Best.video.ever: Safety Dance, Men Without Hats

Do you want your MTV more than these kids????

Guitar Prodigy and Kindergarten Cutie
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-gTwjTa3pw

I watched MTV as a kid in the early 80s and was enthralled by Annie Lennox of the Eurythmics, both in "Love is a Stranger" and their surreal video critique of the music industry, "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)." But by the late 80s I was appalled by MTV's monocropped version of music. You mentioned how MTV kept hip hop in the closet for a long time—too true! And MTV also did the same to punk and indie rock. These genres were saved for a weekly program called "120 Minutes" that really only played major label artists. It wasn't until (former) indie bands like Sonic Youth and Nirvana signed to the majors that birthed the myth of punk reawakening from a long slumber. Indie rock's golden age was in the 80s, but invisible in the shadow of hair metal, backed by the profit-driven monopoly of MTV.

I was bemused by MTV but liked all videos despite often being lukewarm about the music. Then came Kate Bush's CLOUDBUSTING with no less than Donald Sutherland as the starring role in one of my favorite artist's songs...

afterschoolmtv in the 80's
or'skipping'schoolfortheDAY../ to 'monitor' what was on M.t.v.'
U@'firstbig video'they set thenew'barhigh forgraphics music!!the visualSplusthesounds

Tremendously enjoyed the segment, and I'll have to check out Marks's book in my Copious Free Time. However, I do have to quibble (it's the internet! I'm required by law to quibble!)

The New Wave had several major commerical successes before the debut of MTV; the most notable was The Cars, who had 2 Top 40 hits off of each of the first two albumns in the 1970s. MTV definitely pushed them all the way to the top of the charts for the singles from HEARTBEAT CITY, but they were definitely a success as Radio Stars.

MTV opened my eyes to so much more music back in the early 80's. I don't think I could pick one video, but of my top three, I will say that Hungry Like the Wolf left me speechless, Sweet Child of Mine still makes me smile remembering memories of a trip to Toronto and Smells Like Teen Spirit ushered in the end of the MTV era for me. It became less about music around that time and more about shows like the Real World.

My favorite was "Subdivisions" by Rush. I am a drummer. I'll never forget when VJ JJ Jackson said "That was Neil Peart and Rush". Jackson used to be a DJ at Seattle's KJR. It was so cool to see a VJ who had worked in my hometown say such positive things about my favorite drummer.

Oh wow! My all time favorite video that blew away all the others is "Weapon of Choice" by Fatboy Slim. Christopher Walken dancing alone in some swanky hotel lobby. Love it, Love it, Love it.

The video that always left me breathless after I saw it was Weezer's "Buddy Holly." It hit that sweet spot of recycling popular culture and putting a new spin on it, mixing in Weezer with "Happy Days." Oddly, that was one of the last music videos that I would have caught on MTV before "The Real World" seemed to change the tenor of the channel forever. I had been with the channel since the early days (my first video was "A Flock of Seagull's "I Ran").

It makes no sense to me that there isn't a channel out there as good as MTV used to be. Even when things started to get more striated with "120 Minutes" "Headbangers' Ball" "Yo! MTV Raps" etc, one would think that there would now be entire channels dedicated to these types of music rather than one channel that seems completely irrelevant.

Without MTV or VH1, there isn't a place left on TV for adults to view videos and see the latest efforts

"Smells Like Teen Spirit" was far and away the most significant "MTV experience" I have ever had. Too young to understand what I was watching, standing in my grandmother's apartment in a "community" in Florida, I could not comprehend what I was watching - I knew it was important. I didn't like it, it wasn't pleasing, and at the same it was freaking amazing!! Of course, the costumes, choreography, & effects of "Thriller", the set & production novelty of "Billie Jean", GNR's "Welcome to the Jungle" and "November Rain" were all really great, but "Smells Like Teen Spirit" shook me. Hurt me in a way - I felt the kind of uncomfortable dissonance that is the privileged curse of being 12.

It's really strange nostalgia - when I close my eyes and think of "SLTS" I am once again in the room in the Florida apartment room with that tiny, tinny, TV. I can smell the humid air, feel the hard click of the dial, the freeze of the air conditioning, and the awkward fidelity of grunge on an awful television. I think it was the confluence of time, music, and puberty... and that is what MTV was for me - and no longer is. A constant flow of sound and light, manifest as music video. Sometimes it was useless background noise... and sometimes it was nirvana.

My favorite video was David Bowie's "China Girl." I loved that 360 shot of the kiss. And my favorite guilty pleasure - "Don't Stand So Close to Me" by The Police. Low tech, no budget, barely structured video; it looked like none of them wanted to be on camera and all felt completely foolish... but I think that's what made it so enjoyable and fun to watch.

My favorite, Peter Gabriel, Sledgehammer.

How funny was "Eat it" or "I'm Fat" by Weird Al. He had us in stitches with MTV parodies. Favorite MTV video moment was the night Thriller first played.

Favorite golden age videos: Jump from Van Halen and later Sweet Child O Mine.

I loved it all--and devoured it all--but I used to wait for hours to see ABC's "The Look of Love."

I loved that dappy fey Englishman in that Candyland world.

Definitely Duran Duran's Hungry Like the Wolf"

My favorite MTV video was "Something More" performed by Sinch on the Roadrunner label back in 1996-97. The visuals were lame, but the band was great. I say this because my son was the bass player and his band mates his high school friends. Though no longer signed to a record label, they're still making music today.