when i was a kid, mtv actually played videos

MTV started 25 years ago today, although I can't tell you I remember its inaugural video (as any trivia buff will tell you, it was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles). First off, MTV didn't reach my hometown until at least one year later, and it reached my childhood home for about two weeks before my parents called the cable company and had it shut off.

This may explain my deep and abiding love of rock music.

My college town was yet another place that did not have MTV (!) so when I went to visit friends at the University of Illinois, I loved sitting and watching hours of pure stupidity.

I am very nostalgic about actual videos -- even the dumb ones -- from 1981 to about 1987. After that, not so much. I can't think of any video that made me love a song that I didn't love already, but I do recall that the "Slit Skirts" video from Pete Townshend made a huge impression on me.

But my very favorite songs have images conjured just by me. Tonight I was running errands and "Thunder Road" came on the radio. I have heard that song at least 1,000 times in my life and still I sat in the car to hear it in all its glory. Thank goodness I never saw any concept video for it.