MTV began broadcasting August 1st, 1981, at 12:01am from New York City. The famous opening was the launching of the space shuttle and footage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. The words “Ladies and Gentlemen, Rock n Roll!” were the first words ever spoken on the network which was only available in the state of New Jersey when it was launched. The first video was “Video Killed The Radio Star” by the Buggles followed by Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run”. This experimental network of music television would soon expand its reach beyond the Garden State into homes across America and eventually the world. By the mid 1980’s MTV was the coolest network for Gen Xers and early Millennials—it was our network. Despite critics claiming it would never work, the music channel became a culture lynchpin for generational music and entertainment. Now MTV is no longer the video network it was but it still exists, which is a testament to the brand it build over the past 43 years.
For many of us, MTV was just as important for our progression into adolescence as any force in our lives. The daily introduction to new music though this artform that is the music video was expanding our artistic minds and sensibilities. It was a place to discover new things while also being able to see things for the first time. Long before the age of streaming or YouTube, one had no choice but to sit through videos in anticipation of something new from your favorite artists. It was the era that made Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince become the enormous icons that changed the musical landscape. It also brought hip hop into homes in areas it would have never reached—though that would take much more time than it should have. People like Tom Petty and Bruce Springsteen grabbed hold of a new generation through their videos. While so many wonderful new wave and pop one hot wonders gave us some of the greatest and weirdest videos of all time.
120 Minutes: Welcome The Freaks and Geeks
By the 90’s MTV would be the number one source of everything music culture—even delving into underground music with the birth of 120 Minutes. The two-hour alternative music show was a cousin to the very popular Headbangers Ball that focused on metal band that were not show on the mainstream pop programming. I distantly remember seeing Green Day’s “Longview” video in 1994 on 120 Minutes and calling a friend to tell them because we had been Green Day fans since the early 90’s but had thought no one knew who they were. Seeing truly alternative and punk rock on MTV was just not normal. Even for metal it was mostly just hair metal—until Metallica released the video for “One” that sent fans into fits. One faction of Metallica fans were stoked to see them on MTV and others, like my brother, felt they had sold out. 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball were like these late-night safe havens for the weird kids who wanted to see their music represented.
It was a truly beautiful thing to see Jawbox or even Husker Du on MTV during a late-night viewing. I discovered a lot of music on 120 Minutes, finding out about obscure bands like Archers of Loaf, Morphine, and others that would expand my already rapidly progression musical pallet. I loved the pop music played in the normal hours of MTV daily rotation. My mother was not a fan, finding it unsettling that we would want to sit and watch videos full of sex, drugs, and rock n roll instead of more wholesome TV. I would have to sneak my viewings or watch at friends’ homes. By the early 90’s grunge had broken out and the age of alternative radio had taken the place of the traditional rock and pop radio. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and even Sonic Youth were played on the primetime hours. The 120 Minutes programming got deeper into obscurity as the alternative rock movement became the new mainstream. You could turn on MTV and see a Brandy video, followed by Soul Asylum, followed then by Weird Al. It was a strange time but a very fun one to be alive for.
One major musical development that seemed to be a real success was MTV Unplugged which would bring prominent artists into intimate acoustic soundstage shows. Everyone from hugely popular Pearl Jam to college radio alternative darlings 10,000 Maniacs gave memorable performances which would become top selling live albums. Nirvana’s “Unplugged in New York” album which was release posthumously seven months after Kurt Cobain’s death would become one of the best-selling Nirvana records of their catalog. That performance which aired on MTV December 16th 1993 featured the haunting covers of The meat Puppet’s “Lake Of Fire” and Leadbelly’s “Where Did You Sleep Last Night” which became a haunting hit which many felt was a telling song considering Kurt’s death a few months later. MTV Unplugged was a successful live concert series that would rival PBS’s critically acclaimed Austin City Limits in the quality and intimacy of showcasing artists in settings many would never get experience.
Grateful For Hip Hop and MTV News
The birth of Yo! MTV Raps in 1989 changed my life for sure, bringing hip hop culture and videos into homes across the country. It was no longer a NYC and LA thing, we all had access to it. Fab Five Freddy, Doctor Dre, and Ed Lover delivered a show that was full of fun, humor and most of all hip hop. They introduced the world to so many artists that couldn’t get airplay even on Black radio because hip hop wasn’t accepted as a suitable format. Groups like Public Enemy used videos to not only promote their music but educate viewers about Black issues. Like Headbangers Ball and 120 Minutes, this show was a way to expose viewers to not just music but also artists who had things to say. I first saw Nas on Yo! MTV raps and it led to my purchasing of “Illmatic” which is still my favorite hip hop album of all-time. I also discovered Wu Tang Clan, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest through the daily video show. It was a truly groundbreaking thing considering the networks racist policies towards Black artists, famously called out by David Bowie on air in a 1983 interview with MTV V.J. Mark Goodman.
The V.J. was a new thing in the 80’s but these folks became our guides to new music and for many of us—celebrity crushes too. My love for Martha Quinn and Tabatha Soren knew no bounds as I would see them daily delivering music and news. MTV News became a primary news source for my teenage years, breaking stories of music triumphs and tragedy. From the Michael Jackson hair catching on fire during a Pepsi commercial shoot to the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994. When you’d hear that MTV News music and the “Bang, Bang, Bang,” of the typewriter followed by Tabitha Soren or Kurt Loder you listened up. Kurt Loder was our Walter Cronkite—in his delivery and in his dedication to delivering news stories that mattered to us. MTV News was a very important outlet for us in that era because we didn’t have a lot of news outlets that seemed to care about youth issues. They didn’t just cover music issues but did discuss politics, the AIDS epidemic, and reproductive rights. The 90’s Rock The Vote and Rock For Choice campaigns were majorly affected by MTV News covering events. The promoting artists and AIDS activist Keith Haring and covering the movement to find a cure was a big part of MTV in the 80’s and 90’s.
