I Want My MTV: A Collection Of Nostalgic Complaints

By Brenna Chase

This month, Total Request Live ends its ten year run, marking the end of the oldest show still running on MTV and the end of “music” content on the channel for good. Everyone who grew up in the 90s has their memories of the viewer-controlled, top-ten-music-video-countdown, but was it ever really that great? Though the concept of TRL was geared to encourage viewers to vote like crazy to see their favorite video, it rarely showed music videos in their entirety. The show always lacked a much-needed charismatic host (did anybody ever like Carson Daly?). And while I started tuning in every day after school once the show premiered, I stopped watching years before the network (ironically) began pre-taping half of the week’s “live” episodes. I actually agree with MTV’s decision—a rare occurrence these days—to pull the show off the air. TRL sucks, and it has sucked for a long time. So why is it such a shame to see it go?
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John Hodgman in Atlanta: There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Tuxedo

By Adam McIntyre

“What’s going on here?”
“John Hodgman. It’s a book reading.”
“Never heard of him. What’s he do?”
“Um. . . well, he’s a minor television celebrity.”
“He has a show?”
“Well. . . no. He’s on shows.”
“He’s on a show? Like what?”
“Well have you seen The Daily Show?”
“No.”
“Well he’s reading from his book.”
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Divas In Disguise: Top Five Most Misguided Phases of Musicians

By Emily C.

5. Spinal Tap does jazz fusion (from This is Spinal Tap)
“On the bass. . . Derek Smalls. . . he wrote this. . . “
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The First Synthpop Song, Part Three

By Less Lee Moore

In the July/August 2008 issue of Popshifter, I attempted to answer the question, “What was the first synthop song?” Not being able to resolve the quandary quite so easily in one article, I delved further into the issue in our September/October issue.
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Entirely a Matter for You: Peter Cook

By Emily C.

Forget the distressing manner of his death, and his sometimes shambolic, disheveled appearances on 1980s and early 1990s British television: for me, Peter Cook is the pinnacle of elegance and style in the English comedy canon. I was reminded of this upon finding 1970s interviews of Peter from the TV chat show, Parkinson, on YouTube.
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Television Verité: Degrassi High

By Jesse Roth

A few years ago, I found myself home during a break from college happily engaging in my two of my favorite pastimes: grazing in the kitchen while watching way too much TV. I used this particular break to become re-acquainted with the television shows that I adored in my childhood; ones that had recently made their way into the lineup on a digital cable channel then known as Noggin. As part of their block of evening and late-night programming (known as “The N”), the channel showcased my personal favorites such as Clarissa Explains It All and The Adventures of Pete and Pete. Later hours were devoted to even older classics such as The Electric Company, a show that predated my childhood (and thus my nostalgia radar) by at least a decade. Nonetheless, I now had the chance to watch and find out what I had missed out on by being born too late.
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Electric Six, Flashy

By Christian Lipski

I remember when Electric Six (E6) was explained to others as “that band that did the Gay Bar song for that video with the kittens.” Now, of course, they’re “that band that did the Gay Bar song for that video with the kittens which you may not remember.” This is through no fault of their own, of course; E6 are hilarious and fun and at times amazing, but their label certainly doesn’t have the sheer cash-power to compete with the Top 40 acts. Thanks to the Internet, though, they’re well-known and loved by hipsters, geeks, and perverts the world over.

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London Triad, 1987: Sigue Sigue Sputnik, The The, Fuzzbox

By Christian Lipski

Twenty-two years ago I was in my freshman year of college, and my friend Mark and I decided to spend two weeks of our winter break in London. We were both huge music fans: Mark was a Beatles expert and I followed David Bowie, so London was Music Mecca for us. Pictures of me from the trip show a plastic shopping bag always at my side, full of tapes for my Walkman. My headphones were nearly always on, pumping a steady diet of British sounds into my brain. Adam Ant, Gary Numan, Bowie, Rolling Stones. . . the bag was very heavy.
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Must-See-TV: The Eighties

By Kaye Telle

Say what you will about the eighties, but the explosion of music videos and competition with new cable stations made for some good television. Growing up in the midwest (pre-alternative rock) one felt completely isolated if they didn’t take a Journey to the river Styx on the R.E.O. Speedwagon. Looking back I can only chuckle at my gumption in pointlessly arguing the merits of Devo’s cover of “Satisfaction.” But alone with the TV after school, there were these crazy kids in California who understood. I can remember looking at the clock while snapping my watermelon Bubble Yum during school, ticking down the minutes until I could go home and watch my compatriots on MV3. Late at night and into the early morning hours on weekends, strange short films and more music beamed over the wires via a show on the USA Network called Night Flight. And I thought: I am not alone. An awful lot of cool things happened in that decade—and many of them happened on the boob tube.
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Madness, Madness

By Jimmy Ether

The second British invasion hit me squarely between the eyes in 1983. Having just been graced with the glowing electric love of cable (and, as a result, MTV), I was transfixed by Kevin Rowland and his rag-tag overall-clad crew dancing in the streets to “Come on Eileen.” Dexys Midnight Runners was my first visual splash of Great Britain, and while I had grown up listening to healthy amounts of my Dad’s Brit-rock, I never really geographically separated The Beatles from The Beach Boys or The Who from Aerosmith. But, with video, the contrast was sharp.
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