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VJ: The Unplugged Adventures Of MTV's First Wave (2013)

by Nina Blackwood(Favorite Author)

3.5 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

1451678126 (ISBN13: 9781451678123)

languge

English

genre

Memoir & Autobiography

publisher

Atria Books

review 1: As a teenager, I loved MTV, from its inception in 1981 until it started getting more focused on pop culture than music videos in the late 1980s. The authors of this memoir were the faces of MTV during that heyday, and I recall them as fondly as I do many of my old high school buddies from that same era. "VJ" is a essentially a collection of memories from the four surviving VJs (J.J. Jackson passed away in 2004), from the time of their hiring at the channel to their departure. The stories are exactly the kind of gossipy, fun kind of thing a fan of classic MTV would expect in a book such as this. I truly enjoyed reliving the glory days of MTV (and my own younger years) through this book, and still listen to Mark, Nina, Alan, and Martha each day on their SiriusXM 80s channel... more. The book's tone got a bit bitter toward the end when the VJs recounted their struggles post-MTV (hence the four stars instead of five) but other than that it was a fun and breezy read that I highly recommend to fans of music from the 80s.
review 2: This book is written interview style - and a bit boring. I thought it may have more gossip/behind the scenes with the bands. Also, I am too young to remember 1981, and I thought it was going to be more about the first popular VJs on MTV (Kennedy?) like when MTV really exploded. It's so early, that I thought it was a bit uninteresting and I don't remember hearing about the things they spoke about. I didn't recognize any of the VJ's names - and they didn't really make it interesting, either. less

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