With those simple words, our world was changed. On August 1st, 1981 at 12:01 am EST, MTV went on the air. Music videos were not a new thing, but no one had ever thought to put together an entire channel that showed music videos 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We were in musical heaven.
It was the perfect storm. Most artists had grown up watching television and had a visual style that they could sell to a willing public. Artists such as Duran Duran, Madonna, Culture Club and Devo were tailor made for this concept. New acts could reach a wider audience just by being interesting or visually appealing (Men At Work, INXS and Human League) and older acts could revive struggling careers by tapping into this new idea (David Bowie, Micheal Jackson and Blondie).
The VJ's were all young and hip and knew the music and the trends that were out there.
(L to R: J.J Jackson, Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter)
Plus, how cute is Martha Quinn.
They told us about the artists, they helped us to hear new songs and they weren't afraid to play unusual things. (heck, in those early days they'd put anything on to fill an hour)
The cool part was that they got so many artists to do promos for them. Culture Club...
Hall And Oates...
Billy Idol....
even The Police...
I WANT MY MTV!!!!
Now I know a lot of people will say, "yeah, but when was the last time they showed a music video?" Well, the good news is that on the 35th anniversary of MTV, nostalgia prompted them to rebrand their sister station, VH1, into MTV Classics. They'll be showing music videos again. It sounds like its mostly 1990's and 2000's era videos but there's hope that they'll see that the best era was the 80's and either add those videos or create a whole other channel for our era. They can call it MTV Original. I won't even charge them for coming up with the name.
To take you back, here's the first few minutes of MTV. Please Enjoy
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