Thread by @mrgavinedwards

Today is August 1st, which means that it's 38 years since MTV went on the air, playing 24/7 music videos, interspersed with visits with the original five VJs: @NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn and the late great J.J. Jackson.
Celebrate!

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn Since today is the MTVaversary, and the book I wrote with the aforementioned VJs—VJ: The Unplugged Adventures of MTV's First Wave—is now in paperback, it's time for something I've been meaning to do for a while: THE OFFICIAL VJ 1980S LYRICS QUIZ. simonandschuster.com/books/VJ/Nina-…

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn Here's the deal: VJ (a New York Times bestseller, by the way) has 50 chapters. We gave each of those chapters a title drawn from the lyrics of a popular MTV video of the 1980s—with no repeated artists, so by 50 different acts. @AtriaBooks

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks I'm going to roll out all 50 of them, and your job is to identify them. Give yourself one point if you can name the song and one point if you can name the artist. (You can score up to 100 points in total--hey, how'd we end up back in school?)

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks Some of these lyrics are fiendishly obscure; some of them are actually the title of the song. Feel free to grade yourself as strictly or leniently as you like. (If there's a parenthesis in a song title, do you need it to get full credit? Up to you!)

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks But please don't Google—what's the point?—and please don't post answers that will spoil the game for other people.

Oh, and if you have no interest in playing, you might want to mute this thread, because it's going on for a while.

That's it! Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll!

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks (I'll post a link to the answers at the end of the thread.)

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 1. Got My Back Against the Record Machine

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 2. Changes Come Around Real Soon, Make Us Women and Men

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 3. Welcome to Your Life

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 4. Step Right Up and Don't Be Shy

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 5. Let's Make Lots of Money

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 6. There's Always Something Happening and It's Usually Quite Loud

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 7. Don't Talk to Strangers

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 8. Sometimes You Tell the Day by the Bottle That You Drink

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 9. Ain't Nothing Gonna Break My Stride

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 10. Here in My Car, I Feel Safest of All

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 11. I Hope That When This Issue's Gone, I'll See You When Your Clothes Are On

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 12. I'm a Cool Rocking Daddy in the U.S.A. Now

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 13. Hot in the City

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 14. Throw Your Arms Around the World at Christmastime

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 15. Take My Tears and That's Not Nearly All

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 16. I'll Kick You Out of My Home if You Don't Cut That Hair

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 17. And Now You Find Yourself in '82

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 18. I Know There's Something Going On

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 19. Things Can Only Get Better

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 20. I Spend My Cash on Looking Flash and Grabbing Your Attention

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 21. She's Precocious and She Knows Just What It Takes to Make a Pro Blush

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 22. They Told Him Don't You Ever Come 'Round Here

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 23. I Might Like You Better If We Slept Together

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 24. You Must Be My Lucky Star

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 25. Every Time I Think of You, I Always Catch My Breath

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 26. That's My Soul Up There

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 27. I've Seen You on the Beach and I've Seen You on TV

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 28. I Want to Be the One to Walk in the Sun

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 29. You Play the Guitar on the MTV

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 30. You May Find Yourself in a Beautiful House with a Beautiful Wife

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 31. My Beacon's Been Moved Under Moon and Star

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 32. Jokerman Dance to the Nightingale Tune

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 33. The Kids in America

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 34. I Always Feel Like Somebody's Watching Me

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 35. What a Pity You Don't Understand

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 36. I Said to the Man, "Are You Trying to Tempt Me?"

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 37. I Was There to Match My Intellect on National TV

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 38. There Comes a Time When We Heed a Certain Call

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 39. Love Is a Battlefield

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 40. I Guess I Should Have Known by the Way You Parked Your Car Sideways That It Wouldn't Last

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 41. The Kid Is Hot Tonight

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 42. I Don't Wanna Lose Your Love Tonight

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 43. Every Now and Then I Get a Little Bit Nervous That the Best of All the Years Have Gone By

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 44. The Five Years We Have Had Have Been Such Good Times

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 45. The Party Boys Call the Kremlin

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 46. I'm a Man Who Doesn't Know How to Sell a Contradiction

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 47. We'll Be Moving on and Singing That Same Old Song

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 48. After the Fire, the Fire Still Burns

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 49. Don't You Forget about Me

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks 50. We Can't Rewind, We've Gone Too Far

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks That concludes THE OFFICIAL VJ 1980S LYRICS QUIZ! Give it up for @NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks @aftannenbaum @paulieolsewski and check out VJ (now in paperback): simonandschuster.com/books/VJ/Nina-… And if you want the answers? rulefortytwo.com/2019/08/01/the…

@NinaBlackwood @goodymade @AlanHunterMTV @MarthaQuinn @AtriaBooks @aftannenbaum @paulieolsewski How'd you do?