Remember when MTV played videos?

First video shown on MTV without looking it up?

'Video Killed the Radio Star', by Buggles. They wore that damn thing OUT.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24me_buggles-video-killed-the-radio-star_music

02Pilot wrote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yDZu-dgaaF0

That was awesome! I have not seen that season of Portlandia yet.

gamby wrote: Get the book "I Want My MTV". It's a collection of stories from the birth of MTV to 1992, when The Real World premiered.

Read it last year. Very good read, as a kid of the '80's.

Its all Remote Control's fault.

In 7th & 8th grade I used to record Headbanger's Ball every Saturday night. Mostly crap rock, but every once in a while you'd get a true gem. Me and my buddy Mike must've watched this video a thousand times. I swear Billy Milano throws a dude a quarter of a mile at the end. Oh, and Mike's band opened for M.O.D. a couple years ago. Pretty rad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5DKyT_FqY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

JFX001 wrote: I thought Nina Blackwood was hot.

Have you seen her lately?

poopshovel wrote: In 7th & 8th grade I used to record Headbanger's Ball every Saturday night. Mostly crap rock, but every once in a while you'd get a true gem. Me and my buddy Mike must've watched this video a thousand times. I swear Billy Milano throws a dude a quarter of a mile at the end. Oh, and Mike's band opened for M.O.D. a couple years ago. Pretty rad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5DKyT_FqY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I was really conflicted. I'd record Headbangers Ball on Saturday and 120 Minutes on Sunday.

I was a happy camper when this was in regular rotation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P9mwELXPGbA

Joe Gearin wrote: The original "I want my MTV" commercials were pretty epic too. I don't think I've watched MTV in over 20 years now. Why would I?

I remember calling my cable company when those commercials launched and yelling "I want my MTV!" into the phone. (It was late and I might've been a little toasted.) After a long pause, the person who'd answered (yeah, it was THAT long ago) said, "Uh, is yours broken?" I explained that iI wasn't talking about my TV, but the new cable channel that just played videos... and they should carry it... and got nowhere. She truly had no idea what any of my words meant.

Margie

Who remembers radio?

The local college radio station was one of those 10 watt things. MTV was the only thing there was that played the kind of music me & my friends cared about if you were too far from the campus.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pbcvyxrbWjc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gg3FOJNAiks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJ9r8LMU9bQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgPSpVUg0iM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_QRL3t9qyc

I think we knew the end was in sight when the "popular" acts started making videos. First one I recall was some Hall & Oates thing, and a Night Ranger tune. And then Mickey the Wonderfreak showed up. We did watch 120 Minutes for awhile, wasn't Alan Hunter one of the original MTV VJs?

IMO, the last truly great thing MTV ever did was "Unplugged". Every single episode of that should be preserved as a national treasure. Just a few samples..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7HsoGT4NUc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7mgJ1SNZrU
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rGi7YrnZIno

EDIT: I typed so fast I left out a word or two..now restored for your reading pleasure.

Appleseed wrote: Its all Remote Control's fault.

^There's quite a bit o'truth right there.

Also: RIP Ken Ober.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Ober

spitfirebill wrote:

JFX001 wrote: I thought Nina Blackwood was hot.

Have you seen her lately?

Yeah, I have...

Hunter/Quinn/Goodman (who for some reason I can't recall, we absolutely hated.. )/Blackwood/Jackson (RIP).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kq1DfU2UWp8

Scroll forward to 4:03.

Woody wrote: Also: RIP Ken Ober. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Ober

Damn. He was so berkeleying funny. Hate to say I'd kind of forgotten about him.

In reply to friedgreencorrado:

After watching that clip, I now think Richard Hammond should be Rod Stewart for Halloween. All he needs is a blonde wig.

gamby wrote:

poopshovel wrote: In 7th & 8th grade I used to record Headbanger's Ball every Saturday night. Mostly crap rock, but every once in a while you'd get a true gem. Me and my buddy Mike must've watched this video a thousand times. I swear Billy Milano throws a dude a quarter of a mile at the end. Oh, and Mike's band opened for M.O.D. a couple years ago. Pretty rad. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_B5DKyT_FqY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

I was really conflicted. I'd record Headbangers Ball on Saturday and 120 Minutes on Sunday.

Me too. Lots of good live E36 M3 on 120 mins. There was this weird ass show that came on at like 3AM on the local channel that was better than 120 mins. It was mostly pop alt E36 M3, but I saw this on there:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGBKGd0ma5Q&feature=youtube_gdata_player

And a video from Tsunami (useless youtube search,) who I later found on a split 7" with Superchunk. That E36 M3 is still on VHS in a box somewhere in the basement.

I loved "Shock the Monkey" and "Money for Nothing" best.

Headbanger's Ball was AWESOME. I couldn't stay up that late in its heyday, but my sister always recorded them. We still have a few tapes kicking around from that era. She corrupted me very early with metal, and I never looked back.

Some classics: Megadeth: Wake Up Dead http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kSvN1dQjxc

Anthrax: Madhouse http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGHsxMqpL0c

For Mr. Wallens...Testament: Over The Wall http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y3lqsarye3A

And to slow it down a little, the one that started it all for me because of the dive bomb guitar solo... Def Leppard: Foolin http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jACrmwTsi08

Thanks for sharing. Chuck Billy looks like he's barely old enough to shave.

I actually missed most of Headbangers Ball. It came out just before I graduated high school, and we didn't have cable in the dorms. Occasionally my roommate and I would go visit his folks for the weekend, though, and his brother and I would watch Headbangers Ball. (His little brother was the metalhead in the family.)

And while we're talking Headbangers Ball, here, I'll play it forward with some classics:

D.R.I.: http://youtu.be/IxR1xluLvAs

Maiden: http://youtu.be/ONO4mFb-Q_4

Suicidal Tendencies: http://youtu.be/LoF_a0-7xVQ

And not happy about yesterday's news, but this Slayer video still rocks: http://youtu.be/rvuO2EvCTAE

I wanted MTV, and I ponied up the cash for the set-top converter to be able to descramble it. Spent damn near every Saturday night watching Headbanger's Ball throught the 80's - it was my only connection to the world I thought I wanted to be part of.

GRM pretty much fills that void now.

stroker wrote: I loved "Shock the Monkey" and "Money for Nothing" best.

Plus juan for 'Shock the Monkey'. I still think that era produced Peter Gabriel's best work. For the most part the 80's were a musical wasteland but there were a few bright spots.