# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/81 "2020-08-20T15:45:46Z")
I’d enjoy it if MTV (or its Canadian versions MuchMusic and MusiquePlus) actually played videos. I enjoy them. They always seem to be playing reruns of awful TV shows, possibly based on Jersey Shore or Random Beach. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2020, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/82 "2020-08-20T15:51:19Z")
I’m not sure if I’d ever seen a picture of Christopher Cross before. But now I understand why on Family Guy, Chris’ full name is “Christopher Cross Griffin”. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/83 "2020-08-21T04:29:48Z")
I never heard much about Arthur Godfrey once MTV came along, so the Buggles may have had a point. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2020, 11:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/84 "2020-08-21T11:35:16Z")
Video killed radio in the same way film killed books, and TV killed film. They had an effect, but it hasn’t killed it off. Having said that, I am still surprised how popular radio still is when it’s largely advertising, classic rock, and morning zoo bullshit. Podcasts should have killed the radio star by now, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/85 "2020-08-24T11:47:37Z")
A lot of not particularly attractive people launched respectable careers after the advent of MTV, like Bonnie Tyler, Lyle Lovett, Cyndi Lauper and KD Lang. Rod Stewart, whose career had come to what sure looked like a natural end, embraced video in a really big way and stayed active for another couple of decades. Look at that photo of the people who recorded “We Are the World” and it’s kind of surprising who was on their way in and who was on their way out. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/86 "2020-08-24T16:14:42Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > sex appeal, but rather that of his ‘backing band’ - a bunch of women in slightly see-through clothes and heavy makeup Oh, HELL yes! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2020, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/87 "2020-08-24T17:02:20Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Heart: Video revived their career, even though they were already middle aged and somewhat overweight women who had to be shot through a Star Trek gauze filter. Middle aged? Dude, they were in their _thirties_ when they got done all glammed up for MTV. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 11:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/88 "2020-10-12T11:45:27Z")
I suddenly wonder if the answer to the OP is Peter Frampton? I have no sales figures of his to hold up, but he was trying desperately for a comeback circa 1983-4, when MTV was a shiny new thing and Frampton suddenly no longer was. Their rise and his fall intersected at a very specific point around then. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [October 12, 2020, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/89 "2020-10-12T13:17:55Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Martha Quinn must be a grandmother by now. Here she is in February 2018. I think she still looks good. And it doesn’t look like she’s had any plastic surgery. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/L_HrGVUlijM/maxresdefault.jpg "Martha Quinn on meeting the other MTV VJs for the first time - TelevisionAcademy.com/Interviews") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_HrGVUlijM) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2020, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279/90 "2020-10-13T03:09:33Z")
I don’t think the line means ending the career of pre-video music stars. I think it means there won’t be radio stars in the future, to be a star in the future you had to be a star on video. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-killed-the-radio-star-but-which-star-s/591279.md?page=4)