A Return to Our Youth
If video killed a radio star, what killed MTV?
This past weekend, I got lost inside a dream where I was back in the 1980s playing Dragon’s Lair at the Dream Machine arcade at the local mall, but I was my current age. It felt so vivid and real that I didn’t even question why I wasn’t a teenager or how I got there. I can’t remember what clothes I was wearing or what music was playing, who I was with, or what the scenario was — other than trying to make it to the next level of the dungeon. Because if this dream, I quickly made breakfast and put on a New Wave playlist full of music from my teens like Culture Club, A Flock of Seagulls, The Communards, Scritti Politti, INXS, and Squeeze. It kept me in the nostalgic mood and missing those silly days in the mall or at the pool hall hogging the jukebox with friends.
With that, the theme of this week’s newsletter is a return to youth with a piece to follow on MTV and a playlist from a new Netflix show that takes place in 1990 Great Britain with a brilliant soundtrack.
Let’s begin.
I WANT MY MTV!
I grew up with MTV and I miss it dearly.
I miss Dave Kendall’s 120 Minutes the most, with videos by The Cure, R.E.M., New Order, Sisters of Mercy, The Wonderstuff, Catherine Wheel, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Erasure, Morrissey, Therapy?, and so many more. Kendall hosted the show from 1986 until 1992. It’s what I consider the golden years of MTV.
I was lucky to have basic cable in the 1980s and early ‘90s, and MTV was part of the package. I remember a precurosr to MTV was a grainy TV station called V66, which aired out of Boston on UHF, alongside WSBK-TV 38 and WLVI-Channel 56. It didn’t last too long, and when MTV came along, it filled the void up until 1992 when The Real World debuted and the network slid further into reality TV shows and became less and less about music.
Do you miss MTV? If so, you’re probably close to my age and we could commiserate our loss together over a Yoohoo and some Hotpockets, however, lucky for us, we can relive the glory days of MTV from it’s very beginnings with an app called MTV REWIND. I discovered this app recently and I’ve skipped around a bunch, but I’m such a sucker for nostalgia and watching classic music videos and old commercials.
Who is this guy keeping MTV alive in 2026??? I don’t know, but he’s a hero.
What were some of your favorite music videos?
LINER NOTES
Sharing stories about albums in my collection. My mission is simple: one record and one story at a time. Since I bought my first record in 1982, I’ve been obsessed with the stories hidden in the grooves. This is a sanctuary for the music nerds, and the audibly curious, dedicated to records and the liner notes that keep them alive.
Ryo Fukui, Mellow Dream (1977 / We Release Jazz, 2021)
Monday was Memorial Day and it started gray. Rain on the windows, morning coffee going cold faster than usual. Then, sometime after lunch, and after a coffee chat with a friend, the clouds broke and the sun appeared. By mid-afternoon, it was 70 degrees, and I was excited to sit outside, with the neighborhood birds and rabbits, and catchup on this newsletter. I was also taking a break from the 80s music…
I put on Ryo Fukui’s Mellow Dream, and it matched both halves of the day. Fukui recorded this album in 1977 in Sapporo, Japan. It was only his second release. The trio here, Fukui on piano, Satoshi Denpoh on bass, and Yoshinori Fukui on drums, plays with the kind of looseness that only comes from people who trust each other completely. The record was originally released in Japan and spent decades under the radar. We Release Jazz reissued it in 2021 on a beautifully pressed LP (WRJ002). That Swiss reissue is what sits on my turntable, but while writing this piece, I have it playin gin my headphones courtesy of Apple Music since it sadly doesn’t stream from QoBuz.
Fukui’s piano is the obvious entry point, and it earns every note of the attention it gets on this record. It’s warm and unhurried, as it shows right from the beginning on the title track, Mellow Dream, as it begins with a 2 minute and 30 second solo before drummer Yoshinori Fukui gently enters the conversation. And then Satoshi Denpoh’s bass appears, holding down the center of each track perfectly and the music blends, and you just hear this thing they’ve made together. It’s quite a jam for an opener.
I found this record the way a lot of records find me now. It was an Instagram post from someone deep in the jazz world, a cover image with music playing that stopped the scroll. That’s a different kind of faith than flipping through record bins, but the feeling when the record arrives and turns out to be everything you hoped for is almost the same, righty?
By the way, this pressing by We Release Jazz is clean. The clarity is exceptional with great sonics. I believe you can still purchase this version, or the blue & white marbled version on Discogs or Forced Exposure.
Fukui passed away in 2016, largely unknown outside Japan and a devoted circle of passionate jazz fans and vinyl collectors. This reissue introduced him to a much wider audience, which is well deserved, even if it came too late.
What records have you found through an Instagram scroll that turned into something real?
PLAYLIST
There is a new show on Netflix called, Legends. It’s six episodes and takes place in the United Kingdom around 1990, at the end of Thatcher’s rule. The theme is recognizable, and there are some moments reminding me of scenes in Trainspotting. This is a show about the heroin drug trade in Great Britain and those that worked undercover to bring it down. All episodes of Legends are now available on Netflix. The show stars Steve Coogan as a UK customs agent, Tom Burke as an undercover agent, Thomas Coombes as a Liverpudlian wanting to help, and many more talented people. The show is suspenseful, well written and directed, but for me, it’s all about the soundtrack. It takes me back to the late 1980s and early ‘90s for that acid house, Madchester, and early techno club vibes.
I guess it takes me back to 120 Minutes on MTV to come full circle this week.
Here’s the music from the show:
N-Trance - Set You Free
EMF - Unbelievable
Cocteau Twins - Cherry-Coloured Funk
Lost - The Gonzo (Mix)
The Stone Roses - Made of Stone
The Jesus and Mary Chain - April Skies
Happy Mondays - Hallelujah (Club Mix)
Adamski - Killer (feat. Seal)
Transvision Vamp - Baby I Don't Care
Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus
Alison Limerick - Where Love Lives
Rozalla - Everybody's Free (To Feel Good)
Inspiral Carpets - Irresistible Force
The Stone Roses - I Wanna Be Adored
The Cure - A Forest
Guru Josh - Infinity
The Fall - Hit the North, Pt. 1
Happy Mondays - Loose Fit
Manic Street Preachers - Motorcycle Emptiness
Records, Anytime.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I have an addictive hobby. I collect and play records. All genres, all sizes. In addition to my vinyl addiction, I have a very small online record shop where I sell many of my own records.
If you ever feel the itch, take a look and share it with your friends.
Until next time… thanks again for reading. - JB
I remember MTV being one of the main reasons to get "Sky TV" (like you, we actually had a slightly cheaper cable version) but most of the time I had to battle with my Dad to get him to turn off VH1.
I was 9 in 1977, and listening to whatever I could get on the battery-powered G.E. square cube radio that my grandparents let me take outside. Now I'm 57, and listening while I prepare low-salt comfort food for my mother who is in a cardio rehab in upstate NY. It's elevating and comforting, both Ryo Fukui's brilliant, artful music and imagining how rich the jazz world in Japan was becoming while I was playing dress-up in my Mimi's backyard in Schenectady NY. I love how this music is swirling around my nostalgia and still keeping me warm and grounded. What a find. Thank you, Jason.