Was 1980s MTV 'cool'?

a reply to: Profusion

MTV was very cool. I didn't have cable when it first came on so I would make excuses to visit friends who did. I loved the music and the clothes. Pop music and metal.

I constantly play 80s music in a loop on Youtube (that is when I am not listening to music from the TV show Supernatural-so I do like other decades of music ). It was a fun time to be alive and MTV was a big part of that.

Dire Straits said it best....


www.youtube.com...

I was in film school at the height of the MTV music video era.

And the head of the department set up an internship for me at MTV. I was kind of a hip, new wavey kid. So I understand now why he did it. But at the time I was insulted that he saw me as an "MTV kid". So I blew off the interview.

Later, I realized I was being a moron. And was blowing off an opportunity because of some false pride. So I asked if he could reschedule the interview. He refused. Showed me, I guess.

In subsequent years, I would do plenty of work with MTV. And learned that the internship would have probably been a bore. MTV headquarters was just an office in midtown. The VJs broadcast from somewhere else, iirc.

This is a long way of saying, back in the day, MTV was thought of as kinda cool. Not mega cool. Not unrivaled in its coolness. But it had a cool factor.

a reply to: Profusion

In truth,MTV was new and exciting and people wondered what was gonna happen with it.Leave it to Micheal Jackson to come up with a movie to excite everyone,that the dance track is STILL being used to flash mobs. You could see your music favs and see how much imagination they had.Some did pretty good,others meh. But grunge killed it all. I hated Cobein and his monotone whining. And Courtney Love? Forget it,blah.
Everyone has their own taste,and should be allowed to enjoy it. So go put on some (shudder) grunge and enjoy.

As an 80s kid in the era of cable TV it was really interesting and new for many. The mainstream of the mainstream was bland but others were influenced by the late 70s underground.

If it wasn't for metal, glam metal(some synthpop/ new wave) in the mainstream, there would only be stuffed suits into the mainstream music sitting at Talking Heads and Genesis concerts. By the time Grunge came around the overall society had already changed. Some blame it on the death of 80s metal and glam metal but eh, Cinderella, Winger, not much to miss!

Then somewhere in the mid 90s MTV changed to Reality TV/EmptyTV. Prior to that Beavis and Butthead, Headbangers Ball, Liquid Television, didn't detract from the musicTV.


Not all 80s clothes were ugly. Ones that were; giant shoulders for women, exercise clothes as fashion, leggings, jellies. Some of that is popular again.

Infinitely better than the non music era of the present day; the internet kicked in and inevitably pop music took a hit.

There were plenty of icky moments, of course.

Not so long ago, I watched a YT clip of Rush performing one of their tracks on MTV. They completely bought into the period and were trying to reinvent themselves as this cool, new synthpop band...mullet hairdos, suits and ties, the whole bit.

A little bit of me died inside.

I certainly remember when MTV first happened. I remember staying up all night with friends to watch it. It did, at first feel like something that was for us. But truly, it got bad... Or we realized it was bad. And it got bad quickly (long before reality TV kicked in). It was the place to go for all the watered down conformist pop music of the 80s. People forget this was entirely mainstream. This was not some bastion of wild rebellion like it painted itself to be. All that stuff that looked ridiculous in the 80s (the hair, jesus) was not at all people being individuals. That stuff was everywhere. And such terrible fashion choices. It was the dawn of yuppies and mass consumerism. The age of excess. The birth of what we see in music now as mega-egos (not that these didn't exist prior, but this gave them a face). And it was the beginning (well, middle actually) of the end for music. Meanwhile, there was a lot of good reaction to MTV in counter-culture (a carry-over from the reaction to bad music of the 70s), I will say that much. And I was glad to be a part of that. But come on... like bands like Journey were actually good? That was terrible terrible music that was pumped into us non-stop. People forget that type of stuff was absolutely jocky mainstream music to date-rape by. Brutal.

