#72 Richard Marx (+ MTV subset series 1)

 
We're up to #72 in the 1991 MusiCards set with Richard Marx. The washed-out live shot is his lone card in the set. It's likely late in the performance, as he's down to a tank-top.

I'm sure Richard has an audio recorder app on his phone now, with the days of leaving answering machine messages from pay phones long in the past.

Richard's father Dick Marx (giggle) was a jazz pianist who also had a successful career writing jingles, with young Richie sometimes contributing backing vocals. His first big break making a name for himself in the industry was writing the song "What About Me?" that Kenny Rogers took to #1 in 1984.

I liked Richard Marx fine during his peak in the late 80s, though I never went as far as to purchase any of his albums or anything. Loved "Satisfied" and "Endless Summer Nights". And although they got worn out, "Right Here Waiting" and "Hold On to the Nights" are a couple solid ballads of that era. 

A random Richard Marx memory of mine: I was watching him perform 2 or 3 songs with his band live in front of a crowd on a TV broadcast once circa '89 (I think as part of an MTV special event), and what stuck in my memory is how ridiculous it was, when at the end of "Should Have Known Better", the band played/sang progressively quieter rather than have a proper ending. (I'm not sure now if it was lip-synced, but I don't think it was.) LOL, the "live fade out" is something you don't see too often!

But yeah, he's remained active over the years. Here's the link to his Wikipedia entry if you really want to read up on him. Feels like the Nevermind revolution took the wind out of his sails, but he's still put together an impressive career, with plenty of success as a solo artist as well as a collaborator with other notable artists. Seems like a good dude, too, and he made news a while ago by helping subdue a rowdy drunk passenger on a flight.

Wow, turns out Richard Marx has been married to Daisy Fuentes since 2015?! Respect! Everybody had a crush on her back in the day.

CUSTOM CORNER

I didn't have another artist in mind for today's Custom Corner, so whipping up a MusiCard for Daisy Fuentes sounded like a good idea.

That snowballed into a whole custom subset of MTV personalities. The idea doesn't seem too far-fetched considering the sister set of Yo! MTV Raps cards that included MTV employees among the rappers.

Kevin Seal was probably my favorite as a kid. Seemed like a fun Bill Murray/Paul Rudd-type who didn't take things too seriously.

Gotta respect newsman Kurt Loder, face of MTV News for decades.

Martha Quinn was the only original VJ still around by the time I started watching MTV in the late 80s. Always loved to see her pop on.

The smooth Bill Bellamy gets a Rock N Jock action shot.

It was popular to hate on Kennedy back in the day, but she had her moments.

Pauly Shore was another VJ people loved to hate. I wasn't exactly a big fan, but thought he was entertaining in small doses.

The lovely Tabitha Soren helped MTV News expand in the 90s.

Adam Curry's hair let you know he was the Hard Rock specialist in MTV's arsenal. I didn't watch much Headbangers Ball, but would often try to catch the other show he hosted, MTV Top 20 Video Countdown.

Calling it good here, seeing as 9 is a fitting number for cards. These were really just the first nine people who popped to mind when trying to remember MTV folks from the era I watched, but I'm sure I left out some notable ones. (Downtown Julie Brown! [Uptown] Julie Brown! Heck, the gang from Remote Control.) Maybe I'll do "Series 2" of this subset in a future post. Who do you think should be included?

Please also sound off in the comments with any other thoughts on this MTV group or the work of Richard Marx. Thanks!