August 1, 1981: MTV hits the airwaves.

You know the first video, “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles, everyone knows that. If you really want to impress people in bars, you should know the first five songs: 1. The Buggles, 2. “You Better Run” Pat Benatar, 3. “She Won’t Dance With Me” Rod Stewart, 4. “You Better You Bet” The Who (also the first video played twice) and 5. “Little Suzi’s On the Up” Ph.D. (I was just kidding, it won’t impress anyone if you know that, not even Martha Quinn.)

It was certainly groundbreaking television and it changed music at least for awhile. You still had to be good, but it didn’t hurt your odds if you looked like Duran Duran.

It was an astonishing change to rock ‘n roll, which had been around for roughly 25 years to that point. (Imagine that, rock n’ roll has been around a lot longer post MTV than before it.)

There was about as 12-year stretch from MTVs beginning where it was almost impossible to hear a song and not think of the video. There was endless debate about whether that hurt or helped music. Some said it helped cement the artist’s vision, others felt a song should conjure up its own images. In the end nobody really gave a crap because it was like arguing about what flavor of popsicle was better. In the end MTV did very little to change whether or not a song was any good or not. (Billy Idol’s “Cradle of Love” and Janet Jackson’s “Love Will Never Do” being huge exceptions.

Inevitably MTV grew into a massively huge conglomerate, with reality shows (that are about as real as a Robert Palmer video) awards shows and shows about pregnant 15-year olds. Or something. I don’t watch it anymore. They don’t make it for me, I’m 48. But there was a certainly a time when I wanted my MTV.

As John noted earlier, today is the anniversary of The Battle of Little Big Horn. I find it more than slightly ironic that one of the Indian War Chiefs who died that day was named, “Lame White Man.”

With apologies to everyone who lost their lives that day, here in the world of Pop Culture, the June 25th deaths of 2009 are almost impossible to top. Both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died that day. 

I wrote about Farrah’s death that day here. That post detailed the burgeoning desires of a teenage boy, and it also set off a series of events that led to me getting married three years later. Farrah was a gift that certainly kept on giving. I learned of Michael Jackson’s death in an airport security line, on my way back home to Minnesota for a golf weekend/bachelor party.

What’s the greatest album of all time? Impossible to answer obviously, the music mags and sites have a new answer every five years or so. If you were in high school in the ’80’s like I was, and especially if you grew up in Minneapolis like I did, this one, which came out today in 1984, is on your short list.

“Purple Rain” was so freaking good it made a pretty bad movie a cult classic. In 2008 Entertainment Weekly named it the No. 1 album of the past 25 years. I’m not arguing. The start of “Let’s Go Crazy” was so genius that it’s amazing that nobody had ever thought to use it to start a song before. Nine songs that anyone who went to clubs in the 1980’s knows by heart. If “The Beautiful Ones” isn’t in the top four songs of your album, you’ve made a pretty god damn good album.

I’m now going to admit to a guilty pleasure. I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anyone say they didn’t like this movie, but it’s in my top 10 and even though I’m not really proud of that, I can’t deny it either. “Sleepless in Seattle” came out today in 1993, and though I loved it to death, it’s not the movie I’m talking about. (Psych!)

I loved every frame of that movie, it’s hard not to, but I didn’t love it as much as this one:

“The Notebook” came out today in 2004 and it pulled me in hook, line and sinker.

Two pretty people falling in love cute, but he’s a townie with no big future and she’s a richie rich whose parents won’t let her marry outside of her cash class. Young love torn asunder! A war. A best friend dead. A new guy, who’s good looking and charming. An engagement. And here’s where Nicholas Sparks really got it right, in making this the best thing he’s ever written: he didn’t give Rachel McAdam’s character an easy out. The “bad” guy never does anything wrong, he’s just not the guy she’s in love with. She likes him a lot, and loves the idea of him and how easy he’d make the rest of her days, but she’s in love with somebody else. 99.99 percent of stories make the other guy an asshole and an easy out.

