1984
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 McCartney.
This MTV promo, taken from a recording of the first Video Music Awards in 1984, describes what viewers can get in a month of MTV. While it lists a variety of music specials MTV programmed, again and again it states "video music." This term was used by MTV to describe the new media experience it delivered: music with synchronized visualizations. The term also served as a music format; initially, it was MTV's version of an expanded album-oriented-rock, which included music that was more visually compelling (due to the artists themselves or the video's visual quality) and therefore would be played on MTV even if it wouldn't be heard on an AOR radio station. At first, this meant more "modern" or "college" rock that today might be called alternative. By 1984, MTV had started playing more Black artists, and the term expanded. Its boundaries would continue to shift over the years.
Chrysler spent a lot of cash on this special 90 second ad for the Plymouth Duster that was produced especially for MTV's first ever Video Music Awards. However, the ad looks like a Broadway musical done in the style of 80s music video, rather than the "product videos" which aimed to create a distinctive stylistic identity for products. That's the way Advertising Age described product videos, and described some of the other ads that ran during the VMAs (Levi's, Thom McAn) as successful examples. The Plymouth Duster ad survives as some prime 1980s kitsch.
This flow from the first ever Video Music Awards in instructive to recognize differences in approaches (somewhat subtle) to advertising on MTV. The first ad is for Levi's Cords, and is somewhat similar to the Levi's 501 ads which would be a much longer campaign. However, cords does not have a single blues musician singing the jingle, and instead has a more elaborate or typical pop jingle. Visually it is quite similar to the 501 ads that were in the evening's flow as well. See my other clip here on the site. Following this is an ad for the Chrysler Lazer (Laser?) which includes pretty impressive graphics onscreen, but is not a far deviation from car ads which featured product info about performance, etc. This ad is in contrast to the Plymouth Duster 90 second video that aired multiple times during the awards (again, see my other clip). In early 1985, ads for the Dodge Daytona, which is the same car as the Lazer but under a different nameplate, were produced that were more in the "product video" approach, with no information about the product, and instead a very stylistic approach reminiscent of the movie Bladerunner (see my other clip). The last "ad" is actually a montage of various MTV performers. It is a placeholder for the local ads that would be put during those minutes by local cable franchises.
Here's the last ad break from MTV's first ever Video Music Awards in 1984. It includes a Thom McAn ad which was debuted on the show, and was inspired by music videos which created a strong sense of style for an artist, rather than just merging together music and visuals. Such ads were called "product videos" by Advertising Age to distinguish the approach. That approach also characterized the new campaign for Levi's 501s, also included in the flow. Look out for Bruce Willis! In-between those videos is a Mountain Dew ad featuring breakdancing. As in all the other commercial breaks, an MTV promo is included, after which hosts Dan Aykroyd and Bette Midler appear before introducing Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo to give away the final award for Best Video.
The first two editions of Weird Al Yankovic’s Guest VJ specials were four hours long, and each hour started with his own “Top of the Hour” clip parodying MTV’s. This clip includes the very beginning of the broadcast, in which Yankovic appears from his living room, and announces he has successfully pirated MTV’s satellite signal.
Weird Al's Guest VJ specials, "AL TV" included his own parody videos, other off-kilter videos (like the Robin Williams clip that begins this), and parodies of ads, MTV news, and interviews. Increasingly, they incorporated Al riffing on music videos. In this clip from Weird Al's second Guest VJ special in 1984, he makes comic comments over the beginning of Prince's video "When Doves Cry." In doing so, he is the first to make TV comedy out of music video commentary on MTV--nine years before Beavis & Butthead. By his fourth special in 1987, Weird Al did this regularly, but prior to that, most of his parodic comments or ridicule were between videos. This kind of comedy would become a staple of MTV's experimentation with "Vid Coms" in 1989-1990, and also was a precursor to VH-1's Pop-Up Videos of the mid-1990s.
Comedy was part of the MTV DNA because of the early promos, but videos and Guest VJ specials by Weird Al Yankovic expanded the range of comedy on MTV greatly, and were important precursors to the network's programming of stand-up comedy, "Vid Coms," and even Beavis & Butthead. This clip from the second installment of "AL TV" in September 1984 includes Al commenting on the Billy Joel video which had just played, as well as parody tour dates for his own tour, using the same graphics as MTV did for various touring artists. Just like other Guest VJs, Weird Al had an album to promote, which he briefly does prior to the fake tour dates.
