MTV’s original VJs offer a behind-the-scenes oral history of
the early years of MTV, 1981 to 1987, when it was exploding,
reshaping the culture, and creating “the MTV generation.”
Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, and Martha
Quinn (along with the late J. J. Jackson) had front-row
seats to a cultural revolution—and the hijinks of music
stars like Adam Ant, Cyndi Lauper, Madonna, and Duran Duran.
Their worlds collided, of course: John Cougar invited Nina
to a late-night “party” that proved to be a seduction
attempt. Mark partied with David Lee Roth, who offered him
cocaine and groupies. Aretha Franklin made chili for Alan.
Bob Dylan whisked Martha off to Ireland in his private jet.
But while VJ has plenty of dish—secret
romances, nude photographs, incoherent celebrities—it also
reveals how four VJs grew up alongside MTV’s devoted viewers
and became that generation’s trusted narrators. They tell
the story of the ’80s, from the neon-colored drawstring
pants to the Reagan administration, and offer a deeper
understanding of how MTV changed our culture. Or as the VJs
put it: “We’re the reason you have no attention span.”
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