David Bowie “Ashes To Ashes”

Hitting Random on the iTunes playlist . . .

MTV came into my life at a pretty impressionable time.

For most people I know, from birth to your pre-teen years, your music tastes were formed by your parents’ music tastes. Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I grew up listening to The Beatles and The Beach Boys and to Broadway Soundtracks like “The Music Man” and “Fiddler On The Roof.”

It’s when kids hit their pre-teens, or early teenage years, that they discover the world of music outside the cocoon of home.

When I hit those years, MTV hit the small screen. I was about 11 when the cable guys came and hooked us up. And it opened up this bizarre world beyond “Fun Fun Fun” and “76 Trombones.”

And sometimes, that world creeped me the fuck out.

It’s hard now to go back to such a blank slate mindset, after all the years of viewed videos, rock shows attended, and general loss of innocence toward (mainstream) weirdness. But I can still look at this David Bowie video, and feel a teenage sense of dread.

Not that I could take my eyes off this video, mind you. But I’d watch it in the darkness of our basement TV room, looking at this man in makeup and some kind of bizarre clown suit, and feel very ill at ease, not understanding why something that should be so enjoyable, seemed a little like a nightmare.

Clips of the artists mentioned in this post: