Tag Archives: Men at Work

Happy Birthday, MTV! Just for today, you can call me Martha Quinn.


I’m linking this post up with Mama Kat’s weekly writer’s workshop. She offers five different prompts. And I chose this one: How has music changed since you were a child? When I scanned the entries, I didn’t see too many responses to this question. Which surprised me. And I was immediately reminded of this little homage I wrote almost a year ago on the 31st anniversary of my old friend, MTV. When that channel first came out and I was a kid … well, let’s just call it Camelot. Weird, gender-bending, do-I-like-him-or-do-I-just-admire-his-eye-makeup Camelot. Enjoy.


I’m hurrying to pack for my trip to NYC so today’s post is a short one. Short only on words, but long on undying love and eternal gratitude. I just wanted to wish a very special happy birthday to one of my oldest and dearest friends, MTV. You’re 31 today so it’s probably time to start thinking about settling down and maybe adding a few little MTV Jrs. to your household. Oh, and you might want to join a gym for that spare tire, old friend.

Anyway, thanks for helping me cultivate the “good” fashion sense I have today, distracting me from my homework and just generally rocking my youth. Here on this blog I’d like to share a few (dozen) of my favorite MTV videos from my tween/teen years. I’m guessing some of them haven’t been shown in decades.

In no particular order, here are my Top 25. Or at least the top 25 I could actually find online. Let’s begin with this one … since it’s where it all started for you guys. It’s still on my iPod, by the way.

 

Yep. This stuff passed for cool, it passed for fashion and, most of all, it passed for entertainment back in my day. And, since I actually heard my (poor, corrupted by his parents) boy singing Sixty-Eight Guns in his room yesterday, I’m going to label it all … timeless. I feel less old that way. Thanks for the memories!

Oh, and I’m just curious to all reading … which one’s your favorite?

Which one’s your LEAST favorite?

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An Ode to 1983


Here’s my goofy, little entry for this week’s Trifecta Writing Challenge. I often go with the first idea that pops into my head.  This was one of those times.

RULES: All entries must be between 33 and 333 words and need to include the following word using its third definition:

clean (adjective)

1: free from dirt or pollution
2: unadulterated, pure
3 a : free from moral corruption or sinister connections of any kind <a candidate with a clean record>

* * * * * * * * * *

A year in the life of my childhood

* * * * * * * * * *

The year was 1983

The times? They were so simple

Cabbage patch dolls everywhere

So hideously-dimpled

*

Reagan was the president

And Swatch entered the scene

As did jellies, Rubik’s cubes,

And McNuggets as cuisine

*

My fashion was inspired by

Madonna, Flashdance, Lauper

‘Cause MTV was everywhere

So I looked like a pauper

*

The music was my favorite

Boom box on every shoulder

From Dexy, Prince or Men at Work

(It so sucks getting older)

*

For film, we had The Outsiders,

Big Chill and Valley Girl

And Vacation with Chevy Chase

Gave the Griswolds to the world

*

But I was still a little girl

My parents weren’t mean

They just wanted to be sure

What I saw and heard was clean

*

Enter Mr. Cosby

And his one-man show ‘Himself’

I must have pulled it fifty times

Off our VHS tape shelf

*

The jokes, they were all perfect

The dentist chair he faked

I won’t forget the joke about

“Dad gave us chocolate cake!”

*

Thank you for the memories

Of this, a lifetime chapter

But most of all I thank you, Bill

For all my family’s laughter

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