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Sparkle (2)
I was alive for four whole months before MTV existed.
Prince, Michael Jackson, Modonna, Aerosmith, Nirvana and Pearl were my youth. Not just listening to them. Seeing them. Living their music through the stories they told with their videos.
I got my news from Kurt Loder, social activism from Rock the Vote, dry humping skills from The Grind, tolerance from Real World, sex advice from Love Line, and my appreciation of sarcasm and being a social outcast from Daria.
First MTV Broadcast, Aug 1, 1981
In the mid-2000s, somewhere between college and my first child, I fell out of love with MTV.
I stopped appreciating it as the pioneer of modern music, and rather as the over-sexual shiller of plotless Real Worlds and mind numbing drunken reality shows.
I even think I accidentally saw Tonya from Real World Chicago in soft core porn when I was up at 2am with a screaming newborn mindlessly flipping through cable channels.
Now, I'd be lying if I didn't take a certain guilty pleasure in a weekend marathon of Engaged & Underage, Made, Real World/Road Rules Challenge, and True Life.
But as the years roll on, I recognize the Challenge cast members less and less, and the ones I do know, look like my dad. Jersey Shore leaves me needing a hot shower and an STD test, and Teen Mom, as much as I love a good train wreck, makes my stomach turn.
Perhaps it's because I'm a mother now, and I see past the high school drama and cheap mall jewelry store promise rings, and realize at what expense this is coming to the babies involved.
Maybe I'm just too old...
Regardless, Happy 30th Birthday, MTV. What a long, strange trip it's been. Thank you for some of the most poignant moments in pop culture history.
I still miss the music, though.
And Singled Out. Chris Hardwick was so fucking hot.
[Editor's Note: HELL YEAH HE WAS --Morgan]
____________
Brittany Gibbons
I say funny things.
