120 Minutes Returns
March 18, 2011 12:32 AM   Subscribe

The incredibly influential and loved music show 120 Minutes returns, with Matt Pinfield returning as host. The MTV2 premiere happens later this year, while the web version 120 Seconds debuts today.

In case you need recollection, The 120 Minutes Archive provides hours of nostalgia. (previously)

Meanwhile, the 90's indie/alternative sound is coming back, and it might be coming from people who are too young to have experienced it firsthand. Yuck - Get Away. Yuck at SXSW. (Most of the members of this band were one year old when Nevermind was released. Feeling old yet?)
posted by naju (60 comments total) 10 users marked this as a favorite
 
This is your 40-year-old dad trying so hard to convince you he's still "with it." He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band.
posted by secret about box at 12:39 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


It isn't 120 Minutes without Dave Kendall. I'm just sayin'.

preferably back when he was just a mohawked silhouette that did LP reviews
posted by mykescipark at 12:47 AM on March 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band.

Actually I have tons of respect for anyone who would say that. Arcade Fire versus Nirvana? Umm, yeah, thanks but no thanks.
posted by ReeMonster at 1:00 AM on March 18, 2011


Actually I have tons of respect for anyone who would say that.

On a second read of my own comment, I actually agree.
posted by secret about box at 1:09 AM on March 18, 2011


Oh man, I am so totally OK with Yuck's brand of nostalgia. Sure, it makes me feel old, just like how having a doctor my own age confirms that I'm a weapons-grade failure, but I'd rather be old and know that my tastes are vindicated than be young and have the kids be into crunk-core and fart-rap.
posted by Sticherbeast at 1:10 AM on March 18, 2011 [5 favorites]


i never liked matt pinfield.
posted by rainperimeter at 1:17 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


I loved 120 Minutes when I was a wee lad.
But when I was a wee lad, 120 Minutes was necessary.

I find out about new music online and if I want to see a video (which is rare) I do that on Youtube.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 1:41 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


Just seems outmoded, was my point.
posted by Senor Cardgage at 1:41 AM on March 18, 2011


fart-rap

Is that what The Enema Man and Snoopy Snoopy Poop Dog do?


I loved 120 Minutes when I was a wee lad.
But when I was a wee lad, 120 Minutes was necessary


I remember when 120 Minutes wasn't necessary. MTV just played whatever weird stuff they could get their mitts on late at night.

Also, with Matt Pinfield as host they have pretty much alienated ... well, anyone who knows what a Matt Pinfield is.

Wake me up when someone decides to revive Night Flight.
posted by louche mustachio at 1:56 AM on March 18, 2011 [10 favorites]


I shall wear the bottoms of my trousers rolled.

This is one come back we totally don't need. Pinfield did epitomize a certain kind of nerd though - kind of a mosh between the Comic Book Guy and that guy by the keg at that party who wouldn't shut up about this new band you probably haven't heard of. I think he was the first time that type was 'taken seriously' or at least presented in a serious light. I kind of hoped Pinfield went on to study biology or ome other subject that might, you know, do some good for people at large.
posted by From Bklyn at 2:10 AM on March 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


First though: yay!

Second thought: why? 120 Minutes, like the real original Lollapalooza is of a time, and I'm not sure that the category of music it was meant to cover even exists any more. Somewhere between the use of the Buzz label and Kennedy getting her own nightly show, the term Alternative quit meaning something. It's not that the whole nation has gone Alternative, but what used to be the mainstream that we were never supposed to mind, the lines were permanently blurred. Not to mention, thanks to the Internet, 15 year old me and my friends now wouldn't have to get a curfew extension (I went to a residential high school) to see the videos of the songs we couldn't even buy at the mall.

On preview, because I was nodding out, Senor Cardgage beat me to some of this.

The only thing less necessary would be the return of Yo MTV Raps! since rap has plenty of exposure in the MTV world. Now Headbangers Ball would make sense.

which is probably why its been back since 2003
posted by MCMikeNamara at 2:14 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


There's an argument to be made that something like 120 Minutes is necessary NOW more than ever, in this buzzband blog-hype ADD world in which music is currently disseminating. I'm not saying the show will be anywhere near as relevant as it was back then, but one can hope. And one can reflect on all the ways things have changed, and perhaps not always for the better...
posted by naju at 2:16 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Yuck. So much noise pop is droning wankery. They really have a Dinosaur Jr. sound going on but it seems without any of the emotion or hook factor. They do play pretty tight though and I dig their bassist.
posted by zephyr_words at 2:24 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


