I Want My MTV [Classic]
July 28, 2016 10:09 AM Subscribe
Starting Aug 1, cable channel VH1 Classic will disappear and be replaced by MTV Classic. The debut hour of television will replicate the first hour of MTV, aired 35 years previously to the day. After that, the format will include reruns of TRL and Unplugged and Beavis & Butthead and Daria and a lot of other favorites. Plus, apparently, music videos! The Hollywood Reporter has the most complete scoop on the change / debut / reboot.
I recall when MTV2 played every music video in their archives. I think at was around 1999-2000. Interesting stunt.
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:15 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Jessica Savitch's Coke Spoon at 10:15 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
120 minutes pleeeeease!
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:15 AM on July 28, 2016 [15 favorites]
posted by Hairy Lobster at 10:15 AM on July 28, 2016 [15 favorites]
♪ You're standing on my neck!
La la la, la la la, la la la ♪
posted by Fizz at 10:17 AM on July 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
La la la, la la la, la la la ♪
posted by Fizz at 10:17 AM on July 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
I support anything that gets Daria in front of more eyes, but returns of TRL seem like they'd be pretty boring.* I'm not just crapping on TRL either, why would you want to see precisely what was requested on some random date?
*One exception for an episode I remember shockingly well when a dude called to say something and then when Carson Daly asked him what he was listening to, he said "The Clash" to Carson's clear surprise. And that ladies and gentlemen is how I first heard about the Clash.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:19 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
*One exception for an episode I remember shockingly well when a dude called to say something and then when Carson Daly asked him what he was listening to, he said "The Clash" to Carson's clear surprise. And that ladies and gentlemen is how I first heard about the Clash.
posted by Bulgaroktonos at 10:19 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
oh gods we're living in a Sick Sad World with everything that's going on and this might be exactly what I need.
posted by numaner at 10:21 AM on July 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
posted by numaner at 10:21 AM on July 28, 2016 [11 favorites]
I wonder if they'll have the original music on the Daria episodes. I heard that they aren't on the DVDs due to some sort of copyright thing. They kind of added something to the episodes, even though I didn't always like the music.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:22 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 10:22 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I'd assume the music will be the original, because the problem with DVD releases has to do with contracts that talk about music use rights other than broadcast rights for that music. These will be broadcast, so maybe the original music.
Although it's possible the only source they have for Daria is the DVD releases. I guess we'll all find out.
posted by hippybear at 10:24 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Although it's possible the only source they have for Daria is the DVD releases. I guess we'll all find out.
posted by hippybear at 10:24 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Speaking as somebody who watched MTV back when it played videos, it seems to incredibly quaint to me that we used to sit and wait for MTV to play our favorite video instead of just going to YouTube and watching it whenever. It's like rotary phone quaint.
posted by entropicamericana at 10:26 AM on July 28, 2016 [26 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 10:26 AM on July 28, 2016 [26 favorites]
Just randomly mix in episodes of Scheer-RL to see who notices
posted by jason_steakums at 10:29 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by jason_steakums at 10:29 AM on July 28, 2016
It's like rotary phone quaint.
"The music is coming from inside the house!"
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
"The music is coming from inside the house!"
posted by Celsius1414 at 10:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
I'd be more into an all-video channel than reruns of Carson Daly. I still remember the shocking day in 1988 when Pour Some Sugar On Me was no longer the #1 most requested video of the day.
Also, this memory prompted me to visit Wikipedia, where I learned the following: MTV ranked "Pour Some Sugar on Me" number 1 in its "Top 300 Videos of All Time" countdown in May 1991. In 2006, VH1 ranked the song number 2 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s." AVN ranked the song as the "#1 song used by strippers during their set" of all time.
posted by something something at 10:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also, this memory prompted me to visit Wikipedia, where I learned the following: MTV ranked "Pour Some Sugar on Me" number 1 in its "Top 300 Videos of All Time" countdown in May 1991. In 2006, VH1 ranked the song number 2 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the '80s." AVN ranked the song as the "#1 song used by strippers during their set" of all time.
posted by something something at 10:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I wonder if they'll have the original music on the Daria episodes. I heard that they aren't on the DVDs due to some sort of copyright thing.
