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It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
The date: August 1, 1981.
The event: the debut of a brand new cable service called Music Television, better known as MTV. No one knew when that first tune - Video Killed The Radio Star by the Buggles - aired that it would create a revolution for its time, eventually leading to MuchMusic in Canada and its long reign as a video pioneer.
I remember seeing a documentary about the planning for this new idea, and executives in the upper offices of Warner were extremely skeptical this would work. They signed off on it reluctantly with a miniscule budget. And in fact, the first few months brought dismal results, with few cable companies willing to carry it. (In fact, at sign-on, it was only available in one state - New Jersey.)
It wasn't until they launched the "I Want My MTV" campaign with music icons like Mick Jagger and others spreading the word that young people began demanding it. After that, it started to spread quickly and soon became a force to be reckoned with. Sadly, it had a terrible record on showing Black artists in those early days, before Michael Jackson's Thriller forced them onto the small screen.
MTV is still on the air in the U.S., but it's a shadow of its former self, filled with few music videos and lots of reruns of series like the Wayans Brothers, the original Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Ridiculousness. But 43 years ago today was the beginning of a sensation it took many decades to kill.
Canadians never got to watch it, of course, because it wasn't carried here, but you can see what you missed in the video below.
- Jody Thornton
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Re: It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
See to me, the MTV she-bang never really impacted me. In 1980, we had Star Chart with Terry David Mulligan on CBC, and shortly after NBC had Friday Night Videos. I felt like we already had videos on television by 1981 and 82. Sure it wasn't 24/7, but still.
Cheers,
Jody Thornton
- Hansa
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Re: It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
And who would have thought 40 years later the music video stations and shows would be dead and the music video itself would no longer be a big deal with musicians and directors rarely putting much effort into them.
‘This is an art form – and we’re losing it’: is the music video dying?
For Anglo-American pop in 2024, however, a seismic shift has occurred: music video viewership has plummeted, Beyoncé and Drake have stopped releasing videos altogether and pop’s A-list are struggling to make a dent on a platform they previously dominated.
There’s now a ripple effect: the drop in viewing figures has meant a drop in video budgets, which in turn can squeeze creativity. “The kinds of briefs I’m seeing now are mind-blowing,” says the director and photographer Olivia Rose, who has worked with Anne-Marie and Jorja Smith. Five years ago, she says, £30,000 would have got you a decent video, but now directors are being expected to use that money for “three visualisers” – the looped images or clips used as placeholders on YouTube – “for three tracks, plus TikTok content and some stills, plus the video”. While creativity can still thrive with tighter budgets, quality can suffer as directors’ skills are stretched. “The music video historically has been, and still is to this day, an art form,” Rose says. “And we’re losing it.”
Last edited by Hansa (August 1, 2024 12:52 pm)
- paterson1
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Re: It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
First time I saw MTV was in a bar and I thought they were fantastic. It became pretty obvious that MTV was breaking the new artists and music (at first mostly British or European). But some of the music I was familiar with since this was the era that 1050 CHUM and especially CFNY were playing new music and charting these songs. City TV was also playing many of the videos on The New Music.
In fact City TV actually pre-dated MTV by about 3 years playing music videos on TV. They also were ahead of them with stereo simulcasting live concerts.
When Much Music first came on, I was disappointed with their too casual and sloppy presentation. However it didn't take long for Much to really improve after moving to 299 Queen West. Their music was always excellent, eclectic but still mainstream.
Many feel that Much eventually surpassed MTV and it seemed like the the US service was starting to copy Much Music with concerts on the street and MTV adopting a storefront studio the same that Much had for years. MTV became less pre packaged in their breaks and adopted a similar casual "live" feel that Much Music pioneered.
- Radiowiz
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Re: It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
Hansa wrote:
And who would have thought 40 years later the music video stations and shows would be dead and the music video itself would no longer be a big deal with musicians and directors rarely putting much effort into them.
Who would have thought there'd be YOUTUBE today?
How much of the YOUTUBE "Premium" revenue goes to the artists & creators of music videos?
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.
- Radiowiz
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Re: It's Been 43 Years Since This Event Changed Television
However it didn't take long for Much to really improve after moving to 299 Queen West.
They even made a video explaining what they're all about (in 1988)
RadioWiz & RadioQuiz are NOT the same person.
RadioWiz & THE Wiz are NOT the same person.