Most of the videos showing in those first hours, days, months of MTV were shown on other programming prior to that. Top of the Pops on the BBC (Queen made the Bohemian Rhapsody promo video for that show), and there was a show on USA Network I can’t remember the name of. But they were primarily used for promoing bands and upcoming albums. The shows themselves weren’t usually dedicated to showing a ton of these, and most shows preferred the “live” (overdubbed) performances (American Bandstand for example).
6 Likes
I wondered that too. My conclusion about the song itself is that they’re singing about radio drama stars and how tv killed them off. Music videos themselves have been around about as long as tv just usually in a “performers playing on a stage” sense but even prior to mtv there were short programs that showcased music videos and mtv just decided to concentrate that.
3 Likes
Before MTV, radio was king. Everyone listened to the radio - at home, in the office, but mostly in the car.
Some cities had dozens of stations, and by the late 70s social interactions were often determined by what station you listened to (easy to tell even when the car was parked, because you had a bumper sticker proudly proclaiming your choice of station.) For a few years, MTV became the listening platform of choice, and people would cluster around the TV of someone with cable, getting to see their favorite artists without going to a concert.
2 Likes
ABERYSTWYTH (n.)
A nostalgic yearning which is in itself more pleasant than the thing being yearned for.
(Adams, Lloyd / The Meaning of Liff_)
2 Likes
And wasn’t VH1 targeted at older and less cool music fans than those for MTV? If memory serves, that was their raison d etre, right? Think Phil Collins and Huey Lewis.
1 Like
I came here just to write that myself, you beat me to it!
1 Like
Looks like the entire MTV archive is down now. Someone must have made a copyright claim:(
correction: appears you need an Internet Archive account to access it
I just wrapped up recording a podcast where we analyzed the first episode of the first season of The Real World. I found out that there was a Season 0… and one of the cast members of that un-aired show voiced Daria.
2 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
