Today MTV turns 40. Yes, four decades ago, a hip new cable television channel went from SMTPE color bars to the Apollo 11 launch and moon landing to a montage of the soon-to-be-famous MTV logo where the moon-spiked stars 'n' bars used to be.
Many trivia nerds like me have known for some time that the first video to air on MTV ever was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," cleverly. The second? I'll give you a hint: it was by an artist whose hairstyle was copied by not one but three students at Ridgemont High.
Here are the first two hours of MTV's first transmission. We first see the VJ's at 8:45 (all of them, including rob's crush Martha Quinn), followed by some sweet-assed 1981 ads. An amusing stroll.
MTV launched shortly before my 11th birthday. It was free to cable subscribers, and we had just gone from rabbit ears to cable that spring. Several years later they started to charge, at which point I missed out for a few years. But by my high school years it was back to fee-free, just in time for hair metal, an onslaught of U2, and Debbie Gibson vs Tiffany. (There's a clear winner in that battle, mind you.)
Somewhere in our midst, MTV stopped being Music Television and began airing reality show marathons, stupid cartoons (that I watched when I was 23), and other dreck that aren't videos. You know which "special character" on your keyboard is responsible for this, but it remains lame. Anyway, MTV used to be fun and actually relevant in a simpler time, but every rose has its thorn.
What early memories do the GTB staff have of MTV, if any? Add a video or a quick blurb below.
-----------
TR: I never thought Pat Benatar was attractive. Or Madonna. I was all in on Belinda Carlisle. I had an older sister who usually controlled the remote, so my childhood was basically 69% Duran Duran videos. I hated it at the time. I like it now, and can see how cocaine could make Duran Duran tunes really fun. I used to love Friday Night Video Fights.
-----------
rob: 120 Minutes, man. That was the shit. The author of this post and I saw this song late at night during a Williamsburg summer and were blown the fuck away. Got up the next morning and drove to the mall in Virginia Beach (I think?) to buy the CD, which got worn out that summer. And Martha Quinn was all that.
Ed. Note: It was Patrick Henry Mall in Newport News. Which is, amazingly, still standing.
Posts
