Who Killed the Radio Star, and Other MTV Trivia Questions?

Question: How big a pencil-neck trivia geek are you?

Answer a series of forehead-slapping anecdotal factoids. It's up to you to weigh each fact in each anecdotal factoid. They're tricky. One might seem like total B.S. until it's revealed to be strangely and disturbingly "True." Another anecdotal factoid might seem to contain all solid and verifiable facts until it's revealed to be yet one more big fat garden variety "Bald-Faced Lie." And here's the trickiest part: an anecdotal factoid might even be "Half-True"; in other words, a mishmosh of truths and bald-faced lies, where you don't know where one ends and the other begins, much like the usual slop served by Madison Avenue, Washington D.C., and the Internet in its entirety.

Category: The "I want my MTV!" Quiz

Decide for yourself, and mark "T" for "Truth", "F" for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" for "Half-Truth" in the blank slot next to each factoid.

The answers will be revealed on the next page.

1) __ MTV was invented by Michael Nesmith, one of the Monkees.

2) __ In 1981, the first music video played on MTV was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." In 2000, "Video Killed the Radio Star" also became the one-millionth music video played on MTV.

3) __ As a prank on MTV's stunt series "Jackass", show pranksters kidnapped Hollywood superstar Brad Pitt as he was waiting in line at Pink's, a popular Los Angeles hot dog stand. Pitt later sued MTV and show producer Spike Jonze for assault and false imprisonment.

4) __ Paul Reubens' last appearance as his character Pee Wee Herman was at the 1991 MTV Music Video Awards. Referring to the barrage of late night comic jokes after his arrest at a Florida X-rated movie theater, he asked the Awards audience, "Read any good jokes lately?"

5) __ In Madonna's 2003 music video "American Life", she throws a hand grenade, which is caught by a George W. Bush lookalike actor. When a public outcry arose when a member of The Dixie Chicks criticized Bush and the Iraq War, Madonna had the video shelved.

6) __ A one-hour special episode of MTV's "Tom Green Show" televised Green's real-life operation for testicular cancer with guest star Andy Dick doing the blow-by-blow commentary.

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Here are the answers for The "I want my MTV!" Quiz.

Answers:

A reminder: "T" is for "Truth", "F" is for "Bald-Faced Lie" or "TF" is for "Half-Truth".

1) T: It's true that MTV originated from a show concept by Monkee Michael Nesmith. In the late seventies, Nesmith created "PopClips", a series of half-hour shows comprised of videos spotlighting top-forty music hits. He sold 56 half-hours to Warner Brothers Television, who rebranded it as MTV.

2) T: It's true that the first music video and the one-millionth played on MTV was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star."

3) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that "Jackass" show pranksters "kidnapped" Brad Pitt as he was waiting in line at a Los Angeles hot dog stand. It's false that Pitt sued MTV and the show's producer.

4) T: It's true that Paul Reubens' last appearance as his character Pee Wee Herman was at the 1991 MTV Music Video Awards.

5) T: It's true that Madonna shelved her 2003 music video "American Life" because she didn't want to appear to be taking a then-unpopular stand against the Iraq War.

6) TF: This anecdote is both true and false. It's true that a one-hour special "Tom Green Show" televised Green's real-life operation for testicular cancer. It showed graphic footage of his right testicle being removed. It's false that Andy Dick did the commentary.

SOURCES:

"Monkee Business", Paul Whitelaw, The Scotsman, URL: (http://living.scotsman.com/music.cfm?id=854582006)

"Who really killed the video star?", Andy Dehnart, Salon, URL: (http://archive.salon.com/ent/log/2000/03/01/mtv/index.html)

"Hit him in the nuts", Kathy Sweeney, Guardian, URL: (http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,,716502,00.html)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Life_%28song%29

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000607/bio

"Madonna's no pussycat", Neva Chonen, San Francisco Chronicle, URL: (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/gate/archive/2001/03/23/neva.DTL)

"Still want your MTV?", Aidin Viziri, San Francisco Chronicle, URL: (http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/08/01/DDG4JK7JFB1.DTL)

http://www.usrf.org/tomgreen.shtml