# The First Two Hours of MTV **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [May 30, 2023, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759 "2023-05-30T02:31:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/61 "2023-05-31T22:51:12Z")
I liked “Send Me an Angel” by Real Life. The video was an homage to Cocteau’s _La Belle et la Bete._ I liked Missing Persons’ videos, although I’m afraid it was more for the lead singer’s skimpy costumes, than for the quality of the music or the videos. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/62 "2023-05-31T23:17:13Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I liked Missing Persons’ videos, although I’m afraid it was more for the lead singer’s skimpy costumes, than for the quality of the music or the videos. “Words” is one of those videos that has that indelible 80s cheese all over it, but yeah, it’s hard to forget Dale Bozzio’s skimpy costume. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2023, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/63 "2023-05-31T23:19:42Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > So sad MTV lost its way. It was SOOOOO much more cool back then. infinitely more cool. It just sucks now. I was in hospital, stuck in a Stryker bed with a back and neck broken in 3 places and bored out of my skull [and swaked on some decent painkillers] and it was the middle of the night, and one of the nurses told me I needed to check this out - and she flipped it about 45 minutes after midnight, to see _music_ other than Lawrence Welk! I also miss the original MTV, all music and some funktastic people talking about all sorts of stuff that was actually age appropriate =) > [@JohnGalt](#): > > Our local cable company had MTV but only for half of the day. It had to share the channel with the Comedy channel (whatever it was called then). Half the day? I remember the early 80s and a number of channels only planned 8 hours of programming, repeated 3 times in a 24 hour period [I knew that if I missed something on the Comedy Channel, 8 hours later it would be on again.] > [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > I miss just being able to watch music videos. I tend to put youtube on and let it sort of gently burble in the background [other than my kindle, which I don’t log in, and leave it on cat tv for the furrball. She will watch burbs and skwirlz for hours.] I sort of occasionally go down a rabbit hole, however over the past few weeks it seems to cycle on Pink Floyd - 4 or 5 concerts seem to be in cycle. I got bored once, and tracked what videos played over a weekend, and got depressed because of the acts I watched, the older ones [pre 1990 call it] at least half the original musicians were passed on =( I mean, even if you just play Pink Floyd you can just watch the musicians _vanish_ from the lineup, then look them up on wiki, and dirt nap. But then again, I am 62 and the music of my youth are all 75 or older and passing on fast =( ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/64 "2023-06-01T01:10:52Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Another one who found videos through _Friday Night Videos_… > > My daughter was born that year. I’ll bet my daughter’s dancing in musicals is due to me picking her up as an infant and dancing to early MTV videos. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/65 "2023-06-01T01:44:29Z")
“Take on Me” was directed by Steve Barron. Barron also did a couple of others you might remember, like “Billy Jean” and “Money for Nothing.” And about [a million more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Barron). Look at the list in that link. Absolutely nobody can touch him as the best music video director. Miles above anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/66 "2023-06-01T02:13:49Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > It’s weird seeing two hours of pop music and not a single black artist. Addressed by David Bowie in [this interview.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPFI930A3xw) ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/67 "2023-06-01T02:34:45Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > We did have cable, but I still didn’t have MTV at first. Not all cable systems carried it in the early days. Right—that’s why you were supposed to “Call your cable company, and tell them ‘I want my MTV!’” I also watched Friday Night Videos, but my main source for music videos was [Night Tracks](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Tracks) on Super Station WTBS. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/C5HX2eHzQuM/hqdefault.jpg "Night Tracks Theme Music 1983-1985 (MONO AUDIO)") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C5HX2eHzQuM) No on-screen VJ’s, just back-to-back music videos that I used to stay up all night watching on Friday and Saturday nights. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2023, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/68 "2023-06-01T15:24:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > “Take on Me” was directed by Steve Barron. That song might make my top ten list, and the music video was great! ---
**Author:** ![psiekier](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psiekier/32/116_2.png) [@psiekier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psiekier)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2023, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759/69 "2023-06-29T19:59:27Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Is there some reason “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” didn’t list Tom Petty? They just credit Stevie Nicks. Assuming that’s not a rhetorical question - yes, there is a reason. You’ll find “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” on Stevie Nicks’s first solo album (recorded between sessions with Fleetwood Mac), Bella Donna, from 1981. Tom Petty’s sound was already established by then, and the execs at MCA insisted the song belonged in her stable rather than his. If you got Petty’s Hard Promises back then for the low, low price of just $8.98, though, you’ll hear her on the track “Insider”. I heard this being discussed on the radio one day while driving in my car, and the DJ played “Leather and Lace” (also from Bella Donna - where Stevie Nicks sang with Don Henley instead of Tom Petty), and I had to remark to myself that the songs were 40 years old by that point. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-first-two-hours-of-mtv/984759.md?page=3)