The Real World, Reality TV, and a whole bunch of Jackasses
In the early 90’s MTV was breaking new ground in youth culture with the birth of reality TV in The Real World. The show was the blueprint for nearly every reality show ever since—for better or worse. The series ran for several seasons with the tagline—This is the true story…of seven strangers…picked to live in a house… (work together) and have their lives taped…to find out what happens…when people stop being polite…and start getting real…The Real World. The show would run for 16 years with over 30 seasons ending in 2008. There would be attempts to bring it back in 2019 but it was clear the time had passed, but the show was responsible for the launch of the reality entertainment that is a majority of all shows on television networks now. This is true from cooking competitions to the real housewives of whatever. The Real World changed the game. The show would showcase the drama and trauma that makes todays reality TV so addictive. The Real World gave us characters we loved and hated—often dealing with serious matters like racism, sexism, homophobia and AIDS. The show broke ground that I doin’t even think the producers realized would impact television for decades to come.
In the 2000’s came an experimental show featuring a bunch of skateboarders from West Chester, Pennsylvania known as CKY crew (short for “Camp Kill Yourself”). They had a widely popular underground video cult following in which the guys would do insanely idiotic and dangerous stunts and pranks. The CKY videos got the attention of director Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville, which led to the creation of Jackass. The show ran for only three years on MTV but again changed the game. Jackass would go on to make several films, series and offshoots. It led to what we find now on YouTube and Tik Tok, where kids still do dangerous tricks and pranks that lead to millions of views. Jackass made guys like Bam Margera and Steve-O cult celebrities beyond their CKY and skateboarding fame. The guys are all middle aged now and though the crew is mostly tame, sober, and stable in their personal lives—the impact of their insanity changed the face of reality entertainment.
I can’t discuss MTV jackasses, without talking about Beavis and Butthead. The Mike Judge animated creation that focused on two teenage boys obsessed with rock music and being delinquents. The awkward sexual tension, teen angst and overall hijinks that ensued was a hit despite the crudely animated characters and very stupefied subject matter. The best part of the show which was broken into half hour of short vignettes, was the videos. They would intersplice videos into the show between segments where Beavis and Butthead commented on the videos they saw. It was juvenile, crude and at times cringy but it was hilarious. The show led to spin-off of Daria—which was the ultimate teen goth/alt girl character. She was the originally a target of Beavis and Buttheads immaturity but became a cultural icon once her show was released. Judge would go on to create King of the Hill and other successful projects, but the two idiots that gave us Cornholio and Frog Baseball were endearing well beyond the cancellation. I did see there are new episodes of the show airing on TV, which is a testament to the impact of this odd show.
The Rest of the Best
Other notable things happened in the first 20 years of TRL (Total Request Live) which ushered in the boy band explosion. MTV also including the MTV Music Awards that still happen today. Also the MTV Movie Awards, Beach MTV, Club MTV, and the 2009 series The Jersey Shore that became a cultural phenomenon furthering the over-the-top reality series model that was begun by The Real World. By the late 2000’s MTV would begin to abandon the V.J.s and music video dominate programming for more reality and documentary style programing. Shows about Teen Moms and skateboarders with a buttload of money began to be more popular. The times were changing, and MTV was hell bent on not just surviving but making it work. They launched several network affiliates too in the creation of MTV 2, MTV U, and the sister company VH1 that seemed to be the MTV for now Gen X parents. The new era of TV really had no place for videos anymore as the money and interest had shifted to new kinds of programming. That is just the nature of the beast. Yet recently MTV Classic has begun appearing on cable TV showing the old videos 24 hours a day to give an option to those old heads who can’t handle the changing of culture.
I’m certain today MTV has less of an impact as Tik Tok and other forms of social media now are doing the job that MTV once served for those of us who grew up with it. Youth culture has changed but there is no place for Gen X to complain. That is the nature of culture, it moves on. The good thing is for us, we were there on the ground floor and the things we saw progress are still moving forward. Nostalgia is there but also the future is now. it is because of Tik Tok, IG, and YouTube that kids now are learning about what we discovered back then. The new generation might have new music or preferred viewing preferences but there is always a link. We can’t sit and whine about how there is no videos on MTV anymore, that ended years ago—plus I don’t know anyone in their 40-50’s who are watching MTV now anyway? So, why do you care? It was a time in space—a time we were alive to experience and that is fucking rad. Cherish it but we aren’t there anymore. It’s like the slow death of radio or print journalism, it’s not helping anything crying about it. It also is not right to blame kids now for things that are no longer—they aren’t the ones who are keeping us from adapting.
Happy Birthday MTV
I will end this walk down memory lane by saying happy birthday MTV. You served as a distraction for an awkward kid and teen who could never find my place in the world. Without your guidance I may not have discovered many bands I now cherish. Your constant presence in the 80’s-90’s gave us teens a space that was our own. This was not built for our parents, but it was a universal space for kids from all walks of life to explore music and culture. I think the beauty of MTV was the uncertainty of its entire existence. It started as an experiment and snowballed into a culture phenomenon. Along the way, it went through a long of awkwardness, teaching moments, and shared in much of the traumas of the times. Its programming was constantly changing with the times which related to the extreme changes of being an adolescent and young adult growing up in our society. Music was the focus but was not the only reason for being. MTV gave us a lot of joy—but also shared in our sadness and mourning.
Some days I still Want My MTV but really, I’m just glad I had it when I did.
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