July 30, 2024 • 26 mins
Join Martha Quinn and special guest star Jordan (her husband) as they take a walk down memory lane in celebration of MTV's 43rd anniversary!
Please stay connected with us at marthaquinnshow@iheartmedia.com
Martha Quinn// X @marthaquinn/ Facebook @MarthaQuinnPresents
Christie James// X @Christie/ Facebook @christie.james.712 & Instagram @christielive
Karena Velazquez// X & IG @kvsmiley81// Facebook @karenav
Please stay connected with us at marthaquinnshow@iheartmedia.com
Martha Quinn// X @marthaquinn/ Facebook @MarthaQuinnPresents
Christie James// X @Christie/ Facebook @christie.james.712 & Instagram @christielive
Karena Velazquez// X & IG @kvsmiley81// Facebook @karenav
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When the on air Mike goes off, the talk Talk begins.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It's Talk Talk with Martha Quinn.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ladies and gentlemen. It's rock and roll happy birth.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm sure MTV appreciates that.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, Christy, Thank you Martha Quinn.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Welcome to episode number two hundred and eight of Talk
Talk with Martha Quinn, the podcast that normally unites Christy
and producer Queen of Alaskaz with me, Martha Quinn. The
three of us chit chat. We invite you in Karina
is the nerve of her currently at this moment in Paris.
So sitting in the Karina chair, ladies and gentlemen, I
(00:55):
would like to present my husband, the world famous person
who is often referred to as Tyson around here, but
as Christy says, I call him high Hunt. So here,
how would you like to be introduced?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Jordan?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Whatever you guys like, okay, well we like Tyson because
and I'll take you inside this moment. Back when Christy
and I first started working together, there was some technical
issues going on with the station. Jordan is the audio
master and we were asking him what he thinks, and
he was saying it was such and such, and the
engineers at the station were saying, no, no, no, he's not right,
(01:33):
and Jordan was going crazy because he knew that he
was right. And after some back and forth and back
and forth, finally Jordan said something to the effect of
I'm going to open up a can of what ass
on that guy. That's not exactly how he pronounced said it,
but there was a little silence between us ladies, and
(01:53):
Christy all of a sudden goes, okay, Tyson that is
how that is how Tyson got his name. But at
any rate, so Jordan is in the Karina chair. And
it's particularly fun because this week, as Christy started singing
the Happy Birthday song, we want to talk MTV's forty
(02:14):
third birthday, which is August first, nineteen eighty one. All
this week I'm collecting MTV memories through our free iHeartRadio
app little red microphone you tap. But I think it
would be fun to hear from Christy and Jordan your
guys's first MTV memories. Christy, how about you, What's what's
(02:35):
the earliest you remember seeing MTV.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't remember how old I was, but I just
remember watching MTV. So it wasn't like it just had started.
It had been on for quite some time. But I
just remember coming home and watching MTV and waiting, waiting
by the VCR to get my favorite video recorded, because
(02:58):
you know, there was no YouTube. You can't just it's like, oh,
I want to see this cool Michael Jackson video and
you know, bring it up. You have to literally wait
and then hear it and then get to your VCR,
press play and record and hope that you got the whole.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Video on your VHS cassette tape.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And then I also remember when they launched GMTV Raps,
which was really really cool because it was nice to have,
you know, kind of rap music on MTV, which really
at the time kind of leaned heavy rock and alternative,
which I didn't mind either because I love that too.
But yeah, definitely remember trying to record my favorite MTV videos.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I wish you still had those manes, because don't you
at the time, you think, oh, what do I need
these for? You know, I'll just toss these out, But
now you could get something like that on eBay for
big bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's true, it is true, and it is nice when
you thank goodness, have YouTube and you can go and
watch you know, old like shows from MTV, not just
the video, but shows and even watching the old classic
videos is fun too.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's what I like.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I look when people put up like three hours from
you know, September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three, it's just kind
of interesting to see the commercials and the clothes on
all of that that was going on on MTV. So
to my husband, So, Jordan and I met in nineteen
(04:25):
eighty five, when MTV had already been on the air.
So Christy, just to be clear, I was at that time,
Martha Quinn. So I am curious to hear Jordan's first
memories of MTV. And why do I think, why do
(04:47):
I think the grateful dad is going to play a
part in this? Okay, Jordan, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Well, first of all, Christy, I thought you were saying
happy birthday to me.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
True, so true, it was Jordan's birthday, Happy related birthday.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I No, it was great, it was great.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So your first memories of MTV.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So for me, MTV was this thing that I was
hearing about in New York. Have you heard this whole story? No?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I don't think so, But I know that you were
like many people who in the early eighties were just
into music, just into music, you know, pre MTV. So
how did it start to come into your consciousness as
someone who was already in bands. You're already in music.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
But videos were not part of the music scene in
any any kind of way. But they were part of
the club scene in a big way. So the Ritz
and Dance Atyria and Area and all these cool clubs
in New York City, they were playing pretty much all
English videos. And you would go and you would dance
in front of these giant movie screens or TVs playing
(05:56):
this stuff, or you'd sit on couches and dance Atyria
and just watch this stuff. But you would never the
thought never occurred, like why don't they show this on
TV other than like at midnight for two seconds on some.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Dohn Kirshner's rock concert or something.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
And then all of a sudden there was this talk
of there's going to be the station, or there is
this station, but you couldn't watch it anywhere. And I
don't know why people would even know about it if
it wasn't on anywhere New York City, but it was
kind of talked about and I remember in the summer
of eighty two, and this is where I'm sure you've
(06:36):
heard something about The Grateful Dead and this story, but
not the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well say, I mentioned it because Jordan's one of those
people who's seen The Grateful Dead, you know, at least
one hundred times.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Back then, it's all in my teens, all of that.
So I was like a teenage runaway off across the
country in the summer of eighty two, and I was
with my pals, Donut and Dodge.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Donut, Oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Can't Donut and Dodge, and we were like, I don't know.
A few were five shows into this tour, and we
were in Tempe, Arizona, and the show was over and
we were going to be going there to Dodge's grandmother's
house in Colorado. And I didn't know that within twenty
(07:25):
four hours I would be glued to that TV in
Dodge's grandmother's house. But first we had to get Dodge
out of the tree that he had climbed at the venue.
It was outdoor venue and they had trees at the
back of the venue, and Dodge, who must have wanted
a better view, climbed up, couldn't really comprehend in his state.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
His Grateful Dead concert state. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
How high that tree might have been? So you know,
the parking lot's empty, everyone's gone. He's finally been located
up in the tree and you know he's not missing anymore.
But it took a while for police or a fire
department or whatever to get him out of the tree.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Did they hoist up a ladder?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
I believe so.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yes, I got a.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Cat out of a tree like that one's, but never
a person.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
And uh, you know, the next morning, we're sitting in
a kind of a ski house I think it was.
I can't see I can't even remember the house. I
just remember the TV diagonally in a corner and there
could have been a fireplace maybe because if it's a
ski house, but that TV and just going, oh my god,
(08:40):
this is going to change everything and it and the
show didn't stop. It just kept going and going and going.
And I think it was like, you know, two days
before the next show and the Grateful Dead show that
is at Red Rocks, and we just sat there watching
this thing from morning till night with with Dodge's grandmother
(09:02):
and Clarence and Donut and a few other characters who
were at every show on that tour, and it was amazing.
I wish I could remember if seeing maybe American artists
that I knew about that you wouldn't see in the
clubs yet, but seeing them on MTV. As far as
(09:24):
those videos that were played at the clubs.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Why do you think take me inside that feeling of
seeing it and saying, this is going to change everything,
because I feel like people forget now what a massive
pop culture disruptor MTV was. Right now, if you walk
(09:48):
into Target, you'll see an MTV T shirt and we
all understand what that logo is. You don't have to
think about it, you don't process it at all. But
back then, the whole concept marrying the twenty four hour
radio concept with music videos music on TV twenty four
to seven, like we were used to it being on
(10:09):
the radio, kind of made sense because we were the
TV generation, after all, that's what people used to call us,
because we were like the first generation of people who
grew up with m sorry, with television. So it's sort
of a perfect marriage. But it had never been done before,
and when you saw it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
You you couldn't.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Your mind was like it was like Fourth of July
fireworks going off in your brain.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Do you think I have that correct? Like, what was
your impression of it?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Well, the biggest thing was is that you barely ever
saw bands. You saw them play, you saw them in
magazines where you just look at a still picture, and
I think even in the clubs that were playing these videos,
it was kind of far away and people were dancing
and you weren't just sitting there watching, And then all
of a sudden, it would you could just sit there
(10:57):
on the couch and just watch these people for three
minutes straight, and then the next group for three minutes straight,
and then the next and everyone had different clothes and
different hair and different instruments, and some of them were
involved in some kind of scenario and other ones were
just playing live. And I'm sure for all music fans
(11:18):
and for musicians, it was just like you've never seen
this before. You never got this close to the bands.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
See, like Christy came into MTV when it had already happened,
like it was already sort of part of the culture.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So it wasn't like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
It was, oh, when is my favorite video going to
come on, but not what is this whole entire animal.
So it's such an interesting We can never recreate that
time when MTV was just so like you couldn't even
figure it out. And I do want to say that
(12:00):
even for us who worked at MTV, we had never
seen MTV. So I would leave my job at MTB,
go home when we finally got MTV in Manhattan, go
home and turn on MTV and watch.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
It for hours.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
There were times I was late to my job at
MTB because I was home waiting one more video, one
more video, one more video, and I'd be like, Oh,
I'm going to go downstairs again to a cab and
get up there. So it was mind blowing for everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Wow. Did you ever think, Jordan, that you would be
married to an MTVVJ?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did that even cross your mind? Did you know who
she was when you met Martha Quinn? Did you know
where we met when we met?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Yes, I can't remember in eighty two in Colorado if
I can, don't have a memory of seeing the VJs,
but I know at some point when it did end
up in New York City, which I think was pretty
quickly after that, it had to have been in eighty three.
