MTV Turns 35 today

[Mikey]

Love TCM's

Wish they'd give Ben Mankiewicz a proper weekly show which talks about the old movies.

[Marvelmania]

Wasn't Remote Control kind of where Adam Sandler got his start? I remember him being on there and don't think I had seen him on anything before that.

[harvestcrusader]

I remember moving out here to California from NY to stay with my bro and just happened on to MTV in Sept of 1982 - I glued to the tube

[jwyblejr]

Not sure if Remote Control came first for Sandler or the Cosby Show.

[ScottA]

I never really watched MTV when it was on back then.

[MIB41]

It's so amazing to think back on those times now with complete 20/20 vision. MTV set all the trends in the music industry. If you had a new record coming out, the label had to budget a video if you were to have a chance to compete on the album charts. The amazing part was I don't think they fully understood their own influence for many years. Early on they played videos like Bohemian Rhapsody (by Queen) to death. Then came the British invasion (PT II) and bands like Def Leppard came storming out of no where to become regular fixtures with 24/7 airplay. Oddly KISS never acclimated to that medium which sounds almost bizarre today, but trends had moved away from them and for MTV it was important to be the trail blazer for new bands and new music. Enter Flock of Seagulls, Men without hats, Thompson Twins, and a blue million other bands that never would have made it off the club circuit, let alone get a record deal, if not for the visual medium.

But you know what really stands out to me that allot of musical historians conveniently forget was how Michael Jackson came into prominence during this period. Yes, we can point to Thriller and say the album speaks for itself. But at the time that record was being made Jackson was in the midst of an image makeover form his 70's boy band days. He had started to make that break with the exceptional "Off the Wall" record, but he was still not mainstream to allot of people in the industry and MTV was looking for new blood. But at that time Van Halen was a monster band. Their influence was being felt far and wide and they were pretty much the biggest rock band on the planet at that time...and MTV had them. So Jackson approached Eddie Van Halen to play lead on a "little" song called 'Beat it". Eddie did it one weekend and did it for FREE. He never believed anything would come of that tune or of Jackson. But I can remember like yesterday how the big hype on that song was that Eddie Van Halen was playing guitar. That was the conversation that hooked me into sitting down and listening to it. And it was at that moment when Jackson became hip to that bigger audience. Of course from there he built his own legacy of course. But he needed a lead in and Eddie gave it to him. That's mostly overlooked today...sadly. MTV played that video to death.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Wasn't Remote Control kind of where Adam Sandler got his start? I remember him being on there and don't think I had seen him on anything before that.

That was the first time I saw him. Probably why he often puts Collin Quinn in his films.

Chris

[Mikey]

For me, I stopped watching regularly around the time Yo! MTV Raps started.

The show itself didn't bother me because I never watched it to begin with but it seemed to mark a new era of songs on MTV I didn't like.

Once they started catering to the early wrap crowd is when they lost me.

[Spawn67]

As far as KISS. I remember when they finally took there make up off on MTV for the first time in public when Unmasked was released.
As far as Yo MTV raps in its early days it was nothing even in comparison to what that genre eventually became in terms of pop culture.
Also MTV took a lot of fire from Kasey Kasem and American top 40. It was still on the air but the bigger MTV became that program was put in the background so to say.

[megomania]

Not sure if Remote Control came first for Sandler or the Cosby Show.

Same year 1987. He did four episodes of Cosby and four years of RC.

[HardyGirl]

But you know what really stands out to me that allot of musical historians conveniently forget was how Michael Jackson came into prominence during this period. Yes, we can point to Thriller and say the album speaks for itself. But at the time that record was being made Jackson was in the midst of an image makeover form his 70's boy band days. He had started to make that break with the exceptional "Off the Wall" record, but he was still not mainstream to allot of people in the industry and MTV was looking for new blood. But at that time Van Halen was a monster band. Their influence was being felt far and wide and they were pretty much the biggest rock band on the planet at that time...and MTV had them. So Jackson approached Eddie Van Halen to play lead on a "little" song called 'Beat it". Eddie did it one weekend and did it for FREE. He never believed anything would come of that tune or of Jackson. But I can remember like yesterday how the big hype on that song was that Eddie Van Halen was playing guitar. That was the conversation that hooked me into sitting down and listening to it. And it was at that moment when Jackson became hip to that bigger audience. Of course from there he built his own legacy of course. But he needed a lead in and Eddie gave it to him. That's mostly overlooked today...sadly. MTV played that video to death.

That's actually not the beginning of the story for Michael Jackson and MTV, Tom. The first video release off of Thriller was Billie Jean, and MTV refused to play it b/c they didn't want to showcase black artists. CBS Records told them if they didn't play Billie Jean, they'd pull every CBS artist from MTV's playlist. So MTV relented, and the rest, as they say, is history. Beat It was the second video release from Thriller.

[HardyGirl]

Yeah, I remember staying up all night to watch that "Last Train To Clarksville" marathon before they started airing the show nightly.

Yea I've always thought that to about Remote Control. I remember how I thought it was odd back then to have a show like that on.
Does anyone remember when MTV showed episodes of The Monkees in the mid 80s reviving them in a way.
I remember when The Young Ones came on Sunday nights as well as The Beatles cartoon on Saturday mornings.

[huedell]

That's actually not the beginning of the story for Michael Jackson and MTV, Tom. The first video release off of Thriller was Billie Jean, and MTV refused to play it b/c they didn't want to showcase black artists. CBS Records told them if they didn't play Billie Jean, they'd pull every CBS artist from MTV's playlist. So MTV relented, and the rest, as they say, is history. Beat It was the second video release from Thriller.

Eddie playing on Beat It was notably helpful in selling MJ to a "rock" audience. I mean, you could just as easily make an argument that this conflict you've brought up was just as much about "rock vs. R&B" than "black vs. white" (although I'm sure MJ's camp pushed that the latter was the case). I'm content saying it was a mix of the two... and not debating it any further, lest it appear I'm "taking sides".

MTV caving to CBS (in retrospect) was the right business move... still, that move is emblematic of early MTV sowing seeds in the loss of it's core audience over the years... but, of course, why care about losing your core audience when you're making a lot of money?

[huedell]

Oddly KISS never acclimated to that medium which sounds almost bizarre today, but trends had moved away from them and for MTV it was important to be the trail blazer for new bands and new music.

Depends on your definition of "never acclimated".... some of their videos made a HUGE impact. "Lick It Up" helped revive their career... The highly viewed "Forever" corresponded with one of their highest charting singles... and "Tears Are Falling"??? This is from the "Tears Are Falling" Wikipedia page, and speaks for itself: A video to promote the single was filmed in London in September 1985, and was directed by David Mallet. Despite its low production value, the clip was heavily played on MTV's Dial MTV phone video-request show for several months, until a new ruling stated that the requested videos had to be only a few weeks old to qualify.

Not a bad showing of acclimation for "a non-makeup KISS fronted by two middle-aged out-of-touch schmaltzy business men".