For those of us who grew up in the ’80s, MTV VJs had one of the greatest jobs on the planet.
They interviewed rock stars. They traveled to concerts. They hung out backstage. They introduced the videos we couldn’t wait to see.
And occasionally, apparently, they ended up in Red Square with Sebastian Bach.
Adam Curry experienced all of it.
In this classic Stuck in the ’80s interview, the former MTV VJ shares stories from his years at Music Television — including adventures with Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, an appearance in Madonna’s Truth or Dare and a memorable feud with Richard Marx.
There’s another reason this conversation is special to us: Adam Curry was only the second celebrity we ever interviewed on Stuck in the ’80s.
No pressure there.
Adam Curry Joins MTV
Curry joined MTV in 1987, during an era when the network could have an enormous impact on an artist’s career.
This was MTV when the “M” still very much stood for music.
Curry became a familiar face on the network, interviewing artists and hosting shows including Headbangers Ball. With his spectacularly appropriate late-’80s hair, he also looked like he could have stepped directly out of one of the videos he was introducing.
But the job also gave Curry a front-row seat to some wonderfully strange moments in pop-culture history.
And he remembers plenty of them.
Adam Curry and Sebastian Bach Go to Moscow
Among Curry’s stories is an adventure involving Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach in Moscow.
Curry traveled to the Soviet Union and ended up visiting Red Square with Bach during the waning years of the Cold War.
There is something beautifully absurd about the image.
For decades, Americans had been taught to regard Red Square as the symbolic center of our great geopolitical adversary.
Then the late ’80s arrived and we sent over an MTV VJ and the lead singer of Skid Row.
Take that, communism.
In our interview, Curry remembers the trip and what it was like experiencing Moscow during an extraordinary period of change.
How Adam Curry Ended Up in Madonna’s Truth or Dare
Then there’s Madonna.
Curry makes an appearance in Madonna’s 1991 documentary Truth or Dare, the famously revealing look behind the scenes of her Blond Ambition World Tour.
The movie arrived just outside our normal ’80s boundaries, but when a former MTV VJ wants to tell us a Madonna story, we’re not going to stop him because the calendar says 1991.
Curry explains how he ended up in the movie and shares his memories of being around one of the biggest pop stars on the planet at the height of her fame.
What Happened Between Adam Curry and Richard Marx?
And then things get a little testy.
Curry also revisits his feud with Richard Marx, whose late-’80s hits included “Hold On to the Nights,” “Satisfied” and “Right Here Waiting.”
The two had a very public falling out, giving us a reminder that celebrity arguments existed long before X, Instagram and Facebook made it possible for the rest of us to watch them unfold in real time.
Curry gives us his side of the story and explains what happened between the MTV personality and one of the biggest pop-rock singers of the era.
Apparently, Richard wasn’t right there waiting for Adam with a peace offering.
From MTV VJ to Podcasting Pioneer
Curry’s story becomes even more interesting after he leaves MTV.
Years later, he became one of the central figures in the early development of podcasting, earning the nickname “Podfather” for his role in helping develop and popularize the medium.
Which makes him a particularly significant guest in Stuck in the ’80s history.
When we interviewed Curry, our podcast was still brand new. We were figuring out what this whole podcasting thing was and whether anyone would actually listen.
Then, for our second celebrity interview ever, we landed one of the people who helped make podcasting possible in the first place.
No big deal.
Only slightly intimidating.
Listen to Our Classic Adam Curry Interview
Revisiting this conversation now is like opening a time capsule inside another time capsule.
It’s an early episode of Stuck in the ’80s featuring one of MTV’s best-known VJs telling stories about an era when Music Television really could shape pop culture — and when Adam Curry somehow found himself crossing paths with everyone from Madonna and Richard Marx to Sebastian Bach.
And all these years later, Curry is still behind a microphone.
So are we.
Apparently this podcasting thing caught on.