40 years ago MTV was launched

[Helix]

How do you think it has changed the music industry?

 

[bholder]

I'm not sure exactly when MTV jumped the shark and turned to , but it didn't take long, 5 years, maybe?

 

[Michedelic]

How do you think it has changed the music industry?

Uh, ruined it, maybe? At least hastened the demise. It was inevitable, it seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but like a lot of good ideas, got corrupted; you know, law of unintended consequences and all that. Sorta like the internet. Oh, wait, you said industry; it just became another tool that was, in a way, self-destructive. Music itself started down the long spiral of devaluation with it.

 

[Helix]

 

[Michedelic]

The ultimate self-fulfilling prophesy; the very first video shown on the channel. But they saw it coming in the UK/Europe already, and were on it early, which helped put a band like Duran Duran over in the US.

 

[P. Aaron]

MTV was launched, and we ended up wasting time watching songs.

 

[sleddogn]

I think one has to the the right age to appreciate how awesome mtv was. I was that kid, those first few years were just super cool imo...

 

[two fingers]

I actually liked it as a kid. I was 10 when it launched, and was a teen when it really took over the planet. You have to remember, this was pre internet. So I was able to see a lot of my favorite musicians in a way that wasn't available to me before. Sure, there was a lot of music that wasn't my absolute favorite. But I wasn't offended by it. I was also exposed to some great music I would have otherwise missed.

I think it was great for that time (80s into the 90s).

Of course, it didn't appeal to get-off-my-lawn boomers. But, then again, that wasn't their intent. So who is surprised by that?

 

[Pdaddy1978]

My then young wife and I fell asleep in the living room for weeks strait watching those videos.
The "new wave" happened. A bunch of UK bands we would probably never heard otherwise were launched. Groundbreaking!
Didn't last too long though...

 

[dalkowski]

The world's first all-commercial TV station.

 

[jwoiton]

I remember watching MTV endlessly in 1983 and hoping the next song would be good. It was interesting how an interesting video could improve a mediocre song and the you may dislike a song strictly because you hated the video.

 

[john_g]

I think one has to the the right age to appreciate how awesome mtv was. I was that kid, those first few years were just super cool imo...

Same. I was a kid and it was AMAZING. I wanted to play bass because of the bands I saw on MTV. Even when it started branching out, it still had the local cable tv show vibe (which was fine with me at the time). Now, its 15 year olds getting pregnant and "the fam is getting back together in a hotel for some shenanigans".....puke.

 

[mikeyjm2]

I was a young teen when it hit, so at least part of my formative years included MTV. At first I liked it well enough but by the time it had turned into just another reality TV channel I had already quit watching. The last time I remember watching it was the early 90s when they still had Headbanger's Ball. How did it change the music industry? I'd say it forever married the audio and visual, but here we are 40 years later and radio still exists, although it seems to be trending towards the subscription model like just about everything else these days. I suppose that's a long way of saying "I don't know".

 

[yodedude2]

mtv was the most effective tool to date for capitalizing upon and reinforcing the concept that pop music was about fashion and trendiness and not about music.

 

[Eli_Kyiv]

 

[Michedelic]

Of course, it didn't appeal to get-off-my-lawn boomers. But, then again, that wasn't their intent. So who is surprised by that?

That’s not entirely true; if anything, it revived the careers of many a warhorse act, Aerosmith, Hall & Oates, and of course ZZ Top, being a few examples, and don’t forget Queen’s breakthrough “Bohemian Rhapsody” video that was six years ahead of its time. As a boomer, albeit junior division, I welcomed the punk/new wave revolution, as I detested most 70’s rock(what is now called “classic”). It was so godawful compared to what went on ‘65-‘72 or so. What I hated about MTV is that they didn’t show enough of those newer bands(many who were video savvy early on), the real game changers; instead they’d run some boring REO Speedwagon, Steve Miller, or Clapton clip, and just because some new band had angular haircuts, synthesizers, and neon clothes didn’t mean they really had something going on. The programmers eventually ghettoized the real forward looking outfits on “120 Minutes”, but even with that, they dumped a lot of stuff there that didn’t belong. USA Network’s “Night Flight”, on the weekends, was far more happening and clued-in.

 

[yodedude2]

USA Network’s “Night Flight”, on the weekends, was far more happening and clued-in.

night flight was quite awesome! but it was more of a pop culture thing than a pop music thing ... i gotta go check my old vhs tapes someday

 

[Michedelic]

night flight was quite awesome! but it was more of a pop culture thing than a pop music thing ... i gotta go check my old vhs tapes someday

MTV was pop culture, way past just merely being radio on TV. Night Flight was the closest thing to free-form FM radio in the late 60’s(the incubator that enabled the exploratory rock explosion of that time), but in a modern context.

 

[Tommy V]

The only thing I watched on MTV....

The Complete Collection Of MTV HEADBANGERS BALL

 

[Michedelic]

All I know is…


Then there was Mojo Nixon’s song about Martha’s Muffin.