Every time I hear the initials, M-T-V, I think about Dire Straits’s “Money for Nothing.” It’s one of those songs you can’t help but dance to, assuming you can give a pass on some of the language. I just love the lead guitar riff and the animated characters they use in the video. 

In case you haven’t heard, MTV (Music Television), the dedicated channel established for rock and metal genre music videos, celebrated its 45^th birthday on August 1st of this year. The videos shown on the then-revolutionary cable channel were some of the most creative depictions of music many of us had ever seen. Sure, some just showed bands performing onstage or on a street using lighting and quick cuts as the images beamed through our television sets. (This was the pre-mobile phone era, so I’m intentionally omitting these.) Others, though, were like Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” that sported dancing vegetables and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller,”  a short film that included dancing zombies and the superstar transforming into a werecat before delivering an amazing dance performance as a zombie. 

In their “Hungry Like the Wolf” video, Duran Duran took us through Sri Lanka as lead singer, Simon Le Bon, pursued his lover through open markets, wildlife parks, provinces, and forests. And Madonna dared to take us into a church with her video, “Like a Prayer,” where she kissed a Black man falsely accused of hurting a White woman, presented the image of the man in the posture of Jesus, and danced with an age-diverse choir whose performance blew our socks off.

There are at least three interesting things about the beginnings of MTV and music videos. The first is that most artists, especially the most popular artists, challenged the status quo. There was a huge hullabaloo around Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video, for example, primarily in the form of condemnations from religious groups. A Catholic historian at the time commented that “The video is a blasphemy and insult because it shows immorals inside a church.” We recognize the hypocrisy of this statement given what the Oscar-winning movie, Spotlight, exposes about the decades-long child abuse occurring in the Catholic church—reports that surfaced in the mid-1980s. Released in 2015, the film was based on the research of Boston Globe journalists, Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy. 

Madonna’s “Like a Prayer” video was presented as a critique of the day’s religion and politics, which interestingly, are issues that have increased in salience today. Nonetheless, the superstar lost her $5 million dollar Pepsi contract, reportedly, as a result of the Catholic church’s backlash against the video and the subsequent pressure it placed on the company. Deflection maybe? It’s worth noting that MTV was the first to air the “Like a Prayer” video in its entirety.

The second interesting thing about the beginnings of MTV is that the channel initially didn’t feature the videos of Black artists. David Bowie took MTV to task on this when he pointedly asked VJ Mark Goodman in a one-on-one interview why Black artists’ videos are not featured on the channel. Goodman responded that the channel “[has] to play the music that an entire country will like,” later adding that MTV’s viewers would be “scared to death by Prince, . . . or a string of other Black faces. . . . [What do The Isleys and The Spinners mean to a 17-year-old?]” Bowie’s response to this was, “Well I tell you what The Isley Brothers and Marvin Gaye may mean to a Black 17-year-old, and surely he is part of America as well.”

During the interview, Goodman even describes the genre of music played by MTV at the time as “white.” It’s strange hearing music described in terms of racial categories. This was an interesting political struggle for representation in music at the time. Not only did my siblings, but also my friends in college listened to Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, David Bowie, The Doobie Brothers, Earth, Wind, and Fire, Elton John, The Isley Brothers, Madonna, Marvin Gaye, Michael Jackson, Simply Red, Steely Dan, Tears for Fears, and . . . . I think you get the gist. Eclectic tastes were not unique to us.

I appreciate the activism of Madonna, David Bowie, and many other artists we don’t know and those with whom we are most familiar. Among them is Rick James, whose music aligned with MTV’s music genres, yet his videos were not played. Like David Bowie, he also took the channel to task on their exclusionary policy. There is also Michael Jackson who reportedly pressured then‑CBS Records president, Walter Yetnikoff, into compelling MTV to air his “Billie Jean” video. It would be the first video by a major Black artist played on MTV. And I don’t know about their videos, but have you really listened to The Doobie Brothers music?

Succumbing to pressure, MTV became more inclusive by the end of its first decade. And while a lot of artists’ can attribute much of their success to the exposure of their music videos on the dedicated cable music channel, much of MTVs success stemmed from different content, which leads to the third interesting thing about MTV.

The debut of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” video on MTV in 1983 gave the cable channel its first profitable quarter. Within two years of airing Michael’s “Thriller” video later the same year, in addition to the videos of other artists being added to the rotation, the channel went from a $50 million deficit to revenues over $100 million. In part because of the channel’s expanded reach now with young people, Viacom purchased MTV (along with Showtime) from Warner‑AmEx for $667.5 million and used the opportunity to add shows and ramp up marketing (commercials) for the newly captivated young audience. MTV realized double‑digit gains through game shows like Remote Control, reality shows like The Real World, and variety shows like Total Requests Live hosted by Carson Daly, taking the channel’s revenues to $400 million by the mid‑1990s.

Technological innovation was spurred in the mid‑1990s, which affected cable channels and provided access to nifty audio and visual tools. The drop in cable’s popularity and eventual growth of wireless technology led to declining demand for cable subscribers. This, along with newly acquired audience tastes for reality shows such as those featured on MTV and accounted for much of its revenue, spelled the demise of MTV as a dedicated cable music video channel. As for the music videos, the maturation of Internet technology along with app innovations offered subscribers other options for their viewing and listening pleasure. 

YouTube’s development in 2005 paved the way for people to watch the music videos they wanted to see without the commercials, and Spotify’s launch in 2008, provided music streaming for folks who just wanted to listen to their favorite tunes. Today, MTV hasn’t been a dedicated music video channel for decades now. 

Still, looking back at the network’s beginnings is like opening a time capsule. Some remnants I pull out of it are sad and painful, but many more bring me joy from the great memories of that time. I danced across the entire area of my family room with the volume of “Like a Prayer” turned up high every Saturday morning. I learned Michael Jackson’s nuanced style of singing from his Billie Jean performance. I blasted “Let’s Dance” in the car every time it came on the radio. I simply couldn’t get enough of “Sledgehammer.” It is still the most creative and engaging video I have ever seen. Bon voyage MTV of old—and thanks for the great memories!

What about you? What is your favorite video and memory from the early MTV era?