mental_floss magazine
SUBSCRIBE >
GIFT SUBSCRIPTIONS >
DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTIONS >
subscriber services >
Remember when MTV used to show music videos? OK, that “joke” is as stale as a Christmas fruitcake, but can I help it if it’s the perfect lead-in to this week’s TV-Holic? Look back with me at the early days of Music Television, along with some music video milestones.
Music television before Music Television
Music videos had been made for many years before MTV was even a glimmer in cable TV’s corporate eye. Of course, they weren’t called such at the time. Usually they were referred to as “promotional films.” The Beatles made one each for “Penny Lane” and “Strawberry Fields Forever” in 1967 and Queen made one for “Bohemian Rhapsody” in 1975. These short films were shown on TV shows like Top of the Pops or American Bandstand and were a valuable advertising tool for an artist that wasn’t going to be on tour any time soon. Former Monkee Michael Nesmith recorded an album in 1976 from which he released a single called “Rio.” He also came up with an innovative film clip to accompany the tune, which didn’t chart in the US, but hit number one in Australia. While on tour Down Under to promote the album, Nesmith caught a TV show called Radio with Pictures, which originated from New Zealand and showed nothing but musical promotional films. Intrigued, he went home and pitched the concept to Bob Pittman of Warner. The result was a half hour show called Pop Clips, which debuted on the Nickelodeon channel in 1980.
The Birth of a Network
Impressed with the ratings of Pop Clips, Warner Communications launched a separate network they dubbed MTV, or Music Television, at midnight on August 1, 1981. In the beginning, MTV’s playlist had little to do with what was popular and was more a matter of “how many videos do we have in our library.” Such diverse artists as Devo, the Rolling Stones, the Smiths, Rod Stewart and Lene Lovich could be seen within the space of one hour. The very first video shown on MTV was “Video Killed the Radio Star” by the Buggles and the second was “You Better Run” by Pat Benatar, which aired after a spot that introduced the network’s five hosts, or “VJs.”
The Original VJs
Alan Hunter was the last of the original five VJs to be hired, but he was the first to appear on camera (speaking the not-so-memorable words “And I’m Alan Hunter. Let’s get to it.”) Hunter was a struggling actor at the time (he had a small role in David Bowie’s “Fashion” video) and worked as a bartender to pay the bills. Nina Blackwood was the first jock hired; she’d worked as a model and had a Playboy pictorial on her resume when she sent her headshot to MTV. J.J. Jackson was the elder statesman of the group. He’d been a popular Los Angeles radio personality since the late 1960s. He was also sensitive about his thinning hair and used spray-on paint to cover a bald spot on the back of his head. Mark Goodman was working as a DJ in Philadelphia when he applied for the MTV gig. Part of his audition included interviewing a studio extra who was “standing in” for Billy Joel. Martha Quinn (stepdaughter of financial columnist Jane Bryant Quinn) was a college intern at a New York radio station when she heard about the MTV casting call.
Awards
The annual Grammy Awards added a music video category in 1984. The winner of the “Best Video, Short Form” that year was Duran Duran for “Girls on Film”/”Hungry Like the Wolf.” MTV launched its own Video Music Awards show that same year. The occasion was made memorable by Madonna’s unique live performance of “Like a Virgin.” Clad in a white bustier and a tattered tulle skirt topped with a belt buckle that said “Boy Toy,” the singer writhed around on the stage provocatively, exposing her undies for all to see. Pretty tame stuff by today’s standards, but at the time the Material Girl got more headlines the next day than when she swapped saliva with Britney Spears onstage.
Jacko
The most expensive video ever made to date is 1995’s “Scream” by Michael Jackson, co-starring his sister Janet. The short black and white film cost a whopping $7 million to produce. Many viewers wondered where all that money went after they watched the video, so here’s a partial breakdown: The sets cost $5 million, Janet’s makeup ran $8,000 per day, the choreographer was paid $40,000, and $53,000 was spent on breakable guitars.
There is no question that Michael Jackson and MTV helped to launch each other’s annual revenues into the stratosphere. But the story of how that partnership actually began suffers from revisionist history in many accounts (especially those authorized by Jackson or his representatives).
The oft-told story is that Michael Jackson was the first black artist to be shown on the cable channel. That MTV refused to show “Billie Jean” until CBS records threatened to pull videos by all their other artists in protest. Not true. In the early days, MTV leaned toward more of a “rock and pop” format and tried to avoid dance-oriented songs (the “disco sucks” backlash was still prevalent in 1981). Videos by black artists such as Eddy Grant, the Bus Boys, Tina Turner, Donna Summer, Musical Youth, Joan Armatrading and the Jon Butcher Axis were in regular rotation. According to MTV co-founder Les Garland, when he first received the video for “Billie Jean” from CBS, he was so impressed by it that he overnighted it to programming head Bob Pittman in Los Angeles. Pittman agreed that despite the music being a little more R&B than the station’s usual fare, the video was so captivating they should add it to the rotation and test the reaction.
