Happy 30th, MTV!

Music Television hits the big three-oh today.

I was twelve when MTV debuted, and though we didn't have cable in our neck of the 'burbs, the impression I got was that it was immediately cool. Instead I settled for watching NBC's Friday Night Videos, and locally, REV on Seattle's NBC affiliate. When we did get cable in our area, there was still no MTV, so I got my video fix from Radio 1990 and Night Flight on USA and Night Tracks on SuperStation WTBS. Then when we did finally get MTV in 1986, it was nonstop Licensed to Ill-era Beastie Boys. (At the time I was obsessed with Late Night with David Letterman, and I remember him joking about how we must fight for our inalienable, God-given right to party.) Plus it was all Bon Jovi and Whitesnake and U2 until I left home for college in 1987. I didn't have the opportunity to watch regularly again until 1993, when it was all grunge, Beavis and Butt-Head, and The Real World, and later in the '90s I dug Sifl & Olly. But I haven't had cable since 1998 and I don't give a shit about what's on there now.
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