I hope not. That sort of thing is what ruined WKRP in Cinncinnati.
posted by TedW at 10:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
I'd like this format better with new shows, to be honest. But maybe they figure the demographic for this format is too old to want to see anything new, preferring to sit at home and watch stuffy old cartoons about leather-clad dominatrix assassins.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:33 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 10:33 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I Want My Liquid Television. PLEASE.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:35 AM on July 28, 2016 [19 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:35 AM on July 28, 2016 [19 favorites]
Speaking as somebody who watched MTV back when it played videos, it seems to incredibly quaint to me that we used to sit and wait for MTV to play our favorite video instead of just going to YouTube and watching it whenever. It's like rotary phone quaint.
No kidding.
Wait til you hear about this crazy shit they used to do with the songs themselves: I think they called it "radio" or something goofy like that.
posted by flarbuse at 10:40 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
No kidding.
Wait til you hear about this crazy shit they used to do with the songs themselves: I think they called it "radio" or something goofy like that.
posted by flarbuse at 10:40 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Bring back Martha Quinn, Kurt Loder, and Randee of the Redwoods!
posted by JohnFromGR at 10:42 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by JohnFromGR at 10:42 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
I Want My Liquid Television. PLEASE.
I have VHS tapes of at least the first season of Liquid Television around here someplace...
posted by hippybear at 10:45 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I have VHS tapes of at least the first season of Liquid Television around here someplace...
posted by hippybear at 10:45 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
it seems to incredibly quaint to me that we used to sit and wait for MTV to play our favorite video
I think the time I spent waiting for MTV to play my favorite video was one of the best, most expansive ways to be exposed to music I wouldn't have personally chosen to listen to. It was a discovery method for new music and bands for me, and I appreciate how much I was exposed to while waiting for that once-every-two-hours play of that one video I wanted to see.
Hard to replicate that experience today, really.
posted by hippybear at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
I think the time I spent waiting for MTV to play my favorite video was one of the best, most expansive ways to be exposed to music I wouldn't have personally chosen to listen to. It was a discovery method for new music and bands for me, and I appreciate how much I was exposed to while waiting for that once-every-two-hours play of that one video I wanted to see.
Hard to replicate that experience today, really.
posted by hippybear at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2016 [14 favorites]
Technically it ran from 1987 to 1990 but BRING BACK REMOTE CONTROL PLEASE
posted by Lucinda at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Lucinda at 10:47 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]
That sort of thing is what ruined WKRP in Cinncinnati.
Not to derail, but the recent box set from Shout Factory got the copyright to the vast majority of original music, about 95% or so. A big improvement over the first time DVDs of the show were released. The new box set is pretty much what was originally shown. Some exceptions, of course, but where there were substitutions, they were done well.
/derail
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:49 AM on July 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
Not to derail, but the recent box set from Shout Factory got the copyright to the vast majority of original music, about 95% or so. A big improvement over the first time DVDs of the show were released. The new box set is pretty much what was originally shown. Some exceptions, of course, but where there were substitutions, they were done well.
/derail
posted by Capt. Renault at 10:49 AM on July 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
Instead of the first hour, why don't they just run the first 20 years over again?
oh wait, alot of those videos actually sucked so nevermind.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:49 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
oh wait, alot of those videos actually sucked so nevermind.
posted by JoeZydeco at 10:49 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I used to have a videotape with the "Ice Ice Baby" video on it. I waited for it to come on, and then I taped it. I taped the "Ice Ice Baby" video.
I just needed to get that off my chest.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:51 AM on July 28, 2016 [22 favorites]
I just needed to get that off my chest.
posted by uncleozzy at 10:51 AM on July 28, 2016 [22 favorites]
I just needed to get that off my chest.
It's okay. This is a safe space. Nobody here will judge you.
posted by hippybear at 10:52 AM on July 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
It's okay. This is a safe space. Nobody here will judge you.
posted by hippybear at 10:52 AM on July 28, 2016 [9 favorites]
Also, Al TV, from when His Weirdness had that dumb little mustache...
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:52 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:52 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Just hand it all over to Mojo Nixon and stand well back.
posted by delfin at 10:56 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by delfin at 10:56 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I want reruns of Singled Out with Future Nerd King and Future Anti-Science Queen or this channel is meaningless to me. The 90s fashion and probable rampant sexist shit we would barely tolerate these days would be a sight to see.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:57 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by MCMikeNamara at 10:57 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I heard that they aren't on the DVDs due to some sort of copyright thing.
