Goodbye MTV

MTV

I’m a hypocrite by saying that i’m afraid. I have always liked the phrase “if you’re not part of the solution you’re part of the problem”, and thats me! In the early to mid 90s, certainly when the house was empty, MTV was always on, a true mainstay of my days.

Yes we had Top of the Pops, but this was where I discovered music more than any other channel. Songs on heavy rotation, not feeling governed by some local or national radio playlist that was pop chart firendly. Bands you woould never see without it at that time. Tuning into shows like Ray Cokes on MTV most wanted for mayhem and laughs. It was part of growing up. Do I still watch it, no, so yes to say goodbye and feel a pang of sorry is accompanied by a pang of guilt.

Music is one of the most important things in life and videos are a massive part of that. I loved my MTV, but sadly times change. I wasnt a kid lounging around the house able to watch it all day, my daily behaviour had changed, I was out. Music was mainly governed by the car stereo, recording the vinyl collection onto tapes or ripping CDs, that became my ‘four wheeled musical church’, thats where I absorbed and shared music. I was not home to watch like I used to be. Then you move out, maybe don’t have satellite TV, the CD and Vinyl collection is still there so thats the access or certain radio shows like John Peel or Steve lamacq. Behaviours change, responsibilities change, there is less time for TV.

The hope would be the next generation grows up the same way, but technology changes as well. Technology and generational behaviour is hard to compete with. I asked a group of 19 – 21 year olds yesterday, “do you watch music videos?” Yes was the answer, all the time on YouTube and clips on TikTok.

Video killed the radio star

Streaming killed the video star

Tik Tok and YouTube become the video stars

If MTV had created their own YouTube style music early enough, would it could have gone somewhere? maybe? But the ease of having everything else on that same app aside from music would still have led to YouTube to be more popular. (Just a thought).

It’s like Saturday morning cartoons, once upon a time, most kid would be glued to the TV for the morning, go back even ten years that programming was less relevent, kids were curating their own mornings between music and YouTube channels, and that was before influencers?

You could say the MTV VJs were like our influencers, before the reality shows kicked in (which was the start of the rut in my opinion). Yes its a Wikepedia link but the list is not just long worldwide its huge, and look st the Europe list, its a namedrop still to this day.

MTV will be missed, the nostalgia is there when the logo or the ‘I want my MTV’ is heard even for a fan like me, sadly I am or was part of the problem, part of its demise due to behavioural ignorance.

MTV launched in the US in 1981 and by the end of 2025 it will be gone.

Sorry MTV, but thank you at the same time.

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