It was on or sometime later eighty two. And I
know I knew them all, all five of them, and
(13:05):
that they each had their personality and all that, and
they were becoming totally like the Beatles. They they were
this cool group that had their thing introducing the videos.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And I do have to say we were a pretty
kick ass bunch. We honestly were the combination of me
and JJ and Mark Anina and Alan Hunter. I feel
like we were a really I feel like we were
a really good bunch. Yes, it was great casting. And
I do want to shout out JJ Jackson. I say
this every chance I get, but JJ was a legend
(13:45):
before he came to MTV. The way JJ Jackson got
to the guy who created MTB, Bob Pittman, who's our
current boss here at iHeart. The way JJ came to
Bob Pittman's attention is because Bob was at the one
T Jazz Festival and he was hanging out with Brian
May of Queen. JJ had been on WBCN and Boston,
(14:06):
a legendary rock radio station. He had been on km
ET and k LOS in Los Angeles, and so Brian
May of Queen was talking to Bob Pittman about MTB
and Bob was telling him, Oh, we need these personalities
to be on the channel. And Brian May said, oh,
you know who you should talk to. You should talk
to JJ Jackson. And that's how JJ got his job
(14:29):
on MTV.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Brian May gave you a recommendation, could you imagine?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
And JJ was, you know, he was a little bit
older than the other ones, and he was the one
that musicians knew, knew what he was talking about for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Interesting because that is true.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Like the other VJs were almost the same age as
their first audience, so they were just like you know,
other kids in your class who were like, wow, come there,
they're on TV. But JJ was like, you knew why.
You could tell that guy knew everything about every band
and what he was talking about. So he was great.
And so when JJ gave me the thumbs up to Martha,
(15:14):
Martha listened.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, what happened was Jordan and I were in California
having dinner with I guess all of the VJs. I
think every one of them was there, and Jordan was there,
but we weren't dating yet, and I think Jordan got
up to go to the restroom, and JJ leaned over
to me and said something like, oh, MCQ, you know
(15:36):
what's going on with this guy? And I said, JJ,
he doesn't like me? And JJ said, oh, yes, he does.
I see him looking at you with those Jesus eyes.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
He likes you.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And that's when I thought, oh, really he does.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
So we have to thank JJ for playing keep it somewhat. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So, Christy, as time has gone on and you've looked
back at MTV, what is your impression as a media
personality of MTV.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I think it's really evolved.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I think it would have been really cool to see
it evolve musically, you know, when they were doing like
the MTV Unplugged and now you look and they have
you know, tiny Desk concert. It's like those are things
that MTV could have done if MTV would have stuck
with music. So I really think, you know, they shifted,
which was cool. I'm not mad at Reality TV. It
(16:36):
definitely was groundbreaking throughout the nineties when they did Real
World and you know a lot of things that still
people weren't doing. That was pushing the envelope the same
way they did when they first started. But I think
it would have really really been cool to see MTV
continue with a focus on music.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Oh, I'm contemplating that. That's such an interesting concept, you know.
I think at the that time they felt like, you know,
it's funny you kind of take for granted what you
have and it isn't until later you go, oh, wait
a second, what we had was amazing. And I wonder
(17:15):
Christy if the MTV executives themselves think that very same thing,
because that is such an interesting point. What would have
happened if MTV continued being groundbreaking and innovative but within
the confines of music.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, I mean you look around and you see like
our iHeartRadio music festival and big music festivals around the country.
MTV Music television doesn't have a music festival. MTV doesn't have,
you know, these things that are popular with music now,
like oh, music app they don't have those things. But
(17:56):
it is literally music television. That's what they stands for
an MTV. So it would have been interesting to see
where it would have gone. And I think it could
have gone on to do all sorts of amazing things.
And like you said, Bob Pittman, who created MTV, who's
running iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Now, who's the CEO?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You know, even what he's done with this company has
been groundbreaking in different ways, you know, and thinking of
different ways to do radio and add on this and
add this and add that. And I think if he
would you maybe stuck with the music part of MTV,
it would have been interesting.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, in Bob.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
By the time the reality shows all came in, Bob
was gone. And it's interesting to think if he had stayed,
because you know, I do kind of feel like maybe,
and this is completely a theory and I'm riffing on this.
I don't want to cast aspersions on any decisions that
(18:59):
anybody made, but I do think that.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Well, you have your decisions.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I want, you know, the subsequent people thought that they
were doing the best things too. You know, sometimes hindsight
is twenty twenty. Hey, when my daughter Annabelle was in school,
you know, first people didn't really talk to her about MTV.
I always feel like I wasn't Martha Quinn for quite
(19:26):
a while. I wasn't Martha Quinn until like, I don't know,
I would say, maybe even the early two thousands, you know,
when I stopped being on MTV in nineteen ninety two.
I at first in the nineties was, oh, the girl
that used to be on MTV. You know, that's weird.
You know, she used to be on MTV and now
she's not. But at some point when people's nostalgia about
(19:52):
the eighties started to really kick in, and I think
maybe it started to happen in the early two thousands,
then suddenly I was part of that, and my role
in this world changed, and I saw that people valued
the MTV years as something that they held so dear,
(20:16):
and I appreciated that I was a part of that.
And every day that I got to play and still
to this day get to play Huey Lewis and the
News and Hard and to Power whoever it is. I
feel honored to be a part of that era because
I know it's a super important era to sow many people.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
It is true, it is and you see it every day.
We hear it every day from people who call in.
