MTV is 30 years old today. What was your favorite early MTV video?

[Nars Glinley]

For me, it's a tossup between ZZ Top's "Legs" or Rainbow's "All Night Long" (link might be NSFW since it features a dancer in a tubetop and skin tight shorts) which gave us classic lines like:
"You're kind of young but you're overage."
"Don't know about your brain but you look alright."
"Your mind is dirty but your hands are clean. You're short of class but your legs are long."

[PapSett]

I think my favorite video of all time is Ah Ha's 'Take On Me'. Amazing concept and animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av2e

[FinnAgain]

Dire Straits, Money For Nothing.

[MeanJoe]

Duran Duran's Hungry Like The Wolf

[Alessan]

Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. Still the greatest video ever.

[Uncle Jocko]

MTV used to play music videos? Huh.

I kid, I kid. I remember the excitement back in college when the local cable company added MTV to the lineup. Before that, the only way to see music videos was Radio 1990 on USA Network .. and didn't NBC have videos on late at night on the weekends?

Good times, good times. I was a fan of videos by ABC (the group, not the network .. Poison Arrow, The Look of Love). Also Men at Work (Who Can It Be Now, Down Under) and the Fixx (One Thing Leads To Another).

[Uncle Jocko]

Originally Posted by Alessan

Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer. Still the greatest video ever.

And speaking of Peter Gabriel ... loved Shock the Monkey.

[Koxinga]

Talking Heads: "And She Was"

[bienville]

You Might Think this question is subjective, but there is actually one correct answer.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Uncle Jocko

And speaking of Peter Gabriel ... loved Shock the Monkey.

This is the one I was going to mention. I had only a vague idea of who Peter Gabriel was when I first saw this video, and I'm like:

"Cool music, neat beats. Funny it should be coming from this normal looking guy in a business suit. Not your usual look for that kind of music..."

"...and now he's... in a white suit wearing monkey makeup! AHHHHHHH!!!!"

I was caught utterly off-guard.

[Snowboarder Bo]

I swear I remember seeing The Residents cover of James Brown's Its A Man's Man's Man's World get played a few times. I know I first saw it during a movie break on Showtime, HBO or Cinemax, but I swear I saw it a few times on EmptyVision too.

I used to love seeing Mike Nesmith's Cruisin'. Even then the Zappa-esque nature of the song and video made me laugh; the two were apparently good friends.

Before they hit it really big, Dire Straits pretty much blew my mind with Skateaway.

Of course that first year I hoped every day to see DEVO's Whip It.

And who didn't absolutely love Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It and I Wanna Rock?

[Hypno-Toad]

I didn't get MTV. I had to wait for "Friday Night Videos" on NBC. It was cool not just for the videos, but because I was allowed to stay up late enough to watch.

[BMalion]

Hell, I remember Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, you kids.

[digs]

Thanks for the nostalgia. I was part of a generation that just could not turn off MTV. As Beavis or Butthead said: "This video's lame. I bet the next one'll be better..."

Early promos with Pete Townshend shameslessly telling you to call your cable company and yelling "I want my MTV!"

And the first ten minutes of MTV, 30 years and "Video Killed The Radio Star" still holds up!

[Jackknifed Juggernaut]

Can't say I have a favorite, but in addition to some already mentioned, The Motels' "Only The Lonely".

[Maastricht]

I came in mentioning Aha's Take on me, and I kind of expected someone to already have mentioned it. Great taste, PapSett!

[Nars Glinley]

According to this site, the first 25 videos played on MTV were
"Video Killed the Radio Star" -- The Buggles
"You Better Run" -- Pat Benatar
"She Won't Dance" -- Rod Stewart
"You Better You Bet" -- The Who
"Little Suzi's on the Up" -- Phd
"We Don't Talk Anymore" -- Cliff Richard
"Brass in Pocket" -- The Pretenders
"Time Heals" -- Todd Rundgren
"Take It on the Run" -- REO Speedwagon
"Rockin' the Paradise" -- Styx
"When Things Go Wrong" -- Robin Lane And The Chartbusters
"History Never Repeats" -- Split Enz
"Hold on Loosely" --.38 Special
"Just Between You and Me" -- April Wine
"Sailing" -- Rod Stewart
"Iron Maiden" -- Iron Maiden
"Keep on Loving You" -- REO Speedwagon
"Message of Love" -- The Pretenders
"Mr. Briefcase" -- Lee Ritenour
"Double Life" -- The Cars
"In the Air Tonight" -- Phil Collins
"Clues" -- Robert Palmer
"Too Late" -- The Shoes
"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" -- Stevie Nicks w/Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
"Surface Tension" -- Rupert Hines

[blondebear]

A Friday night favorite: Loverboy's Working For The Weekend

[digs]

Originally Posted by PapSett

I think my favorite video of all time is Ah Ha's 'Take On Me'. Amazing concept and animation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djV11Xbc914&ob=av2e

And the • o b l i g a t o r y • l i n k • to the literal version. I use it during a creativity class at an art school.

