FEATURE:
MTV at Forty
IN THIS PHOTO: The U.S. Grunge/Rock band, Soundgraden, in 1994 (the video for their song, Black Hole Sun (from the 1994 album, Superunknown), was one I saw on MTV as a child that changed the way I approached and loved music/PHOTO CREDIT: A&M Records
Why Music Videos Were Hugely Important in My Discovery and Love of Music
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I will make this the last MTV…
PHOTO CREDIT: MTV
feature for a far few months, as the fortieth anniversary does not happen until 1st August! It is a bit premature of me but, as I think it such an important anniversary, I may do a couple of features in June, one in July and then publish one on the anniversary itself. There is another reason why I am getting in there extra-early regarding anniversary features and MTV: the decline of music T.V. and, perhaps, the fact that music videos hold less stock than they did decades ago. Certainly, there are more videos around than ever. Even if an artist has a very small budget and little resources, they can record their own music video and upload it to the world. Maybe a lack of music television is because that medium has been replaced by sites like YouTube. I will come onto that soon. I don’t think one gets the same interactivity and personality from a video streaming site than they would an active and contemporary station. I have mooted how it would be good to see a revival of MTV how it was in the 1980s and 1990s. Whereas albums and songs on their own are amazing pieces of work and carry enormous importance, I have always loved the fact that a music video allows an artist to tell a story and provide a very short film about a track. I am not sure whether there is a physiological reason as to why the pairing of music and film creates such a rush and sense of joy.
MTV was hugely important to me when I was a child. Although I was not born until 1983, I experienced the late-1980s and early-1990s. I feel the station was very much at its peak around this time - though some might say that occurred a little earlier on. It was not just my experiences of the station at the time that inspired me. In the late-1990s and years since then, I saw clips from MTV. Certainly, when it came to lodging music in my brain and heart, videos were instrumental. Maybe it is the fact that children watch a lot of television so, if there was this song on T.V. that had a cool video then I’d be more receptive. One can feel a sense of wonder listening to a song on the radio or through a cassette/C.D./vinyl; the visual representation of that track adds new layers and dynamics. There were music videos on Top of the Pops, but they came between in-studio performances, whereas one got more videos on MTV. Through the late-1980s and 1990s I was seeing videos by legendary directors like Spike Jonze and Michel Gondry. I think I saw the famous video for Wax’s California in 1995 when I was twelve. I saw Soundgarden’s Black Hole Sun in 1994 and, years before that, I dimly remember catching Madonna’s Material Girl on MTV – though it may have been a year or two after the song came out in 1984. In all three cases, there is something about the story concept and direction that not only provided the well-known song with new meaning and nuance; to me and those I discussed music with, it was like watching a segment of a T.V. show or film.
I think music videos really resonated with me through the 1990s. I saw a couple of big Michael Jackson videos on MTV in 1991, I think – at that point his videos were more like short films! When Britpop was raging, great videos by The Blur, Oasis, Elastica, Supergrass and other bands really sunk in. I think I saw the video for Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit for the first time on MTV in 1991. Perhaps it was the fact I was open to these bands and videos, at that point in my life, were relatively new. In years since I witnessed some seriously important videos, I have been thinking about the importance of MTV. There are articles like this, this and this that list the best and most iconic videos. I remember watching those videos on MTV and discovering artists off of the strength of that exposure. The videos not only meant that songs grew in meaning and stature; I was going out and buying singles and albums from seeing MTV spin a great new video. I feel that MTV took my love of music to new levels. Thanks to the station, I always look out for great videos now and see what various artists are doing. I also still think that a video can be more powerful than streaming figures, hype or anything else regarding ensuring a song is heard/seen and remembered. From the giddiness of the 1990s to some funny and cool videos of the early-2000s (No Doubt’s Hey Baby is a particular favourite), MTV was so important. Maybe we can never return the station to its roots. There is the argument as to whether YouTube and other platforms have effectively replaced MTV. I know that, as the iconic station turns forty in August, many people will share their fond memories and which videos they first encountered on MTV. When I think about that, there are so many fond memories and incredibly moving videos…
THAT spring to mind.