People have been sharing MTV memories all week long with you,
actually all month long with you, and so it is
really cool to see you walk into the target. You
see the MTV logo and the shirts, and it's not
because of teen Mom. It's because of MTV in a
(20:55):
sense that you remember it from back in the day
when it was really music television exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
And what I started to say was, so my daughter Annabelle.
At some point when people started to realize, oh, Annibal's
mam was on MTV, Annabel's mama was on MTV, what
they all thought was that I was like snooky, but
I was on a show, like one of those shows,
and I would say no, I was a VJ, and
they'd be like huh, and I'd be like, well, I
(21:21):
played music, and then I'd be like, I talked about
music the whole time. And it was such a full
circle because Jordan was mentioning that MTV wasn't on in Manhattan.
And during that period of time, if I'd run into
someone from NYU, where I had just graduated from, just
before I got my job at MTV, and they would say, oh,
(21:44):
so what are you doing now that you graduated, And
if I knew I had to make a bus, I
would just say I'm teaching kindergarten because I knew if
I had to say, well, I'm on this cable music channel.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
It plays videos. It's like TV.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I mean, it's like radio, but it's on TV, but
it's videos. It'd be like, oh my god, this is
such a long explanation. It wasn't until the I Want
My MTV spots started airing that I could say, you
know how Pete Townsend is saying I want my MTV.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
That's where I work. Do you remember seeing those spots, Jordan, Oh.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Yeah, especially the Pete Townsend early ones. Yeah. I feel
like those commercials started first.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Well, yeah, because that was part of the campaign to
get Manhattan cable.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Yes that that was on. I don't even know what
was on cable besides like Benny Hill and.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
No, who was that guy that not Benny Hill, who
was the guy that got girls to take off their
clothes something, George, Yes, Ugly George.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Ugly George and Robin Bird and Robin.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Bird who did a naked interview show. So when I
first told my dad that I was going to be
doing something on cable TV, he was like, like I
saw the blood drain from his face and I'm like, no, no, no, no,
it's not like that.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It's not like that.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And then those commercials started, I guess, And then I
kind of remember commercials for the Something about Stereo too,
like ah, it's going to be in stereo and you
could like hook it up to your stereo. You know,
there wasn't stereotvs.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
True, that is so true.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I'll tell you a funny story about our boss, Bob
Pittman Christy. Those I Want My MTV spots. They did
that to get local cable operators to add add MTV
because so many local cable operators.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Didn't want to.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
And at some point some of the local cable operators
would call Bob and say, you've got to stop airing
these spots. Our phones are ringing off the hook. Please stop,
please stop. You're driving us crazy.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Now.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
We needed the cable operators because we had another channel,
we had the movie channel, so we needed these cable operators,
so we couldn't be you know, mean to them. But
when they were saying, you got to make this stop.
You can't keep you know, airing these I Want my
MTV spots. Its driving us crazy. You know, Bob did.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Tell them to add it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Then exactly, he doubled down. He said, add more, add
more of the spots. He's he's got the eye of
the tiger. See if it was me, I would go, oh,
I'm so sorry. Okay, what works for you?
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Not Bob, Nope, and you would have to call I
wish I could remember, did I, you know, call in?
I don't remember. I don't remember. I can remember calling
into WABC, the big am radio station can seventies to
win some contest, but I can't remember. I would imagine
I did. Why not? Who wouldn't want to see MTV
(24:37):
there it is?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Well, thank you so much for sharing all these amazing
MTV memories, and happy belated birthday to you. Jordan Mark
Quinn has been sorry I messed that up earlier, and
of course, happy forty third birthday to Music Television.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
As we remember it, it.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Was like, you know, how many times did you think
you needed to see it? To learn in the safety dance?
You need to catch it like five times or make
sure you had the whole thing down.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Well, all I know is everybody look at your haunts
and then you'll be good. You're automatically doing the safety
dance there. Everybody look at your haunts. Everybody look at
your haunts right now, and if you have an MTV memory,
please share it with us. Tap thread, talkback microphone right now.
If you're listening to talk, talk with Marth Quinn episode
number two hundred and eight. On your phone, you'll see
(25:27):
a little red microphone tap it tell us your MTV memory.
We are collecting them for the air. It would be
much appreciated, Christy. What else This has been a jam
packed episode.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yes, thank you to your husband Jordan aka Tyson for
joining us.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well appreciate you stepping in for Karina. And feel free
to stop by anytime.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
All right, and I'm going to go start calling right now,
calling my cable company.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yes, call your local cable company and say I want
my TV. There we go until episode number two hundred
and nine. I'm Martha Quinn.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I'm Christie, I'm Tyson.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Miss you're ready,
When the on air Mike goes off, the talk Talk begins.
Speaker 2 (00:03):
It's Talk Talk with Martha Quinn.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday to you, Happy birthday, dear.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Ladies and gentlemen. It's rock and roll happy birth.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
I'm sure MTV appreciates that.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Thank you, Christy, Thank you Martha Quinn.
Speaker 4 (00:31):
Welcome to episode number two hundred and eight of Talk
Talk with Martha Quinn, the podcast that normally unites Christy
and producer Queen of Alaskaz with me, Martha Quinn. The
three of us chit chat. We invite you in Karina
is the nerve of her currently at this moment in Paris.
