# Video Killed the Radio Star... but which star(s)? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [August 3, 2011, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279 "2011-08-03T04:44:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/21 "2011-08-03T13:51:02Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Elton John once said there was myth that he disappeared in the 80’s and it just wasn’t true. I tend to agree. > > “Little Jeannie” - 1980 > “Blue Eyes” - 1982 > “I Guess That’s Why They Call It the Blues” - 1983 > “I’m Still Standing” - 1983 > “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” - 1984 > “Nikita” - 1985 > “I Don’t Wanna Go on with You Like That” - 1988 > “Healing Hands” - 1989 > “Sacrifice” - 1989 IMHO, it’s not that he disappeared, his songs just became bland - none of the ones listed compare to _Your Song_, _Someone Saved My Life Tonight_ and his other early-70s classics. IMHO, his best single from the 80’s isn’t even listed - _Empty Garden_. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/22 "2011-08-03T13:58:22Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think that being ugly or plain or goofy-looking was necessarily a barrier to success in the MTV era— **if** you could surround yourself with some otherwise-intriguing visuals in your videos, and let the narratives or special effects or arresting imagery do what your lack of charisma couldn’t. (Case in point: The Alan Parsons Project had at least moderate success with songs like [Don’t Answer Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALC7kt6iUHY) whose videos didn’t show the performers at all.) It also depended on how you were able to project onto video. Phil Collins isn’t handsome by any measure, but he projected well and, probably surprising even himself, was well suited for the medium. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/23 "2011-08-03T14:07:31Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think that being ugly or plain or goofy-looking was necessarily a barrier to success in the MTV era Of course you’re right - but have you [seen the Billy Squier video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI)??? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/24 "2011-08-03T14:49:47Z")
I think video had an effect on Bruce Springsteen. He was one of the last hold-outs to make the move to videos. You look at old pictures of Springsteen from the seventies and he was a scrawny hippy. MTV came along and he disappeared for a couple of years. Then he re-emerged with _Born in the USA_ and it wasn’t just new music - it was a new Springsteen. He had beefed up, he shaved, he dressed different - it was a whole new image. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/25 "2011-08-03T15:19:54Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > I don’t think that being ugly or plain or goofy-looking was necessarily a barrier to success in the MTV era— **if** you could surround yourself with some otherwise-intriguing visuals in your videos, and let the narratives or special effects or arresting imagery do what your lack of charisma couldn’t. (Case in point: The Alan Parsons Project had at least moderate success with songs like [Don’t Answer Me](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALC7kt6iUHY) whose videos didn’t show the performers at all.) Or take Talking Heads, who [epitomized](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU)"goofy-looking". In fact, between Talking Heads, Culture Club and the B-52s, I’d say the 80’s were the golden age of goofy-looking bands. ---
**Author:** ![Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Freddy\_the\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freddy_the_Pig)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/26 "2011-08-03T15:26:26Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Hmm, maybe I wasn’t paying attention to the lyrics of the song – I always took it to mean that the television age ushered in the death of the radio drama during the 50s. No doubt, that’s what it was about when it was written. (To the extent the impressionistic lyrics were “about” anything.) But by showing it as their first video, MTV sort of “reinterpreted” it for a new era. ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/27 "2011-08-03T15:43:07Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Of course you’re right - but have you [seen the Billy Squier video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fR0j7sModCI)??? > > 😃 Oh god. I’d just about completely forgotten about that. Damn you! ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/28 "2011-08-03T22:35:18Z")
At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this particular thread about MTV confirms just how insular North America is, north of the Rio Grande. With the exception of a handful of British artists, the only music acts who are being discusssed are American. If you’re American and you really dig pop music, or rock music, or dance music? In my view, MTV ruined your landscape and did nothing, nothing at all to improve your listening vista. There were videos long, long before MTV - we used to call 'em film clips and all the major acts used to make their promo film clips for at least 15 years prior to MTV, just do a Google search of Suzi Quattro for example. Remember something, music is an aural medium but marketing is both a visual and an aural medium and MTV transitions both because it is primarily a marketing tool. MTV could have played music clips from France, or Japan, or South Africa, or Holland, or Australia. But it didn’t. The more I read this thread the more I’m convinced that seemingly, many Americans feel that their culture, and only their culture is the centre of the universe - and nobody else matters. And you’re using a blatantly manipulative marketing tool like MTV as your yardstick. Some of the music you missed out, during the 80’s and 90’s because the acts weren’t American is sad, really kinda sad. That’s the answer to your OP. It’s all the thousands of great songs from around the world that you never heard on radio because they weren’t American with an American video on MTV. That’s your answer. