Do you remember when MTV was relevant?

Hello,

Great songs:

"45" by Shinedown:



While searching for the above video I realized I'd never seen it before. In fact, I didn't realize this song even had a video. That took me back to the days of when MTV was so much cooler. I remember all the afternoons I wasted away watching MTV. Videos of great to very obscure songs. MTV used to break all both artists who went on to be big and not so big. Bands that became big in large part due to MTV include Madonna, Duran Duran, Michael Jackson, Def Leppard, Thompson Twins and ZZ Top.



"Express Yourself":



"Vogue":



Thompson Twins "You Take Me Up":



"Lay Your Hands On Me":



This is the Thompson Twins "come back" song, "Sugar Daddy":



Heck even Twisted Sister and a-ha received boosts because of MTV. Dee Snider would be a used car salesman if not for the exposure Twisted Sister received from MTV.



One of the most creative videos ever, aha's "Take On Me":



Another crazily creative video, Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer":



Obscure songs that received a second life or became popular because of MTV:



"Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo:



"Camouflage"- Stan Ridgeway (Yes, this is the singer from Wall of Voodoo.)



How do you make a song from a relatively obscure play into a big song in the 80s? Make a video and get it into heavy airplay on MTV. Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok":



I know this blog entry is showing my age, but I'm fine with that. I remember the world preview videos, which I got excited about. I also have fond memories of Kurt Loder, all the original vee jays and Rock the Vote. Even when the reality shows began even they seemed cool. I loved "Remote Control" and the first season of "Real World". But eventually the videos started to be minimized in favor of crappy reality TV. Other than when I'm flipping through the channels, I haven't watched MTV in I don't know how long. Until they start showing videos again I won't return to it. That's not meant to be a threat and I'm sure MTV is happy with the way things are now. I just have no desire to follow the lives of Snooki and The Situation. In fact other than that show, I couldn't tell you one other show on MTV.

I actually checked out MTV's website and saw some of the other shows that they are currently showing. Even their video website is lame: http://www.mtv.com/music/videos/

themusicaddict