Upon Cancellation of MTV, 2025

TO ALL GEN XERS: I WANT MY MTV! And We Are Better For It!

(Upon Cancellation of MTV, 2025)

A black box glowed, an exciting, novel dream,

My mother walked in, and killed the whole stream.

"Not that trash," she said with a dismissive frown,

The cool new music was instantly shut down.

But in my mind, a silent wish took flight:

A quiet little whisper of "I want my MTV" that very night.

But I kept watching, a secret I had to keep,

While Mom was at work, I would make a fast leap.

The volume low, my face close to the screen,

Witnessing a world I'd never before seen.

The first ten years, they opened my mind,

With visual poems of a passionate kind.

For Gen X, it was more than just a passing fad,

The sound of rebellion that was oh so bad.

We saw Billy Idol's cold, defiant sneer,

Tearing up the screen, shedding every single fear.

 We watched Madonna on that wedding-cake floor,

Losing innocence and asking us for more.

 The Police stood their powerful ground,

Singing, "Don't stand so close to me," with that sound.

These weren't just songs, but stories in sight,

Where the melody matched the shadows and light.

The imagery of a narrative set to the beat,

Made the music whole, impossibly sweet.

Those short films of love, rebellion, and grief,

They shook the foundations of my young belief.

Our new mythologies, created on tape,

Showed us a world where we could finally escape.

My ears filled with sounds of both sadness and cheer,

That first glimpse of MTV stays with me, year after year.

It shaped our culture, defined our very youth,

A flashpoint memory that remains the truth—

For us Gen X, our battle cry is still on the stage,

The first pulse of "Sledgehammer" defines our age.

We fought for that channel, that visual sight,

We had our MTV, and we were better for the fight.

Copyright: Anne Hendricks Childress, M.Ed.

Revelry and Reflections, 2025

#mtv #genx #rock