FEATURE:
The Influence, Impact and Legacy
Forty Years of MTV
___________
NOT to cover…
what I have already done in the past, but MTV turns forty on 1st August. I am not sure how many people are going to cover the anniversary. MTV is one of these stations and phenomenon that has divided people. Perhaps the U.K.’s Top of the Pops has more of a legacy in terms of the mix of live performances and videos. In terms of the impact of that long-running show, maybe it resonates more than MTV. There has been a lot of criticism of MTV through the ages. I will bring in a few articles regarding MTV and its legacy. There was a definite period where the station ruled and it was hugely important. I would say that the mid-1980s and early-1990s was a golden age for MTV. That might sound like a long time though, in that period, it made a huge impression. Many established directors of today started by making music videos to feature on MTV. Pop artists like Madonna and Michael Jackson created these incredible videos and saw their careers take off - in no small part because of the station. For me, I tuned in because you got to see these great videos. MTV was not just about entertainment. I discovered a lot of different artists through the channel. Top of the Pops was important, as was radio and my friends. MTV provided this sense of wonder and cool that I didn’t get anywhere else.
Some might say that the station was quite vacant and vacuous. It is sad that music videos are not as revered and celebrated now as they were in the 1980s and 1990s. Between 1995 and 2000, MTV played thirty-five percent less music videos on the station. I do miss the days when you got these iconic and memorable videos. Today, music videos do not have the same sense of scope, ambition and importance. For that reason, I think that the fortieth anniversary of MTV should be celebrated. It is interesting learning more about the history and growth of MTV. This fascinating article from 2017 documents the birth, rise and decline of MTV. I have selected a few points:
“1. Roots in financial services
American Express wanted to sell financial services to people via their televisions so they bought cable television company Warner Cable Corporation for $175 million in 1979. The plan was to use an interactive program they’d developed to reach every home in the network and sell credit cards.
Once the companies merged, they split it between a division responsible for building the cable infrastructure and an area responsible for programming. They had two main channels in the beginning: The Movie Channel and Nickelodeon. An executive decided they needed a third channel with a focus on music.
2. MTV had to be ready in 7 months
The Warner Amex board said ‘no’ to the original pitch to launch a 24-hour music channel, positioned as “radio with pictures”. After a little executive wrangling, MTV was approved on the proviso that it would be cheap to run because the record companies would provide music videos for free. MTV was approved for launch in January 1981 and its founders only had 7 months to build it because Warner Amex wanted it on-air in summer, which is when most fads began. They wanted teenagers and college students returning from their summer break to be talking about MTV.
3. The first video played was The Buggles’ Video Killed the Radio Star
At midnight on 1 August 1981, MTV launched with Video Killed the Radio Star - a song that would go on to be prophetic for how the channel would change the music industry. Funnily enough, the second music video played was Pat Benatar’s You Better Run, programmed as a warning shot to the record companies who were still sceptical about MTV.
4. They began with only 250 videos
Music videos were in short supply at the beginning of the 80s, so MTV played whatever they could get their hands on. Many record companies in America didn’t believe in MTV and weren’t willing to provide music videos at their own cost. A bulk of the music videos MTV played came from Europe where record companies made short promotional films for their artists to be played on video jukeboxes - a popular new piece of technology at the time. With only 250 music videos being played over a 24-hour period, the early artists of MTV got a lot of exposure thanks to a combination of repetition and desperation.
5. The Second British Invasion
MTV helped British new wave bands become popular in America because they were the artists getting played in heavy rotation. In the early days of MTV it was only available in smaller American towns because the channel hadn’t been picked up in the big cities yet. Teenagers living in these towns would watch MTV and rush to their local record store to buy the albums of the bands they saw. Still, a few American record companies still didn’t get it. The Human League’s Don’t You Want Me Baby became a hit in the states thanks to MTV. Other acts to benefit include: Flock of Seagulls, Billy Idol, Spandau Ballet, Adam and the Ants, ABC, Bananarama, Soft Cell, Tears for Fears and Dupeche Mode. There would be one British band who would not only benefit from being on MTV, but would define the music video aesthetic for the rest of the decade, and that band was Duran Duran.
9. A nursery for Hollywood directors
Like Mulcahy, a lot of music video directors would develop reputations for being able to deliver clips that would catapult bands into superstardom using the power of MTV. A nursery of creative talent was created by the industry that sprung up around MTV as record labels began investing budgets in music video production. Many directors from the MTV days would make the leap to Hollywood. Mulcahy was hired to direct the cult hit Highlander. Other notable directors who made the transition include: David Fincher and Michael Bay.
