It was written by music journalists Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum and published in 2011 by Dutton Penguin in the United States.

The title is borrowed from a marketing campaign launched by the channel in 1981 where the catchphrase "I Want My MTV!"

[2] Time wrote, "I Want My MTV is compulsively entertaining, hugely edifying...and occasionally profound.

"[3] The Washington Post described it as "full of nostalgia and inside tidbits, with lots of bizarre stories about animals on video sets.

"[4] Amanda Mark, writing for the New York Review of Books, found it to lack an overall flow.