The songs on Thriller were certainly catchy enough on their own, but the slickly produced and choreographed videos definitely added momentum to Jackson’s album sales. Likewise, MTV’s ratings spiked during hours when Jackson’s videos were played, and the network was able to sell pricey advertising time to 27 different apparel manufacturers in 1983 for a total of over $24 million in ad revenue.
What’s your all-time favorite video? Which ones made you cringe? Did you ever tell a new boyfriend that you were one of the girls in the Robert Palmer videos? (Not that I never did that…..) Tell us why you used to want your MTV!
For more great TV stories, check out Kara’s complete TV-Holic archive.
Comments (35)
Comment
- Follow mental_floss
The claim that video killed the radio star is still true, but it can be argued that the internet killed music television to some extent. Its not surprising that MTV went to almost complete reality programming because had they not, they would have been just another casualty of the internet along with the newspaper (some can argue this) but nonetheless, most artists still make music videos and just post them on the internet for their fans instead of trying to get them on tv.
posted by Tim Cosgriff on 6-4-2009 at 3:06 pm
And since MTV doesn’t actually play music videos anymore, the 4 surviving original VJ’s, Alan Hunter, Nina Blackwood, Martha Quinn and Mark Goodman (the fifth, J.J. Jackson, passed away in 2004) are now spinning music on Sirius XM Channel 8 – The Big 80’s
posted by Jonathan on 6-4-2009 at 3:20 pm
The cable company in the town I grew up in didn’t have MTV when I was in jr. high/early high school, so I’d have a cousin of mine who lived an hour away tape stuff for me. There was this huge ‘forbidden fruit’ aspect to it. I’d get a new tape from her and it was my window into the party I was convinced everyone else in the world was in on and loving.
Around my junior year we finally got it. I was completely stoked about it for about a month and a half. After that? Meh. The magic wore off pretty quick.
posted by EV on 6-4-2009 at 3:32 pm
What did MTV stand for?
posted by Hannah on 6-4-2009 at 3:49 pm
I distincly remember the first videos I watched(and they played them A LOT!)
Hungry Eyes-Eric Carmen
The One I love-R.E.M
Here I go Again/Is this love- Whitesnake.
I realized that all these videos are from the years ‘87 and ‘88, so I was about 3 or 4 years old.
I’m so glad that even though I’m 25 years old I can still stay “I remember MTV when it didn’t suck to high heaven.”
AND I’m going to need mental flossers help here: I remember a video(don’t remember the song or artist)but it had a big white house and a guy walking looking off the balcony to a grassy,fieldy type of scenery. The guy had long hair and I’m pretty sure a blue shirt.
Figure out what video that is, please and thanks. It’s bugging me now.
posted by holly on 6-4-2009 at 4:09 pm
holly…I’m going to take a stab with ‘November Rain’ by Guns & Roses?
posted by TC on 6-4-2009 at 4:20 pm
I remember the first year. I recall being rather impressed that they played the portion of the Pink Floyd The Wall movie with “When the Tigers Broke Free”, which was not a widely released single.
Offhand I’d say my favorite video was “Big Time” by Peter Gabriel.
posted by Johnny Cat on 6-4-2009 at 4:28 pm
Some time around 1984 or so, we up here in Canada got MuchMusic, our answer to MTV, which we didn’t generally get unless you had satellite. MuchMusic’s format of music videos and all things music-related have survived quite well to this day, and they frequently have in-studio musical guests, causing tremendous traffic backups around their studios in Toronto.
posted by Beth on 6-4-2009 at 4:31 pm
my favorite video is probably Tears for Fears’ Seeds of Love- it’s the first video I have clear memories of seeing and I loved it.
Then there are most of the Tom Petty videos- I love them. And Roxette’s Joyride…
@hannah- doesn’t MTV just stand for Music TV?
posted by ann on 6-4-2009 at 4:48 pm
A few of my favorite early MTV videos:
“Big Time” – Peter Gabriel
“Rockit” – Herbie Hancock
“Take On Me” – A Ha
posted by Rebecca on 6-4-2009 at 5:05 pm
Cable TV hadn’t made it to our Suburb of New York. So someone opened a small club/bar that had a TV at every table playing MTV videos, or similar videos. Very popular at the time. The club was named after the Duran Duran song “Planet Earth”.
posted by Stew on 6-4-2009 at 5:06 pm
I remember watching Tears For Fears – Everybody Wants To Rule The World on MTV at like 6 AM Saturday mornings. And Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Captain Lou!) I loved Dave TV (David Lee Roth) and later Downtown Julie Brown. Also, when they introduced the videos with the lyrics streaming along the bottom, I was soooo excited. I remember being really annoyed with Beavis and Butthead/Real World/Remote Control because they were supposed to be just a music channel, darnit! I was so innocent then.
posted by Michelle on 6-4-2009 at 5:13 pm
I haven’t watched a video for years, maybe even a decade or more. Which is kind of odd because I used to watch MTV (and sometimes VH1) for hours at a time over the weekend many, many years ago.
