30 Years of MTV

It happened on August 1, 1981. A seemingly unknown cable network launched on numerous cable systems across the United States. It was called MTV. Music Television. Their very first video? “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the English band The Buggles. The creators of the MTV network made a promise that this channel would replace radio as we knew it then. Thirty years later, radio has more listeners than it did in 1981 and MTV is no longer an exclusive video music channel and God knows what happened to the Buggles.

Two years after MTV launched, they finally aired a Michael Jackson video (“Billie Jean”) after having no black artists for that period of time. MTV execs patted themselves on the back bragging they broke the color barrier. When did radio “break the color barrier”? At least 70 years ago and radio did not make a big deal out of it. Music was and is a unifier in life. Radio proved that, years before MTV debuted.

1984 brought the Video Music Awards. 1985 had Sting and Dire Straits singing “I want my MTV.” The rest of the 80’s was Peter Gabriel, Whitesnake, Run D.M.C., and Madonna singing “Like a Prayer” that cost her a Pepsi endorsement and garnered her a Vatican condemnation.

The 90’s brought us Vanilla Ice, LL Cool J, the first un-plugged series, the “Real World”, the low rated Jon Stewart Show, boy bands and the iconic Beavis and Butt-head.

MTV and the new century brought us less music videos and more lifestyle shows. We’re not sure whose life, but they called them lifestyle shows. Jack Ass, Tom Green (remember him?), the Osbournes (in which Ozzy has admitted that he was either drunk, stoned or popping pills for three years of filming). MTV gave us “Newlyweds: Nick and Jessica”, “The Hills”, “Jersey Shore” and “Skins” a racy teen drama, a show which critics have compared to child pornography.

Did video kill the radio star? Hardly. MTV proved itself to be a self indulgent promotional machine for record companies that built artist’s careers more on how they looked on TV rather than their ability to created solid music. If you were pretty, could dance, and could lip synch, you had a career on MTV.

As stated before, radio has more of an audience today than it did in 1981. MTV can’t say that. Radio has launched more music careers than MTV did. Radio is played in homes, cars and offices. MTV can’t even be played in a Journeys store and that’s more of their audience.

Video didn’t kill the radio star. Video did not even wound radio. If anything, MTV became so enamored with what it thought it was, it essentially became a basic cable channel.
One question for the Buggles: what was your second “hit”?