– Love it or hate it, MTV has permanently changed global popular culture. Tributes to the network on its 25th birthday seem to be everywhere (including a good one on Nightline last night) and since MTV is arguably the progenitor of reality TV as we know it today, we thought we’d pass along some interesting links and stories, being that this is a “Real World” blog and all…

– The Associated Press put together this list of the Top 25 moments in MTV history, many of which happened before some readers of this blog were born (Jesus, does that make me feel old).

– USA Today ran its own Top 25 Moments story right here, which overlaps with the AP one quite a bit.

– New York magazine took a less numerical approach and threw this list together, a bit more critical and intelligent than the previous two but still pretty in awe of what the network has done. ABC News offered this article, and on and on…

– Of course there are countless others out there doing the same thing so we won’t list them all here, but certainly most people should be in awe of what MTV has done. The network created innumerable trends, redefined what television could be, spawned/destroyed careers and generally turned pop culture on its head.

– So what if it’s all game shows and soap operas these days? Or that there’s nothing approaching cutting edge on the network anymore, except for maybe graphic design? The fact that they’ve maintained their intensely rabid popularity for so long is impressive by any standard, and certainly begs for attention and debate.