So sitting in the Karina chair, ladies and gentlemen, I
(00:55):
would like to present my husband, the world famous person
who is often referred to as Tyson around here, but
as Christy says, I call him high Hunt. So here,
how would you like to be introduced?
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Jordan?
Speaker 4 (01:11):
Whatever you guys like, okay, well we like Tyson because
and I'll take you inside this moment. Back when Christy
and I first started working together, there was some technical
issues going on with the station. Jordan is the audio
master and we were asking him what he thinks, and
he was saying it was such and such, and the
engineers at the station were saying, no, no, no, he's not right,
(01:33):
and Jordan was going crazy because he knew that he
was right. And after some back and forth and back
and forth, finally Jordan said something to the effect of
I'm going to open up a can of what ass
on that guy. That's not exactly how he pronounced said it,
but there was a little silence between us ladies, and
(01:53):
Christy all of a sudden goes, okay, Tyson that is
how that is how Tyson got his name. But at
any rate, so Jordan is in the Karina chair. And
it's particularly fun because this week, as Christy started singing
the Happy Birthday song, we want to talk MTV's forty
(02:14):
third birthday, which is August first, nineteen eighty one. All
this week I'm collecting MTV memories through our free iHeartRadio
app little red microphone you tap. But I think it
would be fun to hear from Christy and Jordan your
guys's first MTV memories. Christy, how about you, What's what's
(02:35):
the earliest you remember seeing MTV.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
I don't remember how old I was, but I just
remember watching MTV. So it wasn't like it just had started.
It had been on for quite some time. But I
just remember coming home and watching MTV and waiting, waiting
by the VCR to get my favorite video recorded, because
(02:58):
you know, there was no YouTube. You can't just it's like, oh,
I want to see this cool Michael Jackson video and
you know, bring it up. You have to literally wait
and then hear it and then get to your VCR,
press play and record and hope that you got the whole.
Speaker 2 (03:13):
Video on your VHS cassette tape.
Speaker 1 (03:16):
And then I also remember when they launched GMTV Raps,
which was really really cool because it was nice to have,
you know, kind of rap music on MTV, which really
at the time kind of leaned heavy rock and alternative,
which I didn't mind either because I love that too.
But yeah, definitely remember trying to record my favorite MTV videos.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
I wish you still had those manes, because don't you
at the time, you think, oh, what do I need
these for? You know, I'll just toss these out, But
now you could get something like that on eBay for
big bucks.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
It's true, it is true, and it is nice when
you thank goodness, have YouTube and you can go and
watch you know, old like shows from MTV, not just
the video, but shows and even watching the old classic
videos is fun too.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
That's what I like.
Speaker 4 (04:05):
I look when people put up like three hours from
you know, September thirteenth, nineteen eighty three, it's just kind
of interesting to see the commercials and the clothes on
all of that that was going on on MTV. So
to my husband, So, Jordan and I met in nineteen
(04:25):
eighty five, when MTV had already been on the air.
So Christy, just to be clear, I was at that time,
Martha Quinn. So I am curious to hear Jordan's first
memories of MTV. And why do I think, why do
(04:47):
I think the grateful dad is going to play a
part in this? Okay, Jordan, go ahead.
Speaker 5 (04:51):
Well, first of all, Christy, I thought you were saying
happy birthday to me.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
True, so true, it was Jordan's birthday, Happy related birthday.
Speaker 5 (04:59):
I No, it was great, it was great.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
So your first memories of MTV.
Speaker 5 (05:08):
So for me, MTV was this thing that I was
hearing about in New York. Have you heard this whole story? No?
Speaker 4 (05:16):
I don't think so, But I know that you were
like many people who in the early eighties were just
into music, just into music, you know, pre MTV. So
how did it start to come into your consciousness as
someone who was already in bands. You're already in music.
Speaker 5 (05:33):
But videos were not part of the music scene in
any any kind of way. But they were part of
the club scene in a big way. So the Ritz
and Dance Atyria and Area and all these cool clubs
in New York City, they were playing pretty much all
English videos. And you would go and you would dance
in front of these giant movie screens or TVs playing
(05:56):
this stuff, or you'd sit on couches and dance Atyria
and just watch this stuff. But you would never the
thought never occurred, like why don't they show this on
TV other than like at midnight for two seconds on some.
Speaker 3 (06:11):
Dohn Kirshner's rock concert or something.
Speaker 5 (06:14):
And then all of a sudden there was this talk
of there's going to be the station, or there is
this station, but you couldn't watch it anywhere. And I
don't know why people would even know about it if
it wasn't on anywhere New York City, but it was
kind of talked about and I remember in the summer
of eighty two, and this is where I'm sure you've
(06:36):
heard something about The Grateful Dead and this story, but
not the whole thing.
Speaker 4 (06:40):
Well say, I mentioned it because Jordan's one of those
people who's seen The Grateful Dead, you know, at least
one hundred times.
Speaker 5 (06:45):
Back then, it's all in my teens, all of that.
So I was like a teenage runaway off across the
country in the summer of eighty two, and I was
with my pals, Donut and Dodge.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Donut, Oh my gosh, I.
Speaker 5 (07:05):
Can't Donut and Dodge, and we were like, I don't know.
