I Want My MTV

The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution

By: Craig Marks, Rob Tannenbaum

Narrated by: Luke Daniels

Length: 20 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Remember the first time you saw Michael Jackson dance with zombies in "Thriller"? Diamond Dave karate kick with Van Halen in "Jump"? Tawny Kitaen turning cartwheels on a Jaguar to Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again"? The Beastie Boys spray beer in "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party)"? Axl Rose step off the bus in "Welcome to the Jungle"?

Remember when all you wanted was your MTV?

It was a pretty radical idea - a channel for teenagers, showing nothing but music videos. It was such a radical idea that almost no one thought it would actually succeed, much less become a force in the worlds of music, television, film, fashion, sports, and even politics. But it did work. MTV became more than anyone had ever imagined.

I Want My MTV tells the story of the first decade of MTV, the golden era when MTV's programming was all videos, all the time, and kids watched religiously to see their favorite bands, learn about new music, and have something to talk about at parties. From its start in 1981 with a small cache of videos by mostly unknown British new wave acts to the launch of the reality-television craze with The Real World in 1992, MTV grew into a tastemaker, a career maker, and a mammoth business.

Featuring interviews with nearly 400 artists, directors, VJs, and television and music executives, I Want My MTV is a testament to the channel that changed popular culture forever.

©2012 Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum (P)2012 Brilliance Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"This colorful oral history of MTV’s early years doesn’t pull punches or waste time. A relentlessly entertaining book, an endlessly quotable volume." ( The Onion)

"Wildly entertaining. Music and culture fans of a certain age - you will want this book." ( The Washington Post)

"Here’s all the dirt on MTV’s early days, in one of the funniest books ever written about pop music." ( Rolling Stone)

Great Story - Not Enough Narrators

Great story about the origin and early days of MTV. The narration was well done but it would have been nice to have more than one person doing it because the book is mostly a collection of interviews and short quotes. At the very least it would have been great to have a woman reading the female quotes. Otherwise this was great.

A good book that doesn’t really get too deep

This is an odd audiobook because 90% of it is quotes from people involved with MTV so you have to pay attention to know who said what. A little too much about drugs and parties, not enough about the stories behind the channel, but still interesting.

Great tour down memory lane!

Enjoyed hearing the behind-the-scenes story. Now I’m going back and watching some of the old videos.

All the dirt

If you could sum up I Want My MTV in three words, what would they be?

I grew up watching MTV and while I was not as addicted to it as some of my friends, remember how it changed us all. This audio is filled with all the key players accounts and fills in all the secrets. Many laughs!

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Laugh

I didn't want it to end!

This book is told in snippets of quotes from people who were there in the beginning years of MTV. It shouldn't work. But it does. I honestly was bummed when it ended. I am of the MTV generation, and it was enlightening learning about how the networked started and how it helped -- and sometimes hurt -- music. Fascinating.

Fascinating Exploration of MTV!

I Want My MTV was a wonderful exploration of the beginning decade of MTV with thoughts and recollections from many who were there behind the scenes, in front of the camera as well as the artists whose music videos they played. It went deep, explaining so much about how the channel began focusing on all things music only to betray that mission statement a decade later with Remote Control, Real World and so many other non music programming that largely destroyed their musical credibility. In the end, MTV's bosses wanted political clout, social influence and the almighty advertising dollar more than being true to themselves, the MUSIC and the many musicians, artists and record labels that gave them their programming for free. A must listen!

Your Internal Jukebox

When I was growing up, we didn't get paid TV until the early 90's, so MTV wasn't so much apart of my childhood, but each week, I turned into MV3 with Richard Blade on channel 9 and watched my favorite videos. I can still remember watching Legs by ZZ Top for the very first time during my peak of my puberty. I still get semi erect when I watch that video to this day because you are only 13 once.

When my parents finally got paid TV, I would come home everyday and be glued to the idiot box and watch TRL. I absolutely loved that show. At the time, my favorite video was Are You That Somebody by the late artist, Aaliyah. She was so hot!!!

"I Want My MTV" is an awesome book. When I first started the audiobook, I was getting a bit annoyed because there must be a thousand names commenting their experience on the network. I was ready to rate the book poor, but as I kept listening, my internal jukebox started going off and soon I was humming the songs that they were referring to, like Duran Duran, Girls On Film.

I haven't watched MTV for well over a decade because they never show music videos anymore. Just because I'm a lot older now, it doesn't mean that I don't like new music. MTV and music videos was great because that is how I discovered new bands to rock out to. Now, there is no TV network for music videos.

Read this book and you will reignite your internal jukebox.

A book for anyone into 80s music

First review I have ever written. This book is awesome especially for someone who remembers when and where they were the first time they saw a rock video on MTV. It’s a little confusing remembering all the inside people involved in the early years of the network. A laugh out loud book for those who lived through an era of total excess. Makes me wanna say I WANT MY MTV BACK!!!!!!!!!!!!

I still want my MTV

I greatly enjoyed this book. My friends and I were in our early 20s when MTV first hit our TV and watching MTV was a weekend party starter and this phenomenon is even mentioned in the book. The reason I say that is I don't quite understand all the credit this book gives MTV for defining youth culture. But this is a book review and specifically an Audible review and not an excuse for an old man to ramble. The book content is great telling the story of the birth and death of music television. And the performance is good. No phony accents or or other acting. Just a very listenable reading. It took me a while to catch on to the method the story is told, almost entirely of interview quotes. But once I got the rhythm of it, it made perfect sense.

A hard shot of reality with a chaser of nostalgia

I had my own conclusions for why MTV is so far removed from music, but it turns out that it isn't as simple as one answer. The Real World is a big factor, but it's also the greed of the record labels, changing cultural tastes, technology, and other things too.

This was all a bit before my time. When I started paying attention to MTV, it was program blocks like liquid television and Beavis & Butt-Head. The gen-X crowd had a different experience with MTV and this is their story from their own words, with some boomer suits who ran the business aspect of it.

With the format of an oral history, it's best suited in print (or digital) but for audio, it's a lot of name and quote, name and quote, name and quote, and then explain the next chapter before resuming that format. It's not a bad listen, just not something anyone Ideally writes for an audiobook later.

There's definitely plenty here for anyone interested in the golden age of MTV, and how things were shaken up by the early 90's with the network finally embracing hip hop over a decade after it started, and Nirvana pushing grunge into the mainstream. After that, the cheesy hair metal that built MTV was laughable at best.

It's fun to hear about how much Michael Jackson and Madonna made music videos into high art and caused so much controversy. Hearing about the rise of David Fincher and Michael Bay, who never did see eye to eye, even back then. The lasting influence that's felt to this day.

For all the rose tinted glasses, there are enough hard truths, especially how the 80's weren't as fun as we like to remember. For me, it was Nintendo and ninja turtles. So there is a lot of leveling your expectations, but just enough added nostalgia to soften the blow. The book doesn't want to be cynical, nor does it want to create a narrative that didn't really exist.

As for the narrator, he's a professional, it's a 20 hour listen and he doesn't get grating to listen to, but it's also difficult without interviews from hundreds of people, trying to adjust to their voices, and you'll get some of the usual jarring moments where there's a black person who likes to drop the n word, and this guy is doing the accent and all. Not the best look. But it's fine for the most part, he doesn't sound too out of place.