Formerly of the MTV Generation

Early this morning, even before my neighbors started their early morning running up and down the stairs, I was awake and watching VH1 Videos. It was both a thrilling and nostalgic experience. The music felt bigger to me than it had a long time. It felt like it had a chance of actually being affecting and not just being the music I run to or clean the dishes to. It was a moment of clarity at a very early hour in the morning, all made possible by the artistry and dentistry of videos.

I was born in 1974. This means I was around for the Buggles first video, "Video Killed the Radio Star," which was the first video ever shown on MTV. It was August 1st, 1981. (Go here to view said video, which is very hard to embed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pe9FMoElCoU).

We had one of the brown box remote channel changers that you zip up and down like a keyboard to change the channel. (I have searched in vain to find a picture of this to jog all our memories, but I can find nothing. If you know what I'm talking about and can find a picture to send me, I would be extremely grateful).

But as we all know, it is very difficult to view videos anymore unless we are up at hours we do not intend to be. Sure, we've all seen The Beastie Boys "Sabotage" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzTxuDUfzzM), and The White Stripes lego-riffic fantasy "Fell in Love With a Girl" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRDi67G0Siw), and personally, I still feel artistically indebted to A-Ha's "Take On Me" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUod3jGQt0U).

But surely there's more to inspire us that the four or five stations out there are withholding from us, choosing instead to expose us to yet another Sweet Sixteen, mind-baffling bitchfest.

To misquote Jason Compson, "Once a video enjoyer, always a video enjoyer, what I say!" And let it begin with the following, a song and video called "Young Folk" by Peter, Bjorn, and John. It f-ing rocks: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51V1VMkuyx0