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| Cast of Characters | |
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| Introduction: "Ridicule is Nothing to be Scared of" | |
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| Pictures Came and Broke your Heart: "Video Killed the Radio Star" to "Thriller" 1981-1983 | |
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| "It's the Greatest Thing in the World": First Glimpses of MTV | |
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| "I Didn't Know How to Plug in a Light": Music Videos (Only they Weren't Called that) in the 1970s | |
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| "We Were Just Idiots in Hotel Rooms": John Lack, Bob Pittman, and the Creation of MTV | |
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| "What's a VJ?": How MTV Hired its Hosts (Including a Case of Mistaken Identity) | |
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| "A Total, Unmitigated Disaster": MTV Launches with the Buggles, Blotto, and Thirty Rod Stewart Videos | |
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| "Girls Sliding on Poles": The First Dirty Music Video | |
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| "A Hail Mary Pass": How $1 Saved MTV from Bankruptcy | |
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| "Midgets, Models, and Trannies": The First Visionaries and Victims of the Music-Video Era | |
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| "Pouting and Shoulder Pads": Effeminate British Bands Spread Weird Haircuts Across the U.S. | |
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| "Shut that Door!": Office Sex and Power Struggles at MTV | |
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| "They Figured out a Whole New Persona": How Three Gnarly old Dudes Became Unlikely Video Stars | |
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| "Girls Belong in Cages": Metal Takes over the Airwaves | |
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| "That Racism Bullshit": MTV's Aor Format comes Under Fire | |
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| "I'm not Like Other Boys": Michael Jackson Saves a Struggling Network from Itself | |
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| I Play my Part and you Play your Game: "Burning up" to "Here I go Again" 1983-1987 | |
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| "The Two M's": Madonna Touches MTV for the Very First Time | |
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| "You Got Char-as-ma": Prince, Bruce, Billy Idol, and the Gods of 1984 | |
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| "He's Got a Metal Plate in his Head": MTV and Van Halen Team up to Nearly Kill a Super-Fan | |
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| "Wannabe Cecil B. DeMilles": Everything-Budgets, Ideas, Hair-Gets Bigger | |
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| "Why Don't I Just Take $50,000 and Light it on Fire?": The Backlash Against MTV | |
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| "Don't be a Wanker all your Life": "Do they know it's Christmas?," "We are the world," and Live Aid | |
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| "A Whopping, Steaming Turd": The Worst Video Ever Made | |
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| "A Wedding Dress with Nothing Underneath it": Madonna Takes-and Pops out of-the Cake at the First Video Music Awards | |
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| "No Cable Network is Worth $500 Million": MTV Gets New Owners: the Founding Team Trashes a Hotel, then Heads for the Exit | |
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| "Gacked to the Tits": Twenty-Four Stories About Drugs | |
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| "They Diss the Beatles": Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys Smuggle Rap onto MTV | |
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| "His Name is David Fincher. He's a Genius": Rick Springfield, Christopher Cross, and the Humble Beginnings of a Hollywood Star | |
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| "There I Am, with My Rack": The Rise of the Superdivas, Male and Female | |
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| "The Legion of Decency": Censoring Videos, for Fun and Profit | |
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| "Hickory Dickory Dock, this Bitch was...": Backstage at the Video Music Awards | |
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| "I'd Like to Thank my Cheekbones": Jon Bon Jovi and Tawny Kitaen Take Hair Metal to the Top | |
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| Where do we go Now: "With or without you" to "U can't Touch this" 1987-1990 | |
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| "The Islands of Misfit Toys": 120 Minutes and the Rising up/Selling out of Alternative Rock | |
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| "Martha was Heartbroken": MTV Finds a New, Mouthier Squad of VJs | |
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| "A True Television Network": The New Boss Orders up a Riotous Show that Forever Changes the Network | |
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| "That's What Hype can do to you": Club MTV Launches the "Upskirt Shot" and a Pop Scandal | |
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| "The First Time I Smelled Freebase": MTV Parties Down at Spring Break | |
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| "I Brought Snowballs to the Desert": Sucking up to MTV's Laddish New Power Broker | |
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| "People in the Hood Rushed to Get Cable": How Ted Demme Did, Didn't, Maybe Did, and Absolutely did Create Yo! MTV Raps | |
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| "We've Always Loved Guns N' Roses": Chicks and a Snake, Headbangers Ball, and the Return of Hard Rock | |
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| "Those Harem Pants Came out of Nowhere": Rap Busts a Move into the MTV Mainstream | |
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| "Ego-Fucking-Maniacs": Michael Bay, Cher, and all 9:08 of "November Rain" | |
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| "I Want to have a Nickname": How MTV Helped Michael Jackson Elect Himself "The King of Pop" | |
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| Nothing Lasts Forever, and we Both Know Hearts can Change: "Justify my Love" to "Jeremy" 1990-1992 | |
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| "Rhythm Nation": Superstars and One-Hit Wonders Stage a Dance-Off in your Living Room | |
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| "Your Manager's an Asshole": Fistfights and Pyro Farts: War Breaks out at the Moscow Peace Festival | |
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| "Kermit Unplugged": An Acoustic Music Show Morphs into a Worldwide Megabrand | |
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| "Silly, Superficial, and Wonderful": Cindy Crawford and Jon Steward Bring Beauty and a Laughs to MTV | |
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| "Tired of Cheap Sex Songs": R.E.M., U2, and Van Halen (!) Elevate the Art Form in the Nineties | |
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| "A Monkey Could do it": Pauly Shore and the Third Generation of VJs | |
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| "A Pep Rally Gone Wrong": "Smells Like Teen Spirit," Grunge, and the Hair Metal Apocalypse | |
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| "You'r no Better than a Rabbit!": Fearless Twentysomethings Shape a Presidential Election | |
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| "Getting out of the Music Business": This is the True Story... of What Happened When the Real World... Took over MTV...and Made Music Videos...Obsolete | |
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| "Let's Get Crazy Tonight": Tears, Tequila, and Broken Glass: MTV VIPs Celebrate the First Decade | |
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| "Fat City": The Bubble Bursts on Music Videos' Golden Era | |
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| "You have no Idea How I Miss it": Fans, Stars, Staff, and Detractors Reflect on the Video Age | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Index | |