Anyone here remember when MTV was Music Television?

[proteus_lives]

I'm a child of the '80s. I remember. I remember the Space-Man and the chick with the chain-saw, I remember "I WANT MY MTV!" I remember intelligent VJs. I remember when MTV news mattered and presidential candidates vied for air-time on the network.

I remember Yo! MTV Raps and Headbangers Ball. I remember my older sisters switching to MTV when I wanted to cartoons. (I also remember protest but being outvoted in the always fair system of sibling democracy.)

I remember appreciating it myself. When music video premieres were eagerly awaited, when you didn't have the pocket money for a new tape/CD and kept the TV on in the background in hopes of hearing/watching that new single.

I even remember the non-music stuff when it was good and limited. Remote Control, sketch shows, star interviews, Liquid Television, Beavis & Butthead, Daria and the like. Hell, even the Real World was tolerable when reality shows were still a curiosity. MTV Spring Break was even fun. Pauly Shore.

But like all good things......sigh.

I miss MTV.

[kentauros]

1. I remember seeing Mike Oldfield's "Five Miles Out" on MTV!

You can't find Oldfield on any place but YouTube (or the DishNetwork CD-Music channels) now.

Remember how they'd use old industrial films re-edited with instrumental music as bumps and filler? There were no commercials in the first year and why they'd fill the time between videos with such creative bits. Kind of like public radio :D

[proteus_lives]

3. That does sound cool.

But alas a little before my time, my first memories of MTV start in the mid-80s.

Their creativity didn't start to die until the mid-90s, I'd say.

It was one of the last channels where you could leave it on all day and be satisfied.

[HughBeaumont]

10. I remember those snippets well.

I also remember that MTV was one of the first networks to carry The Young Ones.

I think after around 1990 (or 1985, depending on who you ask), they stopped taking chances and mailed it in the pop/lousy hip-hop box. Then they became the Pretty Princess Network, as did MTV2. The end.

YouTube made MTV instantly obsolete.

[Soylent Brice]

18. The Young Ones.

YES.

i had a heart attack when they first release the DVD collection.
i still have an old t-shirt for them.

I HATE YOU NEIL!!

[begin_within]

2. Yes and those names filled up half the screen.

MTV was fun in the very beginning, when it was primarily music videos.

[Archae]

4. I remember!

VH-1 Classics channel likes playing the older music videos I enjoyed.

[gvstn]

5. I never understood Why it died?

The first few years when they had so few videos to choose from I could have understood it dying. Poison or Journey videos in heavy rotation were murder. How many times did I see the Saga video? AAcK!

But then it became necessary for every band to put out a video to get album sales. The videos got really interesting. Then suddenly all the other stuff took over. I don't understand how playing videos produced and paid for by others wasn't a good business model? Seems like easy money.

I, too, miss My MTV!

[hibbing]

6. Yes..and other actual music broadcasts

Hi,
Yeah, I remember it from the start. I recall watching The Alarm perform a concert live on some college campus that was fantastic. Don't forget Unplugged, the Dylan one was particularly good I thought. Not even sure why they show the video awards now, I haven't flipped to the channel in years.

Peace

[peekaloo]

7. 120 Minutes

was what I watched. Avoided the more "popular" stuff like the plague.

[MissHoneychurch]

8. I remember Ray Cokes

but that was in the 90s already

[JCMach1]

9. Still is over here, but doesn't stop the music from sucking!

[HopeHoops]

11. I remember when it first came out - that's ALL it was - no VJ's, no commercials - NOTHING else.

It would just go from video to video. The short text overlay at the beginning identified the group and song.

[realisticphish]

12. I was watching as music videos collapsed

As MTV stopped playing videos, I started watching MuchMusic, but then it was bought by Americans, and started sucking (eventually becoming Fuse; I don't know if it even exists anymore). Then I watched MTV2 for a while, which actually did play a lot of videos. But then reality shows started taking that over too.

And now, the only place I see music videos is YouTube

[mikeytherat]

13. I remember when you had to get a "special adapter" (FM modulator and splitter) to get MTV in stereo

Long before the days of stereo TV. You tuned in to a specific dead frequency on your FM dial.

Do I win the, "Dude, you are so old!" award?

mikey_the_rat

[kentauros]

14. No

because I remember we had to do that, too :P

It also allowed me to record my public radio shows on VHS in the 90s :)

[MilesColtrane]

15. The first thing I ever saw on MTV was Eddy Grant's "Electric Avenue".

So that had to be some time in '82.

It was all downhill from there.

[Soylent Brice]

19. first time i ever saw or heard him perform that was when he was on SNL.

he played the guitar with his teeth.
awesome.

[LynneSin]

16. If you aren't a teenage pregnant statistic or a dingbat living in a house at the Jersey shore...

then it's not worthy of time on MTV.

[flvegan]

17. Doodle doodle dee, wubba wubba wubba.

And the hotness: Martha Quinn and Kennedy. They'd turn the channel over to Weird Al once a year, and they'd have great New Year's Eve party/countdowns. Rikki Rachtman (sp?), 120 minutes, Headbanger's Ball, Yo! MTV Raps. Fond memories.

MTV lost me in the mid-90's, right around when that damnable TRL show started. It was all reality show bs and boy bands, and it just wasn't worth it anymore.

[Rambis]

20. I watched the rocket blast off

then the buggles came on and the rest is history. I miss the Young Ones-
All we had before that was video concert hall for half hour at 6:30 then one hour at 10:00pm. We
tried to avoid rufus and chaka khan videos waiting for the Police,Tom Petty, Sports, A's, Cramps, Iggy Pop, Jethro Tull, Gary Newman and the Dickies to come on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_aLpwtaLDw8