1983

 

In 1983, Duran Duran served as Guest VJs on MTV and they brought their friend Andy Warhol along. In this segment between videos, he appears and takes pictures of Nick Rhodes and Simon Le Bon without saying a word. Critics have discussed how Warhol cultivated an opaque appearance, imminently visible and yet impossible to read. This segment manifests one version of this in a comic fashion. Two sets of negatives from pictures taken by Warhol during the segment can be found in the online archive of his pictures, suggesting this segment was pre-planned and taped twice.

Typically MTV's promos touting its stereo sound suggested calling your cable provider in order to get the necessary connections. This one (which aired in January 1983) doesn't even do that, but simply shows black and white public domain footage, supposedly of MTV's "science director", talking nonsensically about some kind of experiment. Apparently, it was enough to remind people MTV was in stereo in a funny way.

In this excerpt from a doc about MTV that aired on the Qube network in 1983, head of promo services Marcy Brafman discusses how the MTV promos are produced, including the use of archival footage as a way of producing new culture and preserving cultural history.

This segment of flow comes from shortly after an airing of Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" on March 25, 1983. The video had just been added to MTV's playlist two weeks earlier, reportedly after the president of CBS records threatened to pull all CBS artists if MTV wouldn't play it. MTV was criticized for not playing black artists from the very beginning, and always said it was a matter of sticking with their AOR modeled playlist. Some black artists had been played prior to Jackson, but "Billie Jean" did usher in an era of a much broader sense of what qualified as "video music" for MTV. In this flow, we see some context by way of how MTV combined classic AOR acts with newer pop or new wave acts which had been part of its "video music" from the beginning. Note that this flow includes a promo for MTV providing "All Music" which would seem to be a reference to its playlist opening up. But the acts included are new wave ones: Culture Club, Modern English, and Lene Lovich. The music news is a good example of how MTV tied into music industry marketing. VJ Mark Goodman notes how Bob Seger has sold out five nights of shows in his hometown of Detroit, but says if you can't make it, you can watch the MTV interview show, Liner Notes, which will feature him this Sunday. 

This MTV News segment appears immediately following the video for "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo. VJ JJ Jackson notes that the band is on the soundtrack along with some other MTV artists for the movie Surf II, a satire along the lines of Airplane. At this early stage, movie mentions needed some music tie in to make them news worthy for MTV. The segments would eventually become part of the package MTV would put together to partner with a movie studio to promote a film. For now, 7 Up has sponsored the news, which Jackson mentions, and a 7 Up commercial immediately follows. Also notable in this flow is a promo about why MTV is available in stereo, and why you should get it.

In July 1983, MTV was in the midst of sponsoring a tour by The Police, which would be seen as a big success and milestone for the network. Rather than pay a fee, MTV provided frequent coverage of the tour, with VJs going along to shows, and MTV selling t-shirts. Here you can see how the news segments provided opportunities for the promotion. One of the bandmembers is talking about a book of photographs he published, Quinn talks about the birthday of another, then says sarcastically, "What a surprise" before introducing concert dates with specially produced graphics. After a commercial for Sessions records, a promo for the sponsored tour plays. It is important to note that while MTV did place these promos in flow along with actual music videos, it was carefully not to overdo the frequency too much. A video by the band does play after this news segment and promo, but it is not for another hour.

This video includes a series of clips taken from about two hours of flow in the first week of November 1983. All result from MTV’s partnership with the Police, which was deemed very successful all around. In the first, Mark Goodman gives tour dates and notes they are sponsored  by Cambridge Cologne. By this he means not the tour, but MTV giving the tour dates. He also tells us MTV is going to be there for all the Police shows. After this segment, an ad for Cambridge Cologne plays, followed by one for 1-800-Hot-Rocks, a new order by phone music service. MTV gave the company reduced rates (maybe even free?) in exchange for a portion of future profits. About ten minutes later, Goodman appears and shows the special MTV/The Police muscle t-shirt you can order. Then about 20 minutes later, after The Police's video "Synchronicity II" plays, Goodman introduces a news segment which features  VJ Martha Quinn introducing The Police on stage in Miami. 

