According to this ILM thread, the following were among the videos played during MTV's first broadcast on August 1, 1981:
1. "Video Killed the Radio Star" by The Buggles
2. "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar
3. "She Won't Dance" by Rod Stewart
4. "You Better You Bet" by The Who
5. "Little Susie's on the Up" by Ph.D.
6. "We Don't Talk Anymore" by Cliff Richard
7. "Brass in Pocket" by The Pretenders
8. "Time Heals" by Todd Rundgren
9. "Take It on the Run" by REO Speedwagon
10. "Rockin' the Paradise" by Styx
11. "When Things Go Wrong" by Robin Lane and the Chartbusters
12. "History Never Repeats" by Split Enz
13. "Hold On Loosely" by 38 Special
14. "Just Between You and Me" by April Wine
15. "Sailing" by Rod Stewart
16. "Iron Maiden" by Iron Maiden
17. "Keep On Loving You" by REO Speedwagon
18. "Message of Love" by The Pretenders
19. "Mr. Briefcase" by Lee Ritenour
20. "Double Life" by The Cars
21. "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins
22. "Looking For Clues" by Robert Palmer
23. "Too Late" by Shoes
24. "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" by Stevie Nicks and Tom Petty
25. "Surface Tension" by Rupert Hine
26. "One Step Ahead" by Split Enz
27. "Baker Street" by Gerry Rafferty
28. "I'm Gonna Follow You" by Pat Benatar
29. "Savannah Nights" by Tom Johnston
30. "Lucille" by Rockestra
A few things:
(a) I'm struck by how many videos for second-tier songs Rod Stewart had made by summer '81.
(b) Megaproducer Rupert Hine (Rush, Stevie Nicks) had a solo hit?
(c) CLIFF RICHARD?
(d) AOR dinosaurs roamed the earth.
(e) I need to consult AllMusic about Shoe, Lee Ritenour, Ph.D, and, um, April Wine.
(f) I'm pretty sure these 30 videos were repeated two dozen times a day.
Since my MTV options were limited to what I could watch at friends' houses, the monitors at major department stores, and "Friday Night Video" (I didn't get cable till 2000), I have to depend on my readers' input here. Any other great stuff you remember from the early days?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
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5 comments:
A DVD comp of Rod's pre-MTV filmography is SO overdue.
What sucked most about the start date is that "Baby Jane" was still almost three years away.
Lee Ritenour, oddly enough, is a jazzman. What was he doing on MTV?!
"Too Late" by the Shoes is (aside from being hugely surprising to me--no idea they were on the cusp of such fame) maybe the best thing on this list. Read Christgau on them if you don't want to take my word for it.
It's kind of neat how the new wave stuff here is really just AOR in drag (Cars, Pretenders, Split Enz), while the AOR stuff has skinny tie written all over it (Benatar, Phil Collins, REO, etc.).
Why won't Phil Collins just die already? The man has been around since the start of MTV, and he still is around annoying the hell out of me...
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