Imagine my surprise when The State in its MTV-run entirety was released on DVD and the songs I remember being used for the sketches were gone and replaced by the worst sounding generic music.
posted by Kitteh at 10:57 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Imagine my surprise when The State in its MTV-run entirety was released on DVD and the songs I remember being used for the sketches were gone and replaced by the worst sounding generic music.
posted by Kitteh at 10:57 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
oh wait, alot of those videos actually sucked so nevermind.
But that's exactly why they SHOULD just play those years over again. It would be hilariously awesome to see sucky ancient videos again.
posted by dnash at 11:03 AM on July 28, 2016
But that's exactly why they SHOULD just play those years over again. It would be hilariously awesome to see sucky ancient videos again.
posted by dnash at 11:03 AM on July 28, 2016
I'm not just crapping on TRL either, why would you want to see precisely what was requested on some random date?
I listen to a radio station that reruns a Casey Kasem Top 40 countdown in its entirety every Sunday night. Carson Daly is no Casey Kasem, of course, but I can understand the appeal.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2016
I listen to a radio station that reruns a Casey Kasem Top 40 countdown in its entirety every Sunday night. Carson Daly is no Casey Kasem, of course, but I can understand the appeal.
posted by Faint of Butt at 11:04 AM on July 28, 2016
MTV back when it was just music videos was really something. There were a bunch of bands and artists I would have never heard of if it weren't for them.
posted by Gev at 11:05 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by Gev at 11:05 AM on July 28, 2016
Thirty-odd years ago, there was no Youtube, and no internet, at least not one readily accessible or capable of playing videos. There was nothing wrong ( however 'quaint' it may seem now ) with the way we used to sit around and watch videos on MTV. For some of us, it was the only way to find any kind of relief from shitty realities we had no real hope of escaping, at the time. It would be really nice if people could figure out a way to leave the snark and the smug about this subject at home, for once.
Please.
posted by KHAAAN! at 11:07 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Please.
posted by KHAAAN! at 11:07 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
So this is what it must have felt like when the Boomers reached their peak earning years and the culture industry started making relentless appeals to nostalgia for the 1960s, no?
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:10 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Cash4Lead at 11:10 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Speaking as the person you are presumably addressing, you don't need to tell me, I was there. I still find it quaint now. There is no snark or smugness meant, just an observation on how dramatically things have changed.
posted by entropicamericana at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Technically it ran from 1987 to 1990 but BRING BACK REMOTE CONTROL PLEASE
YES the one non-video MTV show I ever cared about. It was so stupidly good.
posted by emjaybee at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
YES the one non-video MTV show I ever cared about. It was so stupidly good.
posted by emjaybee at 11:11 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Also, those dumb 80s videos meant a lot to me at the time.
posted by emjaybee at 11:13 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by emjaybee at 11:13 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Hard to replicate that experience today, really.
I dunno; Pandora seems to fill that void for me - I just plugged Alt-J into the seed list, and jumped down the rabbit hole.
My guess is this will be worth a few hours' nostalgia, maybe.
posted by Mooski at 11:14 AM on July 28, 2016
I dunno; Pandora seems to fill that void for me - I just plugged Alt-J into the seed list, and jumped down the rabbit hole.
My guess is this will be worth a few hours' nostalgia, maybe.
posted by Mooski at 11:14 AM on July 28, 2016
Pandora seems to fill that void for me
Pandora isn't going to play Metallica next to Public Enemy next to kd lang.... It's still an echo chamber, just of a different sort.
posted by hippybear at 11:16 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Pandora isn't going to play Metallica next to Public Enemy next to kd lang.... It's still an echo chamber, just of a different sort.
posted by hippybear at 11:16 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Also, people used to gripe about the poor attention span of the "MTV Generation," but I find today I can no longer sit through a music video any more than I could have sat through Wagner's entire Ring cycle back then. Thanks, Internet!
posted by entropicamericana at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2016 [7 favorites]
Speaking as somebody who watched MTV back when it played videos, it seems to incredibly quaint to me that we used to sit and wait for MTV to play our favorite video instead of just going to YouTube and watching it whenever. It's like rotary phone quaint.
