MTV 30 The Big Whoop

Long time ago, I was working at the old Marion 76 on 7th Avenue next to Audi's.  Somehow, Bill the owner managed to pick up one of those satellite dishes and at times they would watch it when business was slow (which wasn't too often, we were quite busy).  Nevertheless one afternoon, I came across a cable channel that played music videos.  Music video was kinda rare although the old cable network SPN showed something called Video Concert Hall which did show some early videos, which was how I discovered Split Enz I Got You. But this new cable channel promised to show music videos 24 hours a day and it was called MTV and once I seen it, I was hooked and got into plenty of trouble from the boss and my dad to get the fuck back to work.

MTV back then, was tailored made for the music freak that was me.  Although there wasn't that many videos, many were played by forgotten bands although I think the first hour of MTV they played 3 Bells In A Row by Tenpole Tudor, a band that recorded for Stiff Records and if anybody recorded for Stiff Records they had to be good right?  Dr. Feelgood Jumping From Love To Love anybody?  That was on Stiff USA.  Even the Plasmatics featuring Wendy O Williams was on that label.  The thing about MTV was they showed a lot of concert clips from Foghat, Journey and Rush.  There was no Madonna and Michael Jackson was still recording Thriller.

Everybody who grew up in that era knew the 5 VJ's. Nina Blackwood, the late great J J Jackson, Mark Goodman, Alan Hunter and of course everybody's darling Martha Quinn.  While MTV begin to take off, our cable company would not add it till two years later September 1983.  By then Thriller was out and they were playing the mini movie every hour on the hour, Madonna and Billy Idol ruled the waves and Men At Work were introduced to us.  But there were the lesser knowns that stood out for me. Flaming Desire by Bill Nelson, Fastway's Tell Me.  But in the early 80s Saturday MTV would put out the concert of the night, Sunday there was London Calling and later 120 Minutes.  Saturday Nights the concert series got replaced by The Headbanger's Ball, MTV attempt to show metal videos. 


In a attempt to showcase more of the non cutting edge videos, in 1985 VH1 was born.  One of the shows that stood out was the Jazz show hosted by Ben Sidran and I recall seeing Enya doing a song in 1988.  Farm Aid was also shown on that channel, whereas MTV showed the Live Aid in 85.  But the original 5 VJ's would eventually leave and move on to other things.  MTV developed some dance show featuring Downtown Julie Brown and Miss Julie Brown, whose responsible for such hits as I Like Them Big And Stupid and Because I'm A Blond came on board.  Still fun but I related more to the Headbanger's Ball and 120 Minutes rather than the Dance Mix Show of DT Julie. 

I think the 10th Anniversary of MTV Martha Quinn hosted the majority of that weekend and MTV showed the first hour of videos. But in essence MTV was killing the video star with lame crap reality BS as The Real World or the puke inducing Road Rules.  Mike Judge revolutionized animation with Beavis & Butthead which originally appeared on Liquid Television, an interesting show of animated shorts.  But even in 1993 MTV was beginning to shy away from music videos and even though I got my news from MTV Week In Review. with the stuffy Kurt Loder at least we were somewhat being kept up on the music news that meant a lot to me.

When I escaped to my new place of residence, MTV was not available till 1997 and by the time we finally got it here, they played hardly any music videos but rather reality garbage thus changing the M from music to Moron TV.  By then, Headbangers Ball, 120 Minutes were a thing of the past and none of the VJ's I could relate or know who the fuck they were except the odious Kennedy Montgomery.  VH1, the alt channel was even worse, they became a 2nd rate garbage channel with crap from the likes of Flavor Flav, I Love New York, and Basketball Wives, it too has become unwatchable.  Only time I do watch it is if I want to see The Temptations movie, which VH1 shows at least once a weekend per month.  Most of the watchable shows moved over to VH1 classic to which our cheap assed cable company will not let us watch unless we want to pay an extra hundred dollars a month to the the channels of the watchable shows we used to watch on MTV or VH1.  MTV2 supposedly a replacement for MTV has become a crap station as well but we are spared of watching that one.

To celebrate 30 years ago of when MTV was relevant and cutting edge, you have to watch VH1 Classic to see what MTV was like.  It won't be on MTV, they're not into music anymore and it's not my channel anyway.  Today's MTV is Jersey Shore or Pregnant and Sixteen or Teen Mom, one of the two and I don't give a fuck about either one.  I don't give a fuck about MTV or VH1 anymore today of the fact that neither one is how I remembered them when they were good. And showing music videos and giving us some reason to go to the record store.  MTV and VH1 doesn't have anything to offer me, I certainly can't get into Snooki or New York or whatever the hell is on VH1.  Sometimes I'll take a peek of when MTV does show a music video after 2 AM but mostly what I see is soft porn that would make Adina Howard blush.

If your one of the lucky ones to get VH1 classic, you can sit back and see how it was 30 years ago.  But if you're like me and stuck with this MTV (Moron, Mindless, Musicless), you have more entertainment with it off.

I don't want this MTV.