 

This flow segment is a good example of the ways in which MTV partnered with movie studios to produce content and sell ads. It is also a good example of the range of ads on MTV in 1983. The segment comes from a Guest VJ episode with Dan Aykroyd, who is promoting his new film Doctor Detroit. After Falco's "Der Kommisar," Aykroyd does an impression, which must have seemed lame even in 1983, then the commercials roll, as well as a promo for MTV's various contests. One of the commercial is for Atari's Centipede, and appears strongly influenced by MTV. It seems a mash-up between a music video, a monster movie, and MTV's promos which often featured black and white film footage. When he returns, Aykroyd discusses MTV's new contest, in which you can win the limousine he uses in the film. Then, he introduces the next video, which is DEVO's original song from the film's soundtrack.

In this sequence of flow from August or September 1983, we can see some good examples of what kinds of ads were running on MTV, and how those ads adapted to the MTV style and audience. One features teens talking about acne in an arcade. Another features future TV star Jane Krakowski doing her best Valley Girl accent to help sell the Solar Fox video game. In a promo, MTV tells us there is something different about our TV, while showing clips from a Grace Jones video, "Demolition Man."

MTV fought back against claims it had racist programming practices from the beginning. It adopted the niche strategies used in radio on cable TV, citing its AOR format as the reason it didn't play black R-and-B performers. The trouble wasn't that the people at MTV were racist, but that it was the only music television channel. There were no other channels serving other niches the way there were in radio markets. By November 1983, when the promo included in this flow ran, MTV was playing Michael Jackson and the playlist was opening up just a tiny bit with other black artists including Prince. However, the whiteness of the MTV playlist since its launch is obvious in this promos, which rattles through the many new bands MTV takes credit for making popular--all of them white.

This segment of MTV flow from October 1983 includes a promo explaining that there is a solution to having to hear music on TV through the measly 4-inch speaker on the TV set. Call your cable company! MTV wanted viewers to think of it as not another kind of TV, but more like their records and favorite radio stations. Being "in stereo" separated MTV from other TV, and also encouraged record companies to invest more money in the music videos that MTV used for free (at least at first).

This segment of MTV flow from July 1983 offers a number of productive glimpses into the nature of advertising on the network, as well as cross promotion and corporate synergy. After a video from Quarterflash ends, VJ Martha Quinn stands in front of an arcade game on the set telling us about a contest drawing. Next up is a commercial for Atari video games. Atari was own by Warner Communication, one of the parent companies (along with American Express) of MTV at the time. Next is a commercial for records from Fastway and Dave Edmunds, Columbia records artists. Aside from the music videos which were considered promotions by the record companies, many commercials were for recording artists, not all of whom got airplay on MTV. Aside from profiting from such ads, MTV also bartered with the record labels to provide air time for them free. This was the case when MTV struck a deal to help pay the record labels to fund music video production, in exchange for which MTV got exclusive rights to the videos for a period of time. "Paying" the record labels included free airtime for commercials like this, which highlighted local record stores where albums could be purchased. Finally there is a commercial for the Movie Channel, which was another one of the three cable channels begun along with MTV by the Warner Amex Satellite Entertainment Company (the other was Nickelodeon). Here airtime on MTV supports the other channel by promoting a subscription to it. At the time, MTV was the only one of the three which was commercial.

 

This clip of MTV flow from 1983 shows that while MTV might not have started playing hiphop yet, advertising agencies were quick to adopt it for themselves. While MTV stuck with rock n roll or "video music" ads incorporated other styles, if not as explicitly as this commercial which features a rap about Kraft foods. The flow also includes the end of a Joan Armatrading video, a rare example of a Black rock performer on the channel. At this point, videos by Michael Jackson and Prince could be seen on MTV, but not much more. Notably, the Kraft commercial includes a white performer occasionally lip syncing the rap.

This segment of MTV flow recorded off the air in 1983 includes a standard MTV promo format promoting listening to MTV "in stereo." Prince and the Revolution's video for "1999" plays, but half the screen goes black. We are told if you are not listening to MTV in stereo, that's like getting only half the picture. From the beginning, MTV promos used this format, just substituting different video clips. Stereo TVs were nonexistent, and listening in stereo meant getting a special attachment to connect your cable service to your stereo. It also meant your cable provider needed a special decoder, and if they didn't bother, you weren't getting MTV in stereo regardless. An earlier commercial in the flow looks like a music video by the rock group Southside Johnny and Asbury Dukes, but it is actually a Miller Beer commercial.