One time I went out to lunch and Matt Pinfield was sitting in a booth eating a sandwich. This was in a diner, maybe around 54th street? Anyway, I'm never star struck but I literally stopped in my tracks and started gushing about 120 minutes. He was a nice dude and complimented my ratty Belle & Sebastian t-shirt. I was with my brother in law who commented "Oh, that's the weird guy from MTV, right?".
posted by GilloD at 2:36 AM on March 18, 2011


I've actually known Matt vaguely for about 20 years. Never had any reason to think he was anything but a nice guy. And his musical knowledge is nothing less than astonishing.
posted by conifer at 3:07 AM on March 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


If this means they may play an hour of music (out of a two hour show) on MTV2, I am all for it. That will double their daily output. Im not sure what fans of pump my ride will do though - they'll have to actually maneuver their schedule around the show as opposed to just assuming it is on. We wouldn't want them to actually have.to listen to music on MTV2.
posted by Nanukthedog at 3:55 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


If this means they may play an hour of music (out of a two hour show) on MTV2

I'm pretty sure that MTV has at least equal ads to content, so there's going to be one hour of actual programming and at least one hour of ads pushing subscription phone text services for idiots. Then there will be talking for one third of the time the actual show's on. You'll be lucky to get 40 minutes of videos for sitting in front of the TV for two hours. Better DVR it if you're going to watch.
posted by Mayor Curley at 4:30 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Metafilter: into crunk-core and fart-rap

sorry
posted by kcds at 4:33 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Is this the same Matt Pinfield on 101.9 in NY? Spin the IPod Matt Pinfield?
posted by sfts2 at 4:39 AM on March 18, 2011


Sorry, in my formative years all music info was gleaned from reading album covers while cleaning bong hits.
posted by sfts2 at 4:39 AM on March 18, 2011


Why yes, yes he is sfts2, if you click the links on the links you woukld have seen that.
posted by sfts2 at 4:42 AM on March 18, 2011


Oh, right, sorry!
posted by sfts2 at 4:42 AM on March 18, 2011


To my mind, Dave Kendall's accent and 120 Minutes are completely inseparable. "Next up, we've got the brand new video from Blluuuhhhh!!"
posted by the painkiller at 4:51 AM on March 18, 2011 [13 favorites]


Wait. Music on MTV???

(obligatory)
posted by fungible at 5:22 AM on March 18, 2011 [3 favorites]


I'm sure Pinfield is a nice guy and all but, damned if he doesn't suck all the fun out of the room when he opens his mouth. That earnest "I'm being serious here" presentation of his makes everything seem more like homework.

And, yeah...why bring this back?
posted by Thorzdad at 5:38 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I'd prefer it if they brought back Martha Quinn.
posted by orme at 5:42 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


Dave Kendall has a regular gig on Sirius/XM's 1st Wave. One of the few things that would entice me to subscribe to satellite radio.
posted by Not The Stig at 5:45 AM on March 18, 2011


He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band.

Heh. I think he did actually introduce The Arcade Fire when they played at MSG.
posted by smackfu at 5:47 AM on March 18, 2011


BTW, they also brought back MTV Unplugged but I think it is only on Palladia now.
posted by smackfu at 5:47 AM on March 18, 2011


I'm sure Pinfield is a nice guy and all but, damned if he doesn't suck all the fun out of the room when he opens his mouth. That earnest "I'm being serious here" presentation of his makes everything seem more like homework.

Jesse Camp was the superior MTV VJ for sure. Jesse & the 8th Street Kidz totally rocked.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 5:53 AM on March 18, 2011


Here is the proof.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 5:55 AM on March 18, 2011


So much of my teenage years were spent sitting way too close to the big wood-paneled TV in the living room, the volume turned down because everyone else was asleep, watching/straining to hear 120 Minutes.

I didn't love Matt Pinfield, but as a fellow music nerd, I identified with him. He wasn't cool and he talked too much.

But man, that show was the first place I heard stuff by Jawbox and Chavez and Frank Black and so many other bands that are still important to me in some way.

Perhaps I hate fun, but I haaaaated Jesse Camp. He was like a retarded cartoon character that MTV trotted out to try to buy back the Wild and Crazy VJ cred they totally blew the minute Carson Daly hit the air. Whoever they had may have been several shades of blah, but Jesse Camp was the Jar Jar of MTV.
posted by Maaik at 6:03 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


DAMN IT I WANT KEVIN SEAL BACK.

