Interviewing Amy Heckerling (“Fast times at Ridgemont High,” “Clueless”) we got off topic and recalled “sitting next to the TV, waiting for this damned thing to come on.”

She was in Cali, I was in Alaska, waiting on August 1, 1981 for MTV to strike a blow for youth music culture like no other.

Heckerling remembered it informing her work from thence forward. I remember buying koala bear dolls for a girlfriend who could not get enough of that damned Men at Work video for a song that was plagiarized just a little bit .

This video posted below was MTV to me. Pop rock, models, whimsy and filmmaking that was distinctly “video” in medium and style.

MTV, we hardly knew ye.