re: As MTV Turns 40, It’s Time to Embrace the Generation That Grew Up With It

I lived the first 5 years of my life in Dubai, so my older sister and I had very little access to American pop culture.

When we moved back to the states, we were amazed by cable TV. So many channels, in English!

Then we discovered MTV. My mom walked in on us watching Madonna, or Prince, or some other artist that boomer parents thought were the devil, and she completely freaked out. She didn't want us watching MTV.

Which, of course, only made us want to watch MTV more. She eventually relented, and MTV became a part of our daily lives.

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Music videos meant more to you because you had to wait for them or work to record and replay them.

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When Thriller came out, my friend's mom would watch MTV all day, and call us inside when Thriller came on. This is when MTV would show the long version of the video a few times a day. It was an event for us.