Happy 30th Birthday MTV ( I Wish You Didn't Lose Your Cool)

I was fortunate to be home one summer day surfing the newly installed cable TV channels for something to watch back in 1981. I watched the first music video ever played “Video Killed the Radio Star” in great amazement. As a matter of fact I think I spent the rest of the Summer watching MTV. Early on it was apparent that the music industry would be forever changed by it. Image was everything. It wasn’t long before I tried to start braiding my hair like Annabella Lwin after watching Bow Wow Wow’s “I Want Candy” and got into the Madonna phase I’d just assume forget. There was a lot of controversy surrounding MTV’s refusal to play Michael Jackson videos. When they did start allowing them to be shown, lots of kids at school wore wannabe jackets, along with the infamous one glove. I never fell into the Jackson hype rather I would wait patiently for the Duran Duran videos to come on as I had a thing at the time for Simon Le Bon. MTV enabled a lot of artists to expand their creative means by incorporating visual stimulation along with audio. It also opened the doors for many to also gain their 15 min of fame not so much on their musical talent but more so from their good looks or downright oddness. Boy George is a prime example of this. MTV played a huge part in my formative years, their best show and the one I would stay up way past my bedtime to watch would be 120 Min.
Hair bands consisted of guys who dressed borderline in drag. The music was ostentatious as were the fashions & the lifestyle many of the musicians led. Thank god most of them burnt out going into the 90’s because the music wasn’t all that memorable. It reflected the party lifestyle and what was currently going down in and around Los Angels, in particular the Sunset Strip, the epicenter of it all.
For the younger generation who is coming of age the types of music they are listening to is influenced by visual and social stimulation mainly because they are growing up in an era where this is commonplace. No longer do they need to rely on MTV ,their listening devices are full of videos as well thanks to the Internet. It is the whole package now not just a song you hear on the radio. It is hearing that song downloading it, downloading the video, becoming the artists friend on Facebook, then following them on Twitter. I wouldn’t say that the auditory appreciation is music is lost through this process entirely. I for one still buy & throw on albums as nostalgic as it may seem although I have been know to watch my Leonard Cohen movie “I’m Your Man” too many times to count because the Movie just enhances the album as anything visual enhances a song.