Born in 1982: The MTV Native
When Music Had a Channel
You were born in 1982. MTV was barely a year old, and music had a channel all its own. You taped songs off the radio, waited for the dial-up tone, and watched the world move from cassette tapes to touchscreens — all before you turned 30.
The story
Born in 1982? Then you remember when music had a channel, and you were one of the first kids to grow up watching it.
Born in 1982: The MTV Native is the story of Emily Carter, a girl from Brentwood, Tennessee, whose father keeps spare switches in coffee cans, whose mother is the school nurse, and whose family television is never quiet. Her story starts the year E.T. opened and Thriller reached the record stores, and it takes you through a Cabbage Patch Christmas, a Game Boy and Tetris summer, Yo! MTV Raps on the family TV, a classroom map during the Gulf War, and the roar of Jurassic Park.
Then come the mixtapes recorded off the radio with one finger on the pause button, the screech of dial-up and a cheerful voice announcing "You've got mail," a Titanic winter, and a dorm door that will not stay shut. Later there is a first job and a website called Facebook, the first iPhone, filtered photos of her own kids, a kitchen table that becomes a classroom, and a chatbot that feels exactly like that first family computer: wonderful, and a little unsettling.
It is funny, warm, and honest when life turns serious. There are friends who show up, family who stay, jobs that change, and a world that keeps changing faster. Most of the book lives where memory lives, in childhood, the teenage years, and the twenties, with the later years told more briefly.
Inside you will also find a year-by-year timeline from 1982 to today, a who's-who of famous people born in 1982, how cultures around the world read your birth year, and a blank gift page at the front for a personal note.
A thoughtful gift for a birthday, an anniversary, a reunion, or any day you want to tell someone born in 1982: I remember. This was your life, too.
A few things that happened in 1982
- 1982 — E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is released in U.S. theaters (Jun 11)
- 1982 — Michael Jackson's Thriller is released (Nov 30)
- 1982-05 — The Weather Channel launches
- 1982-08 — The Commodore 64 goes on sale
- 1982-09 — Cheers premieres on NBC
Also born in 1982
- Kelly Clarkson — Singer and the first winner of American Idol
- Nicki Minaj — Rapper and singer known for Pink Friday and a long run of chart hits. She moved to the United States as a young child
- Lil Wayne — Rapper, New Orleans wordsmith behind Tha Carter series
- Kirsten Dunst — Actress known for the Spider-Man films and Fargo
- Anne Hathaway — Academy Award-winning actress, known for The Princess Diaries and Les Misérables