MTV (1981 - 2025)

After over forty years, MTV has officially ended 24/7 dedicated music programming throughout Europe on December 31, 2025 with only reality programs being aired on the channel. This has occurred largely because viewers have shifted to favor streaming platforms instead to watch videos. For the time being, MTV will still feature music videos in Asia and the US in a weekly block. I must admit it has been many years since I actually turned to MTV to watch videos but it's very sad to hear about the end of an era of actual music being on this groundbreaking channel.

Since it's launch back on August 1, 1981 with the first video played was "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles, MTV quickly became a highly influential channel that helped introduce new music stars with inventive visuals, enhancing their images and inspiring the culture. Guided by television personalities known as video jockeys or "VJs" to introduce the clips, MTV would expand internationally, launch the MTV Video Music Awards, feature special events and live concerts with the channel at it's peak in 2011 being in 99 million households.

The world has evolved considerably since MTV first hit the airwaves with social media, streaming and other distractions to fill-in for the activity of turning to a specific channel to only watch music videos. But I would like to thank MTV for opening my eyes and broadly widening my musical horizons. I know for certain that without the channel, I would not have heard certain genres of music (new wave, for example and later hip-hop) without my MTV. MTV helped make each song that they played an event, enriching, in some cases, songs that greatly benefited from having a video to heighten the appeal of the tune.

And to pay tribute, here is the video that would kick-off MTV and regretfully bring the channel to its conclusion:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MTV

I can't believe that MTV is actually THIRTY YEARS OLD today. It's so crazy to me because it doesn't seem that long ago.

I admit it has been many, many years since I have actually watched MTV beyond catching an episode or two of the reality train wreck, "Jersey Shore" but there was time when I would watch the channel every chance I could get, although this was back when it was actually a music station.

MTV premiered today in 1981 with five hosts called, "video jockeys" or VJs and they were: Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, Martha Quinn, Alan Hunter and J.J. Jackson (who passed away in 2004) and the first video aired was The Buggles', "Video Killed The Radio Star".

In some ways that song was accurate as the music video became a powerful tool in promoting music, with record labels spending up to a million dollars on one clip, and created innovative short films that creatively merged music and images. MTV even helped get some of these songs radio airplay based on the popularity of the music video although, the downside to all of this began when the music industry placed an unhealthy emphasis on a band's image with the music sometimes becoming an afterthought which saw a rise of artists who were camera-ready but lacking in true musical abilities. The worst case was the Milli Vanilli scandal where the performers who were in the music video singing and even won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist had actually never sang a note on the recordings.

MTV clearly changed the face of music and television by launching the careers of many artists such as Madonna, Duran Duran, Culture Club, and Prince as well as made already successful musicians as Bruce Springsteen and Michael Jackson in to superstars.

There have been rumours that MTV is going to attempt to start showing music videos again but who knows? Maybe the time might be ripe for a reinvention of this medium.

Happy Birthday, MTV and thank-you for the music (video).

Here is the Buggles and their music video:



Here are a few highlights from the glory days of MTV: