Music Videos- Anyone remember the hey day of MTV and VH1

[roadman65]

I was browsing the internet today looking at old videos.  I specifically was interested in the Talking Heads video for Wild Nights as I always impressed with the many people that lip sank to the song in the video.  Then at certain moments David Byrne (the real singer) would appear which gave the line "Will the real David Byrne stand up please" said by most MTV and VH1 jocks to be said.

What I found that not only did it bring out memories for me, but noticed that two of the lip sinkers were and are well known celebrities.
Sam Kinison, the comedian known for talking calmly at first and then going into a rage, was one of the many people doing the song as well as John Goodman who appeared in Roseanne also appeared as a lip sinker to David Byrne.

It is interesting how the videos were just plain to us in the day, but now looking back some of things in them are like "Hey look at that" and stuff of the same. 

Does anyone else here want to talk about their favorite or even videos that you found interesting and just rap about it here?

[NE2]

lip sank

Nice. Correct conjugation of the wrong homophone.

Does anyone else here want to talk about their favorite or even videos that you found interesting and just rap about it here?

Yo. MTV
is a bunch of poo.
I can't rap
and neither can you.

[kurumi]

Why MTV doesn't play music videos anymore (SLYT)

[Roadrunner75]

I didn't grow up with cable, since we got broadcast being close to Philadelphia and my pop wasn't interested, but I caught videos here and there on Friday Night Videos, Videospin and other places.  By the time I had my own cable subscription after college, MTV had already gone down the tubes.  Peter Gabriel always made some interesting ones back in the day. 

[Billy F 1988]

I know nothing about MTV or VH1. Sorry. Even back in its heyday, some of the stuff that appeared on those networks were just as shittastic as the new crap thats on them today.

[cpzilliacus]

Never had MTV in its earliest days, because I lived in my Dad's home in Montgomery County, Maryland, where the County Council has long been (rightly) known as being dominated by paralysis by analysis, in other words, excessive study of things that do not need such scrutiny, which meant that years went by with no cable service.  And even when a contract was signed with a cable TV provider, they used unproven technology called "Trax," which did not work well, and the provider went bankrupt, and then a new company had to come in and clean up the mess and start over with more conventional cable TV technology. 

So when I would visit friends in other counties in Maryland and Virginia, we could and did watch MTV, and was rather fascinated by it.  Some of my favorite videos were the "plain" ones by the Who and Aretha Franklin, as well as the animated (or partly animated) ones by Dire Straits (about MTV) and A-Ha. 

VH-1 came along as targeted to an older demographic than MTV, and I watched that as well - by that time, I had my own place, with a cable subscription. 

[amroad17]

I enjoyed both MTV and VH-1 until 1988 when they both started to run specific shows and then reality shows.  I wanted to watch them for the music videos.  CMT also used to show videos.  Now they are showing old TV shows and movies a lot.

Yes, many of the music videos were simplistic as well as downright bad, but that is why I watched them.  I mean, look at the first video ever played on MTV--"Video Killed the Radio Star."  The video itself was crappy.  However, I wanted to see what the video of a song I liked was done.

Trivia:  The first "VJ's" on VH-1 included Scott Shannon, Rita Coolidge, Jon Bauman aka Bowser from Sha Na Na, and Don Imus.

[bing101]

REM songs like Losing my Religion,  Stand, and Everybody Hurts made MTV great back then.

[spooky]

I remember a Talking Heads video for "Wild Wild Life" where people lip synched, but maybe you had a different MTV.

[PHLBOS]

Marblehead, MA had to be one of the last towns in Essex County if not the Commonwealth to get cable... sometime during the late 80s.  As a result, if one wanted to watch either MTV or VH1 (IIRC, the latter debuted sometime later) prior to then; one had to go to neighboring Salem or Swampscott to watch.

Once cable came to town & my family subscribed to it; only then I started watching MTV & VH1.  Personally, since I like older music anyway; I was more drawn to VH1.

After moving out to PA in mid-1990 and not subscribing to cable (once one lives on their own, one quickly realizes the actual cost of things); I obviously stopped watching both.  When I'm visiting my mother (who still has cable); only then will I view the various cable-only channels.

It appears that other venue-specific cable channels are now following MTV's & VH1's lead in showing programs other than their originally-intended venue.  When one turns on the Weather Channel now; it seems that the weather reports (including the Local on the 8s) are now getting pushed out in favor of shows like Fat Guys in the Woods... WTH?

I wonder how long will it be when someone will chime in and state, "Remember when the Weather Channel had actual weather forecasts on it?"

[Roadrunner75]

It appears that other venue-specific cable channels are now following MTV's & VH1's lead in showing programs other than their originally-intended venue.  When one turns on the Weather Channel now; it seems that the weather reports (including the Local on the 8s) are now getting pushed out in favor of shows like Fat Guys in the Woods... WTH?

I wonder how long will it be when someone will chime in and state, "Remember when the Weather Channel had actual weather forecasts on it?"

