Happy Place – 120 Minutes (MTV)

I grew up in the country and didn’t have cable until maybe junior or senior year in high school (16-17 yrs. old). Apart from ESPN and ESPN2 (“The Duce”), who did double-header hockey coverage, my favorite channel was MTV. I hated pop (N’Sync, Backstreet Boys, Brittney Spears), liked hip hop (Biggie, Puff Daddy and Ma$e, Busta, Luda, Jay-Z, Lauryn Hill), and tolerated “rock” (Korn, Limp Bizkit [or however the f**k you spell it], System of a Down, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Green Day).

My favorite bands were Wilco and Radiohead, and they still are right at the top. I also liked weird mainstream (e.g. Weezer), mainstream electronic (e.g. Chemical Brothers), mainstream psychedelic (e.g. Flaming Lips), alt-raido rockers (e.g. Matthew Sweet, Dinosaur Jr.), emo (e.g. The Getup Kids), and weird-folk-my-brother-brought-home-from-college (e.g. Andrew Bird’s Bowl of Fire). There was only one place to get all that on MTV: 120 Minutes.

The performances were great, but the videos were better. All videos by weird artists I liked, and many by weird artists I would grow to love. The closest thing I have in my life is the Sirius/XM station SiriusXMU, but we only vibe like 3/4 of the time at best.

The interviews were not great on MTV, even on this show. While watching an interview of Thom Yorke, I grew bored and searched for a performance on 120 Minutes, only to find Radiohead’s full set at the Tibetan Freedom Concert. Matt Pinfield, one more time, with the assist.

Here it is, friends. Enjoy.