MTV, the channel that revolutionized the music business, hits 30

By Chris Melzer Aug 4, 2011, 3:06 GMT

New York - Dire Straits provided the initial impulse, when Sting joined them to sing 'I want my MTV' in Money for Nothing.

Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler had devoted an entire song to the music channel that went on to cast its shadow over the entire pop music scene. At the time there was just one such broadcaster.

MTV left its mark on the 1980s and effectively ruled the 1990s when it came to popular music. Although not as influential as it once was the channel remains a major force as it marked its 30th birthday on August 1.

It all began with Michael Newsmith, formerly the singer with the Monkees, after he recognized the advantages of music videos while on a promotional tour of Australia. Bands did not have to be present in the studios for TV shows and were also able to structure the video much more carefully than with a live performance.

The idea was adopted with alacrity by the music industry, which scented a whole new market - correctly as it turned out. At the time cable channels were entering a boom phase in the United States. They needed material - so why not a channel devoted to music videos?

On August 1, 1981, the first MTV video was broadcast: Video Killed the Radio Star, which went out just after midnight on that date. MTV was at a loss for choice, having fewer than 170 video cassettes on its shelves, almost 20 per cent of them featuring Rod Stewart.

But it was an idea whose time had come. Musicians, record companies, broadcasters and the listening public were all aboard. The music video market did not so much grow as explode.

Putting out the video was soon just as important as the record itself. Michael Jackson, Madonna and innumerable one-hit wonders would have been virtually unthinkable without their brief video clips.

A new art form was born. Director John Landis (Blues Brothers) created perhaps the most influential pop video of music history with Jackson's Thriller. Duran Duran spent more than a million dollars on Wild Boys, and Mark Knopfler sang in the first computer-generated video, Money for Nothing.

MTV was rapidly a symbol for pop culture. Anyone aiming at the youth market had to be on the channel with its rapid editing cuts and shaky camera work. At least, that's what everyone thought.

'We have come to realize that its influence was in fact not that great,' says Klaus Boehnke, a sociology professor at a German university, who looked into the influence of television on young people in 1999.

'Young people were looking for direction: What should I wear? What are the current trends? How should I behave? MTV was on the right track, but remained on the fringes,' Boehnke says. The professor believes its influence was thoroughly overestimated.

Nevertheless, disc jockeys, or rather video jockeys, became the stars of the 1990s. Many current stars launched their careers on MTV or its competition. With its dozens of national offshoots, MTV could be seen practically round the world. But the medium's star waned as quickly as it rose.

Music on its own was not enough. MTV began showing an increasing number of shorter films and then entire series.

Today, the channel may still appear more youthful than others, but it is no longer a purely music broadcaster, and as result, the term Music Television disappeared from its logo last year.

This is not the end of the music video though. The clips are now being disseminated in new ways, particularly on the internet and via mobile phones.

But the cool factor is long gone, as is amply demonstrated by an excerpt from the hit US sit-com Two and a Half Men. Jon Cryer playing Alan says: 'Let's face it, we're both too old for the MTV lifestyle.'

To which Charlie Sheen, playing Charlie, responds: 'MTV? Did they just defrost you?'