I was extremely, inexcusably, deprived as a child.
I don't like to talk about it much...
....but....
(deep breath)
you see, um,
well, I'll just come out and say it.
We did not get cable.
There, I said it.
We did not get cable.
"You Can't Do that on Television"? Wha...?
"H - B - O??" What's that stand for?
"Nickelodeon"? You say? Are you yodeling?
The worst? (Even bigger breath): We did not get M-TV.
Oh, how much better my life would have been if I could have watched M-TV. My friends, one by one, got cable. My freakin' grandparents had cable. The cable man came to the house and asked my parents, if they installed the line in our rural area, would we buy it? Yes! Yes! I told the man. Even if we ONLY get M-TV, we will buy it. But for some reason, he wanted only to talk to my mother.
When we went to my grandparents house, I watched M-TV the ENTIRE time. This was back when they had these things called "music videos". They were super cool. I have very distinct snippets of knowledge of these videos. Like, I have only seen videos from the times I was visiting, but I saw them about 70 times. For instance, in the summer of 1987, Whitney Houston's "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" featured Whitney with a long blond wig (crimped of course). Also popular that summer: the Grateful Dead's "Touch of Grey", George Micheal's "You Gotta Have Faith", Paula Abdul with some cartoon cat.
One Christmas, I am thinking circa 1990, we had Guns and Roses "November Rain" (oh Slash! You were SO cool!); and Tom Petty's "Last Dance with Mary Jane".
(And for the record, I could have looked these up on the internet to see if memory serves me, but I didn't.)
So you get the idea.
Now, ironically, we still do not get cable, and my parents have a satellite dish because those cable guys never did install the lines. I might consider cable if M-TV still played music videos. But alas....there is no chance to make up for a deprived childhood.
Or is there? (she says with one eyebrow raised)
We now get a number of digital antenna channels, and most intriguing are the second or third string programs. Our Fox network is channel 45-1. On 45-2, there are usually re-runs of recent Fox programs, and 45-3 plays nothing but country music videos. Weird, right? There is also a channel that plays old bizarro movies, primarily from the 70's and 80's. And there is also "The Cool TV" on the CW 54-2 network.
The Cool TV. Just Music.
They play old concerts from the 70's and 80's, old obscure punk and rap videos, old pop videos (my fave!). They even play new videos - bet you didn't even know people still made them!
So I guess I can reclaim some of my lost childhood. I hope Slash comes on soon!
6 comments:
Paula Abdul cartoon cat was my fav...Opposites Attract perhaps???
Your great grandmother grew up playing games in the parlor. Your grandmother grew up listening to jazz on the radio. Your father grew up with three black and white channels on a 21 inch TV. But Mickey Mouse Club, Captain Kangaroo, and American Bandstand were daily shows, so life was good. There was no sex, no swearing, no kissing; just wholesome entertainment. Life was simple.
The Slash video taxed my brain, because it included life and death. Without the video I could make my own pictures in my brain. I saw a kayak zipping down white water being chased by roadrunneron the path next to the river.
I expect someday you'll find out that they actually deliver pizza. Then you will know how deprived you really were!
Just checking in................Wow! bc really had a lot to say! I like the generational review. Never really invested much in TV although I do have cable I only watch some of the comedies and a few dramas after dinner..............kt
LOL all the music videos you referenced were from before I existed. you're welcome!
While we had cable, my dad was rabidly against me watching MTV when he was around. So, before he would get home from work, I would sit glued to the screen to watch videos. I remember that some sort of countdown show was on every evening about the time he was coming home, so I rarely got to see #1. Was it something like "Dial MTV"? Anyway, I watch videos on youtube all the time now. Gotta love me some freaking youtube, even if I don't get Adam Curry- cutest guy with big girl hair to ever be on MTV.
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