1992
This segment from the episode of Like We Care that aired the day after The Real World’s premiere on May 21, 1992 features a band, Life, Sex & Death. The band talks about the importance of remain true to themselves and gauging success in ways other than number of records sold. At a moment when MTV is still focused on music and engaged in a symbiotic relationship with the music industry, it shows how promoting artists could be consistent with MTV’s emerging focus on identity and self-expression, in or out of the entertainment industry.
In this clip from Totally Pauly, Shore welcomes the camera into his trailer and talks about how his career has progressed, referring to how the MTV viewer gets to see his real life, and how this has gotten him the kind of “heat” studios want in order to put him in a movie. An interesting moment occurs when Shore begins to explain the plot of the film, then interrupts himself as if he realizes the MTV viewer does not care about that contrived version of “The Weasel.”
One of the last episodes to air prior to Pauly Shore leaving MTV temporarily in 1992 featured him talking to his father, comedian Sammy Shore. In this clip, you can how the format of Totally Pauly facilitates an emotional conversation between father and son, as well as how unscripted discussion is disrupted by the need to cut to a commercial or music video.
This is the final segment of Totally Pauly that aired on June 22, 1992. In it, Pauly gives thanks to viewers and MTV, and tears up.This is a fitting end to Totally Pauly's intimate relationship with the MTV viewer. It aired a month after the opening of his first movie, Encino Man. The intimacy which Pauly had cultivated with the MTV audience is on display here, and stands in stark contrast to his packaging in MTV specials such as "Chillin' with the Wiez" and future endeavors including his failed Fox sitcom in 1997.
This clip is from the first episode of Totally Different Pauly, Pauly Shore's return to MTV in October 1992. In it, he discusses how "the Weasel" has alienated people, that he has matured, and doesn't want to cater to the four year olds who like the old obnoxious version of himself. In the clip, we see Shore return to the format which made him successful: first person address to the camera, and an intimacy with the audience. He vows to take them along with him and his real life.
This clip comes from the episode of MTV's 120 Minutes that aired the week of the premiere of The Real World. Immediately after a video from The Replacements, a promo for show airs. "Real people," the narrator says, before I short emotional clip of a cast member. "The Real World, MTV's real life soap opera" and mentions premiering on May 21. As the ad flow continues, there's also an ad for Colt 45 Malt Liquor, which is set up as Yo! MTV Raps host Fab 5 Freddy interviewing Billy Dee Williams. There's also an ad for the Hair Club for Men, which is cut short by whoever recorded this off the air. The Hair Club was a regular sponsor on MTV at the time, along with candy companies that had long been an MTV ad staple--like PayDay, also in the flow here.
Beavis & Butthead made their first appearances on MTV in the short “Frog Baseball” included on an episode of Liquid Television, but MTV wanted much more. They bought the rights to the characters, eventually developing a series combining narrative and music video-watching sequences, and merchandised the heck out of them. Before Beavis & Butthead premiered in March 1993, the duo appeared at the 1992 Video Music Awards.
A regular feature of Weird Al Yankovic's Guest VJ takeovers of MTV, titled "AL TV," were parodic interviews which took answers and comments out of context. This one from 1992 features Al interviewing George Harrison. From his first special in 1984, Al parodied various elements of MTV's flow, including the music news, contests, and tour dates. With the expansion of MTV's programming in the early 1990s, Al expanded his parodies, too. Included here is a portion of a parody of House of Style.
This clip is taken from a vidcheck--a recording of MTV made in order to confirm commercial placement. Thus, it includes none of MTV's programming or music videos. It does include MTV's promos and IDs, however. It is instructive to see how blurred the boundary is between promo and commercials in these four minutes. The clip starts with a trailer for the film Singles, an important film for MTV because it was a romantic comedy set in Seattle, with a successful soundtrack feature numerous Seattle bands. Then there is a promo for MTV's Buzz Clips, touting how successful a number of Buzz bands had become...including Seattle favorites like Nirvana. Then there is a stylistic black and white Guess? ad followed by an action-packed Mountain Dew ad. Then it is a promo fro the Singles movie premiere party on MTV. When MTV partnered to help market films, it not only sold commercial time, but also turned movie premieres into programming that not only promoted the film, but that MTV could turn around and sell airtime to other sponsors during. Then we have a promo for MTV's get out the vote campaign, Choose or Lose. It features superstar Michael Jackson. Immediately following it is a commercial promoting his concert on HBO. Next up, an incredibly fast-paced commercial for Sega video game system, then Hellraiser III. The last segment is an MTV ID that mimics a Red Lobster commercial: "We've got crab legs!" The clip ends here, and I have chosen this particular spot because the next segment was the Singles movie trailer again.
This sequence of flow is taken from a May 1992 episode of 120 Minutes. It includes a promo from REM encouraging viewers to write the president and encourage him to attend an upcoming summit in order to help end global warming. This explicit political message fits within the MTV flow due to the fact that it is an MTV artist, that artist's voice does most of the talking, and their music plays in the background. Also, MTV in the 1989 up to this point had aired numerous environmental and other social issue promos. This same night of 120 Minutes included an antiracism one as well. Following this are a number of commercials that reveal the mix on MTV hasn't changed much. Trials of Life from Time Warner home video, Dentyne gum, a Levis 501 ad by Spike Lee, Ultra Dash detergent, Bic disposable shaver, and lastly, model Kelly LeBrock reveals the essence of man, which has something to do with Brut cologne.
