On August 1, 1981, a group of teenagers celebrated the televised image of the man who set foot on the moon, with hugs and tears of joy. 12 years had passed Buzz Aldrin put the American flag on Earth’s satellitebut this time the stars and stripes have been replaced with the company’s logo. The first music channel is on television 24 hours a day.. The phenomenon had just been born MTVAlthough of course very few people saw the first video clip on the channel,Video killed the radio star‘ about Buggles. In fact, the custodians did this from a bar in Fort Lee, New Jersey, because listening was not possible in New York. Cable television was still in its infancy, and the idea of a seamless music space for younger audiences didn’t appeal to operators who weren’t forward-thinking. No one could imagine the significance of what had just happened.
One of the anecdotes told in this documentary. MTV. ‘The video clip revolution’ (2019) by Tyler Measom and Patrick Waldrop, which premiered on Movistar Plus on July 27. It is a journey through its history with testimonies of its supporters, a group of young people with no television experience but with many ideas and a desire to have fun. According to the memories of the interviewees, the offices of the company looked like what they tried to do the same decades later. beginnings force the internet. They lived almost in the studio but also went out every night, shoulder to shoulder with the big figures of rock music, hopping from party to party. There was no set hour, you just had to make an effort and be very creative. Like this ‘it started in the garage’ saga, only here were guitars, cool people and little money.
Despite having everything to succeed, neither of the two industries they depend on—cable TV and music—trusted the project, so they didn’t have a lot of funds, but they had creativity. For example, managed to make the first viral campaign before the concept existed. George Lois, a veteran of thousands of ad wars and a member of the MTV team, remembered a cereal commercial featuring celebrities saying “I want my Maypo” and decided to change the idea a bit. He contacted his friend Mick Jagger to have him videotaped. “I want my MTV” (His diabolical majesty accepted the modest payment of a dollar). MTV co-founder John Sykes turned to The Who’s Pete Townshend with the same request. ‘Mode’ said yes, and gradually they succeeded in building a good band of musical celebrities to persuade young people in the United States to call cable operators and say, “I want my MTV.” they swept away
The first video clip to be accepted as such, “Hard Days Night” by The Beatles (1964), the format has yet to be successful in North America. In fact, MTV’s original idea came from The Monkees’ Michael Nesmith’s work with the video for the song ‘Rio’ that got the label excited. Here he realized there was a vein for capturing young viewers and created the ‘pilot’ for MTV: PopClips. With this example, and with Robert W. Pittman, Warner-Amex convinced Satellite Entertainment executives to release the 24-hour music channel project.
But once they started walking, one of the first problems arose: they didn’t have enough video clips to fill the time without repeating or putting themselves too much. clips they didn’t smell so they looked United KingdomThanks to programs such as ‘Top Of The Pops’, a country that is much more developed in this discipline is decisive when it comes to record sales. This video format was ridiculously expensive and had an incredible return on investment, so they bought it for themselves and nailed it in the head. The money machine started working at full speed.
The second big problem arose when they had already achieved success. Artist Rick James accused the chain of almost never posting videos of black artists.. The excuse for those responsible was that the channel only played rock and roll and there were almost no racist artists, but it was so easy to find examples that refute this premise that they couldn’t get away with the accusation of racism. David Bowie exposed the network in a May 1983 interview when he directly asked the interviewer why black artists weren’t playing their music. The answer to my stutter didn’t help at all.
HE ‘Michael Jackson’s Billy Jean The solution to the problem was, at the same time, – reluctantly – publicity. rap in your programming. Guitar music was no longer the only genre of youth – in fact, ‘metal’ videos with long hair, bangs and half-naked girls were already cheesy in the mid-80s – and they had no choice but to adapt. The evolution of the culture is what made MTV gradually cease to be a video clip channel to promote other content that puts the public on the screen.reality‘ Now it is, but they’ve invented other pop culture milestones that have been linked to their names before. MTV Video Music Awards.
what happened in spain
It took years for MTV to reach Spain, and when it did, not everyone had access. It was in 2000 and only Canal+ partners could see it. This music reporter Beatriz RodríguezHe remembers how he recorded on VHS his favorite video clips that aired on the original MTV, signing media like ‘Los 40 Principales’ or ‘Cultura FNAC’. “Later, the more alternative MTV2 came along and I really enjoyed watching videos there accompanying great songs by Placebo, Queens of the Stone Age or The White Stripes, among others,” he continues. He also points to El Periódico de España from the group Prensa Ibérica: “With the arrival of MTV Spain, I remember MTV Kabuki with Guillem Caballé, the discovery by Deborah Ombres, or their review at MTV Select, with Miguel Such and Claudia González .
The channel became available on digital terrestrial television in 2010, but became paid again in 2014. By then, its original character as a 24-hour music channel had long since disappeared. Pepo Márquez, leader of The Secret Society and CEO of Big Audio Media“The transformation of MTV into a reality television channel is part of a global trend that began nearly 15 years ago and is transforming the music media we know in Spain: ‘Rolling Stone’ has gone from being a leading music magazine to a ‘lifestyle’. ‘ catalog; ‘The Country of Temptations’ ended in closure; ‘Los 40’ stopped programming guitar music or was the only live music talent show to be seen on TV.
He knows how the music industry works, having worked for years both as an artist and with labels like Universal, Rolling Stone, PIAS and YouTube Music. According to that: “The evolution of mass music from the early ’80s to the present would have been different without MTV.. Thanks to him, the music video became an art in itself, not just a promotional tool, and the success of the artists’ careers necessarily depended on their success on the channel.”
Márquez also points to the company’s minds’ ability to transform recorded music. “They left unique moments in history by creating venues like MTV Unplugged (like Nirvana’s MTV Unplugged or Eric Clapton’s, to name two iconic examples). For several years it was avant-garde and almost every genre was influenced by its influence: ‘metal’ with ‘Headbangers Ball’, hip hop or alternative rock with 120 Minutes,” he says.
Rodríguez also thinks it’s a high-dimensional cultural phenomenon. “Introduced several generations to popular culture. First of all, it’s mine who is over 40. The ’90s kids’ remember those great moments when part of the video clip was featured. hunt love Until the Smashing Pumpkins at twelve or the red carpets of the MTV Awards of the time with both musicians and artists of the time like Winona, Gwyneth, Ethan, and all the big stars of the moment. The journalist, like many other people, has not yet understood why this has become news content. reality. “It should have continued with its cultural function, where it has performed so well for decades. I think what came next was another attack on music, a property we didn’t know how to properly protect,” he confirms.