But… my favorite video was “Southern California” by Wax. I also love the song, it’s awesome and brings back lots of memories.
My name has a link to a YouTube capture of it.
posted by Sarah in CA on 6-4-2009 at 7:59 pm
How can a synopsis of the early days of MTV not mention Weird Al Yankovic?
posted by PartiallyDeflected on 6-4-2009 at 8:07 pm
My first celebrity crush was on The Bangles. All of them. After seeing Walk Like an Egyptian.
posted by Mark N on 6-4-2009 at 11:39 pm
Not Reno — Rio. Rio dee Jinnero.
Mike Nesmith is always a little ahead of the curve. Love his music.
I think I need a marnangrita and a cof of cuppee.
posted by Leisa on 6-5-2009 at 1:26 am
I’m going to have to say the videos that stick out to me from my early childhood memories would be “I’ve got my mind set on you” by George Harrison and “Take on me” by Aha. Oh and the Tom Petty video with the Alice and Wonderland theme gave me nightmares for years.
posted by KIMMY on 6-5-2009 at 1:47 am
I thought Nesmith’s Elephant Parts won the first Grammy for a music video? It won a first Grammy for something, for sure!
posted by Catherine B on 6-5-2009 at 2:25 am
One of my favorite memories as a child was watching MTV. My brother and sisters and I loved it and watched all the great 80’s and early 90’s videos. I still love some of those great (and some very cheesy) songs!!!
posted by Heather on 6-5-2009 at 7:02 am
It was `81, and I was in my last year of grad school. The local cable company started braodcasting MTV (Music Television, Hannah) We would sit there FOR HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOURS totally mesmerized. I would come down at night just to turn it on to see what was playing (remember, a lot of stations still signed off at midnight).
We would sit there in anticpation of our favorite video, J. Geils Band’s “Centerfold” just for the shot in which the drummer hit the snare….AND IT WAS REALLY FULL OF MILK!!!!!!
Simpler times.
posted by Zane on 6-5-2009 at 10:02 am
I remember waiting up late for 120 minutes, the alternative rock show. It introduced me to all the college rock bands that I listened to for years. My favorite video was not the most popular by this band, but I liked Root Down by Beastie Boys. It was so cool and it just complimented the song perfectly without overpowering it.
posted by Marty on 6-5-2009 at 10:05 am
Favorite video was definitely “Land of Confusion” by Genesis. Creepy puppets and a gazillion political & pop culture references; pure genius!
posted by Shaumarie on 6-5-2009 at 10:07 am
The all-time best MTV moment was spending an entire day watching Live Aid–I’ll never forget it.
at holly: do you know what year that video was from? I don’t think it was November Rain from GNR as that was 1992, and it really doesn’t fit the description. do you remember any other details (band, rock/pop/metal/rap)?
posted by Wayne on 6-5-2009 at 11:17 am
@ Mark N
Susanna Hoffs was the hottest though. And I had a crush on Jane Weidlin of The Gogos too. Very cute.
posted by crocostimpy on 6-5-2009 at 1:16 pm
The claim from the 1st commenter that the ‘net killed mtv isn’t true.
As I have plenty of friends that will youtube music videos of bands/artists they like.
MTV/much music etc. it’s all crap now. They need to change the stations names to like ‘cheap crap television to rot your brain…. no music though sorry’
posted by Tron on 6-6-2009 at 3:01 am
Ah..MTV used to be so cool! In high school, it just wasn’t a party if MTV wasn’t on in the background. Of course, we’d always turn down the volume and put the radio on – it was fun to see the different music with the video.