"Gonna kick some ass with my own pipe wrench..."

[Ponch8]

Michael Jackson's "Thriller." The premiere of the video was a huge deal. There was even an hour-long special on the making of "Thriller."

[Dung Beetle]

My brother and I would come running to see Motley Crue’s Smokin’ In the Boys’ Room, or Ozzy’s Shot in the Dark, or Ratt’s Round and Round, or…well, pretty much all of it back in those days.

[Don Draper]

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes

[DigitalC]

Tawni Kitaen wet and rolling all over a car by White Snake.

[Gangster Octopus]

Cry by Godley and Creme

[Laggard]

Two Tribes by Frankie Goes to Hollywood

[Jack Batty]

What I remember (from visiting my grandparents who had cable and we didn't, so I only saw about 10 hour of MTV the first few years it was running ... but I digress), was a full-length Ozzy Osbourne concert, with Randy Rhodes, shot on video ... he had the blue tights and the not-quite finished tattoos a-rockin'.

... I'd never seen anything quite like it. I don't even think I'd been to an actual concert myself at the time.

(actually, I can't remember if Rhodes played or not, but I think he did ... when did he snuff it again?)

[The Tooth]

Not my favourite, I really have no love for her music at all, but I always associate that early 80's MTV stuff with Madonna's "Lucky Star".

[Tangent]

Originally Posted by DigitalC

Tawni Kitaen wet and rolling all over a car by White Snake.

Oh, yeah!
In a similar vein (and maybe NSFW):

Hot for Teacher by Van Halen

Girls, Girls, Girls by Motely Crue

[Sam Stone]

I think I'll go with "Sledgehammer".

[Tangent]

Not really a favorite, but a video that stands out in my memory is the Genesis - Land of Confusion video with the Spitting Image puppets.

[dzeiger]

Originally Posted by Don Draper

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes

With extra bonus points for making Jon Anderson look something like a badass.

Golden Earring's Twilight Zone was awesome. (When the Lady Smiles was better, but I think the video's subject matter prevented it from getting much airplay).

Thriller was the video we all ran to the TV to watch whenever it came on.

As a kid who wasn't particularly familiar with Elton John at the time, I'm Still Standing really jumped out at me, even among the other strangeness of early videos.

And Road Warrior Sting was really cool in Synchronicity II

[StusBlues]

Originally Posted by dzeiger

Golden Earring's Twilight Zone was awesome. (When the Lady Smiles was better, but I think the video's subject matter prevented it from getting much airplay).

Now I have to watch that again. I only remember seeing it once, but don't recall anything too salacious about it (at least compared to, say, David Lee Roth's "California Girls".

[StusBlues]

I have now watched When the Lady Smiles again.

It seems I was rather oblivious when I was 14.

[Jack Batty]

Even though I didn't like Synchronicity a tenth as much as I liked all their previous albums, I do have a soft-spot in my heart for all those goofy Police videos ... expecially the one for "Synchonicity II."

[Agnostic Pagan]

True Faith by New Order. I had heard of surrealism. That was the first time I had seen it. It came out in '87 so it is a bitter younger than most of the others mentioned, but still from the 'golden' age of videos.

Love is A Stranger is still one of my favorite videos. Actually there are very few videos by Annie and Dave I don't like. And she is still sexy as hell.

[Happy Lendervedder]

When I was a wee lad of 8, my family finally got cable television, and one of the first channels I checked out was MTV. First video I ever saw was Genesis' "That's All."

Some videos that hold a special place in my heart, for various reasons:

*Divinyls' "I Touch Myself."
Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit."
Dr Dre ft Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Dre Day."
Paul Simon's "The Boy in the Bubble."
George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You."
*George Michael's "Freedom 90."


* I was 15/16 when these songs came out, so my fondness for these videos should be somewhat apparent.

