• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Robert Forto

  • Home
  • About
  • Blog
  • Rants & Reviews
  • Team Ineka
  • Dog Training
  • Seminars
  • Contact

Kurt Cobain

I Want my MTV!

August 3, 2011 by robertforto 1 Comment

I can remember vividly– I was 10 years old and sitting in my parents den at our home in Jacksonville, North Carolina. We had recently moved there on a transfer for my father’s job. He was a Marine.

We grew up as a modest middle class family with the requisite 2.5 kids–my brother Chris was not quite two yet so I guess he can count as a half of a kid still–the dog and a station wagon in the driveway.

We didn’t have a picket fence but we did live in Sherwood Forest. The name of our street was Little John and all the surrounding streets were named after the classic tale.

One thing’s for certain though… we were one of the few families in the neighborhood that had cable television. I can remember sitting in front of the big console TV way too close because the cable box sat on top with these little push buttons to change the channel.

No remote in those days.

On August 1, 1981 I was flipping through the channels and I came across one that would change not only my life but the world forever.

It was Music Television. Thats right MTV!

Did you know that the classic moon landing commercial aired over 75,000 times? 17,000 times in the inaugural year.

MTV defined my generation. I have so many memories:

Headbangers Ball on Saturday Nights.

Watching Metallica’s One video a thousand times in high school with my guitar in hand trying so hard to learn the riffs just like Kirk;

Hair-bands like Skid Row, Bon Jovi, Warrant, Slaughter and Winger spent millions of dollars making videos that were like mini four minute movies.

Beavis and Butthead.

Staying up all night watching videos at sleep overs when I was in early middle school and having contests on who was the best band–Devo? Madonna? Wham! ? Milli Vanilli?

The game show, Remote Control in 1989 where Adam Sandler got his start way before SNL.

The music awards show and the crazy stunt that Howard Stern pulled as the Fartman in 1992

The MTV news spots with Kurt Loder.

Hearing it first when Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark was found dead and my girlfriend screaming and crying.

[Check this out: The Long, Colorful History of MTV’s Logo]

I can recall hearing of Kurt Cobain’s death on the radio driving in Tampa, Florida and doing whatever I could to get home to watch the reports on MTV.

The birth of Yo! MTV Raps!

And the fall of the great music channel and rise of the reality shows such as the Real World, Cribs, and Pimp My Ride.

Its hard to believe it has been 30 years since MTV released at midnight on August 1, 1981 with The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star. They don’t even play much music anymore. That is a shame… Sure you can still check out some old school videos on VH-1 but today’s kids don’t even know much about the original music destination on television.

They are a YouTube generation.

What are your memories of MTV? Share your stories.

Follow my news and updates on Twitter, my whereabouts on Foursquare and  relationship status on Facebook. Or send me a telegram.

Related articles
  • VIDEO: MTV debuted on August 1, 1981 (greginsd.wordpress.com)
Enhanced by Zemanta

Filed Under: Daily Post, What Rocks Tagged With: Adam Sandler, Howard Stern, Kurt Cobain, Kurt Loder, MTV, mtv brithday, postaday2011, robert forto, Steve Clark, YouTube

Scary’s on the wall

July 12, 2011 by robertforto 3 Comments

The other night my wife headed home to Colorado after a quick trip to our home Alaska. It was a bittersweet goodbye. I couldn’t sleep and I was checking out posts on my Facebook wall well after midnight. I saw something that floored me. It was a picture that my aunt Diana sent to me of a tree that we planted in the front yard when I was just a couple years old.

It was at the house where I grew up in Huntington. WV. I left there when I was in second grade and have only been back a couple times since.

The tree was huge. Well over 40 feet tall and full of life.

Talking to my aunt brought a flood of emotions and flashbacks to the life path I have chosen…

The next thought was my rock band.

When I was young and impressionable, I formed a rock band called FROG first, then we grew up a bit and called ourselves Rainmaker.

This was the early 1990’s in Portland, Oregon and the height of the grunge scene. One of my biggest influences was Alice in Chains. I can’t count how many times we covered their songs in the seedy dive bars from Oregon to Florida driving our equipment in U-hauls that we would rent at the local rate of $19.95 and somehow make it to Florida without getting busted for a one way rental.

This music changed my life, (I don’t know if it was for better or worse) and I am thankful for the times I shared with good friends, loyal fans that bought our tapes out of a suitcase, and even a groupie or two.

We played in a festivals and radio station events for small FM stations before iPods and music piracy.

We watched the rock stars die: Frankie Starr of the Four Horsemen, Kurt Cobain of Nirvana, Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, and countless others ruin their lives over drugs and alcohol.

Thankfully none of us got wrapped up in the junk.

At some point we all grew up and went our seperate ways. I a lot has changed since I first picked up a guitar as a young teen. Now my daughter is learning how to play…

Sometimes I sit look at the guitar in the corner as it gathers dust and think back to yesteryear and wonder what if I would have stayed on that path of pursuing my music?

I wonder:

Watch where you spit

I’d advise you wait until it’s over

Then you got hit

And you shoulda known better

–Lyrics from We Die Young, Alice in Chains

I’m 40 now and by the law of averages my life is half over. Is it the way I wanted to live? Maybe, Maybe not.

“We can’t change the past only the hold it has on us,” What a great quote.

Until the time comes I will still hold on to my dreams and chase the demons away–whatever they be. But for now It ain’t like that…

So until next time, America, live life to the fullest because Scary’s on the Wall.

Filed Under: Daily Post, What Rocks Tagged With: Alice in Chains, Blind Melon, IPod, Kurt Cobain, Layne Staley, postaday2011, robert forto, Shannon Hoon

Primary Sidebar

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • RSS Feed
  • LinkedIn

Listen to Dog Works Radio

Copyright © 2021 · Metro Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in