If you ever tell anyone I wrote that, I’ll have to kill you. And I’ll deny it. (Google search engines be damned.)

Today in 1976, “The Omen” came out and my wife swears it scared her more than “The Exorsist”. I didn’t see it because I hate scary movies. (You probably inferred that from the last item… I’m seriously not as big of a wuss as I sound today.)

“Bladerunner” came out today in 1982. I liked it a lot when I saw it that summer, but I’ve never seen it again and I don’t need to. It’s cult status was weird to me. I’d rather watch The Notebook again.

There have been some pretty stellar debuts that came out on June 25th over the years.

1947 saw the publication of, “The Diary of Anne Frank”. The world view of a young teenage girl in hiding from the Nazi’s is one of the more prized works of the last century.

Though not as highly praised as that, (although it may be in some circles) Jay-Z dropped his debut album, “Reasonable Doubt” today in 1996. Hailed by critics as a masterpiece, it set the tone for a career that has seen nothing but astonishing success. “Dead Presidents,” “Don’t Knock the Hustle,” “Ain’t No Nigga,” and “Feelin It” are iconic rap songs.

Another debut that’s led to HUGE success hit today in 2002, when Maroon 5 debuted with “Songs About Jane”. “Harder to Breathe,” “This Love,” “She Will Be Loved,” and “Sunday Morning” were all smash hits and Maroon 5 hasn’t missed since. It remains to be seen however, if Adam Levine’s legacy doesn’t become, “that hot, charming guy in the chair.”

— Bill Hubbell

I imagine it would have trended on Twitter.

Today in 1453, the Roman Empire came to a close with the Fall of Constantinople. It had been a nearly 1,500 year run, so the good ole U-S-of A only has a ways to go for longevity. Most country singers think we’re already the GOAT, but Skip Bayless thinks we need a few more titles. Several Greek intellectuals fled the city before it fell, moving to Italy, beginning the Renaissance era. No big deal or anything, its just that the Middle Ages had come to a close.

The Middle Ages were resurrected in grand fashion today in 1984, when 45-year old Tina Turner released, “Private Dancer.” It was one of the most amazing comebacks in the history music. Imagine if Natalie Merchant became one of the biggest stars in the world this summer. That’s kind of what it was like. The third single off the album was, “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and it was on after that. “Better Be Good To Me,” “Private Dancer,” and “I Can’t Stand the Rain” followed. The title track was written by Mark Knopfler, and if you listen to it, you can hear him all over it. For Turner it was a third act (most entertainers never get a second) that put her on top of the mountain, and re-wrote her entire history.

Tonight in 1913 an opera opened in Paris, Igor Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring,” and it nearly incited a riot in the theatre. It wasn’t so much the material, but the intersection of the stuffy and rich (the normal opera crowd) and the punk rockers of the day, the new bohemia in Paris. Imagine absinthe and Ewan McGregor and Nicole Kidman at the after party.

Today in 1954 Alfred Hitchcock released, “Dial M For Murder.” The AFI ranked it the ninth best mystery ever. A retired English tennis star finds out his wife is cheating on him with an American, and tries to have him killed and his wife framed for it. He doesn’t pull it off. What’s Boris Becker up to these days?

Jeff Buckley was found dead today in 1997, having drowned at the age of 30. This is not a bad legacy.

Um, ironically? Today in 2007 a New Jersey group named the Gaslight Anthem released their debut record, “Sink or Swim.” It got very little attention from critics at large, but those who heard it loved it. Punknews.org wrote, “the type of record that most young bands wish they could create to launch their musical career.” It’s fantastic. I swear I was like the 10th person to watch that linked video on Youtube (some link from a link from a link that said there was a great new band) and I was hooked by the time they hit the chorus.

Birthday wishes to the deceased: Bob Hope and John F. Kennedy. And to the living: Noel Gallagher is 46 and Daniel Tosh is 38.

