MTV’s allergy to nostalgia isn’t a pose but a savvy strategy for a channel whose median viewer just stopped having to ask his older brother to buy him beer. Since MTV’s 30th anniversary is likely to pass like its 25th, which barely earned an on-air nod, we’ve traced the brand from its colicky infancy through its earnest preteen years and wayward adolescence to its present as a Snooki-faced memento mori for anyone old enough to remember Dan Cortese’s bandannas. Happy birthday, MTV!
