MTV....when it was MTV

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/8/21246660/mtv-streaming-80s-first-broadcast-cable-youtube-tiktok-music-videos

If any of you are like me and of a certain age, this will resonate.  I may just watch MTV the rest of the day.

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MTV’s first ever broadcast on August 1st, 1981 starts with footage of the Apollo 11 rocket launch. As the rocket lifts off, the footage cuts to an astronaut jumping on the moon, an acid-pop colored flag standing proud as the classic MTV logo shimmered. A music video for The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star” plays.

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It’s an iconic scene, and one that I’ve watched countless times over the last few days thanks to a recent upload on the Internet Archive. Tens of hours of footage, spanning from that very first broadcast in 1981 through the end of the decade in 1989, are streaming for free on the website. Each upload, which started in early April and is being continuously added to, comes with descriptions about which VJ was hosting that particular day: Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter, JJ Jackson, Nina Blackwood. There are even Christmas episodes.

 

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“This is my personal collection of 80’s MTV VHS recordings,” the uploader notes. “I’ve been collecting recordings of full, unedited, with commercials & especially the VJs for years. I’ve found these videos from old websites, torrent sites, sharing things, The Original MTV VJs facebook page, and of course the Archive.”

 

Due to demand, Archive.org is requiring sign up to access the content:

https://archive.org/details/mtv-80s-vhs-full-recording-collection

 

 

 

 

[HoffaJimmy 316]

I remember sitting on the floor about 2 feet away from the TV watching it for hours while my parents yelled at me to turn it off and move back from the TV.

Fast forward to today-  me yelling at my kids to turn off their ipads and find something else to do. 

[Onboard 2.0 9083]

It was a brief, and shining star.  It killed itself over time.

[Smax 3800]

call your cable company and say

[Frank The Tank 1497]

19 minutes ago, Smax said:

call your cable company and say

I WANT MY MTV!!!

[Vito Andolini 9132]

I’m not signing up for anything, so here’s what my brain recalls the early 80’s sounding and looking like:

Ok, I went a little obvious on the last one.
 

[HoffaJimmy 316]

The MTV question that everyone knows-

The first video to play on MTV-

I bet you didn't know the 2nd- Pat Benatar

 

 

The absolute EVENT that this was-

 

 

 

[Jerry Callo 8727]

I watched the first 6 minutes of the recording just so I could find out that very answer - before you even asked.  Never know when that question is going to show up on Jeopardy.

[Underdog 28773]

Mmmmm, Martha Quinn. 

[Longboard Horn 40516]

Back when it actually played music videos. I remember watching music videos in the morning before going to school. 

[RPM 26354]

I never had cable until the late 90's. I missed the prime MTV years.

[BonzoMontreaux 1093]

It was pretty great when it first started.  I remember it being a premium service.   You made sure you had a circle of friends that had it if your folks didn't.  Also, it made for a cheap date if your girlfriend had it - MTV that is.  

 

[Don Johnson 4755]

I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution is a solid book for any interested. Told in an oral history format. 

[Guest Lobo]

I didn't get MTV until I was 17, that was 1993.  I had seen it of course at the homes of friends 'n family.  But while people bag on that era as the time that it transitioned into more controlled programming and content...I came to a stunning realization.  I was also a radio DJ at the time (1991-1993).  MTV didn't do take on reality TV, news, interview shows, etc. at their own demise.  The reason I look back at that era that I watched it regularly, and think lowly of it, is because they played videos of shitty songs.  They spent their first ten years playing good songs that also happened to have a music video component.  But they music was good.  By the time I came along as a regular watcher, it was shitty music trying to get dressed up to videos.  The music sucked, that's what the problem was. 

[troph 24906]

A few months ago we watched MTV videos from the heydays on YouTube, ate popcorn and drank wine and laughed and reminisced about the good ole days. The three videos I remember were Elton John - Nikita, Culture Club - Karma Chameleon, and a David Bowie song can’t recall. We commented that our parents were right and wrong. It WAS highly subversive (the gay and even gender bending agenda was on full display) but it didn’t harm us. But then maybe it did, the lesbian and her trans girlfriend might not be the poster children for the harmless effects of MTV on the kids of the 80s, at least according to our folks.

[Scraps 13577]

I watched this shit religiously from about 85-92 (in between watching the same SportsCenter like 4 times in a row) since I would stay with my grandparents in summers and after school and they had cable.  It was amazing.  

 

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

It's dead, Jim.  I'm guessing the crack Viacom legal team woke up.  

 

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[Continental Op 3934]

If they leave it up people might realize there's more to life than morons who can't remember to use a rubber or Real World vs Road Rules Part 3838445393 and want videos back.

[South Austin 52604]

I watched MTV religiously from about 1984 until 1991 or so.  Even before they really pulled away from actual music and toward reality TV, the programming seemed to get lazy where they played about the same 10-15 videos 4-5 times per day.  Still, MTV is one of the big reasons why I loved being a child of the 1980s.

[Carl Spackler 3504]

On 5/8/2020 at 5:12 PM, Underdog said:

Mmmmm, Martha Quinn. 

Mojo Nixon sure had a thing for her.

I said "Martha Quinn! I wanna be doing some sin with you Martha Quinn. I wanna be gettin' in Martha Quinn."  I said, "I wanna be stuffin' Martha's muffin!"

 

 

 

[Francisco 2.0 32428]

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