/ageing-altrock-lady
posted by bitter-girl.com at 6:13 AM on March 18, 2011 [6 favorites]


I've never met anyone who liked Jesse Camp.

Also, I was at a conference recently where I met a young woman who looked, dressed, and shared political leanings with Kennedy. I wasn't aware that that was still a type.
posted by Sticherbeast at 6:15 AM on March 18, 2011


It isn't 120 Minutes without Dave Kendall. I'm just sayin'.

I'm sort of shocked I can't find a video of it, let alone any mention of it online (not that I Googled that hard) but my favorite Dave Kendall moment was definitely the time they had They Might Be Giants on to promote Flood, and right before they were about to play Birdhouse, the following exchange occurred. (Transcribed from memory)
Kendall: Now, Birdhouse in You Soul, it's a nice song, right? Kind of a cutesy, feel-good, love song, right?
Linnell: Actually, it's a song about a night light, Dave.
Text on screen really doesn't do the moment justice. I don't think I've ever seen Linnell frostier than that. If only I was near the pile of old VHS tapes in my parents' basement!
posted by SpiffyRob at 6:24 AM on March 18, 2011 [12 favorites]


Having MTV reach out to me is like getting a phone call from an old high-school girlfriend. "Absolutely, I'd love to have coffee and catch up! ...Oh. Wait. You want to rekindle and have an ongoing relationship? Umm." We have both moved on. I found other resources for music, while MTV settled down with The Hills and Jersey Shore. Once upon a time I loved staying up late watching 120 Minutes and Headbangers Ball, but that time is past.
posted by cribcage at 6:28 AM on March 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


Kind of surprised by all the Matt Pinfield hate. I thought he was cool, and pretty much despised Jesse Camp.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 6:28 AM on March 18, 2011


Please note: My earlier comment re:Matt Pinfield's earnestness, should not be construed in any way, shape, or form as an endorsement of Jesse Camp. I mean...jeez.
posted by Thorzdad at 6:36 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


This is your 40-year-old dad trying so hard to convince you he's still "with it." He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band.

You know, some of us here are (almost) 40 year old dads and are kinda insulted by that statement.

I know who Arcade Fire is. It's all the bands trying to sound like post-grunge rock like Paramore and Muse I can't keep track of.
posted by dw at 6:50 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


And I really don't care 120 Minutes is coming back. Seemed like all the movie companies are strip mining my childhood and adolescence, so eventually MTV had to do it by showing videos again.
posted by dw at 6:53 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Mikey-San: "This is your 40-year-old dad trying so hard to convince you he's still "with it." He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band"

Heck, this 40+ dad doesn't even remember a show called 120 minutes. There are big chunks of the eighties that I missed due to a lack of a TV in college.
posted by octothorpe at 6:58 AM on March 18, 2011


Kennedy. Kennedy. Sudden, painful flashback. The last time I thought about Kennedy was when I dug up an old TKK pamphlet and, in the section "Which celebrity would you most like to kill?" Jackie Black had filled in something like "Kennedy. Not the president, he's already dead. The MTV VJ."
posted by adipocere at 7:14 AM on March 18, 2011


You really have to marvel at one thing about Matt Pinfield - he's single-handedly turned back the trend of DJs and other music-knowledgeable people being marginalized in favor of payola-powered, automatically generated heavy-rotation playlists. He actually gets some power into choosing what gets played on his home station in NY, WRXP. And, they're doing (relatively) well because of it.

It's a shame that it's just him. Can you imagine what music could be like if radio stations still operated like WNEW did during the 1960's-70's? (For example, they "discovered" such acts as Bruce Springsteen, The Grateful Dead, ELP...) Total music people like Vin Scelsa and Scott Muni got to select the music, and you knew (and appreciated) that they knew their stuff.
posted by Citrus at 7:25 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


I always liked Matt Pinfield.
posted by Ad hominem at 7:27 AM on March 18, 2011 [4 favorites]


I don't know how I missed that archive - but thank you!

I don't know, I was excited about the return for about 30 seconds, but it won't ever be what the old one was for me back then.
posted by mrs. taters at 7:36 AM on March 18, 2011


Who's going to watch this? Does anyone who follows music even notice what's happening on MTV anymore?
Or maybe... teenage girl brats will start watching 120 Mins ( since it's on) and getting into that stuff and MTV will start to play music again......?
posted by Liquidwolf at 7:54 AM on March 18, 2011


Or maybe... teenage girl brats will start watching 120 Mins ( since it's on) and getting into that stuff and MTV will start to play music again......?

