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In 1981, MTV changed everything. Suddenly music wasn’t just something you heard — it was something you saw. To parents, preachers, and pearl-clutchers everywhere, that meant only one thing: Satan had found a new cable channel.

In this episode of The Mighty Philbert, we rewind to the golden age of music videos and the not-so-golden age of moral panic. We’ll cover:

• 🎸 MTV’s launch and why it terrified the church
• 😱 Tipper Gore, the PMRC, and the “Explicit Lyrics” sticker that sold more albums than it prevented
• ⚖️ Heavy Metal on trial — from Judas Priest to Ozzy Osbourne
• 🔥 Cassette tape bonfires and backmasking hysteria
• 🙏 Youth group counterprogramming with embarrassing Christian rock knockoffs

MTV didn’t destroy Gen X. If anything, it taught us to see through fearmongering — and to laugh when adults insisted demons were hiding in our Walkmans.

Because the truth is: every generation gets its moral panic. For us, it was MTV. For kids today, it’s TikTok. Different screen, same song.

📢 Don’t forget to like, subscribe, and drop your best “forbidden MTV memory” in the comments. Did you hide Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video from your parents? Did your youth pastor make you burn a cassette tape? Let’s hear it.

👉 Stay Mighty. You don’t have to be religious to do the right thing.

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