Patch Readers Recall Their Earliest And Fondest Memories Of MTV

CONNECTICUT — On Saturday, Aug. 1, 1981, Ronald Reagan was in the second year of his presidency, Major League Baseball players culminated a 50-day strike and cable television was available in about 25 percent of American homes. At 12:01 a.m. that day, the viewing habits of millions of people began to change, with the launch of Music Television, or simply, MTV.

Initially, MTV broadcast music videos 24 hours a day, with "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles leading off, followed by "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar, a remake of an old Rascals hit. Soon, "I want my MTV" became a staple of the American lingo.

Patch editors in Hartford and Tolland counties asked readers late last week for their earliest recollections of the channel, as well as their favorite videos.

"Oh wow, yea those were the days," Allyson Waterman Costello wrote. "I can remember watching Friday Night Videos and then Headbangers Ball around and even before MTV. But my earliest memory of MTV is when they played non-stop music videos without even a show host or commercials. I can remember watching AC/DC, early Metallica and Megadeth along with Judas Priest. Shortly thereafter came VH-1 (Video Hits 1) and that channel played more of the top 40 stuff and the '80s softer rock too. But what a great memory thinking back to those days. I wasn’t even a teenager yet when MTV first launched, but was definitely watching it all through my teenage years. I quit it when it became too commercialized (late teens maybe?). Thanks for a great reminder of simpler times!"

Tammy Gdovin Privizzino wrote, "My sister and I stayed up all night when they first came on the air. We were trying to win Swatch watches. That was a great night for a 10 and 11 year old."

Jeffrey Williams wrote, "Watching "Downtown" Julie Brown. I remember seeing a lot of Def Leppard videos in the early days. Later on MTV they started showing Headbangers Ball."

Patch editor Chris Dehnel recalled, "It had to be the early 1980s when we first subscribed to a cable system in Fairfield County. My first reaction to seeing the MTV moonman and subsequent videos was, 'Wow, that's what the artists actually look like.' MTV gave us a chance to see music all day and the days of trying to stay awake on a Saturday night for Don Kirshner's Rock Concert and esoteric descriptions over the radio by Wolfman Jack were over. My first recollection of videos involved not only "Video Killed the Radio Star," but Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" and Iron Maiden's "Flight of Icarus." Oh, and "The Safety Dance.""

"We didn't get cable in Enfield until 1984, and it seems to me that "Rio" and "Hungry Like the Wolf" played about every other song," Patch editor Tim Jensen said.

Among the favorite videos mentioned by readers were:

• "Back Where You Belong" - .38 Special
• "Billie Jean" - Michael Jackson
• "Dancing In the Dark" - Bruce Springsteen
• "Fish Heads" - Barnes & Barnes
• "Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake
• "Hot For Teacher" - Van Halen
• "Lovin' Every Minute of It" - Loverboy
• "Money For Nothing" - Dire Straits
• "New Frontier" - Donald Fagen
• "Paranoimia" - The Art of Noise with Max Headroom
• "The Re-flex" - Duran Duran
• "Sharp Dressed Man" - ZZ Top
• "Smells Like Teen Spirit" - Nirvana
• "Take On Me" - a-ha
• "Thriller" - Michael Jackson
• "You Might Think" - The Cars

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