Which came first: The ’80s or MTV? You could take the strict calendar approach to this question, but you’re not thinking deeply enough. What do you honestly remember about our decade before MTV?
The launch of Music Television changed everything – it impacted and twisted the very DNA of pop culture. What we said, wore, saw and listened to – it all was influenced by MTV.
Chances are you weren’t watching when it flickered onto a handful of cable systems on Aug. 1, 1981, but none of us got out of the decade without hundreds – maybe thousands – of hours glued to the channel. Original veejays Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman, Nina Blackwood and J.J. Jackson became our wiser older brothers and sisters. Artists such as U2, Madonna, Michael Jackson and Duran Duran took the fledgling medium and turned it into a grand tapestry.
This summer here at Stuck in the ’80s marks the 16th anniversary of our podcast. And through the years, MTV and its original veejays continue to be our north star. We’ve been incredibly blessed to speak to all the surviving veejays. I still remember stammering through an introduction of Mark, Alan and Nina when they sat down with us to do a live podcast for our 500th episode. And I remember standing backstage together – pondering the forces in the universe that made this encounter possible.
To mark this 40th anniversary, here’s a chance to revisit those episodes. The links are below. I can’t thank our heroes enough for making the decade so special to us.
2007 interview with Martha Quinn
End of the ’80s with Martha Quinn (2009)
2013 interview with Nina Blackwood
2017 interview with Martha Quinn
2019 interview with Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman and Nina Blackwood