Twenty six years ago this very second, with the launching of a space rocket and a moon landing with a funky flag, MTV launched into the homes of a half million cable subscribers. (For the youngsters in the audience, MTV stood for "Music Television" and they would actually play music videos 24 hours a day.)
So… ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll:
And of course, the first music video played on MTV. C’mon, sing along– you know the words:
Glenn Hauman
Glenn is VP of Production at ComicMix. He has written Star Trek and X-Men stories and worked for DC Comics, Simon & Schuster, Random House, arrogant/MGMS and Apple Comics. He's also what happens when a Young Turk of publishing gets old.
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It's been said MTV had many fathers. Mike Nesmith is considered by many to be the primary. After the release of Elephant Parts he had a meeting with some folks and blue skied Music Television right there, even coining the term. They paid him a sizable check for the intellectual property and ran with it.Richard Lester was also called one of the fathers of MTV, with the frenetic style he created for A Hard Day's Night. Lester, when asked about this, said "I want a paternity test".Music videos were actually being done as far back as the 40's. There was a brand of jukeboxes that actually played a clip of the band playing the song you selected. Fats Waller did one, as did many other bands. Most of those clips are lost today, but they show up on channels like AMC every so often as a short subject.Back when MTV started they had so few videos they'd play things by anybody. That's why Blotto got such heavy airplay back in the early days. the Comedy Channel did a savage mockumentary of MTV years ago called "MTV Give Me Back my Life". If anyone sees it pop up anywhere, I'd love to know about it.
Hey, I like Blotto. (In point of fact, I was made an honorary Blotto, Gonzo Blotto, over 20 years ago.)That Comedy Channel piece, "MTV, give me back my life!" was a joint production with the Harvard Lampoon, as I recall. Very funny.
I want to give some sort of props to my friend David Burd who was the voice actor who gave us "I Want My MTV!" He even did a great job one afternoon explaining to me, pre Thriller, why it wasn't MTVs job to program any black artists. Not his point of view, mind you; he was explaining how it was explained to him. "Can't look back, there's nothin' there but sorrow."
So many hours of my life wasted staring at the television thanks to the early days of MTV. The Presidents of the USA did a great cover of the Buggles song a few years back. Nostalgia aside, I prefer their version over the original. They stay true to the song while also adding their own blend of harder rock to the mix.
…and now it is time for MTV to go away. Sorry, but you know I'm right.
Aw, man, flashback city! Has it been that long? Wonder what happened to the little girl in the video, and, for that matter, what happened to three-minute videos? Apparently MTV now thinks a video is about 30 seconds long with the audience screaming and talking over it (see TRL). Quelle dommage; the music video really was an art form for a time.