I think this is the preferred outcome. Like others have said, I don't really need 120 Minutes anymore--I have my resources and I had my time with the show when it was a crucial part of my musical education. Moving forward, if it's going to be successful at all, the focus should be on bringing good music to fifteen year old suburban kids like I once was. If MTV can redeem itself by once again becoming a gateway, then maybe I can stop completely hating on MTV.
posted by Maaik at 8:13 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Dave Kendall was better.
posted by Mister_A at 8:53 AM on March 18, 2011


On Matt Pinfield: I guess I wasn't really old enough for MTV until it was well into its long downward slide but Matt always seemed like the only VJ who really knew what he was talking about and as a fellow record store nerd, I appreciated his seriousness.

On 120 Minutes and whether it could still be a valuable resource for discovering new music: Sometimes it takes me a little while to decide if I like something and I remember 120 Minutes would show a video for the first time one week, then show it again the next week, so I if I was like "alright, I get to see this video again", then I knew I liked it and if I was like "oh no, I have to sit through this again (Tool!)", then I knew I didn't. Kind of obvious, but it worked for me and I'd welcome it back.

My resources now are Q - which is amusing but you can't actually hear the music; Pitchfork - which I don't always have time for and which I blame for introducing my husband to Andrew Bird, M.I.A., and other horrors; and local college radio, which is always a pain to get coming in right.
posted by Jess the Mess at 9:08 AM on March 18, 2011


Text on screen really doesn't do the moment justice. I don't think I've ever seen Linnell frostier than that.

You're obviously forgetting the moment where Flansburgh gets visibly angry and says that "I thought our people told your people that the selling out stuff couldn't come up on the show." Even if it was played for very deep sarcasm, it was pretty much indetectable in the moment.
posted by mykescipark at 9:32 AM on March 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


If anyone has good quality vhs recordings of 120 Minutes, memail me. If you send them my way I will send them back with digital copies (dvd & mp4) attached. a bar I do stuff for has a "120 Minutes" night and I need all the footage I can get
posted by jtron at 9:52 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I had it in my head that Peter Zaremba (of The Fleshtones) was the original host of 120 Minutes, but Wikipedia tells me I am wrong. Fuck you, Wikipedia. I'd rather remember it MY way.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 9:53 AM on March 18, 2011


Also, fond memories of bonding with 8th grade friends doing terrible Dave Kendall impressions...
posted by jtron at 9:53 AM on March 18, 2011


MTV get off the
MTV get off the
MTV get off the air...

...NOW!
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:10 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


I had it in my head that Peter Zaremba (of The Fleshtones) was the original host of 120 Minutes, but Wikipedia tells me I am wrong. Fuck you, Wikipedia. I'd rather remember it MY way.

He was the host of The Cutting Edge, which was much better.
posted by lumpenprole at 10:10 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


He was the host of The Cutting Edge, which was much better.

The Cutting Edge was probably MTV's pinnacle of hip, but I come here to give some love to 120 Minutes' junior partner, Post-Modern MTV.
posted by mykescipark at 10:30 AM on March 18, 2011 [2 favorites]


I used to hang out on IRC with the kid that rigged the Jesse Camp vote, I kinda thought he did it for the lulz but he actually liked Jesse Camp. No accounting for taste.

I've seen Matt Pinfield a couple times. I got into a towncar he got out of in Midtown. I told the driver, "Hey that was Matt Pinfield" but I don't think he cared.
posted by Ad hominem at 11:20 AM on March 18, 2011


I come here to give some love to 120 Minutes' junior partner, Post-Modern MTV.

PostModernMTV changed my rural-Midwestern life. I discovered it just before I discovered 120 Minutes, back in whatever year it was that TMBG's Lincoln came out.
posted by statolith at 11:36 AM on March 18, 2011 [1 favorite]


Wow. The world is really trying to make 1995 happen.


Team Kendall!
posted by grapesaresour at 2:03 PM on March 18, 2011


This is your 40-year-old dad trying so hard to convince you he's still "with it." He loved The Arcade Fire by that Suburbs band.

How many people who post on Metafilter have dads who are only forty years old? I know there probably are options other than "you must be a wunderkind" or "did you have a teen father?" but I can't write the script that would calculate those permutations.
posted by pinky at 6:43 PM on March 18, 2011


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