Post #246033 by donhonyc on Mon, Jul 31, 2006 11:39 PM

So today marks the day, August 1, 1981, 25 years ago that MTV first launched itself into the collective consciousness of the planet. While we will hear and read accounts over the next couple of days of folks going on and on about the profound effect the channel has had on popular culture, I'd like to share my own thoughts and experiences with the whole phenomenon.

25 years ago at this time I was 14 years old. Like alot of you here on TC, I was smack-dab in the middle of the prime demographic MTV was made for, and while it was a new and exciting thing to be a part of, it was also the beginning and, in some cases...unfortunately, the sad end of a particular aspect of youth culture that had existed in suburban America in the late 70s and early 80s. You couldn't see it right at that moment, but that part of being a kid was about to be destroyed by big hair, synthesizers, and Madonna. Yeah, it was great at the very beginning. An all music video network was something that was sorely needed.The only outlets for seeing any live rock music on TV was 'The Midnight Special' and 'Don Kirchner's Rock Concert'. Both of those shows were hit or miss and they only came on once a week, so MTV was a breath of fresh air when it came along. Seeing videos by bands that you probably never heard of like The Specials, The Jam, The Police, Adam and the Ants, The Buggles, etc. gave MTV a very underground feel. You felt like you were being educated by a whole new world of bands and music that American rock radio would never dare play. From that perspective, I would say that MTV had a big impact on the whole New Wave scene in America. Even Duran Duran seemed 'underground'. It's hard to imagine now, but at the time the 'Girls on Film' video, looked and sounded like a band from another planet. Totally sophisticated and cool. Finding out about stuff like that on MTV was part of the fun. I remember seeing the Run-DMC video for 'Rockbox' back then. That completely blew my mind! Rap and rock together?? Cool! (Well, at least cool until the Aerosmith/RunDMC 'Walk This Way' colaboration. Sorry..that sucked.) The other interesting thing about MTV 25 years later is that you can see how some of the bands from the 60s like The Who and The Stones embraced the music video format and enabled themselves to continue to be relevant to young audiences even though at that point people like Pete Townshend and Jagger were nearing 40 years old (gasp!).

Even though my family at the time didn't have cable TV, I became a big fan of MTV, watching it at my friend's houses almost constantly. What I began to notice in about a year or two after MTV went on the air was the complete hijacking, by alot of wimp-ass, for lack of a better term, bands and artists that had no creativity or balls in their music or images. The golden age of the channel was over. The quality of music went downhill. There was no more of that 'public acess TV feel' that MTV had in the beginning. Soon it became the channel to catch the latest videos by Madonna, Michael Jackson, Mister Mister, Taylor Dane, and Paula Abdul. Kids started to imitate the fashions by these sucky perfomers and this lame-ass music was everywhere. The fun part of that, was that MTV perhaps unknowingly fueled a backlash that was the catalyst for what may have arguably started "grunge" and other alternative rock genres that became popular in the 90s. But it was obvious by the mid-80s that we were truly, thanks to MTV, in 'The Age of Plastic' (coincidentally the name of the Buggles album that 'Video Killed the Radio Star' came from). It wasn't all bad, however. MTV did maintain some of it's early credibility by airing shows like IRS' "The Cutting Edge", and (the early) "Headbanger's Ball". I thought the broadcast of 'Live Aid' in '85 was a very cool thing, and of course, who could forget "120 Minutes".

Over the last 10-15 years though MTV has definitley become a complete and total cespool of popular culture. The edge has been gone for years, and we can thank them for keeping the the flame of mediocrity alive and well while kissing the asses of people like Britney Spears, Puff Daddy, Ashlee and Jessica and the Backstreet Boys. The list goes on and on. Shows like the VMAs, 'The Real World, 'Cribs', and 'Pimp My Ride' are breeding grounds for the perpetuation of a self-involved youth culture that models themselves after assholes like Paris Hilton and Justin Timberlake. In short...to quote Mojo Nixon...'Music Television should be covered in jizum!!!" I secretly want to go and painball the exterior of their Times Square studio in horseshit, but the Viacom police would probably come and get me. So happy anniversary...I guess. I'm just glad I got to grow up in the 80s....the EARLY 80s!!!

[ Edited by: donhonyc 2006-07-31 23:43 ]