First published 2013
Nina Blackwood opens the vault on MTV's explosive first decade, when five video jockeys found themselves at ground zero of a cultural shift. From 1981 to 1987, Blackwood and her fellow VJs Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, Martha Quinn, and J.J. Jackson witnessed music television reshape an entire generation. The stories spill out in rapid succession. John Cougar lures Nina to what he calls a party but turns into a clumsy seduction. Mark finds himself doing cocaine with David Lee Roth while groupies hover nearby. Aretha Franklin cooks chili for Alan in her kitchen. Bob Dylan sweeps Martha away to Ireland on his private jet. Between the celebrity encounters and backstage romances, the VJs watched their audience grow up alongside them. They became the trusted voices guiding viewers through Reagan era excess and neon fashion disasters. This oral history captures how four young broadcasters accidentally became cultural narrators for a generation they helped create.
Genres: 20th-century, autobiography, memoir, non-fiction, music, oral-history
Vibes: emotional, fast-paced, intimate
Tropes: celebrity, coming-of-age, oral-history
Period: 1981-1987
318 pages · Hardcover · Atria Books
Content warnings: drug-use