When Music Television was Music Television

This weekend I’ve been trolling the music videos of YouTube and reliving the golden age of music videos and MTV, which for me was the 80’s and 90’s.

MTV was an amazing thing for me. I was a junior in high school when we moved in town and got cable. For the first time in my life we got more than 4 channels. In fact, my mom went hog wild at first and we had everything, Showtime, HBO, Cinemax, MTV and so on.

I had seen MTV briefly when visiting a friend of my mother’s in NYC. The first video I ever saw was (warning all the following links put you into a music video that will start up once you click) Phil Collin’s “You can’t Hurry Love.” I loved every moment. The radio stations where I grew up were somewhat limited in both selection and range, so generally I didn’t listen very often. Combine that and the fact that I’m a visual person who loves movies and you have a match made in heaven.

So I became a bit of an MTV junky during the remainder of my high school years and all throughout college. At that point in time (the 80’s) MTV really and truly was music television. Larry wasn’t nearly the fan I was. He preferred music without the visuals; sometimes they would detract from the song or would be completely different from what he envisioned. I, however, was happy as a clam to let all the images wash right over me. Larry does have a point, but I love watching movies and these were little bite-sized movies.

Anyway I was very excited to find that Roxy Music and Bryan Ferry are well represented on YouTube. I adore Roxy Music. Larry introduced me to them and I have been a big fan ever since. Their videos were always a treat, gorgeous visuals with beautiful songs. I think Bryan Ferry is one of the most underrated romantic singers. He just makes me melt. I found and old favorite this weekend, Slave to Love, and a little treasure that was unknown to me, Price of Love.

Larry and I even got to see Bryan Ferry during the Mamouna tour in 1994 in Milwaukee. I think it was the Pabst Theater, all I do remember was that it was a jewel of a venue done in the style of an opera house. Bryan Ferry was in fine form and you could tell that he was enjoying his surroundings. It was a fabulous evening with my husband.