Michael Shore: Master Class

Longtime MTV News Editorial Director Michael Shore’s penned his first scripts for original VJs JJ Jackson and Martha Quinn in the early eighties, his last for correspondents Sway Calloway and SuChin Pak in the early aughts.

This week on “You Hear It First,” Michael regales with stories about the days Kurt Cobain died and Courtney Love crashed Madonna’s VMA pre-show, Tabitha Soren’s Choose or Lose audition, and office visits from Jay-Z and Axl Rose.

“Only at MTV could you have Axl Rose standing outside your office looking at the crazy crap you post on your door, you know?” he recalls. “That’s a classic.”

And he shares memories of MTV colleagues, from Ted Demme and Dennis Leary to John Norris and Kurt Loder.

“That was like a huge, huge thing for us,” he recalls of Kurt’s arrival. “He brought all of this legitimacy from Rolling Stone that immediately upped our game.”

It’s a Master Class on MTV News history, loaded with details and detours from a man known as much for his paisley shirts, as his killer puns.

Listen to “You Hear It First” on Apple (bit.ly/3QANB50), Spotify (spoti.fi/3ufDkDR), or wherever you get your podcasts.