An Abridged History of MTV

MTV is currently celebrating its 25th birthday, and what started out as a cute, youthful music revolution has grown into a three-headed, fire-spitting monster out to destroy all that is good in music.

Led Zeppelin officially disbanded in September of 1980 after the death of drummer John Bonham. A few months later, in August of 1981, MTV launched its first ever music video, The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star”. It’s unfortunate that the band that many consider the greatest rock ‘n’ roll band of all time never had a chance to weigh in on what became the future of music.

It started out as a unique and entertaining concept, a non-stop music video channel. For most of the 1980s MTV remained an outlet for performers to simply get their new music noticed and attract new fans with creative videos. Though they would expand their programming to include shows such as “The Headbangers Ball,” all MTV original shows still centered around music.

During the 1990s, MTV continued to launch more and more original shows that culminated with the hit reality television series, “The Real World”. Though “The Real World” had nothing to do with the music industry its unique concept fascinated viewers and increased ratings. The show was a hit and spawned other shows such as “Road Rules” that became equally successful. However, MTV was not ready to give up on their original cash cow, the music video.

On August 1, 1996 -- 10 years after the original launch of MTV -- MTV2 was born. Originally launched as a source for non-stop, commercial-free music videos, it inspired music purists to rejoice at finally having access to videos. However, it wouldn’t become long before the purity of MTV2 would be tainted by the same programming that had overrun the original MTV. Today videos share MTV2 broadcast time with more reality television and soap opera shows.

The effect of MTV on music is no more evident than in the realm of rock ‘n’ roll. Gone are the days of the screaming, twisted guitar solo. Gone are the original sounds of Jimmy Page, Roger Waters, Pete Townsend and the other guitar greats. The majority of rock bands today follow a similar pattern of rhythm guitar, a catchy chorus and a breakdown normally found within the two-to-three minute part of the song. Every time Nickelback writes the same song over and over again classic rock fans are reminded about the need for bands to make songs that are MTV-friendly.

MTV has become such a giant marketing and ratings monster that it makes the next Stevie Ray Vaughn impossible to find. It has become clear to the MTV execs that a show about spoiled-rotten 16-year-olds celebrating their birthdays will attract more viewers than a Pearl Jam music video, and they have no problem accommodating the masses. MTV has become so big that it has spilled over into the airwaves as listeners would rather hear what’s popular on MTV than what’s unique and cutting edge.

In the end, perhaps the Dead Kennedys were prophets in their own time when they wrote their 1985 song, “M.T.V – get off the air”.