Music Memory Monday

Last week I received an email saying that JamsBio, the website where I used to write out music memories was going to shut down to focus solely on the magazine portion of the site, and therefore the memories people had posted would not be available for an indefinite amount of time.

Well, panic set in and I promptly saved all my memories and now plan to post a new one every Monday. They are in chronological order by year, and I hope you enjoy and possibly even- relate.

I Got My MTV

On Labor Day weekend 1981 my Mom and I had a new beginning. We moved out the house we shared with her boyfriend of two years and moved into a duplex a mile or so away.

My Mom was 19 when I was born, we grew up together and the boyfriend had infringed upon our relationship, so needless to say I was a happy girl.

Not too long after we moved in some salesmen were going door to door to get you to sign up for a cable box so that you could have this new channel called MTV. I had heard about it from all of my fourth grade friends and I knew I wanted it, and I was able to convince my Mom to sign up.

The salesman returned with a wood grain and black box that had about 13 or 14 buttons across the top. He promptly hooked it up and pushed what I believe was button 13 and there it was, the video for Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart". My introduction to the greatest thing to happen to music in my lifetime began with a lady in a black leotard running down a dark hallway. When she wasn't opening doors in the hallway she was wailing on a saxophone. That song and that video were permanently etched in my mind for all of eternity as my introduction to music television.

And here, my friends, is the gadget that gave me music videos 24 hours a day. This picture was taken at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn. Yes, you are officially old when items from your youth are in a museum.