Yes! And taping them! I went through an intense Smashing Pumpkins phase and filled at least one VHS tape with music videos that were usually missing the first few seconds from me hitting record too late, and random clips of Kurt Loder talking about them, interviews with the band...
I hope they also show My So-Called Life reruns.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yes! And taping them! I went through an intense Smashing Pumpkins phase and filled at least one VHS tape with music videos that were usually missing the first few seconds from me hitting record too late, and random clips of Kurt Loder talking about them, interviews with the band...
I hope they also show My So-Called Life reruns.
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 11:18 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
For anyone else interested in taking a trip back into the 90s, there's also The Splat: a brand new television channel dedicated to your favorite '90s Nicktoons of yore.
posted by Fizz at 11:21 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by Fizz at 11:21 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Well, sorry for being prickly. I agree that things have changed drastically. It's unnerving as hell to see your personal cultural landmarks fade so quickly into obsolesence and irrelevancy. It makes you feel like you're ready to crawl into the nearest tar pit.
posted by KHAAAN! at 11:22 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by KHAAAN! at 11:22 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I hope they also show My So-Called Life reruns.
this is great because let's face facts: jared leto's current godawful persona is EXACTLY the adult man that jordan catalano would have grown up to be
posted by poffin boffin at 11:23 AM on July 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
this is great because let's face facts: jared leto's current godawful persona is EXACTLY the adult man that jordan catalano would have grown up to be
posted by poffin boffin at 11:23 AM on July 28, 2016 [10 favorites]
Pandora isn't going to play Metallica next to Public Enemy next to kd lang
That's true; it's easy enough to get exposed to something you've not heard before, but the eclectic newness was definitely an MTV thing (well, that and Night Tracks on TBS superstation back in the day, but MTV turned it to an art).
posted by Mooski at 11:25 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's true; it's easy enough to get exposed to something you've not heard before, but the eclectic newness was definitely an MTV thing (well, that and Night Tracks on TBS superstation back in the day, but MTV turned it to an art).
posted by Mooski at 11:25 AM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Are we talking the same Jared Leto who was so sensitive and careful in Dallas Buyer's Club? Or am I confusing that one with someone else?
posted by hippybear at 11:30 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by hippybear at 11:30 AM on July 28, 2016
Cool, maybe I can watch classic MTV shows while drinking a resurrected Crystal Pepsi for the full '90s experience.
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 11:31 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by ultraviolet catastrophe at 11:31 AM on July 28, 2016
no we're talking the same jared leto who was so sensitive and careful in suicide squad
posted by entropicamericana at 11:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by entropicamericana at 11:32 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Are we talking the same Jared Leto who was so sensitive and careful in Dallas Buyer's Club? Or am I confusing that one with someone else?
yes, the guy who sent a dead pig to a black woman he's starring in a film with because he's soooo method and it's something the joker would definitely do lol
posted by poffin boffin at 11:33 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
yes, the guy who sent a dead pig to a black woman he's starring in a film with because he's soooo method and it's something the joker would definitely do lol
posted by poffin boffin at 11:33 AM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
The best thing about early MTV was that music videos were still sort-of a new thing, and not every mainstream act made them. So, to fill airtime, MTV played a relatively wide range of new and obscure acts, making it a good place to actually see/hear new music. As the format matured, of course, MTV became little more than top-40 video.
I preferred The Box, though. The first time I ever heard Wynona's Big Brown Beaver was in a motel in Florida, watching The Box. Of course, MTV Networks bought the channel out eventually and killed it off.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:38 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
I preferred The Box, though. The first time I ever heard Wynona's Big Brown Beaver was in a motel in Florida, watching The Box. Of course, MTV Networks bought the channel out eventually and killed it off.
posted by Thorzdad at 11:38 AM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Yeah...stuff like Close To The Edit would get in heavy rotation. It was glorious.
posted by thelonius at 11:52 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by thelonius at 11:52 AM on July 28, 2016
This explains what happened to Palladia on my cable network, it's been replaced by something called 'MTV Live' but shows the exact same programming as Palladia did, which iirc was run by VH-1.
posted by davelog at 11:58 AM on July 28, 2016
posted by davelog at 11:58 AM on July 28, 2016
This is what, the second or third attempt to "put the M back in MTV" this decade?
