Well, hello there, loyal readers! In case you haven’t
already noticed, I’ve decided to do something a little different this week. In
lieu of the usual artist spotlight, this week’s entry will be about a little
something called MTV—more specifically, about how MTV shaped the music industry
in the ‘90s.
We will delve deep into a time when MTV actually played
music (and why it makes sense that they don’t anymore), with emphasis on the
most successful directors, VJs, music series and original programming. So let’s
get to it!
A Brief History
Some of you may already be familiar with MTV’s beginnings.
Since we’re only looking at one decade of programming, I’ll brief you on the
embarrassing early years of MTV in the ‘80s.
The concept of a music-based television channel started with
Sight On Sound, a specialized channel available on the interactive QUBE service
based out of Columbus, Ohio. That channel only played live band footage, but it
was an inspiration nonetheless.
Music videos weren’t a new concept by the ‘80s, either. Back
in the ‘70s and even in the late ‘60s, very cheap (and very cheesy) videos were
used as promotional material for bands. Even The Beatles had music videos (and
boy, were they weird).
MTV premiered on August 1, 1981 with perhaps the most
presumptuous (and coolest) broadcast intro in history—a proverbial “lift-off”
featuring footage from the first Space Shuttle launch of the Columbia. The words, “Ladies and
gentlemen, rock ‘n’ roll” ushered in a new medium of music consumption.
The very first music video ever played on MTV was The
Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star” (an appropriate choice). The network’s
effect on record sales was almost immediate—artists such as Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow and The Human League got exponentially more attention, and MTV’s
attention on non-US bands sparked the Second British Invasion.
MTV started broadcasting special events in the mid to late
‘80s, including the Video Music Awards (started in 1984) and Spring Break
(started in 1986). Other original programming soon followed, and by the early
‘90s, MTV had become an entity much larger than anyone could have predicted.
The Alternative
Explosion
Punk really didn’t break until 1991, but MTV was ahead of
the curve in 1986. The network began airing an original show called 120 Minutes, which catered to
alternative and “underground” bands of the late ‘80s and early ‘90s, such as
The Jesus and Mary Chain, New Order and Butthole Surfers.
In 1991, a little ditty called “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
premiered on 120 Minutes, but soon
became so popular that it was moved to regular daytime rotation. Once Nirvana
proved successful, MTV added bands like Soundgarden, Alice In Chains and Nine Inch Nails to their regular rotation. Soon, alternative rock and grunge had
become as mainstream as Madonna.
I think we all like to point to Nirvana as the instigator of
all this mainstream business, but let’s be honest—MTV was really the mastermind
behind it. Nirvana’s success was directly affected by the video for “Smells
Like Teen Spirit.” Sure, the song was getting airplay on radio stations, but
the band’s image was a huge contributing factor.
And that’s what MTV sells—not necessarily music, but an
image. It was more about the music in the ‘80s, but by the ‘90s, everything
kind of shifted to the artist as a product. Grunge (which I typically
characterize as a fad rather than a music genre) was everywhere in the early ‘90s, and MTV helped cultivate it, package
it and sell it to its viewers.
Now, this doesn’t make MTV the enemy (though I’m sure some
would disagree with me). There’s nothing wrong with being mainstream, despite
what your unfriendly neighborhood music elitist might tell you. MTV just
embraced “alternative” culture because, well, it looked cool. In fact, the term
“alternative” is kind of ironic considering just how popular the “alternative”
style was in the ‘90s. (Side note: There’s a wonderful article by Thomas Frank
called “Alternative to What?” that addresses this issue perfectly.
Unfortunately, I don’t have a link for it here, so you’ll have to go hunting
for it.)
The Music Video as an
Art Form
Yes, the primary purpose of any music video is to promote a
band, but that doesn’t mean a video can’t be cinematic masterpiece. By the
early ‘90s, MTV was playing a plethora of new and interesting music, which
required new and interesting videos to promote it.
Enter the music video director. After pressure from the
Music Video Production Association, MTV began listing the names of directors at
the bottom of videos, beginning in 1992. As a result, MTV’s audience became
acutely aware of who exactly was making these short spectacles.
The ‘90s spawned some incredible music video directors,
including Spike Jonze, Michel Gondry, Anton Corbijn, Samuel Bayer and Mark Romanek, to name a few. Soon, music videos became more like short films than
promotional snippets of live footage.
I appreciate music videos more than I think I should. I
think it’s because I enjoy film in general, and after all, music videos (well,
most of them) are basically just short films. Though I could go on and on about
videos of the alternative variety, I have to give props to the rap and hip-hop
videos of the ‘90s. Some of the best ones were directed by Hype Williams,
including Biggie and P. Diddy’s “Mo Money Mo Problems” and Missy Elliott’s “The
Rain (Supa Dupa Fly).” Even if you don’t like hip-hop, you have to admit those
are incredible videos (especially Missy Elliott).
I’m sure everyone’s uttered this question aloud before. Even
those of us who didn’t grow up with classic MTV seem to ponder this.
So what exactly happened to MTV after the ‘90s?
Well, once everyone started pirating music, the record
companies lost a shit ton of money, which left almost nothing to spend on music
videos. The only videos MTV can actually play are from mainstream artists you
probably don’t like (i.e. Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus) because they
have the money to pay for the videos. And even those videos are awful because
they’re usually made up of 90% product placement (again, because of the whole
no money thing).
Sure, we all miss watching music videos on MTV, but can’t
you do the same thing with YouTube or Vimeo? You may miss the sometimes brilliant “alternative” programming of the ‘90s, but isn’t that just your
nostalgia clouding your judgment?
But if you don’t believe me, give this video a gander. It
explains everything (in a delightfully sardonic way).
-- Sam Boyer,
reporting from the ‘90s.