[KneadToKnow]

Originally Posted by Don Draper

Owner of a Lonely Heart - Yes

Concur.

[kiz]

Originally Posted by BMalion

Hell, I remember Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, you kids.

You're not the only one

[Tangent]

Originally Posted by Happy Lendervedder

George Harrison's "Got My Mind Set on You."

I always preferred the original music video for this song. I was flabbergasted a couple of years ago when someone pointed out that the guy in the video is a very young Alexis Denisof (of BtVS and Angel fame).

[Mewl Dear]

Call Me Al and Me and Julio by Paul Simon.

[Snowboarder Bo]

Originally Posted by kiz

You're not the only one

DKRC was on back-to-back with Night Flight back in the day. That's where I first heard The Residents, Frank Zappa, Prince and Minutemen. I'm pretty sure it's where I first learned about "Bob" Dobbs, too. Good times!

[corkboard]

Girls On Film by Duran Duran was a shocking, amazing, fascinating video at a very formative time in my youth. It caused me to, well, spend many hours in my bunk. I recently found the uncensored version on youtube, and was surprised how much they cut it for Mtv. Even edited, it made quite the impression on this young teen.

There was this one video that they played in fairly regular rotation, don't think I've heard the name of the band before or since but the song's refrain was something like "No one can stop us now, tonight we're on the loose!". It was a concert video, and the lead singer was very sweaty in some sort of yellow track suit with a tank top, and knee pads. At one point he went over to the keyboard and hammered out a solo, which I can still hear in my head. I really don't know the significance of the knee pads.

[billfish678]

Hey (don't forget) Mickey!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KiMPuEiao3E

Pretty good looking lady at 39.

[billfish678]

Originally Posted by Tangent

Not really a favorite, but a video that stands out in my memory is the Genesis - Land of Confusion video with the Spitting Image puppets.

Its amazing how many of the "characters" in the video are still news/newsworthy/discussed today.

[Don Draper]

Originally Posted by Agnostic Pagan

Love is A Stranger is still one of my favorite videos. Actually there are very few videos by Annie and Dave I don't like. And she is still sexy as hell.

I remember there was a bit of a stir when this video came out. It was a minor hit in, I think '82 (it was later re-released after "Sweet Dreams" became a massive, era-defining hit and did much better.) But at the moment in the video when Annie Lennox rips off the blond wig to reveal her cropped hair, a lot of people thought that she was a man! (Remember that before Lennox, a woman in a crew-cut was almost unthinkable.)

On that track, here's a video that got played very early on - Like a Bad Girl Should by the Cramps. In its' very earliest days, MTV dis actually show some pretty risque stuff, but quickly toned it down to pretty much the standards of broadcast channels.

Does anyone remember the interview that VJ Martha Quinn did with (I think) the singer from Motley Crue where it looked as if the pair were passing a joint between them off-camera (the camera would be on Quinn, she would be holding her hand just off-camera to him, the camera would switch to him and he would be passing something back to her, and there would be a faint wisp of smoke disappearing in the air. I can't find anything online about it, but I remember everyone in school talking about that the next day.

[Gatopescado]

Once in a Lifetime- Talking Heads

I still do the "chopping arm" motion once in a while for no special reason.

[Icerigger]

The Metro by Berlin

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pRUGsB1qGY

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by BMalion

Hell, I remember Don Kirschner's Rock Concert, you kids.

Came on after Austin City Limits, young whippersnapper!

[dinahmoe]

Originally Posted by corkboard

Girls On Film by Duran Duran was a shocking, amazing, fascinating video at a very formative time in my youth. It caused me to, well, spend many hours in my bunk. I recently found the uncensored version on youtube, and was surprised how much they cut it for Mtv. Even edited, it made quite the impression on this young teen.

There was this one video that they played in fairly regular rotation, don't think I've heard the name of the band before or since but the song's refrain was something like "No one can stop us now, tonight we're on the loose!". It was a concert video, and the lead singer was very sweaty in some sort of yellow track suit with a tank top, and knee pads. At one point he went over to the keyboard and hammered out a solo, which I can still hear in my head. I really don't know the significance of the knee pads.

"On the Loose" by Saga. We did that as a drum solo in marching band my sophomore year of high school.

[The Tooth]

Originally Posted by Gatopescado

Once in a Lifetime- Talking Heads

I still do the "chopping arm" motion once in a while for no special reason.

Yep. Same as it ever was.