Irony gave the 80s a resurgence (and even this happened a good 15 years ago). But at this point the kids don't even know irony from just bad taste. Bad 80s music has been given an iron lung through irony. And it isn't just the 80s that have benefitted from ironic bad taste, just look at the kids running around with big carnival looking mustaches looking more like they should be riding a unicycle and juggling than having a business meeting.

a reply to: Profusion

Well, I was a young adult in the 80's, so I'll toss in my personal opinion. Before MTV was a big thing, music videos would show up on premium movie channels, to fill in the spaces between movies. They didn't really do commercials on those back then, or other sorts of fillers, and music videos were about all there was. The ones I saw usually didn't fit the music, and frequently didn't even make sense. I love 80's music, for the most part (with some notable exceptions), but the videos? Eh. Now and then, you come across a video that's actually pretty cool, and fits a song you like, but most were just random nonsense, as far as I was concerned, and not worth the waste of time. For all I know, they were made to influence people's thinking in some way. I didn't really pay attention back then, so I can't say for sure, but I see it as possible. As for "cool", well, no. Not to my way of thinking! Hearing a new some via MTV was something some enjoyed, but you could do that as easily on the radio. I'd agree that a lot of the "want" was simply conformist, and frankly annoying.

originally posted by: olaru12
Dire Straits said it best....


www.youtube.com...

Dire Straits and that song were two of the reasons why I didn't watch Mtv during that time period. Irony.

Sitting in the Student Union studying with MTV in the background. Ahh, memories.

That's when MTV rocked the casbah. Heart. Pat Benetar. ...and a host of others that I still listen to.

Now? Wouldn't watch/listen to MTV on a bet. Sad, really. I have so many good memories associated with MTV.

This is the only music video on MTV that I remember from back in the day:




Other than that, the 80's are a complete blur for me.



Brownies, magical fungii, something something...

a reply to: Profusion


80's MTV was most definitely cool but I'd say early to mid 90's MTV was better.
It branched out and had things like MTV2 Alternative, MTV Base and such, and then sometime Mid to late 90's MTV just went to garbage.
It was established and revolutionary in the 80's but It really became cool in the 90's.

a reply to: Profusion

Cooler then it is now...

The 80's were probably one of the best recent decades. Sure, a lot of it doesn't hold up, but that didn't make it any less cool.

It was definitely the most creative decade of the century. The sheer variety of art, music, fashion, design, cars, everything....even language, like totally to the max.

Was it all good? No. But was it diverse and creative? Absolutely.

And yes, MTV was cool. It was THE place to see new music. Sure, now we have it all at our fingertips, but back then, you sat through hours of great music to see your favorite band. (and discover new ones).

Once it added shows, it went downhill, but really, it had to, especially once the Internet basically rendered it obsolete for its original purpose.

a reply to: Profusion

Why are we limiting this discussion to only 1980's MTV? I mean I'm pretty much of the opinion that MTV was NEVER cool MTV practically invented the modern trash television era with reality television. That being said, 1980's MTV was the coolest of its entire lifespan. That's when the network actually played MUSIC.

Kind of funny, there's an 80's Sirius radio channel that basically brought back all the VJ's as DJ's on the station. Martha Quinn, etc. I don't use it myself, but I rented a car recently that had it, and that was a weird trip down memory lane.

a reply to: mblahnikluver

So true,I taped a lot of music videos back then and I might still have the tapes somewhere.
I loved Metallica,Led Zeppelin,Blondie,AC/DC,Mama's and The Papa's,Uriah Heep to name a
few.

a reply to: Profusion

The first video they ever played was The Buggles - Video Killed the Radio Star. They knew what they were doing from the start yet they did it because if they didn't, someone else would have.

Yet, they were cool the first two or three years. I don't know if I'd be the Rush geek I am today if it hadn't been for EmptyV. But like all good things, they must come to a end and it became YO! EmptyV RAPS! and that pisses me off still to this day. Now a ganster rapper who can only rhyme(musical talent, eh?)gets millions and real musicians have to struggle to make a dime. It was destined to happen but I blame them for a large part of hastening said demise.

There's more to this rant - technology and it's impact are also to blame, also many other things. Not going there today but EmptyV has it's share of the blame for ruining the music industry(well, it was already corrupt but anyway) and they were a major force in that but they don't get all the blame.

That's enough for now, this could go on forever so I'll stop where I'm at.

I remember the day MTV came on for the first time.
I was watching.

Here is a link to the first 30 songs played on MTV:
The first 30 videos on MTV


Yes, it was VERY cool back then.


Although I am glad my brother convinced me that Boy George was not someone I should like back then...lol

The cringe factor is the better part of 80s MTV