Looking Back At The Beginning Of MTV
Music videos were around before MTV ever existed. Bands did them to promote their latest albums and hits, and these videos would play on TV's at record stores, among other places. Some would say The Monkees were doing music videos on their old TV show. In fact, Mike Nesmith was an innovator of the concept.
He produced some music videos and had an executive test market them on Nickelodeon TV. There was positive feedback to that, and the executives started getting the idea that they could make a good 24 hour music video channel for TV. Nesmith was offered a stake in this, but he walked away after being paid for the work he did.
The battle was uphill to secure the money and get cable operators to include the channel once it launched on August 1st of 1981. They brought in five fresh faces to be the first video jockeys, who would introduce the videos. There were technical glitches in those early days, but that wasn't the big problem.
The record companies were reluctant to share videos of their artists, and many markets weren't willing to air the channel. They just took what they could get and built from there. Songs from lesser known acts, such as The Buggles, Bow Wow Wow and Billy Idol, and a few videos from better known artists like Pat Benatar and Rod Stewart played in the early days.
They sent one of their people into the markets where the channel aired to get some positive feedback. The people loved the channel, and record stores reported that records for artists whose videos played on MTV were selling off the shelves despite no radio play.
As for getting cable distributors to add the channel, MTV created the clever "I want my MTV" campaign, which got people to call their cable provider and demand the channel. Getting new and better videos became less of a problem when the big artists started complaining to their record companies about not being on MTV.
Many of those artists were part of the "I want my MTV" commercials that included a who's who of the biggest names of the time. By the mid 1980's, the channel was profitable and growing bigger. They even withstood a challenge from Ted Turner to compete with MTV with a channel of his own.
However, MTV was eventually bought out by the Viacom, which was one of the big cable outlets of the time. Viacom is one of the biggest media conglomerates of today with MTV, VH1, CMT, Spike, Comedy Central and Logo among their many channels. For a while, MTV was still about the music.
Eventually, shows like The Real World aired on MTV, and music videos appeared less and less. Within the last ten years, music videos have faded along with the phrase "I want my MTV." It seems nobody cares about the music anymore, but you can still find people wanting their old MTV back. Forums and YouTube comments are filled with people missing the channel that used to be.
For More On The Story Of MTV's Early Days: www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2000/11/mtv200011?printable=true&;currentPage=allPittman
Old MTV And A Look At Ten Of The Best Videos From The Mid 80's
Back in the 1980's, "I want My MTV" was a popular phrase. They had the brilliant idea of taking songs and making music videos as a way to promote them. MTV would play video after video with music news breaks at the top of the hour. Plus, there were concerts.
The music video wasn't just some new concept from the 80's. Many bands were doing video's in the 70's, which would be played on the TV screens at some record stores to promote these albums. The idea of a music video channel was a joke to some, but that joke became very popular.
The down side was the fact that some popular bands from the 70's couldn't adapt to the new format and faded in the 80's. Some talented artists who didn't have the look fell by the wayside, while some attractive artists who didn't have as much talent flourished.
The original VJ's (Video Jockeys), they were Martha Quinn, J.J. Jackson, Alan Hunter, Mark Goodman and Nina Blackwood.
There were some clever videos and some very good ones too. Bands would hire producers to make these videos as good as possible. Michael Jackson's Thriller is probably the most well known music video of them all. Of course, the "King Of Pop" had other nice artistic statements, such as Beat It and Billy Jean.
There were some good ones and some funny ones. Here's a look at ten I remember. You may recall some good ones from the past too.
David Lee Roth - Just A Gigolo: DLR got the idea of going solo after his success with this video and his version of California Girls. This video pokes fun at other music videos of the time.
Twisted Sister - We're Not Gonna Take It: The perfect song for people fed up with being pushed around and told what to do. Featured the guy from the ROTC scenes in Animal House, as did the band's I Wanna Rock Video.
ZZ Top - Legs: This band had a few videos during that time that featured their red hot rod car and beautiful girls. Very popular at the time.
Aha - Take On Me: This video features a very clever animation scene in it where they are running from the bad guys.
Queen - I Want To Break Free: This one was banned from MTV for the artistic dance segment during the musical interlude. The band was in drag for this video.
Madonna - Like A Virgin: Somehow Madonna singing this song was controversial at the time. She always found a way to stay relevant from the time she came out with I'm Burning Up. Say what you will, but she was very smart with her career.
Huey Lewis & The News - If This Is It: The band was very popular in the mid 80's and had a lot of fun with their videos. This one featured a beach scene with everybody except Huey buried up to their necks on the beach.
Van Halen - Hot For Teacher: Sit down Waldo! This band's biggest hit album was 1984, and this was one of three videos from that album that were very popular from this high energy band.
Duran Duran - Hungry Like The Wolf: The band became popular in the states on the strength of videos like this one and Rio. This one featured scenes in the jungle and on the river, and, like many other videos, had a beautiful woman.
Weird Al Yankovic - Eat It: Weird Al made his career making fun of some of the biggest video hits of the time, including Michael Jackson's Beat It. He was so popular that MTV even gave him his own special, Al TV.
