executives. Often two people will tell different versions of the same story depending on their perspective. The writers are very clever in their introductions to each chapter and how they put together the various sections with the differing perspectives. The book took me a long time to read because I kept having to go online to watch the videos they were referencing. It reminded me of moments from my childhood and songs that I had forgotten existed. It’s also fun to watch the videos knowing all the backstory going on behind the scenes.
This book is an entertaining and informative trip through MTV’s colorful past.
It also made me reflect on my favorite music videos from the first ten years:
Like a Prayer-Madonna (So naughty)
Fight For Your Right-Beastie Boys (like an 80s party movie)
Here I go Again-Whitesnake (how you can you resist this music video classic
Wanted Dead or Alive-Bon Jovi (so arty, I feel Jon’s pain)
Dancing in the Dark-Bruce Springsteen (Bruce loves singing, hates acting, looks uncomfortable)
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