And how exciting was it when a new video was debuted?
posted by dawn on 6-7-2009 at 5:58 am
In Pittsburgh we had two weekend late night music video music shows around the time I graduated high school in 1982, I’m guessing before 1982. One was about a 2 hour time slot and the other seemed like it was 3 or maybe even 4 hours long as it would include just about an entire concert broken into commercial friendly sections. Or, maybe it was 2 different shows back to back, anyway it made you stay uplate. I still remeber a hot Summer night and a BoB Marley concert. Steve Miller’s Abracadaba was definately a video they played, so I’ll look upthe year that was released. Any Pittsburgh area people remember what those shows were called?
posted by Brian on 6-15-2009 at 6:14 pm
People here in Denver were getting videos long before MTV. Sometime around ‘80 KBDI, one of our local PBS stations began showing videos on a show called FMTV. They sold that name a few years later and changed the show to Teletunes. At first you had to stay up past 10pm to watch, but at it’s height they would show 4 hours straight on weekend mornings. Much of what they showed wouldn’t air on MTV, or only sporadically. It’s where I first heard of Snakefinger, Joe King Carasco, The Residents, Ultravox, and Classix Nouveau.
posted by Will on 6-18-2009 at 10:42 am
I know it’s simple,but I find the video to Gary Numan’s “Cars” fascinating. It’s inexplicable. I moved to England as a child and we only had 4 channels…one of them had a music video hour or two on Sundays…it began with a computerized rollercoaster, I think. I can still tell generally what songs came out when because of when I lived in England (late 80s/early 90s). When we moved back to the states I was glued to MTV. Recently I’ve forced my husband to watch music videos I remember, such as “Money for Nothing” and “Touch of Grey”. One video I remember having a huge impression on me as a very young child was the very last few seconds of “Thriller”…it scared the crap out of me when I was a toddler!
posted by Brandy on 6-18-2009 at 6:27 pm
may want to do more research. I saw the “The Frim-Fram Sauce” a jazz song, by The Nat King Cole Trio. The films were played on video boxes in clubs back in the day!!! Black people on the edge again!!
alisa
posted by alisa on 6-18-2009 at 9:02 pm
Brian in Pittsburgh: I grew up in Springdale and graduated in ‘83 from Divine Providence Academy. I remember watching something I remember as Friday Night Videos, but that could be wrong. I remember it’s where I first saw Hungry Like the Wolf and China Girl. I waited all week for that show! I loved listening to “new music” (not new-wave) on WYDD. I didn’t realize how awesome Pittsburgh radio was until I moved to Orlando in ‘84 to go to college and heard them introducing a year-old Duran Duran song as brand-new.
posted by Stacie on 6-19-2009 at 6:41 pm
This article is revisionist, unless the reporting on the “Billie Jean” debacle AT THAT TIME could be called revisionist. I remember the huge amount of dance music and “blue-eyed soul” videos by white artists, like Hall and Oates, ABC, and Art of Noise, when black artists of similar styles could not get their videos on MTV. Robert Palmer’s “In My System” and “I Didn’t Mean to Turn You On” was okay but not the videos of the original songs by the System and Cherrelle. It was Pat Boone and cover records all over again. MTV was catering to a “middle-America” audience and felt they would be put off by too many black faces (hilarious when one saw/sees the sales numbers of hip-hop and reggae artists, or saw the white guys in gym class practicing dance moves with, and not simply copying from, their black friends). This is what was reported at the time, what I saw with my own eyes, what Bob Pittman was reported to say, what David Bowie was supposed to have discussed with Mark Goodman. Can you imagine that the first Bob Marley video I saw was “Buffalo Soldier”, and not often? Don’t pretend MTV programming was colorblind, or it was just about the music. It never was and never is.
posted by dw on 6-24-2009 at 10:22 am
@dw: I stand behind my research regarding “Billie Jean” and CBS never threatening to pull their artists from MTV. That information is available in many credible sources, including an interview in Jet Magazine with Les Garland.
posted by Kara Kovalchik on 6-24-2009 at 2:34 pm
Interesting about the MJ as first black music on MTV controversy.
Lots of revisionist history going on with that guy right now. Like he has done anything of note since 1991 and the Black or White cut.
I don’t know for sure but the big question would be, how much celebrity must one have to overcome charges of pedophilia?
Many Catholic priests were never convicted but paid off victims in civil suits like MJ did. Can they be reformed and celebrated?
Here’s one, John Wayne Gacy was one heck of good childrens party clown.
Nah, doesn’t work either.
But JWG isn’t worth a whole lot of licensing to Hollywood right now.
There is a lot of money to be made from making MJ as the great emancipator of MTV.
As the LA episodes of To Catch a Predator proved, pedophilia isn’t a crime in Southern California.
Sad.
posted by Cold can of Kayo on 6-29-2009 at 11:52 pm
Loved 120 Minutes!!!
Nine Inch Nails – “Head Like a Hole” – Awesome video…the spinning skull/spinning staff “strobe” effect was utterly mesmerizing. No image could explain the type of music NIN was better than Trent hanging from that huge twisting mess of tape and metal.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Give it Away” – Back when they were good.
Bad Religion – “Atomic Garden” – Does anyone really need more than one BR CD? Mine is “Generator”.
Peter Gabriel – “Sledgehammer” and “Big Time” – Classics
posted by dagnabbit on 6-30-2009 at 6:09 pm