My brother Ryan delivered the sad news that Music Television pioneer J.J. Jackson died of an apparent heart attack last night. It is because we live in an age of Ryan Seacrests and Carson Dalys that Jackson's passing is especially depressing.

Jackson had passion for music. He was an early backer of two of my favorite bands, U2 and The Pretenders. His heyday was during an age when disc jockeys actually had a say in what records they spinned, and thus, had to be knowledgeable about music. He reminds me of Tom Petty's "The Last DJ." In other words, the MTV of 2004 would never hire such a person.

Despite the obvious fact that the MTV of the early 1980s had less videos to work with (Seriously, how many times could you stomach Quarterflash's "Harden My Heart"?), it was infinitely better than the current version of the channel. Yes, they actually played videos back then. But more importantly, they played rock videos. I can still picture early MTV staples like INXS's "Don't Change," The Police's "Invisible Sun," and Big Country's "In a Big Country." I can still picture J.J. Jackson.

Rest in peace, Triple J.