Our '80s crush

Boys' hearts started to beat faster when Martha Quinn showed up as one of MTV's original VJs.

By SEAN DALY and STEVE SPEARS, Times Staff Writers
Published August 26, 2007

Doughy, 37-year-old dudes rejoice! Your pixie-haired childhood crush, the TV star who ignited your pimply appreciation for girls and Duran Duran, is back in your lives again.

One of MTV's original VJs - 26 years ago, no less - the still bubbly, curiously incandescent Martha Quinn, is lending her name and knowledge to a new computer trivia game, The 80s Game With Martha Quinn. She also hosts a weekly show on Sirius satellite radio's Big '80s channel, Martha Quinn Presents Gods of the Big 80s.

Now 47 years old with a husband and kids (her children like Fergie and Gwen Stefani, "a painful subject," she harrumphs), Quinn chatted with tampabay.com's Stuck in the '80s podcast team about her love of Bon Jovi, one-hit wonders and today's celebrity gossip Web sites.

Your voice is essentially ingrained in our DNA. You must have dudes like us coming up to you all the time and expressing their love.

This is what happens, and it's always a double-edged sword to me because I know people are trying to be nice. ... Someone will say "Oh, Martha, I used to have the biggest crush on you." I'm like, "Oh, you used to? Who do you have a crush on now?" Typical female.

When MTV started 25 years ago, did anyone at the network think you'd become the face of the music video revolution?

You know, it's funny, every once in a while I'll read an article about the '80s and see them referred to as "the Martha Quinn Years." And I'm like, "Oh my God, that's incredible!" I'm quite sure that nobody had any idea because, you know, I was just some goofy kid off the street. It just worked out that way. I can't explain it. It worked out great, and I'm honored.

Is it a burden to always be associated with that decade?

You know how I feel about it? It's so great that I do the Sirius show right now. ... It's totally reconnecting me with this group of people who I really feel like we came to age together.

Why are so many people still infatuated with the decade?

There was Reaganomics and the Reagan years, and there was a lot going on in the world. But there was also a lot of hard-core optimism. Everything from Garbage Pail Kids to the Smurfs to The Safety Dance . . . people always love the period of time they grew up in before they took on adult responsibilities. ... But I do think that people who grew up in the '80s are more passionate than any other decade.

What did you really listen to back then? Did you really dig all the stuff on MTV?

I firmly believe there's an East Coast-West Coast divide on this. People who grew up on the East Coast were firm Bon Jovi (and) Aerosmith listeners. West Coast: Oingo Boingo (and) Depeche Mode. ... So for me, it was Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Dexy's Midnight Runners.

Oh come on, you listened to one Dexy's Midnight Runners song: Come On Eileen!

(Laughing) Yeah, but I listened to it over and over and over! That was back in the days when you could put a single on your turntable and switch the mode to repeat. ... My neighbors must have thought I was insane. I loved that song.

What interviews really stand out from your MTV days?

I interviewed Bob Dylan. I was so frightened of this guy, and he was wonderful. I finally got to meet Paul McCartney, which was a total dream. ... I almost found that the bigger the celebrity, the nicer they were. Frankie Goes To Hollywood came in - (VJ) Mark (Goodman) actually interviewed them - and they were total (jerks). Totally! Mark actually at one point said, "Listen, do you guys even want to do this interview?" But that being said, tons of newcomers were awesome, too, like the Go-Go's, whom I'm still friends with. (And) the Stray Cats and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

What do you make of today's celebrity culture: the tabloids, the gossip Web sites? It seems so much colder than the '80s vibe.

I'm addicted to this stuff. It's crazy. I gotta see the latest on what's happening with Lindsay Lohan. I was just saying this to (former VJ) Nina Blackwood: We missed the era of tabloids. If tabloids had been around back then, we would have been right there: "Nina Blackwood is dating who?!"

To hear the complete interview with Martha Quinn, go to Stuck in the '80s at blogs.tampabay.com/80s. To read Sean Daly's Pop Life blog, go to blogs.tampabay.com/popmusic.

Where are they now?

MTV began with five "video jockeys": Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter, J.J. Jackson and Martha Quinn. Goodman was the first VJ seen during the inaugural broadcast, on Aug. 1, 1981. Here's where they are today:

Alan Hunter: Host and judge of the reality show Looking for Stars on the Starz channel. Also head of production company Hunter Films and WorkPlay, a multipurpose office and studio facility in Birmingham, Ala.

J.J. Jackson: Returned to the Los Angeles radio market after leaving MTV in 1987. Died of a heart attack on March 17, 2004, at age 62.

Mark Goodman: Got into acting after leaving MTV, with appearances in Police Academy 6: City Under Siege and Parker Lewis Can't Lose. Currently a Sirius satellite radio co-host of the channels "Big '80s" and "Classic Rewind."

Nina Blackwood: Hosted syndicated radio programs after leaving MTV. Today co-hosts the Big '80s channel on Sirius.

Quiz time

Are you smarter than Martha Quinn?

Here are examples of questions from the new computer trivia game The 80s Game with Martha Quinn:

1. In the 1989 film Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, the title characters time travel using a time machine disguised as a:

a. Phone booth

b. Closet

c. Concert ticket booth

2. Cyndi Lauper tops the charts in 1984 with this song that features the lyrics "If you're lost, you can look and you will find me."

a. True Colors

b. Time After Time

c. All Through The Night

3. In 1986, Coca-Cola first employs this virtual character to pitch its products and say "Catch the wave!"

a. Max Headroom

b. Homer Simpson

c. The Noid

4. On Miami Vice, this real-life singer first appears in 1987 as Crockett's rock star girlfriend Caitlin Davies.

a. Gloria Estefan

b. Donna Summer

c. Sheena Easton

5. This 1987 movie becomes the first to star both Corey Haim and Corey Feldman.

a. License To Drive

b. Dream A Little Dream

c. The Lost Boys

Answers: 1, a; 2, b; 3, a; 4, c; 5, c.

[Last modified August 25, 2007, 21:49:58]