i want my mtv!

what did the world look like before mtv made it post-modernist? that is, what was the world before "mtv" became an adjective? examples: mtv-style production, mtv attention span, & mtv generation. what are we to make of this world where tacky meets cool and edgy, hip hop meets alternative rocks and saachrine pop?

get it?
quick, wait, pay attention.
the camera barely waits for your eyes to dilate.
tonight, i'll dream of eric nies between my thighs.

i'm nearly 20. but, for whatever reason, i'm feeling nostalgic for the early nineties; i'm nostalgic for that era when everything, for better or for worse, was new: HIV, rollerblades, pointy bras, safe sex movements, oil wars, crack/cocaine aftermath, jungle fever, "pot-smoking" presidents, the B-side of cassettes, & that true story about 7 strangers.

speaking of early nineties, my current read of the moment is the complete guide to the music of madonna by rikky rooksby. this pink, pocketed-sized collectors items catalogues madonna's career from '84 to '98. each song (yes, that's correct) has a short analysis. rooksby says of some of my favorite madonna tracks:

into the grove: "the lyrics are a simple invitation to dance but carrying a sexual undertone."

papa don't preach: "the chorus is puncy enough, and there's a pleasant acoustic guitar solo, but as a whole the song seems musically under-powered."

other favorites include: like a prayer, human nature, & secret

here's to popular culture as defined by an upstart television station in '81.