When I first watched it in 1991-1993, in reality the totally AC stuff was probably less than a quarter of everything they played. For anyone that doesn't know or remember, back then it was pretty much just a general pop station. They also were still huge on '80s artists and all kinds of classic videos. However, just the fact that soft music was included at all (which MTV rejected) was apparently all it took.

People called it "the Michael Bolton channel" and stuff, and it just had an exaggerated, stereotypical image of being wimpy and appealing to the middle aged crowd. Whenever I heard that I was like, oh man but I watch that and it's cool, lol. This was perpetuated by the media in the early-mid '90s. There were tons of references in The Simpsons. I also saw a Beavis and Butthead episode where they were watching a video of a slower female singer-songwriter and said half in disgust, "Uhhh, is this, like VH1 or something?"

For years it was a long standing joke, but I haven't heard that for awhile since their format is totally different now. Yet when I saw Click a few days ago, I was surprised and kinda amused. In one scene, Adam Sandler's character gets annoyed with people disturbing him at a party, so he turns around saying, "Hey, go home and watch VH1, old man!" And I'm thinking, there they go again with it! Irony is they've barely played music since about 2003, and it no longer has ties to anything remotely adult contemporary. Maybe they just threw it in for an old-school feeling, but still it made me wonder. ;)

As I said before...my parents were always strict about us watching music videos...and we were never allowed to watch MTV...but they always seem a bit more lenient about letting us watch VH1. My mom would even watch it with us from time to time...depending on the video that was currently on.

As I said before...my parents were always strict about us watching music videos...and we were never allowed to watch MTV...but they always seem a bit more lenient about letting us watch VH1. My mom would even watch it with us from time to time...depending on the video that was currently on.


Sorry lol, but I just can't get over the irony of that because 1991 VH1 was very much like mid '80s MTV (from what I know). I figured they would go hand in hand.

Maybe they had just softened up the teeniest bit by then, but still weren't "fans" per se? Sometimes I'm in disbelief when you say this, but I have to remind myself that to you it's probably the other way around. Like, "Whoa oh my God, you had parents who not only were okay with you being exposed to this stuff, but even liked it themselves to a point!", lol.



Believe it or not, I didn't even know that music was sorta geared towards younger people as a kid. I just thought everyone listened to it. :) Alot of adults I knew liked at least some of the current pop music in the '80s, so that was never something that seemed unusual to me. My parents watched music videos here and there too. Even when certain people ragged on something, it was in more of a fun and teasing way because they didn't understand it. Like, some of my Elementary school teachers didn't really get the appeal of Nintendo. A few times I remember they would say something like, "Oh what is it with you kids and your silly games?" but not in a derogatory, grumpy old person way or anything.

*Bump*

Does anyone see what I mean about the overexaggeration of them being "soft" and appealing to middle aged people in the early-mid '90s (with remnants of this stereotype around later on and even today a teeny bit)? It was pretty much general pop and classic videos, whereas AC like Bolton was actually just a small percentage of what they played. Take it from someone who watched it like daily for two straight years, they weren't as bad and wimpy as people made it seem. Heck, I loved it when I was 9 and 10, lol.

Why do you suppose they got dissed so much?

Adam Sandler.

When I imitate him, I always end his phrases with "...I'm Adam Sandler, Bitch!"

Vh1 is not available in Canada, but some networks I get do air some Vh1 shows .. the odd music show, but mostly I'm seeing fashion related programming or reality shows involving celebrities like 'The Surreal Life' or 'My Fair Brady'

I used to like 'Rock and Roll Jeopardy'.  I knew almost every single question just about everytime I watched it