I Want My MTV, Rob Tannenbaum
I Want My MTV, Rob Tannenbaum
4 Rating(s)
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I Want My MTV
The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution

Author: Rob Tannenbaum, Craig Marks

Narrator: Luke Daniels

Unabridged: 20 hr 36 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/25/2012


Synopsis

Named One of the Best Books of 2011 by NPR – Spin - USA Today – CNBC - Pitchfork - The Onion - The Atlantic - The Huffington Post – VEVO - The Boston Globe - The San Francisco ChronicleFor fans of VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First WaveRemember 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 four hundred artists, directors, VJs, and television and music executives, I Want My MTV is a testament to the channel that changed popular culture forever.

About Rob Tannenbaum

Rob Tannenbaum has been the music editor at Blender, a columnist for GQ, and has written for The New York Times Magazine, Rolling Stone, Details, New York Magazine, Playboy, SPIN and The Washington Post.

About Craig Marks

Craig Marks was the top editor for two influential music magazines, SPIN and Blender. He is the editor-in-chief of Popdust.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Brandon on June 08, 2023

With I WANT MY MTV, authors Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum task themselves with boiling down the tumultuous early days of MTV and the music video revolution into a six hundred page oral history.  Knowing that this story takes place in both the boardrooms and the backstage areas of concerts and video......more

Goodreads review by Patricia on June 14, 2012

This is the second book I have desired to read in some electronic format with internet connection (the first being 1Q84 because the darn thing was HEAVY.) Reading this book, I greatly desired the internet as I was reading because I wanted to watch the videos as they discussed them. Because watching......more

Goodreads review by Hank on February 13, 2012

It shouldn't be this hard to get me interested in the complete oral history of the birth and rise and fall of MTV, as it synchs up perfectly with my adolescence and young adulthood. This book managed to get into just about everything that made MTV what it was, but it also somehow makes it all seem q......more

Goodreads review by Michael on August 16, 2015

I WANT MY MTV takes you back to when the hair was high and so were the shoulder pads. It really is a sad commentary on MTV ... that goes from "Hungry Like The Wolf" to "Jersey Shore" in one lifetime. A lot of interesting stories about the making of the videos and the channel's movers and shakers. A......more

Goodreads review by Mediaman on September 03, 2012

This disappointing book is merely a bunch of pasted-together quotes from different people involved with the history of the first decade of MTV. There is no narrative and the "authors" write only small introductions to chapters filled with quotes, most of which say little. Their book introduction is......more