I don't even recall the last time I stopped zapping on a MTV/VH1 channel. Even if the rebranding makes it's way up to here, I probably wouldn't notice. Shitfting VH1 Classic from the 80s to the 90s seems another great effort of nostalgia people will watch for approximately 10 minutes before getting bored.
In here, there's Canal180, that along programming dedicated to arts and architecture, but licenses live performances from webseries, runs a daily artist focus with videoclips, makes some music festival features and has a weekly user made hour-long playlist (here's mine). I used to let it as background while doing something else, and got a few solid recommendations from it.
Would I watch something like under a MTV brand? Probably not. I just don't trust that brand anymore.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:00 PM on July 28, 2016
I don't even recall the last time I stopped zapping on a MTV/VH1 channel. Even if the rebranding makes it's way up to here, I probably wouldn't notice. Shitfting VH1 Classic from the 80s to the 90s seems another great effort of nostalgia people will watch for approximately 10 minutes before getting bored.
In here, there's Canal180, that along programming dedicated to arts and architecture, but licenses live performances from webseries, runs a daily artist focus with videoclips, makes some music festival features and has a weekly user made hour-long playlist (here's mine). I used to let it as background while doing something else, and got a few solid recommendations from it.
Would I watch something like under a MTV brand? Probably not. I just don't trust that brand anymore.
posted by lmfsilva at 12:00 PM on July 28, 2016
YES [Remote Control] the one non-video MTV show I ever cared about. It was so stupidly good.
You're not endorsing Adam Sandler here, are ya? But I'll give you Colin Quinn.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:18 PM on July 28, 2016
You're not endorsing Adam Sandler here, are ya? But I'll give you Colin Quinn.
posted by JoeZydeco at 12:18 PM on July 28, 2016
I would like the MTV that ran from 1981 to 1988 with the caveat that they actually include videos from black artists, including, but not limited to rap. I would set my DVR for that.
posted by Sophie1 at 12:19 PM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by Sophie1 at 12:19 PM on July 28, 2016 [3 favorites]
Headbanger's Ball, motherfuckers!
posted by jonmc at 12:34 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by jonmc at 12:34 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
I really hope they can work out the licensing for the music in Daria, because otherwise it's just not the same show.
posted by teponaztli at 12:47 PM on July 28, 2016
posted by teponaztli at 12:47 PM on July 28, 2016
@Hairy Lobster: The 120 Minutes archive.
posted by kevinbelt at 12:56 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by kevinbelt at 12:56 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I really hope they can work out the licensing for the music in Daria, because otherwise it's just not the same show.
Same with Beavis and Butt-head. Some of the funniest stuff was their running commentary during the music videos.
posted by Fleebnork at 1:03 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
Same with Beavis and Butt-head. Some of the funniest stuff was their running commentary during the music videos.
posted by Fleebnork at 1:03 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
I am here to proclaim my irrational love of Beavis & Butthead. Heh-heh.
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:32 PM on July 28, 2016
posted by Lyme Drop at 1:32 PM on July 28, 2016
I would pay money to be able to watch all the BUZZ episodes again. Prescient media gold nuggets.
posted by dbiedny at 1:37 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by dbiedny at 1:37 PM on July 28, 2016 [1 favorite]
We mostly quit watching it when they started having shows. The whole point was to leave it on 24 hours a day like the radio, with a tape in the VCR so if you walked by and something good came on you hit record. Where the hell are my tapes?
posted by bongo_x at 1:47 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by bongo_x at 1:47 PM on July 28, 2016 [2 favorites]
Wow, nothing from the 80s. Nothing. sigh.
::Gen-X'er gets on ice floe::
Bye, now.
posted by droplet at 3:59 PM on July 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
::Gen-X'er gets on ice floe::
Bye, now.
posted by droplet at 3:59 PM on July 28, 2016 [8 favorites]
Without wishing to do the inverse of the thing we've been complaining about on Metatalk, in the late 80s and early 90s I had a secret passion for MTV Europe. Secret, because it was so... dumb, really. Made in a cupboard somewhere in Camden Town, with the videos linked by presenters from across Europe, though it seemed like most of them came from Scandinavia. I was not - am not - particularly good at people, and so all these slightly air headed but undeniably cheery and pretty youngish people* filled me with a combination of hate, envy and a strong desire to be like them, which I could never be: even at that point too old, always too ugly, and not chummy enough. It was the first really coherent picture I'd ever seen of European identity, and I'd watch obsessively it like one of those dogs who can't work out whether they want to stay or go so they end up standing in the doorway barking.