That's definitely a problem throughout the cable lineup.  I remember when CNN's Headline News channel showed continuous 24 hour news.  Now it's mostly shows.  I had a relative over recently who wanted to see news on TV, and I realized at that moment that although I had probably 5 or more "news" channels, none of them were showing news.  Same for the History Channel.  I remember watching shows about actual history such as "Founding Fathers", etc.  Now it's just 'reality' TV, which apparently is much cheaper to produce.

As for the Weather Channel, I never cared for it even when it showed actual weather since I could get local forecasts quicker elsewhere.  The best was a channel I had for awhile when I was in Cablevision territory called News 12 Traffic and Weather.  It showed a continuous loop of just local traffic and weather, alternating between road map graphics and weather info.

Also, with respect to TWC, I always felt that the 'anchors' were just itching to jump into news or sports, as if they were sentenced in Groundhog Day fashion to perpetually loop back to the weather - "...and that's it for the forecast...now back to you at the desk with the...uh...the weather again"

[bandit957]

The cable system in northern Kentucky didn't get MTV until 1983, because some "morality" types kept it off during the first 2 years.

I guess I was going on 10 when I first saw MTV. It was good back then, but that didn't last. I also remember seeing VH1 in the late '80s/early '90s, and I just thought it was pretentious and mostly for people who thought they were smarter than everyone else, when really it was stupid.

[bandit957]

Also, back in the '80s, I always thought it strange how some adults objected to MTV while they never objected to radio stations that played the same type of music. They thought that adding video to music somehow made it "dirty."

[DandyDan]

I remember when I was a kid, even though everyone else had cable, Dad didn't want to pay for it, so I had to go to my friend's house and that's basically all we watched (that and game shows).  It took Dad's job moving to Illinois to get cable.  I believe when I went off to college in 1991, MTV still played mostly videos, although it was all compartmentalized, like Headbanger's Ball and Yo! MTV Raps, and then they had Beavis and Butthead.  Then they decided to kill the network with reality shows.  Even they were interesting at first, but like everything else, it went downhill.  I don't recall ever watching VH1 on a regular basis until they came up with Behind the Music.

[DTComposer]

We had MTV almost from the beginning - it's a little strange/eerie that so many of the original VJs are now on Sirius XM's '80s channel.

I also remember watching "Night Flight" on USA when that was brand new - it was a mix of videos, music-related interviews and movies (think that's where I first saw "Magical Mystery Tour") and other snippets - the roadgeek in me was fascinated by the city flyover in the credits:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4vIqkpQQ9M

[bandit957]

Anyone else remember when MTV had a top 20 countdown each Friday night?

[Pete from Boston]

Night Flight was better than anything MTV ever did. 

[cpzilliacus]

Anyone remember Video Jukebox on HBO? 

Several years before the launch of MTV.

[Pete from Boston]

Anyone remember Video Jukebox on HBO? 

Several years before the launch of MTV.

I do.  I was very confused when I first saw it.  I recall a video from Hilly Michaels of Sparks, and possibly a number from "Can't Stop the Music."  It was not customary to see a song with its own film on TV in those days. 

HBO, I should add, also had an excellent array of short films broadcast between films in those days.  This was before "fun" HBO morphed into "serious" HBO. 

[roadman65]

Does anyone remember Lou Reed's No Money Down?   It was a very strange video as it just showed via movie magic Lou Reed pull the skin off of his face until his skeleton was all shown from the neck up.   

Then you had Yes with its upside down video for Leave It.

Some videos were stranger than the others.

[bandit957]

Anyone remember when Casey Kasem's TV show used to show videos? This was before MTV came to town.

[bing101]

Yes Today MTV and VH1 Reality shows.


CNN, Ron Burgundy type stuff.


HLN "Trial of the Century Channel"


MSNBC and Fox News Troll speak.


ESPN stayed the same all sports after 35 years.
HBO Stayed the same
AMC from old movies to Putting a fight against Netflix for fresh shows.

[Pete from Boston]

HBO stayed the same?  35 years ago HBO was movies, boxing, and "Inside the NFL."   Now its bread and butter is in-house serial programs that people watch entire seasons of religiously. 

[bing101]

HBO stayed the same?  35 years ago HBO was movies, boxing, and "Inside the NFL."   Now its bread and butter is in-house serial programs that people watch entire seasons of religiously.

You are correct HBO did become better over time.

[roadman65]

HBO stayed the same?  35 years ago HBO was movies, boxing, and "Inside the NFL."   Now its bread and butter is in-house serial programs that people watch entire seasons of religiously.

You are correct HBO did become better over time.

Except for Bill Maher lol!   For those of you who love him, nothing against you.  I believe that everyone deserves free speech whether it is him, Rush, Sean Hannity (Oh I just get mad with him after he praised Dick Scott of Florida, but still he has the right), and even Howard Stern or any other Joe out there.