A few were five shows into this tour, and we
were in Tempe, Arizona, and the show was over and
we were going to be going there to Dodge's grandmother's
house in Colorado. And I didn't know that within twenty
(07:25):
four hours I would be glued to that TV in
Dodge's grandmother's house. But first we had to get Dodge
out of the tree that he had climbed at the venue.
It was outdoor venue and they had trees at the
back of the venue, and Dodge, who must have wanted
a better view, climbed up, couldn't really comprehend in his state.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
His Grateful Dead concert state. Is that what you're saying?
Speaker 5 (07:51):
How high that tree might have been? So you know,
the parking lot's empty, everyone's gone. He's finally been located
up in the tree and you know he's not missing anymore.
But it took a while for police or a fire
department or whatever to get him out of the tree.
Speaker 3 (08:09):
Did they hoist up a ladder?
Speaker 5 (08:11):
I believe so.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Yes, I got a.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
Cat out of a tree like that one's, but never
a person.
Speaker 5 (08:17):
And uh, you know, the next morning, we're sitting in
a kind of a ski house I think it was.
I can't see I can't even remember the house. I
just remember the TV diagonally in a corner and there
could have been a fireplace maybe because if it's a
ski house, but that TV and just going, oh my god,
(08:40):
this is going to change everything and it and the
show didn't stop. It just kept going and going and going.
And I think it was like, you know, two days
before the next show and the Grateful Dead show that
is at Red Rocks, and we just sat there watching
this thing from morning till night with with Dodge's grandmother
(09:02):
and Clarence and Donut and a few other characters who
were at every show on that tour, and it was amazing.
I wish I could remember if seeing maybe American artists
that I knew about that you wouldn't see in the
clubs yet, but seeing them on MTV. As far as
(09:24):
those videos that were played at the clubs.
Speaker 4 (09:27):
Why do you think take me inside that feeling of
seeing it and saying, this is going to change everything,
because I feel like people forget now what a massive
pop culture disruptor MTV was. Right now, if you walk
(09:48):
into Target, you'll see an MTV T shirt and we
all understand what that logo is. You don't have to
think about it, you don't process it at all. But
back then, the whole concept marrying the twenty four hour
radio concept with music videos music on TV twenty four
to seven, like we were used to it being on
(10:09):
the radio, kind of made sense because we were the
TV generation, after all, that's what people used to call us,
because we were like the first generation of people who
grew up with m sorry, with television. So it's sort
of a perfect marriage. But it had never been done before,
and when you saw it.
Speaker 3 (10:25):
You you couldn't.
Speaker 4 (10:27):
Your mind was like it was like Fourth of July
fireworks going off in your brain.
Speaker 3 (10:31):
Do you think I have that correct? Like, what was
your impression of it?
Speaker 5 (10:36):
Well, the biggest thing was is that you barely ever
saw bands. You saw them play, you saw them in
magazines where you just look at a still picture, and
I think even in the clubs that were playing these videos,
it was kind of far away and people were dancing
and you weren't just sitting there watching, And then all
of a sudden, it would you could just sit there
(10:57):
on the couch and just watch these people for three
minutes straight, and then the next group for three minutes straight,
and then the next and everyone had different clothes and
different hair and different instruments, and some of them were
involved in some kind of scenario and other ones were
just playing live. And I'm sure for all music fans
(11:18):
and for musicians, it was just like you've never seen
this before. You never got this close to the bands.
Speaker 4 (11:27):
See, like Christy came into MTV when it had already happened,
like it was already sort of part of the culture.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
So it wasn't like, oh my god.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
What is this?
Speaker 4 (11:39):
It was, oh, when is my favorite video going to
come on, but not what is this whole entire animal.
So it's such an interesting We can never recreate that
time when MTV was just so like you couldn't even
figure it out. And I do want to say that
(12:00):
even for us who worked at MTV, we had never
seen MTV. So I would leave my job at MTB,
go home when we finally got MTV in Manhattan, go
home and turn on MTV and watch.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
It for hours.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
There were times I was late to my job at
MTB because I was home waiting one more video, one
more video, one more video, and I'd be like, Oh,
I'm going to go downstairs again to a cab and
get up there. So it was mind blowing for everybody.
Speaker 1 (12:28):
Wow. Did you ever think, Jordan, that you would be
married to an MTVVJ?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Did that even cross your mind? Did you know who
she was when you met Martha Quinn? Did you know
where we met when we met?
Speaker 5 (12:40):
Yes, I can't remember in eighty two in Colorado if
I can, don't have a memory of seeing the VJs,
but I know at some point when it did end
up in New York City, which I think was pretty
quickly after that, it had to have been in eighty three.
It was on or sometime later eighty two. And I
know I knew them all, all five of them, and
(13:05):
that they each had their personality and all that, and
they were becoming totally like the Beatles. They they were
this cool group that had their thing introducing the videos.
