Does Anyone Really Want Their MTV Anymore?
Twenty-seven years ago MTV aired its first video, the Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star." It was an apt choice, even though radio continued to cruise for another 20 years, until XM Radio and the Internet finally stamped it dead. MTV was the last great musical revolution. It kept this high school kid home on many afternoons when I should have been in class. It was the last time I cut school or work for anything.
What a difference 27 years makes.
This Sunday MTV hosts its 25th annual Video Music Awards. It might as well be the 25th annual KMET Awards. Remember KMET? Of course you don't. It's an old Los Angeles classic-rock radio station. And it's dead. Dead just like radio. Dead just like MTV. The revolution is long over, and MTV is just another in a long line of corporate stooges trotting out corporate stooge bands trying to pass themselves off as something anti-establishment. It’s filled with a bunch of reality nothingness celebrating a life of consumerism. The "M" used to stand for "music." Now it stands for "meaningless." EmpTV. Empty. It's all one self-conscious, soulless bore.
Ah, but on August 1, 1981, it was magic. Nothing but '80s video goodness and the whole world in front of us. Big hair, padded shoulders, and lots of guitar hooks. Here are the first 10 videos played that day in order. Let the good times roll.
1. THE BUGGLES “Video Killed The Radio Star”
Ground zero for MTV. Co-founder Trevor Horn would go onto future MTV successes with the bands Yes and Art of Noise.
2. PAT BENATAR “You Better Run”
Born
Patricia Mae Andrzejewski, Pat and her lead guitar player, Neil Giraldo, would marry in 1982. They're still together and they still rock.
3. ROD STEWART "She Won't Dance"
Rod the Mod was pushing 40 when MTV debuted in 1981. He was recycling his old band Faces on this tune, but who knew?
4. THE WHO "You Better You Bet"
Another veteran act that had an early '80s MTV makeover. Kenney Jones was on drums replacing the dearly departed Keith Moon. Coincidentally, Kenney was in Faces with Rod Stewart. Six degrees of Rod...
5. Ph.D "Little Suzi's On the Up"
Going for the cred factor, MTV aired a video from a one-hit wonder U.K. band consisting of two former members of the Jeff Beck Group. Tesla covered the tune in 1986.
6. CLIFF RICHARD "We Don't Talk Anymore"
This one rounded out the trio of videos from slowly aging rock dudes. Cliff Richard was the ripe age of 41 when he made his MTV debut. He was a major heartthrob in the U.K., but in the U.S? Not so much.
7. THE PRETENDERS "Brass In Pocket"
If you've read my Chrissie Hynde post, you know she was my first rock crush. She wrote the book for rock bad girls. This video was the best thing on MTV that first day. It’s still one of the best things the channel ever aired.
8. TODD RUNDGREN "Time Heals"
The former Utopia front man was pushing the limits of early music video production on Day One, with lots of pre-computer trickery that inspired a generation of Mac users.
9. REO SPEEDWAGON "Take It On the Run"
"Heard it from a friend who..." What can I even say about this? What would the '80s be without REO?
10. STYX "Rockin' the Paradise"
What's the only thing better than a slammin' REO riff? Some Styx concept-album rock. It's no Tommy, but it's got that classic rock bombast. Only two years later, Styx would up the ante with 1983's "Mr. Roboto." YES!!!
Drop by GetBack.com for your daily dose of pop culture pleasure -- music, movies, games, and more.
I'm amazed that number of times I flip past MTV and have no idea it is MTV. I've got a better chance of seeing a video on Bravo or CMT.
To make my point, as I'm writing this we have ... two episodes of "Instant Star", "The Shift", "Pimp My Ride", two "We're Experiencing Technical Difficulties", "Disband", and a few "Video on Trial". Humm... an entire evening of everything but videos.
They have twenty seven years of videos to play and they can't get an hour of videos in during prime time?
Can we sue MTV for false advertising???
And if this opinion is felt by the majority of people, then why is MTV still on the air? And why is the format purely reality shows?
I ask this... is it the people who WANT the reality shows, or is that there is no other choice on TV so we take the lesser - or more entertaining - of the reality shows on practically all the channels?
Nad the 15 year old said... "its what I am supposed to do!" Who says? It is a sorry state of affairs for our future of our youth is getting their information for how to live from TV!
I do sound old, don't I! But I sat in front of my TV on August 1, 1981 with much anticipation for the new hip TV show that promised to be the best thing since the Beatles! So in reality, I guess we are no better than the 15 year olds today.
fyi... I wore lace gloves with cut out fingers my senior year in high school and wore them proudly!
I'm 36. I read the article, which is overstating a lot - radio is far from dead, and if MTV were "dead" it wouldn't be on the air. Someone must be buying the products their sponsors advertise! The point is, I remember when MTV had its first major change in format - It began when Run DMC released "Walk This Way". That was the beginning of "Yo, MTV Raps" and then all the gangsta rap and Ebonics spouting wannabe's- got more and more airtime. Then they started with Real World and Road Rules and similar "Stupid Coed Shows". I simply turned it off. Gone were the cool 80s videos of like The Cars - "You Might Think" and other trippy stuff. MTV allowed people to be creative and show some artistic flare in a media available to the masses. I haven't watched MTV in a decade or more, not since the "John" the Christian Cowboy was on Real World...like season 3 or 4. Doesn't ring a bell? Same crew that had "Pedro" and "Puck". I think MTV sort of played videos then, but only part of the time. I believe it was around this time that they bought Nickelodeon. They also played Ren and Stimpy on both networks. But like alot of things that started out corny and got good, then lost touch and should be axed (like the Simpsons) maybe its time for MTV to be really "unplugged".
Or maybe not...I don't really care one way or the other.