Music Video Shows
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.
Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider hosted Heavy Metal Mania until he got tired of MTV not paying him. Here you can see Snider act as VJ between videos and report “metal news” from his gym in Long Island, NY.
Heavy Metal had a hard time getting respect on MTV, but Headbangers Ball became the first MTV "specialty" show to have its own tour in 1989, headlined by Anthrax. This clip from February 1989 aired just after the tour was announced, and here you can see a promo for the tour, plus the band talking about it. Also included is a segment of Metallica's "One" which was the first video released by the band. MTV worked with the record label Elektra to carefully promote the video, but wouldn't play it outside of fringe hours until there was enough demand after one week that it was immediately number one on Dial MTV. The clip was notable for its interspersing of footage from the film Johnny Got His Gun, which the song was based on, and performance footage of the band. Unlike most clips, this one featured dialogue and the music level was lowered to assure the dialogue was audible. (Also in this flow: a promo for 21 Jump Street on FOX with Johnny Depp, a commercial with soon to be FOX 90210 star Gabrielle Carteris, and a couple choice local ads.)
This segment from August 1987 illustrates how MTV promos and bumpers, as well as an unorthodox visual strategy, help define 120 Minutes and separate it from MTV’s typical flow.
This clip of MTV's 120 Minutes from September 1991 includes the premiere of Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit." You can see here its placement following an interview with The Farm (who just had a video for "Groovy Train" play) with producer and host Dave Kendall recorded at a different time. Dave then shows up (in a very different outfit) to introduce the new Nirvana song. It, too, is proceeded by a special "World Premiere" promo that played before any video premiere, whether it was on 120 Minutes, Headbangers Ball, or anywhere else in MTV's programming.
The rise of Nirvana and alternative music in the fall of 1991 demonstrated MTV's continued power to break bands and influence in the music industry. It also disrupted the programming practices of rock radio and MTV itself. The hair metal that had dominated the Headbangers Ball was quickly out of fashion, and the set and style of the show would have to change. In this clip from the fall of 1991, Nirvana's Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic appear and talk with host Riki Rachtman about their influences and speculate on their success with tongues-in-cheek.
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.
This flow from 1987 includes a promo for Club MTV, one of the first original programs produced by MTV. That is followed by a brief promo for MTV's New Fall Season—a major shift toward the traditional programming strategies that MTV had defined itself against in its earlier years.
In this clip from 1989, the Yo! MTV Raps brings viewers to Compton, CA, home of NWA. This video includes three segments that illustrate how the show successfully created a different kind of music video flow for hip-hop culture.
MTV employed artists and other professionals who were well aware of "postmodernism" and specifically how music video and MTV itself had been described by the term. When MTV launched a number of programming blocks around 1989, Post Modern MTV was one of them, and it featured the kind of music usually found on 120 Minutes. That is, alternative or college rock. This introduction to the beginning of the show highlights some supposedly postmodern visual techniques, and maybe even a brief clip of someone who is supposed to look like Freud.