13. Moonwalking into lounge rooms nation-wide
Before 1983, Michael Jackson struggled to get played on MTV. Legend has it that the president of CBS Records International, Walter Yetnikoff, threatened to pull all their artists from MTV if they continued to ignore Jackson, who had just put out Thriller and submitted the video for Billie Jean. CBS had Billy Joel, Cyndi Lauper and Bruce Springsteen on their books.
Tensions were high between CBS and MTV but then something big happened: Jackson performed during a television special to commemorate Mowtown’s 25th anniversary. Jackson took to the stage to perform Billie Jean in a fedora, black sequin jacket, and glove. Mid-performance, Jackson debuted his iconic moonwalk and people went wild. Following the performance, Thriller began to sell a million copies a week and certified Jackson as a solo artist. MTV began playing Billie Jean in high rotation and Jackson would become a staple of the channel setting a new standard for what a music video was with Thriller and Beat It.
14. Michael Jackson verses Prince
The arrival of Jackson on MTV (finally) paved the way for other black artists who were added to the playlist. The other act who was put in high rotation in the wake of Billie Jean was Prince. Little Red Corvette was put into overdrive on MTV and Prince blew the minds of teenagers across America — especially in smaller towns. Jackson and Prince had an intense rivalry. In the MTV era their extravagant videos were seen as a way for them to one-up each other. Jackson dominated the pop world with Thriller, so Prince replied with Purple Rain. It was perfect for MTV because the videos helped define the channel as it continued to revolutionise the music industry and become a dominant force in pop culture.
15. The holy trio of MTV
Jackson and Prince became the first big stars of MTV in the 80s but a third was about to arrive: Madonna. The popstar’s debut album failed to become a hit and Madonna only managed to make an impression in the dance club scene. One of the places to embrace Madonna from the outset was Australia, thanks to the work of Molly Meldrum on Countdown to promote her as the next big thing.
Madonna released her second album, Like A Virgin, along with a salacious music video that immediately went into high rotation on MTV. Albums sales rocketed and the title track dominated the charts. Madonna embodied everything that MTV was looking for as it moved away from its album-orientated rock format and into the pop megastar era.
16. 1984: MTV reaches its apex
The music channel was no longer considered a fad in 1984. It was in nearly every American home, record companies (and advertisers) were spending millions on music videos, and everything that was cool in the 80s could be sourced back to MTV as a pop cultural phenomenon. To celebrate their dominance, MTV hosted its first awards show: The Video Music Awards (VMAs). Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler hosted the event at Radio City Music Hall, New York City. Madonna made everyone forget who actually won an award that year with her performance of Like A Virgin where she appeared on stage atop a giant wedding cake in a wedding dress. The performance was punctuated by Madonna’s odd dance moves that morphed into a lot of thriving and humping. Again, it led to more album sales for Madonna and MTV’s stature grew.
25. Get out the plaid
In 1991, MTV played the video for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit and a gigantic shift happened in the music industry toward grunge. The rise of alternative rock was totally in opposition to what MTV stood for in the early 90s, so they underwent another identity crisis.
MTV flooded their playlist with videos from Stone Temple Pilots, Rage Against the Machine, Marilyn Manson, Pearl Jam, Tool, Beck, Radiohead, and The Smashing Pumpkins. These bands also paved the way for a second wave of auteur music video directors such as Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Samuel Bayer, Mark Romanek, Jonathan Glazer and F. Gary Gray. A bulk of these filmmakers would go on to have successful careers making films.
26. Rock the vote
MTV is credited as having an influence on the 1992 Presidential Election by getting more young people interested in voting for the first time. Candidate Bill Clinton appeared on a show titled ‘Choose or Lose: Facing the Future with Bill Clinton’. It’s where Clinton was asked the famous question about whether he ‘inhaled’ while smoking weed in his college days. A majority of the youth vote that contributed to Clinton’s election is attributed to MTV”.
Even though there are cynics and detractors of MTV, there is no denying that it has a huge impact on a generation. I know that MTV could not be revived and return to what it was from the 1980s. My love and admiration for music deepened when I started tuning into MTV from the 1990s. Even though MTV had a fairly rocky start, the sheer excitement of its launch on 1st August, 1981 cannot be understated. Newswise looked back on the launch of an iconic station that made music mode visual:
“Newswise — MANHATTAN, Kan. -- "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll."
That declaration was given nearly 30 years ago with little fanfare and was only audible to a few thousand people in northern New Jersey. But the launch of Music Television, also known as MTV, on Aug. 1, 1981, had permanent implications for the music industry and popular culture, according to two Kansas State University music experts -- an impact foreshadowed by images of the moon landing that accompanied MTV's launch.
The network's first music video was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by the Buggles, an intentional selection according to one of those experts.
