0:00
yeah I started at MTV in
0:03
1987 um just working behind the scenes
0:07
and then I became I sort of had a very
0:10
short period where I was a reporter um
0:15
1989 and then um it switched from uh it
0:22
was called MTV's metal hammer it
0:24
switched from that to the American
0:26
format which was MTV's Headbangers ball
0:29
and they MTV was looking for a host for
0:33
it um and they said well look you can do
0:36
it in the meantime while we're looking
0:38
um and then they never found anybody and
0:41
I was carrying on doing it and in the
0:44
end I did go to the executive producer
0:47
and say you know have I got the gig um
0:50
because I wasn't uh getting the same
0:54
kind of perks as the other BJs like
0:57
having hair makeup wardrobe allowance
1:00
and so on um unfortunately I had a few
1:02
supporters with MTV high up in the
1:05
hierarchy and they said yes Vanessa you
1:07
deserve to be on the same level as all
1:09
the other VJs um and they kind of helped
1:13
me get my position more established and
1:16
more formalized because as it was I was
1:19
just the producer and happened to be
1:21
presenting the show but you were you
1:24
were after or together with Ricky Rond
1:27
and the other guys Ricky rakman was uh
1:33
headbang yeah roughly at the same kind
1:36
of running alongside the same kind of
1:39
timeline as myself yeah and and there
1:42
were some other uh some other uh hosts
1:46
before Ricky I think uh there in in
1:49
USA uh but also I also I talked to D
1:54
Snider once and he he told me that he
1:56
started a show heavy metal Mania that
1:59
transformed into head bangers bow you
2:02
may be right there yes I think that that
2:04
might have been what happened originally
2:05
in the US yeah yeah in the US yeah yeah
2:09
you guys met with both teams I mean your
2:12
team and the US team or no yeah we did
2:15
um Ricky rakman and the US team came
2:18
over for some festivals and I went over
2:24
uh to do a couple of things with them
2:26
and in fact um Nancy McDonald who the
2:30
producer of Headbangers ball in America
2:33
um was one of my best friends in the end
2:35
and um you know I went over to seee her
2:38
as a friend uh and yeah she often rang
2:42
me up and said oh Vanessa you've got to
2:44
check out this new band they're
2:45
absolutely brilliant and sometimes they
2:47
weren't even released in Europe and I
2:50
would listen to it and think go gosh yes
2:52
I really love that and I would ring the
2:54
record company and say look I know
2:56
they're not released yet but can we have
2:57
the video for headbanger ball and often
2:59
they would say yes which was great so
3:02
she was a great um support to me and I
3:05
got a lot of good tips from her about uh
3:07
what was happening in in the states and
3:10
you know she gave me some some good tips
3:12
for new music as well yeah yeah yeah so
3:15
you can probably a lot of BS Are
3:19
Thankful because you promoted them uh
3:22
beforehand yeah maybe we used to get the
3:25
playlist of um MTV Headbangers ball uh
3:28
from the US every week and then I would
3:30
look on that and see what they were
3:32
playing and I would think oh I haven't
3:34
heard of that band and what's this and
3:36
then I would ask Nancy about it so yeah
3:39
it was there was a lot of crossover um
3:43
between the two shows I think the main
3:45
difference was that we did very indepth
3:49
interviews whereas um Ricky rakman his
3:53
interview segments were were very short
3:55
maybe two or three minutes and they were
3:59
kind of I guess of the opinion that
4:01
people weren't interested in the longer
4:04
in-depth interviews but I know that
4:07
certainly in Europe the fans really
4:10
loved to get you know a whole show
4:12
dedicated to their favorite band or a
4:15
really in-depth long interview so um it
4:18
was slightly difference in that regard
4:20
but I think it was probably more because
4:23
of um you know America was much more
4:27
kind of fast cut and assumed less of an
4:31
attention span maybe uh but in Europe
4:34
the fans had a really good attention
4:36
span and they loved the the more
4:39
in-depth interviews for sure
