25 Years Ago Today
A little cable channel emerged...
It changed the way my generation watched television and accessed music. It broke bands that may never have seen the light of day in the US, and it made stars of some truly ugly but very talented folks. The video medium was not always a good thing.
Of course, the best show on there was 120 Minutes. Here's a sample of that goodness.
MTV now is a parody of itself. Special "interest" (and I use that term loosely) programming has replaced the videos, its foundation, and the channel has lost its way. But it was once awesome, once worthy of staying in ALL DAY LONG in the middle of summer just to see what they would play next. That's the MTV I choose to remember.
Stereogum has the listing of all the videos played that day. Robin Lane and the Chartbusters?!?! One, yes I DO know who they are; my father loved that band, and two, when else was that video ever played again? And MTV2 is rerunning the entire first day; only 7 hours left.
posted by
HRH Courtney, Queen of Everything
@
8:46 AM
4 Comments:
I remember watching when MTV signed on the air for the first time. Somehow you could tell even then that something in American pop culture had changed forever. My dad - 41 years my senior - was even fascinated by it! Sometimes I would catch him watching MTV even when I wasn't.
MTV has released DVD compilations of many things - from animation to Tom Green to Road Rules to whatever. But as far as I know they have never released a compilation of 120 Minutes (I still remember Dave Kendall using the phrase "two hours into the future of rock and roll"). If they ever did, I would buy it in a heartbeat.
I dind't have cable as a kid and when some other kids started describing MTV, i called "bullshit". No channel would just play music all day. It seems none do anymore either.
I missed out on 120 Minutes. I must have been over the hill by then.
When Michael Stipe had hair and every girl in America under the age of 16 was in love with either John Taylor or Simon Le Bon.
What happened? Now we have stupid reality shows and no videos. MTV is missing out on an entire demographic - GenX! I want my [old] MTV!!!
I loved MTV back in the day, we watched it for hours and hours when I was in college...
Even now, in the mornings, I'll put on music videos when I get ready for work. It's sad how MTV has lost its way.
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