The Alternative

Those of you who grew up in Denver in the late '80s/early '90s and were of the counter-culture subculture will remember Teletunes, a now defunct music video show that aired on PBS channel 12 on Sunday mornings. Sunday was a big day for us. For me, Teletunes replaced Dr. Who as the Sunday morning pajama viewing show once I figured out that cool music existed and that there were videos to go along with it. It later became a regular weekly hangover cure once I discovered drugs and alcohol. It was where I saw new videos that MTV just wouldn't play until 120 minutes came along, and 120 minutes only focused on bands that gained national popularity, thus defeating the purpose. Every once in a while they had a cool guest host or interview, as when Robert Smith hosted 120 minutes of Pure Cure on the eve of Wish's debut, but that was about it. Teletunes was local. Local VJs that you might see at Wax Trax, or better yet, knew personally, as was the case with Sean. Local bands and local music featured prominately, and they were the only ones to interview cool bands that came through town, as no good radio was ever around (KTCL and The Peak tried, but failed over time and were eventually bought out, and 1190 was barely audible most of the time due to low band width).
A Sunday morning spent on the couch in my undies working on that 3rd pot of coffee, smoking obscene amounts of cigarettes with no windows open, introducing my self to my roommate's one-night stand as they fled the apartment still in the goth dress from the night before, all while watching Peter Murphy run blindly through the woods or Morrissey run blindly through London are some of my fondest memories.
Now, I finally have a replacement. VH1 Classic (I feel so old) now offers a Sunday morning show entitled "The Alternative" that shows most of the vids I loved during my late teens and early 20s, when I had shitty apartments, 2nd hand furniture, a crappy job, died black hair, a leather jacket, and disposable income that went mostly to comics, concerts, illicit pharmaceuticals, and punk rock t-shirts. Now I watch while playing with my kid and cooking breakfast for my wife, but the feeling is the same. I still drink 3 pots of coffee, I still smoke too much(though out on the deck of my awesome house that I own, and has decent furniture), I still have weird T-Shirts.
And although Morrissey and Peter Murphy are now too old to run blindly anywhere, at least I know that they once could.


PS- Jackson seems to be fond of Renegade Soundwave and Thrill Kill Kult. I still don't know if that is good or bad.