Up until 1981, sports were the dominant focus in my life but the balance started to shift slightly on that infamous August day when MTV was launched. I fondly remember the commercials of a variety of artists saying “I want my MTV!” leading up to the launch and thinking to myself, “what the heck is this?”
At the time, and before the official launch of MTV, I had a small, red, AM/FM 8-track player with a single speaker that Santa Claus brought to me at Christmas that previous year. It came with an 8-track of Billy Joel’s Glass Houses and an early years Fleetwood Mac tape that totally sucked. To be fair, the Fleetwood Mac tape was prior to the additions of Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, and it just wasn’t very good. However, the Billy Joel album was incredible with songs such as “You May Be Right”, “Don’t Ask Me Why” and “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me”. When I wasn’t wearing that tape player out, I was listening to the local FM station and this is where my eyes would become truly open to the best generation in music.
Little did Santa know but he had opened Pandora’s Box because now I had access to Van Halen, Journey, AC/DC, and the Police. Van Halen had just released the album “Women and Children First” in 80 and “Fair Warning” would follow in 81. Journey’s album, “Escape”, was blowing up the radio along with The Police’s “Ghost in the Machine”. 1981 essentially shaped my taste in music to this day in that one single year.
While that radio was totally badass, it paled in comparison to MTV when it launched that August. Now all of sudden, you were able to see your favorite artist either in concert footage or short videos acted out to the theme of the song. It was incredible! My friends and I went from hanging out at the city pool late that summer to sitting in front of our TVs for hours on end. I personally couldn’t get enough of it and the only thing that did get me back outdoors was my passion for tennis. However, it was tough to balance time betweeen these two things but I somehow found a way to do both.
Life wasn’t perfect that year but for the first time in my life, I was able to relax long enough to soak in the cool musical changes taking place around me. I was able to just be an innocent kid enjoying the explosion of entertainment. I always believed there was a better life ahead of me and I was going to hold on to that belief no matter what. Not to be too corny, but Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” became my theme song that year.
While today, I still listen to many of the same songs I first heard back then and sometimes, just sometimes, I can still hear Steve Perry belting out from my small, red, 8-track player “Living just to find emotion…Hiding somewhere in the night!…Don't stop believin'…Hold on to the feelin'“. Simply incredible! Even after all these years that song, and many others like it, still kick ass!
So on this wonderful Sunday morning, hold on to your dreams and definitely “Don’t Stop Believin!”
Here is a short trip back to 1981…enjoy!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k8craCGpgs
13 of 50 - 1981