"That song came out a couple of years prior to the launch of MTV," said Nora Lewis, assistant professor of music. "When MTV launched, it featured videos 24 hours a day on every day of the week. MTV creators knew its cultural and musical impact would be huge, and the selection of 'Video Killed the Radio Star' served as the perfect harbinger for its impending significance."
MTV initially had a limited audience. Cable television was not widely available in the early 1980s. As the popularity and scope expanded, MTV began to effectively define popular culture and the music industry in an unprecedented manner, according to another K-State music expert.
"Popular music became more visual," said Steven Maxwell, assistant professor of music. "Dancing styles and clothing styles became increasingly more important. It also helped break the color barrier for popular music on television. Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' video was shown in 1983 and helped MTV and Jackson gain in popularity."
Many networks followed MTV's example and began playing music videos. The success of MTV also spawned several sister networks that became the primary areas for playing music videos. It was an ideal opening for reality television, a burgeoning portion of the network's programming. Reality television was introduced to MTV viewers in 1992 with "The Real World." The music programming on MTV and related networks would never be the same and it could be focused on one factor”.
I am going to round off soon enough. There are a lot of articles that discuss the highs and lows of MTVs. From its fairly brief run to the way it put Black artists’ videos on the screen, everyone will have their own take. Many grew up after MTV changed from a music T.V. station to one more concerned with reality shows. If you are not aware of what MTV used to be, go back and do some research and watch videos on YouTube.
I think the boldness and boundary-pushing element of MTV was what stood it out and ensured that it is in the music history books. Medium explored this more when they dissected the impact of the station of musical television and culture:
“The one thing that MTV never lost throughout its entire run is its ability to push the envelope with its programming. They put black artists into their rotation when it didn’t seem popular to do so. They gave comedians a shot at getting their material out there, no matter how racy. Their news and documentary broadcasts were cutting edge and showed real life problems that people in the channel’s demographic were dealing with. Even now, MTV’s unscripted programming is some of the most inclusive in terms of portraying people of all races, religions and sexual orientations.
MTV has been a pioneer in music television and cultural programming. Early on, the channel was a force in the music industry, popularizing the music video and launching the careers of many artists along the way. Though it has gotten away from the music programming it was once known for, its ability to break boundaries has continued to guide the channel’s current programming. MTV might not be the musical influencer that it once was and probably never will be again, but it will always be remembered for what it has done, no matter what comes next”.
Not only did MTV become this social lubricant and must-see channel. People watched the videos and discovered artists and albums they might not have been aware of before. Soundcheck ran an article in 2011 to mark thirty years of the station. They spoke with various figures in music and the media to highlight what MTV meant to them:
“Walter Podrazik, Consulting Curator for the Museum of Broadcast Communications: “The year before MTV began, CNN had launched. That all news service demonstrated that cable could offer an option that, once experienced, could be readily embraced (and justified by adults): all-news, all-the-time, on television. Little more than a year later, MTV upped the ante. The difference with MTV was that it was entirely superfluous but absolutely necessary — at least for the younger members of the household. That younger demographic then lent a sense of urgency to adding cable access to the household. It’s no coincidence that 'I Want My MTV' became the new generation’s catch phrase. It embodied the voice of that younger generation; this is something they wanted, they needed, now! The younger household members would consider MTV as the reason for having cable, and would embrace the channel as part of their own up-to-the-minute-social-standing-lifestyle."
Sasha Frere-Jones, pop critic for the New Yorker: "I’ve been watching the first 24 hours of MTV, and they are were pretty remarkable, every video they played. The No. 5 video is Ph.D's “Little Susie’s On The Up” — nobody has ever heard that song. The first song they played is kind of cool: “Video Killed the Radio Star” by The Buggles. There’s something very knowing about video killing off another form, and that’s not entirely true, but it certainly presages the moment where the MP3 kills the entire form and perhaps an entire industry. They knew that a format change, a technical change, could create a social and behavioral change. And they were right! The minute you could download music, the entire game changed. Whether it was the age when videos mattered a lot from the mid ‘80s to the mid ‘90s, or Total Request Live, which was an early form of social media in its own way, or the birth of reality TV that came after, MTV’s legacy is kind of huge no matter what anyone thinks of them now”.
On 1st August, MTV turns forty. To some, it was before their time or means very little. To those who were young when it launched, it was a massive deal! I and so many others have affection for a station that opened our eyes to music and videos in a new way. In the days before YouTube, one could only see music videos on T.V. I bought so many singles and albums on the strength of the videos I saw on MTV. I also loved the interviews, features and chat on the station. It was a one-stop portal for all the latest news and releases. Because of that, on 1st August, I will…
SALUTE MTV.