Since it first popped up on airwaves on August 1, 1981, MTV has evolved from music video mainstay into a network with its fingers on the pulse of today's young people. While that change hasn't jived with everyone (many of those who first tuned into the network wonder what happened to the good ol' days when it was simply music television), it's impossible to brush off the channel's influence over its thirty year span.
They don't just cover pop culture, they make it.
To celebrate MTV's 30th birthday, we've taken a look back and some of the greatest shows, performances and milestones in the network's history. The good, the bad, the ugly—and most importantly—the memorable:
The First Music Video: "Video Killed the Radio Star"
1981.
August first.
One minute past midnight.
The world is born anew when MTV’s first music video blast-o-thorps into the public conscious, altering the way we would forever perceive reality, love, politics, fringe politics, and humanity. You can’t imagine the genuine impact this had on TV and music alike—the divergence between the mindsets pre- and post-Radio Staricide was astronomical. The Buggles didn’t just change their own lives, that day. In fact…it doesn’t seem like their lives changed much at all. Has anyone heard of them doing anything since? But the point is: they changed our lives. So good for them.
Daria
La la LA La la.
So, you know how somewhere in the 1990s, being uncool became way cooler than being cool? BAM. DARIA.
We’re not saying that Daria is entirely responsible for the post Gen-X counterculture rebellion, but Daria exemplified that nerds, artists, losers, lovers, loathers…they were better than everyone else.
Real World
This is the true story, of a TV show, that has been running for 25 seasons, but nobody watches anymore. The Real World started as a revolutionary innovation- there had been reality TV before, but never with the scale or focus of the micro-sized show. The early seasons of the show made it clear that TV could have a conscience, raising awareness of political issues, race relations, and AIDS activism. Unfortunately, the show’s legacy has little to do with its beginnings- thousands upon thousands of copycat reality shows that highlight sex and fistfights over social experimentation. If you listen really closely to the audio in the first episode, you can hear the sobs of television writers who know that they’re watching their careers end.
MTV Movie Award Parodies
With categories like "Biggest Badass Star" and "Best Scared-as-Sh*t Performance," the MTV Movie Awards won't be rivaling the Oscars anytime soon—but there's one aspect to the night of famous faces, big blockbusters and corporate worshiping that even the Academy Awards had to adopt.
The movie spoofs are a staple of MTV, with every host (and a bevy of celebrities) weaseling their way into clips from that's year's biggest flicks and taking any jab they can. Along with being uproarious and technically impressive, they also straight up deliver on fantasies—wasn't the world waiting for Justin Timberlake and Sean William Scott to co-star in The Matrix?
Clone High
Wasn’t high school hard? Wouldn’t it be harder if you were Abe Lincoln?
Yes. But it’d also be way funnier.
Clone High remains one of the five funniest shows that has ever existed in the history of television (the other four are all Chico and the Man). But Clone High managed to tackle every trope of afterschool specials, teen dramas, soap operas AND still teach us a little something about world history.
Cribs
One of the first indications that MTV was evolving into a full-on celebrity-worshiping destination was the introduction of Cribs. MTV remained classy by always giving a wink wink to the ridiculousness of the big stars they were profiling, editing together shots of a basketball player's 18 cars with a funny bonk sound or a pan across fading rock legend so-and-so's epic swimming pool accompanied by a choice, befuddling quote from said rocker.
Cribs was the Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous for the young crowd, but MTV relied on the famous faces to be their own Robin Leach, much to the enjoyment of anyone who caught the endless 20-episode marathons.