MTV LAUNCH 1981

MTV launched with its music-only programming on August 1st, 1981. Initially available only in New Jersey, it soon established a new forum for music promotion and the video arts that swept the globe. The first video transmitted by MTV was Video Killed the Radio Star by Buggles. The song reflected on past and future technology and proved prescient as the music video quickly became the major marketing tool in the industry. The format also became a new experimental ground for artists, linking visuals to sound and forming a new way people experienced music. "I want my MTV" became the rallying cry for zones outside the station's territory. Looking back, I remember being introduced to new albums, styles, and fashion through videos by artists such as David Bowie, Peter Gabriel, The Police, Eurythmics, Culture Club, Prince, and Michael Jackson. The lure of the screen even got the better of my common sense once during a natural disaster. We had a tornado alert during college- not something you want to experience living in a one-story brick house with no basement in Indiana. I remember my friend and I gathered some supplies in the bathroom, but eventually MTV won out for our attention. We waited out the storm glued to Peter Gabriel's amazing stop-motion video for Sledgehammer made by Aardman Studios (Wallace and Gromit). Of course there had been promotional films made before MTV (The Beatles were great pioneers in this field in the 1960s), and music movies and variety/performance programs certainly helped to sell records for decades. But the world of VJs and 24-hour music videos all started with this little number on MTV in 1981. Enjoy!