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Chris Higgins
Another Immense Time-Waster: MTV Music Posts Tons of Videos
by Chris Higgins - October 28, 2008 - 3:07 PM

In a stunning move, MTV has returned to its roots: actual music videos. But don’t look for the videos on TV — now they’re online. MTV announced today that they’ve posted over 16,000 videos, “Unplugged” sessions, and concerts to their new MTV Music site. The videos are nicely presented, with an easy search feature and video quality that rivals YouTube’s “Higher Quality.” The catalog is deep. Not ultra deep (this ain’t MTV2), but there’s a lot of back catalog content. For example, they have Yo La Tengo’s famous “Sugarcube” video in which the band goes to Rock School:

Yo La Tengo |MTV Music

More favorites after the jump.

Now, just because I can, here are some videos I wasn’t expecting to find on the site. Excuse me in advance for distracting you from the remainder of your workday.

Julee Cruise – “Falling” (theme from Twin Peaks):

Julee Cruise |MTV Music

The Breeders – “Divine Hammer”:

The Breeders |MTV Music

Soul Coughing – “Down To This”:

Soul Coughing |MTV Music

Elvis Costello – “Olver’s Army”:

Elvis Costello |MTV Music

If you’re a software geek, check out the MTV Networks Developer Tools. (Yes, they have an API.)

Now go waste hours! Post your favorite videos in the comments — you can just post the name, or if you want to post a URL, leave off the ‘http://’ part.

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Comments (13)

  1. Oh! The M in MTV stands for music! This whole time I thought it stood for moronic… or maybe mindless… meh.

    posted by Jason! on 10-28-2008 at 2:53 pm

  2. I found this today as well and have just spent 30 minutes of local tax payers’ time watching videos by Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest, and Ice Cube before he began starring in kids’ movies. Ahh, the ’90s.

    I have a feeling I’ll be spending plenty of my evening reliving my youth.

    posted by SpaceMonkeyX on 10-28-2008 at 3:03 pm

  3. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for my productivity) the site does not work for people outside of the U.S.

    posted by Graen on 10-28-2008 at 3:56 pm

  4. Oh. Crap.
    And I had *just* promised myself to be more productive as soon as the election was over.

    posted by mrs.djs on 10-28-2008 at 4:47 pm

  5. Phew, good thing it’s almost quittin’ time, and I can go home and enjoy these in the comfort of my own home! Randomly, Julee Cruise’s album was one of the first tapes I ever bought. That and Michael Penn. Odd.

    posted by Shasta on 10-28-2008 at 4:53 pm

  6. THE SMITHS!
    http://www.mtvmusic.com/video/?id=58849
    ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN!!
    http://www.mtvmusic.com/video/?id=46548
    THE CURE!
    http://www.mtvmusic.com/video/?id=54269
    Awesome stuff! Of course, those of you in the U.S. have to tell me what the quality is like because I live in Canada and ..CAN’T WATCH THE BLOODY VIDEOS because of copyright laws!!
    Arrrrgh!
    Now I gotta go find a proxy server

    posted by Cardinal_Fang on 10-28-2008 at 6:08 pm

  7. Oh my, it’s all about the VINTAGE section (cuz I’m OLD)!

    re captcha: voted fore

    posted by polaroidgirl on 10-28-2008 at 7:43 pm

  8. Cheesy videos of the 80’s! Love it! It will be a great time waster today! :)

    posted by kimmad on 10-29-2008 at 7:44 am

  9. Ahhhh I hate those US only sites….grrr I wanted to check the good’ol 80s videos.
    Deeply frustrated….It happens also with TV episodes….. well resignation is all what I can do..Until I found some generous soul that agrees to proxy my connection to these sites….

    posted by FigN on 10-29-2008 at 10:05 am

  10. It goes both ways. I’ve been really frustrated trying to purchase music from the UK via itunes, only to be redirected back to the US site and told no… it’s easier for me to just get import cds…

    Is it just me, or has copyright law become extremely convoluted and moronic?

    posted by Jason! on 10-29-2008 at 10:16 am

  11. My company is one step ahead. They have blocked the site! Good job to the gals and guys in IT! Guess, I’ll get back to work.

    posted by Marty on 10-29-2008 at 12:50 pm

  12. Must be just Canada that can’t use the site … works great over here in S. Korea! Will spend a few happy hours wasting time with it now …

    posted by Celery Demon on 10-29-2008 at 11:11 pm

  13. Awesome! It works in New Zealand! Now I can watch all those “pop up” videos….

    posted by Dawn on 11-9-2008 at 9:02 pm

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