I want my MTV.

April 5, 2001 1:19 PM

I want my MTV. There was a time when the only ads MTV showed were ads for the network itself. These are some of them. (from the U.K. so they might differ from the slate of ads run in the U.S.) Brings back many fond memories of the animated letters M, T, and V. (link courtesy of Saima)

Please proceed directly to "MTV used to show videos!" and then continue to more forced commiseration and remembrances of media conglomerate advertising as a substitute for a rich shared cultural heritage.
posted by anildash (10 comments total)

Dude, get off the couch and into a coffee house and hear some real music.
posted by fleener at 1:38 PM on April 5, 2001

Yes. Hanging out with art students and listening to sensitive, white-boy warbling guitar koalas is where it's at.

Ah, ferget it. Just hit me wrong. Get yer music wherever the music gets you.
posted by Skot at 1:49 PM on April 5, 2001

<sarcasm>

yeah, man. coffee houses. that's where the real shit happens

</sarcasm>

<seriously>
My favorite mtv clips have always been the ones by the Brothers Quay (one is on the 1985-1990 page.

I can't recommend enough The Brothers Quay Collection: Ten Astonishing Short Films. Not the most accessible or light-hearted animation around, but it's absolutely mesmerizing.

</seriously>
posted by jpoulos at 1:57 PM on April 5, 2001

MTV and videos were so compelling when they first developed. Does anyone care any more? Does anyone even remember what it was like back then? SO long ago...
posted by ParisParamus at 2:26 PM on April 5, 2001

Dude, I remember MTV when it was all videos and Pepsi commercials. In fact, I think it was one Pepsi commercial, over and over and over.
posted by Mo Nickels at 5:37 PM on April 5, 2001

Many of the instructors I've had worked with MTV in its early years because it was one of the few places that video art could capture a wide audience. The little interstitials and a number of videos (if you were lucky enough to work with an artist that wanted to make an artistic video) allowed a number of video artists to make a name for themselves.

I think MTV could have evolved differently, but it's merely a part of the music industry that pretty much everyone agrees is flawed. I think it was a fantastic idea at the beginning though and it would be nice to see another channel (because MTV can't go back again) try to become a space for musicians and artists to work together. That'll probably only really happen on the web now though or in late-night public television spots.
posted by stefnet at 6:54 PM on April 5, 2001

The new MTV ads in the NYC subway stations say something like "Don't tell anyone else about MTV" the entire concept is stupid. Nobody cares enough to go spread the word about MTV anymore and most people in NYC already know about MTV.
posted by riffola at 7:24 PM on April 5, 2001

While the main MTV channel in the UK doesn't show videos a lot of the time, most of their other channels do (MTV Base, MTV Dance, MTV Hits, MTV 2).
posted by kerplunk at 6:05 AM on April 6, 2001

Here in Boston we've been treated to some new MTV ads that have people a bit unhappy -- the MBTA made them pull one that shows a girl shoving her tongue down a guy's throat.

Meanwhile, MTV is facing a lawsuit from two teenage girls who had shit sprayed on them by an act at an MTV show taping.

Now, I'll admit that I'm an old fuddy-duddy and don't get a lot of what passes for "cool" in the new millennium, but advertising yourself as a form of VD and plastering your fans with shit....really?
posted by briank at 7:57 AM on April 6, 2001

When did MTV not have ads? I don't remember that (except for the first coupl days maybe).
posted by rodii at 1:38 PM on April 6, 2001