Speaker 4 (13:20):
And I do have to say we were a pretty
kick ass bunch. We honestly were the combination of me
and JJ and Mark Anina and Alan Hunter. I feel
like we were a really I feel like we were
a really good bunch. Yes, it was great casting. And
I do want to shout out JJ Jackson. I say
this every chance I get, but JJ was a legend
(13:45):
before he came to MTV. The way JJ Jackson got
to the guy who created MTB, Bob Pittman, who's our
current boss here at iHeart. The way JJ came to
Bob Pittman's attention is because Bob was at the one
T Jazz Festival and he was hanging out with Brian
May of Queen. JJ had been on WBCN and Boston,
(14:06):
a legendary rock radio station. He had been on km
ET and k LOS in Los Angeles, and so Brian
May of Queen was talking to Bob Pittman about MTB
and Bob was telling him, Oh, we need these personalities
to be on the channel. And Brian May said, oh,
you know who you should talk to. You should talk
to JJ Jackson. And that's how JJ got his job
(14:29):
on MTV.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
That's really cool.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Brian May gave you a recommendation, could you imagine?
Speaker 5 (14:38):
And JJ was, you know, he was a little bit
older than the other ones, and he was the one
that musicians knew, knew what he was talking about for sure.
Speaker 3 (14:50):
Interesting because that is true.
Speaker 5 (14:52):
Like the other VJs were almost the same age as
their first audience, so they were just like you know,
other kids in your class who were like, wow, come there,
they're on TV. But JJ was like, you knew why.
You could tell that guy knew everything about every band
and what he was talking about. So he was great.
And so when JJ gave me the thumbs up to Martha,
(15:14):
Martha listened.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Well, what happened was Jordan and I were in California
having dinner with I guess all of the VJs. I
think every one of them was there, and Jordan was there,
but we weren't dating yet, and I think Jordan got
up to go to the restroom, and JJ leaned over
to me and said something like, oh, MCQ, you know
(15:36):
what's going on with this guy? And I said, JJ,
he doesn't like me? And JJ said, oh, yes, he does.
I see him looking at you with those Jesus eyes.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
He likes you.
Speaker 4 (15:49):
And that's when I thought, oh, really he does.
Speaker 5 (15:54):
So we have to thank JJ for playing keep it somewhat. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
So, Christy, as time has gone on and you've looked
back at MTV, what is your impression as a media
personality of MTV.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
I think it's really evolved.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
I think it would have been really cool to see
it evolve musically, you know, when they were doing like
the MTV Unplugged and now you look and they have
you know, tiny Desk concert. It's like those are things
that MTV could have done if MTV would have stuck
with music. So I really think, you know, they shifted,
which was cool. I'm not mad at Reality TV. It
(16:36):
definitely was groundbreaking throughout the nineties when they did Real
World and you know a lot of things that still
people weren't doing. That was pushing the envelope the same
way they did when they first started. But I think
it would have really really been cool to see MTV
continue with a focus on music.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Oh, I'm contemplating that. That's such an interesting concept, you know.
I think at the that time they felt like, you know,
it's funny you kind of take for granted what you
have and it isn't until later you go, oh, wait
a second, what we had was amazing. And I wonder
(17:15):
Christy if the MTV executives themselves think that very same thing,
because that is such an interesting point. What would have
happened if MTV continued being groundbreaking and innovative but within
the confines of music.
Speaker 1 (17:34):
Yeah, I mean you look around and you see like
our iHeartRadio music festival and big music festivals around the country.
MTV Music television doesn't have a music festival. MTV doesn't have,
you know, these things that are popular with music now,
like oh, music app they don't have those things. But
(17:56):
it is literally music television. That's what they stands for
an MTV. So it would have been interesting to see
where it would have gone. And I think it could
have gone on to do all sorts of amazing things.
And like you said, Bob Pittman, who created MTV, who's
running iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Now, who's the CEO?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
You know, even what he's done with this company has
been groundbreaking in different ways, you know, and thinking of
different ways to do radio and add on this and
add this and add that. And I think if he
would you maybe stuck with the music part of MTV,
it would have been interesting.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Yeah, in Bob.
Speaker 4 (18:35):
By the time the reality shows all came in, Bob
was gone. And it's interesting to think if he had stayed,
because you know, I do kind of feel like maybe,
and this is completely a theory and I'm riffing on this.
I don't want to cast aspersions on any decisions that
(18:59):
anybody made, but I do think that.
Speaker 5 (19:02):
Well, you have your decisions.
Speaker 4 (19:06):
I want, you know, the subsequent people thought that they
were doing the best things too. You know, sometimes hindsight
is twenty twenty. Hey, when my daughter Annabelle was in school,
you know, first people didn't really talk to her about MTV.
I always feel like I wasn't Martha Quinn for quite
(19:26):
a while. I wasn't Martha Quinn until like, I don't know,
I would say, maybe even the early two thousands, you know,
when I stopped being on MTV in nineteen ninety two.
I at first in the nineties was, oh, the girl
that used to be on MTV. You know, that's weird.
You know, she used to be on MTV and now
she's not. But at some point when people's nostalgia about
(19:52):
the eighties started to really kick in, and I think
maybe it started to happen in the early two thousands,
then suddenly I was part of that, and my role
in this world changed, and I saw that people valued
the MTV years as something that they held so dear,
(20:16):
and I appreciated that I was a part of that.
And every day that I got to play and still
to this day get to play Huey Lewis and the
News and Hard and to Power whoever it is. I
feel honored to be a part of that era because
I know it's a super important era to sow many people.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
It is true, it is and you see it every day.
We hear it every day from people who call in.