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2011, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/29 "2011-08-03T22:47:52Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > Some of the music you missed out, during the 80’s and 90’s because the acts weren’t American is sad, really kinda sad. That’s the answer to your OP. It’s all the thousands of great songs from around the world that you never heard on radio because they weren’t American with an American video on MTV. That’s your answer. How is that any different from the way it was before MTV? I don’t think mainstream popular music in America (i.e. what sold records, got played on the radio, sold concert tickets, etc.) _ever_ featured more than a handful of artists from anywhere other than America and Britain (and possibly Canada). I think MTV actually increased the popularity of British bands in America (and a few from other countries—I remember seeing quite a few Men At Work videos). If you want to decry Americans’ musical insularity, you may have a point, although part of that’s due to the language barrier. But as a response to this particular thread, it seems like a non sequitur. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/30 "2011-08-03T22:48:27Z")
:rolleyes: So, you’re complaining on an American message board in a thread that deals with how an American TV station changed the American music scene that the discussion is too “America-centric”? _Really_? ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/31 "2011-08-03T22:49:06Z")
Oh, please. That didn’t start in the 80’s - English-language popular music has dominated the world’s charts since the Jazz Age. Germans listed to German bands, Brazillians listed to Brazillian bands, Japanese listen to Japanese bands, and everyone listens to the Beatles. ---
**Author:** ![gaffa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e68b1a/32.png) [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/32 "2011-08-03T22:56:49Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > I guess maybe Joe Jackson, although the video for “Stepping Out” was popular. After that he said something about videos not being faithful to an artistic vision and Todd Rundgren replied who wants to look at Joe Jackson anyways. That was just Todd being his usual snarky self. Presumably there were no hard feelings, as [the two of them toured together](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQxVkf3fRIM). (I’m a huge Todd fan, but on that tour Joe ate Todd’s lunch.) ---
**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:** [August 3, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/33 "2011-08-03T22:58:33Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > At the risk of sounding like a broken record, this particular thread about MTV confirms just how insular North America is, north of the Rio Grande. We also don’t like soccer. > [@](#): > > With the exception of a handful of British artists, the only music acts who are being discusssed are American. That’s because we’re American. I know that sounds circular but we tend to produce a great majority of the pop culture we consume right here at home. I suppose in Great Britain they talk about all the popular Dutch, Swedish and Spanish musical acts all the time? > [@](#): > > There were videos long, long before MTV - we used to call 'em film clips and all the major acts used to make their promo film clips for at least 15 years prior to MTV, just do a Google search of Suzi Quattro for example. MTV was the first station dedicated to showing those videos in the United States. It had a big impact at the time. > [@](#): > > Remember something, music is an aural medium but marketing is both a visual and an aural medium and MTV transitions both because it is primarily a marketing tool. MTV could have played music clips from France, or Japan, or South Africa, or Holland, or Australia. But it didn’t. Radio stations weren’t playing songs from Australia, France, Japan or South Africa either. Why would MTV? > [@](#): > > The more I read this thread the more I’m convinced that seemingly, many Americans feel that their culture, and only their culture is the centre of the universe - and nobody else matters. And you’re using a blatantly manipulative marketing tool like MTV as your yardstick. So far as our lives go, yeah, our culture is the center of our universe. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/34 "2011-08-03T23:22:36Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > :rolleyes: > > So, you’re complaining on an American message board in a thread that deals with how an American TV station changed the American music scene that the discussion is too “America-centric”? _Really_? And what if I am complaining about the premise of your OP? So what? It doesn’t make my point any less valid. So what if this is an American messageboard? So what? You’ve just employed a logical fallacy - that is, CLAIM A is untrue, hence make CLAIM B which is true - therefore CLAIM A is now also true. And YOU are rolling your eyes at a post which has pointed out how insular your musical tastes are, and YOU don’t like the message. Christopher Cross? From San Antonio? You said nothing in your OP at all **“Oh, by the way, this OP is only for American Dopers who only have an interest in American music acts and all other viewpoints shall be belittled with rolleyes”**. I answered your question. You just don’t like the message. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/35 "2011-08-03T23:37:02Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > MTV could have played music clips from France, or Japan, or South Africa, or Holland, or Australia. But it didn’t. Big hit videos from the early days of MTV included Men at Work (Australian), Golden Earring (Dutch), Falco (Austrian), Nena (German), etc. It’s just that they were all singing in English. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/36 "2011-08-03T23:37:43Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Radio stations weren’t playing songs from Australia, France, Japan or South Africa either. Why would MTV? And that comment, right there, goes to the heart of the Opening Post. The single biggest myth which exists in commercial TV and Radio is that they exist FOR your benefit. That’s the myth that people buy into when they start talking about MTV or whatever. MTV and Commercial Radio aren’t there for your listening pleasure - they exist to bombard you with advertisement bursts between content. The content only exists to keep you there between advertising bursts, and if your attention wavers and you turn the dial, the advertisers walk away. > [@Odesio](#): > > That’s because we’re American. I know that sounds circular but we tend to produce a great majority of the pop culture we consume right here at home. I suppose in Great Britain they talk about all the popular Dutch, Swedish and Spanish musical acts all the time? You can’t have it both ways. Look at my join date. I’m no newbie here. You can’t have a discussion on a messageboard which goes all around the world with members from almost every country on the globe and then state “the collective we” as if all of us are American with no right at all to a differing viewpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/37 "2011-08-03T23:43:43Z")
> [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](#): > > Big hit videos from the early days of MTV included Men at Work (Australian), Golden Earring (Dutch), Falco (Austrian), Nena (German), etc. It’s just that they were all singing in English. The lead singer from Golden Earring was English. The song was made in 1973. The premise behind this thread is flawed. It asks who did MTV kill off? The premise implies that unless you knew about them BEFORE MTV came along, then they don’t count. And that is the flawed premise. Before the reintroduction of “paid content rotation” in the early 1980’s, DJ’s were often able to let classic tunes rise to the top - a classic example is “Maggie May” by Rod Stewart, which was actually a B side of a failed 7" A side. ---
**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/38 "2011-08-03T23:51:50Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > The lead singer from Golden Earring was English. The song was made in 1973. You mean “Radar Love”? I was actually thinking of “Twilight Zone.” ---
**Author:** ![Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boo_Boo_Foo)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/39 "2011-08-04T00:01:40Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > :rolleyes: > > So, you’re complaining on an American message board in a thread that deals with how an American TV station changed the American music scene that the discussion is too “America-centric”? _Really_? Go into “The Game Room” and have a read up on the threads about the Tour de France, or the England v India test series, or the Rugby World Cup. This messageboard is way, waaaaaay more than just an American messageboard. I stand by my earlier post - the premise of this thread is a flawed premise. The major recording companies throught the globe int he 1980’s were American. As a result, we in the rest of world, were swamped with a load of American music which at times was great, but often, was inferior to local product which never went back the opposite direction. That MTV had a big impact on the rest of the global music scene can’t be denied - but it wasn’t a good one because it wasn’t a true two-way sharing of great music. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2011, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/40 "2011-08-04T00:22:01Z")
> [@Boo\_Boo\_Foo](#): > > I stand by my earlier post - the premise of this thread is a flawed premise. Actually your original post still seems like a complete non sequitur to me. No one is saying that you as a non-American can’t participate in the discussion, but the context of the discussion is American popular culture. You seem to be saying that this is an illegitimate context within which to have a conversation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279.md?page=3)