Gallagher’s Top 10:

1. Don’t Go Away
2. Little By Little
3. Wonderwall
4. Champagne Supernova
5. Rockin’ Chair
6. Little by Little
7. Don’t Look Back in Anger
8. Live Forever
9. All Around the World
10. D’You Know What I Mean?

— Bill Hubbell

Mike Tyson might never have existed if Sylvester Stallone hadn’t thought of him first.

“Rocky III” hit screens today in 1982 and Clubber Lang was one of the more intimidating bad guys in the history of movies.

Sly Stallone had gone all HGH and steroids in the six years since Rocky debuted, and his character had turned his body into nothing even resembling the guy who first fought Apollo Creed. Lang made quick work of Rocky and killed his manager Mickey in the process. In steps Apollo Creed to help Rocky train for the rematch. Maybe it was because I was still young enough, but I remember being quite thrilled when Rocky started saying to Lang, “You ain’t so bad, you ain’t so bad… you ain’t nothin!” Rocky would of course go on to end the Cold War, fight a guy with AIDS and then manage his son.

“Cliffhanger” came out 11 years later to the day. Rocky climbs a mountain in that one. The two pictures combined to make over a half a billion dollars. Sly can afford a lot of HGH.

Today in 1987 a 19-year old West German pilot, Mathius Rust, flew a Cessna airplane into Moscow and landed it on a bridge right next to Red Square. Rust said he was trying to build an “imaginary bridge” between the East and the West. In a way he did. Several top Soviet military people were fired after the incident and two months later Reagan and Gorbachev signed a treaty to eliminate intermediate range nuclear weapons in Europe. Of course, two years earlier, Rocky Balboa had paved the way for all of this after defeating Ivan Drago.

Comedian/Actor Phil Hartman was shot and killed by his wife, Brynn this morning in 1998.

It was today in 2002 that Marshall Mathers released “The Eminem Show.” The album solidified his status as the biggest rapper in the world. The big hit off the album was “Without Me,” in which Eminem goes after boy bands, Limp Bizkit, Dick Cheney and Moby among others. You didn’t want any part of a verbal tussle with the Real Slim Shady. Other hits were “Sing for the Moment,” Superman,” and “Till I Collapse.”

Happy 68th to John Fogerty, 28th to Colbie Caillat and Carrie Mulligan, and 25th to both Percy Harvin and Craig Kimbrel.

Fogerty’s Top Six:

1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain
2. Bad Moon Rising
3. Centerfield
4. Proud Mary
5. Lookin’ Out My Back Door
6. Rock ‘N Roll Girls

— Bill Hubbell

The first McDonald’s opened today in 1940 in San Bernardino, CA. Two brothers, named McDonald, and their original mascot was a man wearing a chef’s hat named “Speedee”. Ray Kroc entered the fray in 1955, and Ronald McDonald came to be in 1967. Double quarter pounder with cheese, large fries and a chocolate shake. I’ll start getting in shape tomorrow.

The last great MGM musical was released today in 1958. “Gigi” starred Leslie Caron and Louis Jourdan and won nine Academy Awards including Best Picture and Best Director. The rom-com borrowed heavily from “My Fair Lady,” but holds its own in portryaing love winning out over cynicism.

Love over cynicism wasn’t exactly what Motley Crue was going for when they released “Girls, Girls, Girls” today in 1987.  Or maybe it was and I just missed the point of: “Friday night and I need a fight…my motorcycle and a switchblade knife…handful of grease in my hair feels right…but what I need to make me tight are…Girls, Girls, Girls”

“Ishtar” was released on the very same day as “Girls, Girls, Girls” and despite everything you’ve ever heard, it’s pretty damn funny for the first 45 minutes.

Happy 60th birthday to George Brett, the only player to ever hit .300 in three different decades. He still looks like he could do it. Happy 57th to Dan Patrick.

— Bill Hubbell