Introduction xiii
Gavin Edwards
1 Got My Back against the Record Machine / Close Encounters with David Lee Roth
1(8)
2 Changes Come around Real Soon, Make Us Women and Men / Life before MTV
9(21)
3 Welcome to Your Life / MTV Hires the VJs
30(9)
4 Step Right Up and Don't Be Shy / MTV Blasts Off
39(6)
5 Let's Make Lots of Money / Contracts and Paychecks
45(5)
6 There's Always Something Happening and It's Usually Quite Loud / The First Days of MTV
50(8)
7 Don't Talk to Strangers / The Wages of Semi-Fame
58(8)
8 Sometimes You Tell the Day by the Bottle That You Drink / Life in Hell's Kitchen
66(3)
9 Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride / Early Triumphs and Tribulations
69(11)
10 Here in My Car, I Feel Safest of All / Rental Cars and Limousines
80(4)
11 I Hope That When This Issue's Gone, I'll See You When Your Clothes Are On / Nude Photographs
84(4)
12 I'm a Cool Rocking Daddy in the U.S.A. Now / The Mighty J. J. Jackson
88(11)
13 Hot in the City / New York City Serenade
99(9)
14 Throw Your Arms around the World at Christmastime / Christmas Songs and New Year's Eve Shows
108(7)
15 Take My Tears and That's Not Nearly All / Romance and Its Dis
115(4)
16 I'll Kick You Out of My Home If You Don't Cut That Hair / Makeup and Hairstyles
119(6)
17 And Now You Find Yourself in '82 / Early MTV Videos-a-Go-Go
125(8)
18 I Know There's Something Going On / Alan and Martha's Dangerous Game
133(4)
19 Things Can Only Get Better / Cable TV's Potholes and Pitfalls
137(7)
20 I Spend My Cash on Looking Flash and Grabbing Your Attention / Fashibn in the 1980s
144(6)
21 She's Precocious and She Knows Just What It Takes to Make a Pro Blush /Martha Quinn, America's Sweetheart
150(5)
22 They Told Him Don't You Ever Come 'Round Here / The Irresistible Rise of Michael Jackson
155(5)
23 I Might Like You Better If We Slept Together / Celebrity Flirtations and Liaisons
160(7)
24 You Must Be My Lucky Star /Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone
167(4)
25 Every Time I Think of You, I Always Catch My Breath / Romance and Regret with John Waite
171(3)
26 That's My Soul Up There / MTV Hits the Road
174(6)
27 I've Seen You on the Beach and I've Seen You on TV / The Cultural Impact of MTV
180(5)
28 I Want to Be the One to Walk in the Sun / The Most Unusual Miss Cyndi Laup'er
185(6)
29 You Play the Guitar on the MTV / Heavy Metal Thunder
191(4)
30 You May Find Yourself in a Beautiful House with a Beautiful Wife / Mark and Carol
195(5)
31 My Beacon's Been Moved under Moon and Star / MTV Heads Uptown
200(8)
32 Jokerman Dance to the Nightingale Tune / Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan
208(6)
33 The Kids in America / MTV Contests' Winners and Losers
214(8)
34 I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me / Celebrity and Its Consequences
222(6)
35 What a Pity You Don't Understand / The VJs Versus MTV Management
228(4)
36 I Said to the Man, "Are You Trying to Tempt Me?" / White Lines
232(6)
37 I Was There to Match My Intellect on National TV / The Toughest Interviews
238(5)
38 There Comes a Time When We Heed a Certain Call / "We Ruined Live Aid"
243(9)
39 Love Is a Battlefield /Martha Meets Stiv Bator
252(4)
40 I Guess I Should Have Known by the Way You Parked Your Car Sideways That It Wouldn't Last./ The Final Days of Nina and J. J.
256(6)
41 The Kid Is Hot Tonight /Alan Hunter Coast to Coast
262(11)
42 I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight / Martha Finds True Love
273(3)
43 Every Now and Then I Get a Little Bit Nervous That the Best of All the Years Have Gone By / MTV Changes, Not Always for the Better
276(5)
44 The Five Years We Have Had Have Been Such Good Times /Martha Leaves MTV
281(3)
45 The Party Boys Call the Kremlin / Billy Joel in Russia
284(3)
46 I'm a Man Who Doesn't Know How to Sell a Contradiction / Introducing Kurt Loder
287(4)
47 We'll Be Moving on and Singing That Same Old Song / The Departure of Alan and Mark
291(5)
48 After the Fire, the Fire Still Burns / Life after MTV
296(11)
49 Don't You Forget about Me / R.I.P., J. J. Jackson
307(4)
50 We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far /Final Thoughts
311(2)
Endnotes 313(2)
Acknowledgments 315