What was MTV? Music Television from Launch to Reality

You can now pre-order a copy of What was MTV? Music Television from Launch to Reality via the website for the University of Georgia Press .  From the site: What did people really mean when they said, “I want my MTV”? Long before music videos were instantly searchable online, MTV offered something very different: a nonstop, unpredictable flow of images, sounds, and personalities that reshaped how audiences experienced music, television, and youth culture. What Was MTV? tells the story of how MTV emerged in 1981 and evolved through 1992, tracing its transformation from a risky experiment in round-the-clock music videos into a powerful cultural force—and by the early 1990s, a pioneer of modern reality television. Drawing on new interviews with MTV’s creators and producers, trade and popular press coverage, archival collections, and more than one hundred hours of off-the-air recordings preserved by viewers, Ethan Thompson reconstructs what MTV actually was—not just what we remember it ...

MTV Flow: Decade 1989 on Reagan “We wanted Ronald Reagan, and we got him.” Linda Ellerbee’s closing comment sums up the this segment from the MTV documentary Decade, in which various celebrity "witnesses” are interviewed about the 1980s.  MTV Flow: Decade 1989 Haring and AIDS clip In this segment of Decade, Keith Haring discusses his decision to be open about his AIDS diagnosis. Also included are sound bites from novelist William Gibson and actor/playwright Eric Bogosian. The clip ends with the number of deaths in 1989 from AIDS.  MTV Documentary: Racism: Points of View This clip from MTV's 1991 documentary special, Racism: Points of View, comes from a segment that considers the causes of racism. It begins with Ice-T and Perry Farrell performing a cover of Sly & the Family Stone's "Don't Call Me N***** Whitey," which they did that summer on the first Lollapalooza tour. After that David Byrne states that he needs to recognize that he is r...

MTV Promo: People Really Win 1982 MTV not only often promoted contests; they regularly produced promos “naming names” of winners of past contests. This early example from 1982 shows VJs Mark Goodman and JJ Jackson appearing at the doors of winners. MTV branded itself as the channel where everyday people could get the chance to live like rock stars; the channel with the power to transform the lives of everyday people. In later years, the fantasy became couched in reality show transformations. MTV Flow: Club MTV Interview 1988 Club MTV frequently included short interviews between the host Downtown Julie Brown and dancers. Often she asked personal questions about taste related to the band or subject of the video. But many times she asked other kinds of lifestyle questions about fashion or going-out. In this clip, we see how fashion is discussed not as simply about consuming the latest brand and keeping up with trends, but a way of assembling identity. MTV Flow: Beastie Boys - ...

  In this clip of MTV flow from March 1984, we get a glimpse of just how jarring tonal changes could be between music videos both in look and sound. While MTV was slowly opening its playlist to include pop acts like Michael Jackson, it was still overwhelmingly rock oriented. Here, we get a quick lesson in how heavy metal videos could displace prestige acts based on sheer entertainment value. A video by Paul McCartney has star power, and a behind-the-scenes, making of the video approach that shows off McCartney, bandmate and wife Linda, and former co-Beatle Ringo Starr. Musically, the song could charitably be called soft rock. Whatever it is, it is totally forgettable after the next video starts: Motley Crue's "Looks that Kill". The men in the band don't just have dramatic hair, outfits, and makeup, but they hunt women--or is it the other way around?--and carry torches. There's a burning pentagram...is this satanic? Whatever it is, it sure does rock. Sorry, Paul Mc...