A heady cocktail of yearning, self-loathing and occasional Aerosmith videos, it was perhaps the reason I voted Remain, (apart from the boring old avoiding-political-and-economic-suicide reasons).
*And Ray Cokes.
posted by Grangousier at 4:11 PM on July 28, 2016
A heady cocktail of yearning, self-loathing and occasional Aerosmith videos, it was perhaps the reason I voted Remain, (apart from the boring old avoiding-political-and-economic-suicide reasons).
*And Ray Cokes.
posted by Grangousier at 4:11 PM on July 28, 2016
Hate that. I lost my MTV 2 years ago with Suddenlink.
posted by haleassociations at 6:51 PM on July 28, 2016
posted by haleassociations at 6:51 PM on July 28, 2016
I am here to proclaim my irrational love of Beavis & Butthead. Heh-heh.
What's not to love? Especially now that Trump has made them relevant again!
posted by TedW at 7:05 PM on July 28, 2016
What's not to love? Especially now that Trump has made them relevant again!
posted by TedW at 7:05 PM on July 28, 2016
entropicamericana: "Speaking as somebody who watched MTV back when it played videos, it seems to incredibly quaint to me that we used to sit and wait for MTV to play our favorite video instead of just going to YouTube and watching it whenever. It's like rotary phone quaint."
MTV Japan is still 80% music videos, and I'd say 80% of those are Western music. Despite having access to YouTube on my TV, iPad, computer, and phone, and listening to music on YouTube during the daytime as I work, at night I still watch music videos on MTV and still discover musicians that I would not have discovered otherwise because the don't match up with the type of music I already listen to.
posted by Bugbread at 9:50 PM on July 28, 2016
MTV Japan is still 80% music videos, and I'd say 80% of those are Western music. Despite having access to YouTube on my TV, iPad, computer, and phone, and listening to music on YouTube during the daytime as I work, at night I still watch music videos on MTV and still discover musicians that I would not have discovered otherwise because the don't match up with the type of music I already listen to.
posted by Bugbread at 9:50 PM on July 28, 2016
MTV Japan is still 80% music videos,
You just blew my mind.
posted by bongo_x at 10:41 PM on July 28, 2016
You just blew my mind.
posted by bongo_x at 10:41 PM on July 28, 2016
For anyone else interested in taking a trip back into the 90s, there's also The Splat: a brand new television channel dedicated to your favorite '90s Nicktoons of yore.
But Fizz they don't have Roundhouse. That was one of the best shows.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 12:57 AM on July 29, 2016
But Fizz they don't have Roundhouse. That was one of the best shows.
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 12:57 AM on July 29, 2016
Cash4Lead: "So this is what it must have felt like when the Boomers reached their peak earning years and the culture industry started making relentless appeals to nostalgia for the 1960s, no?"
Yes, it's going to be fantastic.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:19 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Yes, it's going to be fantastic.
posted by Chrysostom at 7:19 AM on July 29, 2016 [2 favorites]
Jen Chaney of Vulture makes a case for MTV Classic being less of an attempt to tap a single nostalgic market, and more of an MTV archive. The idea of broadcasting old award shows or other programming as they were seems far more interesting than re-airing regular serial or reality TV shows.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:16 PM on July 31, 2016
posted by lmfsilva at 3:16 PM on July 31, 2016
Wow, nothing from the 80s. Nothing. sigh.
If it makes you feel any better, the 80s are coming back musically. I feel like I hear more electronic 80s style stuff.
posted by LizBoBiz at 5:16 PM on July 31, 2016
If it makes you feel any better, the 80s are coming back musically. I feel like I hear more electronic 80s style stuff.
posted by LizBoBiz at 5:16 PM on July 31, 2016
Well, it's been like that for almost a decade or so. The Killers Sam's Town (which included Read My Mind) turns 10 in October, and even before it, M83 was already showing some John Hughes chops. If bands are playing it straighter now is a different question, but I'm guessing we're already closer to the tail end of 80s revivalism.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:22 AM on August 1, 2016
posted by lmfsilva at 3:22 AM on August 1, 2016
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posted by ZenMasterThis at 10:14 AM on July 28, 2016 [4 favorites]