I WANT MY MTV!
The 80’s were a colorful, indulgent, “no worries” time if you were a teen. When MTV was launched, me and my friends would sit in front of the TV for hours, anxiously waiting for the next video to play. Who would it be? Michel Jackson’s Thriller? George Michael’s butt video? Duran Duran in the boat?
We’d listen to Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, JJ Jackson, Martha Quinn, and Alan Hunter give us all the info we needed on those videos, and artists, cause they were totally cool, and totally “in the know.”
The concept behind MTV was simple: Show music videos and content related to music all day long, every day. And it worked phenomenally. The golden age of MTV lasted from the early 1980s to around 1992, and in its heyday it had a massive impact on the music landscape.
If you’re old enough to remember the launch of MTV on August 1st, 1981 at 12:01 A.M., this will bring you right back: Somebody put the first two hours of MTV on YouTube, and it will immediately transport you back to that day, and time, and feel.
Everyone knows the first video they played was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. You’ll also see all of the original VJs introduce themselves, plus the very first ad that ever aired on MTV, for a three-ring binder called The Bulk. It was followed by a commercial for “Superman 2”.
For many, the 1980s and ‘90s represents the most interesting stage in music video history. With huge budgets to spend, a number of revolutionary music videos were released – The iconic “Thriller” video, and A-ha’s amazingly creative “Take On Me” represents music videos that were hugely influential at the time and which cemented MTV as a cultural force. There’s something very powerful about visuals and imagery being combined with music. Visual storytelling quickly became an integral part of music creation.
Here is the link for that first two hours of MTV. Put on your neon and scroll through it. And below are the first ten videos that were played on MTV – RIGHTEOUS!
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