This clip of flow is from spring 1992, and includes a couple of interesting examples of how marketing collaborations resulted in music and music videos. The clip begins with Roy Orbison's "I Drove All Night," a song which was previously unreleased and now appearing on a Nintendo-themed compilation album, Nintendo White Knuckle Scorin, also featuring Crosby, Stills & Nash, Sheena Easton, Brittny Fox, Jellyfish and a few others. The album was also a tribute release to a popular booking agent who died in the same crash that killed Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1990, and it raised money for child literacy. The clip is an exclusive, meaning it is one MTV got through the money it paid record labels in exchange for exclusivity from other video shows or channels. To further complicate things, the video features actor Jason Priestley (then popular star of Beverly Hills 90210) and actress Jennifer Connelly. Next is a Spring Break promo with Marky Mark (Wahlberg). Then, it's MTV's #1 video of 1991, Guns N' Roses song from the soundtrack to Terminator 2, "You Could Be Mine." This video includes performance footage of the band and clips from the film, typical for a soundtrack video. But it also features Arnold Schwarzenegger showing up to target the band at the show. All in all, these clips show how integral marketing and commerce were to MTV's flow, even post-Nirvana.
Most of the pre-release promotion for Wayne's World was done with MTV, including a special and a number of program appearances by Mike Myers and Dana Carvey. There was also an original soundtrack for the film from Warner/Reprise which made videos for tracks from Tia Carrere and Cinderella. Neither caught on with MTV or radio; meanwhile, Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody" was appearing on radio playlists. Finally, a video was made incorporating footage from Queen's original video from 1975, more recent concert footage, and footage from Wayne's World. Here you can see that mixture, which features not just the portion of the film where the characters sing the song, but also other clips from the film. Stay for the MTV ID, and a video series, films from the Bible!
This clip of flow from 120 Minutes in May 1992 includes a two-minute promo with nominees for Best Female Performance for the first ever MTV movie awards. It also includes ads for several of the sponsors of the awards, Blockbuster, Mountain Dew (Pepsi), and Hyundai. Movie ads were very important to MTV, and since launch MTV had found other ways to market films and produce programming. This included music videos for soundtracks, however MTV protected its playlist and refused to play such videos if they didn't think they merited play on their own merits. Contests, premiere parties, and MTV's The Big Picture were common ways in which the network made marketing partnerships which netted programming as well.
By the early 1990s, MTV had a number of different series which could integrate marketing for movies in their programming. One example was Yo! MTV Raps, which was sponsored in 1992 by the Eddie Murphy movie Boomerang. The integration of was sometimes less smooth than others. In this episode, a couple short segments with hosts Ed Lover and Doctor Dre and Murphy appear separated by music videos, as well as other segments with the hosts and hip-hop duo Show Biz & A.G. In those segments, there are no mention of the appearances with Murphy. Also of note in this sequence of flow is the disparate tone and, perhaps, intended audiences. Ads include one for St. Ides malt liquor, which looks and sounds like a video by Eric B and Rakim, followed by a Certs breath mints ad with comedian Rita Rudner, followed by a Nintendo ad.
This clip of flow from an episode of MTV's House of Style, hosted by Cindy Crawford, is from the summer of 1992. In it, you can see the many ways in which the boundaries between not only MTV's segments, but its commercial and cultural functions and activisms were porous. This clip starts with a segment on tattoos which includes testimony from MTV Headbanger's Ball VJ Riki Rachtman, then a segment runs on a fashion show and auction benefitting a rainforest preservation program. Fashion, music, and environmentalism crossover one another. Then a promo for Black Music Month on MTV runs before several commercials, including a promo for a new Fox TV series, Melrose Place, featuring young people that fit the MTV demo. There's a promo for an MTV video block, then another PSA/Promo about voting that simply notes that "There are 70 million people age 18-34" before House of Style returns with a segment on the production of Cindy Crawford's own Pepsi commercial.
In this clip from the MTV Face the Future forum with candidate Bill Clinton in 1992, we see flow between advertising content, MTV promos, and the programming itself. At the beginning of the clip, Catherine Crier, a host from CNN who was included in the production for added adult levity in addition to MTV News host/reporter Tabitha Soren, closes the segment before the commercials. After a couple of ads (including one for digital music via cable), there is an MTV AIDS promo which promotes using condoms. Upon returning to the program, the first question from the audience is from a man who identifies himself as HIV positive, and asks Clinton what he plans to do about AIDS education in schools.
This clip of commercial flow from MTV in May 1992 includes a promo for the new series which would change MTV, and arguably the rest of television, The Real World. Interesting, MTV has programmed The Real World to air immediately after Beverly Hills, 90210 ends on the Fox Network. The promo is suggesting that after watching "the fantasty" of that show, they then tune to MTV to "get real". This shows how MTV scheduled and promoted in conjunction with content on more traditional TV networks. After that, an ad for the Hair Club for Men!
This segment of flow from the daily version of Yo! MTV Raps offers a good example of how MTV was much more than a space to air ads, but was a "total marketing vehicle" for immersing commercial messages and promoting media content alongside and within its own content. It also is a good example of the limits of narrowcasting circa cable TV 1992. Directly following a music video is a segment with the hosts Ed Lover and Doctor Dre on the set of Boomerang, where star Eddie Murphy shows up. Then we see there is an MTV Boomerang contest, then a promo for MTV's July 4 content, riffing on the election year and its own election year coverage. Then a bumper with voiceover tells us this episode of the show was indeed brought to us by Boomerang, and then an actual trailer for the film plays in a commercial spot. After a Mastercard ad exulting its opportunities for getting cash, we have legendary hiphop artists Eric B and Rakim in an ad for St. Ides malt liquor...followed by comedian Rita Rudner for Certs breath mints. The flow continues with more ads and bumpers, and when the show returns the hosts are no longer on set, but now in the studio with another pair of hiphop artists. The videos continue.
