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

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Five years is about how long the original VJs were there. For people that grew up with the channel, those years are the best/most nostalgic.

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The first year of MTV coincided with the first year NLU/ULM had cable in the dorms. I had flunked out of LSU and was there for that momentous occasion. There weren't many commercials that first year. There really weren't that many videos either, so ti seemed like they played them all multiple times during a day, They showed the moon landing promo video 20 or 30 times a day, and that was a good thing!

I hated when it changed to reality shows. Pretty much quit watching it, except for the shows that just played videos, and also started watching Video Jukebox. It would go from Metallica, to Sir Mix-a-Lot, to Britney Spears, to Talking Heads, to Guns and Roses, to Duran Duran. But enough heavy metal guys played Metallica, for it to be back on again 10 songs later, and Sir Mix-a-Lot or Two Live Crew in the swimming pool would pop back on again pretty quickly too.
Some of those rap songs that MTV wouldn't play because of the content, or heavy metal songs they didn't play because of the length of the song, were the most popular songs on Video Jukebox.

MTV has become the channel equivalent of a shopping mall.