More Early MTV Nonsense

That first critical year...

According to something I read attributed to Nina Blackwood, in the early days of MTV they only had around 300 clips to choose from total (125 at the time of launch). Even though some videos were already a few years old, they wound up in major rotation because there was just not a lot to choose from and little or no competition for airtime amongst the artists.

1982 seemed to be the year that it began to change and the music industry started seeing MTV as a promotion tool mainly due to the success of J. Geils Band's "Centerfold". The song went to number one after being in heavy rotation on MTV in early 1982. Also notable was the Go-Go's "We Got the Beat". The song was a year old but due to the popularity of the video started climbing the charts and got to number 2 in early 1982... I can visualize the record industry "sharks" starting to gather around the sent of money in preparation of the frenzy that would soon devour my beloved eclectic video music channel.

So it seems that the slide into what quickly became a 24hr ad campaign for easily consumable top 40 pop music started a lot sooner than I remembered or was aware of at the time. I was a smart kid, but I doubt I could have perceived the underlying forces that where redirecting the course of the creek I was floating down as it became a rushing river of commercialism.

Its no wonder that when I talk about early MTV to people that they don't remember bands like The Buggles. By the time most kids had done a month of chores and raised their grades enough to finally convince their parents to get cable, the tide had most likely already turned. People only remember Talking Heads because by that time they where firmly entrenched and I suspect MTV picked a hand full of unique acts from the early days to carry forward in order to not be seen as selling out.

I never really realized how small MTVs audience was in that first year... In hindsight I feel very lucky to have been exposed to it before it became corrupted. Elvis Costello, Kate Bush, Talking Heads, Pretenders... Man I shudder to think what my musical tastes would be like had I been listening to the RADIO during that time. It was like having a (somewhat) cool late night DJ at a college station you could barely pick up playing weird and wonderful stuff you would never have heard otherwise. I am still searching for a list of everything that was played during that first year. I know there are so many gems I have forgotten from that hazy magic time...

A few years later I would be deeply engrossed in playing in avant-garde bands, re-discovering progressive rock and uncovering the punk music from the late 70's that I had missed being somewhat musically isolated in Wichita KS at the time. Its hard to say how much of my musically vocabulary came from that first year of MTV but I would say it had a substantial effect on the direction of the music I make and enjoy.

My favorite videos aired on the first day of MTV

On the day MTV went live I was really just a kid, I was actually very poor but I was fortunate enough to be living in the basement of a house that was wired for cable and I was glued to the set. The music was necessarily eclectic as the idea of making videos was still new. What I saw changed my musical tastes forever and broadened my horizons in a way that I don't think is possible now, I mean you HAD to sit through the April Wine video to see Elvis Costello and along the way you got a dose of Kate Bush, Iron Maiden and The Specials! Oh how the times have changed...


August 1, 1981:

"Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles
"You Better You Bet" by The Whol
"Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
"Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren
"Message of Love" by The Pretenders
"Double Life" by The Cars
"In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
"Looking For Clues" by Robert Palmer
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"One Step Ahead" by Split Enz
"I Wanna Be a Lifeguard" by Blotto (So bad its good?)
"Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello
"Is it You?" by Lee Ritenour
"Tusk" by Fleetwood Mac
"Rapture" by Blondie
"Don't Let Go the Coat" by The Who
"Talk of the Town" by The Pretenders
"Can't Happen Here" by Rainbow
"The Man with the Child in His Eyes" by Kate Bush
"Ashes to Ashes" by David Bowie
"Rat Race" by The Specials
"Once in a Lifetime" by Talking Heads

I am still looking for a list of everything that was played the first year or two... MTV was struggling to fill up the playlist and it forced some odd and wonderful choices. Once more and more commercial music started to "clue in" and infiltrate the programing, it started to loose its luster for me... hard to think of the Talking Heads as being "unknown" but if other bands that where popular on the radio at the time had also produced visual content so early, then I doubt most people would have never heard of them as they would have just never made it on the air. Those first 12-24 months of MTV was a rare moment in the history of popular music.

Note: The dates of the music releases can be a little confusing as a lot of these where shot as promos for the band and the videos got shown before the record was released.

The Ever Growing List Of Doc's Favorite First Year MTV Videos

Ultravox - Vienna

Wall of Voodoo - Mexican Radio

Elvis Costtello - Oliver's Army

U2 - I Will Follow
Siouxsie and the Banshees - Spellbound
Split Enz - I Got You and One Step Ahead
Gary Newman - Cars
Madness - One Step Beyond
Thomas Dolby - Europa And The Pirate Twins
Devo - Satisfaction
The Clash - This Is Radio Clash
David Bowie - Fashion
Adam and the Ants - Ant Music (guilty pleasure? 2 drummers gotta earn them some points. )

Squeeze - Tempted

The Fixx - Stand or Fall

Please comment about videos that you think should be on the list keeping in mind that they should have first aired in 1981 or 1982 at the latest.