Raised on MTV, part 1
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This is the first of a series of music videos upon which I was raised in my youth, in the early days of MTV. I will update this from time to time, as the mood strikes me.The year: 1982, if I recall correctly. My mom had talked a friend into hooking us up with cable TV, so MTV was a new and exciting thing. This video takes me back to when there were so few videos that MTV was really forced to replay them every hour on the hour. No video got more play early on than this one. I didn't mind one bit.From its initial drum fills, into that killer slashing guitar lead, with John Taylor's monstrously funky bass line holding sway, I recognized that this was something _different_, something I could call my own. My mom and her friends weren't listening to this; my mom was still deep in the throes of her unfortunate Urban Cowboy country phase, and her friends had the standard classic rock addictions.I didn't have friends, so I had no idea what music they listened to.The video itself was a revelation as well. It wasn't just a band performance, but it didn't exactly tell a linear tale either. The beautiful ocean scenery appealed to my beach-bum side. And who didn't want to ride on the prow of a yacht, snapping your fingers and singing along, after watching that?Duran Duran became my first band crush. I bought up Rio and Carnival, the mini-album that came with alternate mixes, on vinyl. I found a piece of wood that was roughly shaped like a guitar neck, and would spend many a night alone playing air guitar to those albums. I wish I still had those vinyl albums.However, stamping myself as a fan of theirs came with unexpected drawbacks. I was already a subject of mockery at school; my choice of music only made things worse. It seemed that if you didn't like the Stones or the Clash, you were a total loser. I didn't _dis_like either band, I just liked DD *more*.
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