People have been sharing MTV memories all week long with you,
actually all month long with you, and so it is
really cool to see you walk into the target. You
see the MTV logo and the shirts, and it's not
because of teen Mom. It's because of MTV in a
(20:55):
sense that you remember it from back in the day
when it was really music television exactly.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
And what I started to say was, so my daughter Annabelle.
At some point when people started to realize, oh, Annibal's
mam was on MTV, Annabel's mama was on MTV, what
they all thought was that I was like snooky, but
I was on a show, like one of those shows,
and I would say no, I was a VJ, and
they'd be like huh, and I'd be like, well, I
(21:21):
played music, and then I'd be like, I talked about
music the whole time. And it was such a full
circle because Jordan was mentioning that MTV wasn't on in Manhattan.
And during that period of time, if I'd run into
someone from NYU, where I had just graduated from, just
before I got my job at MTV, and they would say, oh,
(21:44):
so what are you doing now that you graduated, And
if I knew I had to make a bus, I
would just say I'm teaching kindergarten because I knew if
I had to say, well, I'm on this cable music channel.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
It plays videos. It's like TV.
Speaker 4 (22:00):
I mean, it's like radio, but it's on TV, but
it's videos. It'd be like, oh my god, this is
such a long explanation. It wasn't until the I Want
My MTV spots started airing that I could say, you
know how Pete Townsend is saying I want my MTV.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
That's where I work. Do you remember seeing those spots, Jordan, Oh.
Speaker 5 (22:20):
Yeah, especially the Pete Townsend early ones. Yeah. I feel
like those commercials started first.
Speaker 4 (22:29):
Well, yeah, because that was part of the campaign to
get Manhattan cable.
Speaker 5 (22:33):
Yes that that was on. I don't even know what
was on cable besides like Benny Hill and.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
No, who was that guy that not Benny Hill, who
was the guy that got girls to take off their
clothes something, George, Yes, Ugly George.
Speaker 5 (22:47):
Ugly George and Robin Bird and Robin.
Speaker 4 (22:51):
Bird who did a naked interview show. So when I
first told my dad that I was going to be
doing something on cable TV, he was like, like I
saw the blood drain from his face and I'm like, no, no, no, no,
it's not like that.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
It's not like that.
Speaker 5 (23:02):
And then those commercials started, I guess, And then I
kind of remember commercials for the Something about Stereo too,
like ah, it's going to be in stereo and you
could like hook it up to your stereo. You know,
there wasn't stereotvs.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
True, that is so true.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
I'll tell you a funny story about our boss, Bob
Pittman Christy. Those I Want My MTV spots. They did
that to get local cable operators to add add MTV
because so many local cable operators.
Speaker 3 (23:28):
Didn't want to.
Speaker 4 (23:30):
And at some point some of the local cable operators
would call Bob and say, you've got to stop airing
these spots. Our phones are ringing off the hook. Please stop,
please stop. You're driving us crazy.
Speaker 5 (23:45):
Now.
Speaker 4 (23:45):
We needed the cable operators because we had another channel,
we had the movie channel, so we needed these cable operators,
so we couldn't be you know, mean to them. But
when they were saying, you got to make this stop.
You can't keep you know, airing these I Want my
MTV spots. Its driving us crazy. You know, Bob did.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Tell them to add it.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
Then exactly, he doubled down. He said, add more, add
more of the spots. He's he's got the eye of
the tiger. See if it was me, I would go, oh,
I'm so sorry. Okay, what works for you?
Speaker 5 (24:16):
Not Bob, Nope, and you would have to call I
wish I could remember, did I, you know, call in?
I don't remember. I don't remember. I can remember calling
into WABC, the big am radio station can seventies to
win some contest, but I can't remember. I would imagine
I did. Why not? Who wouldn't want to see MTV
(24:37):
there it is?
Speaker 1 (24:38):
Well, thank you so much for sharing all these amazing
MTV memories, and happy belated birthday to you. Jordan Mark
Quinn has been sorry I messed that up earlier, and
of course, happy forty third birthday to Music Television.
Speaker 2 (24:55):
As we remember it, it.
Speaker 5 (24:57):
Was like, you know, how many times did you think
you needed to see it? To learn in the safety dance?
You need to catch it like five times or make
sure you had the whole thing down.
Speaker 4 (25:06):
Well, all I know is everybody look at your haunts
and then you'll be good. You're automatically doing the safety
dance there. Everybody look at your haunts. Everybody look at
your haunts right now, and if you have an MTV memory,
please share it with us. Tap thread, talkback microphone right now.
If you're listening to talk, talk with Marth Quinn episode
number two hundred and eight. On your phone, you'll see
(25:27):
a little red microphone tap it tell us your MTV memory.
We are collecting them for the air. It would be
much appreciated, Christy. What else This has been a jam
packed episode.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
Yes, thank you to your husband Jordan aka Tyson for
joining us.
Speaker 2 (25:46):
Well appreciate you stepping in for Karina. And feel free
to stop by anytime.
Speaker 5 (25:51):
All right, and I'm going to go start calling right now,
calling my cable company.
Speaker 4 (25:57):
Yes, call your local cable company and say I want
my TV. There we go until episode number two hundred
and nine. I'm Martha Quinn.
Speaker 5 (26:07):
I'm Christie, I'm Tyson.
Speaker 3 (26:09):
Miss you're ready,
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