MTV and the Big 3-0

The path from Video Killed the Radio Star and Love Plus One to The Real World and Jersey Shore been a long and ugly road for MTV. Still, on the occasion of its 30th birthday, I'd rather praise MTV for what was so right about the early years than bury them with the crap that came later.

So much of my musical taste was molded by those early years when British post-punk/new-wave imports were all over their airwaves, mixing seamlessly with older artists like The Who, whose single You Better You Bet was one of the first 45s I ever bought. A lot of those acts never caught on and many disbanded before they could build anything more than a cult following in America.

Three decades after seeing the video for Town Called Malice, The Jam remains my favorite UK band of the period over the more popular Clash. They rocked nearly as hard with three people as The Clash did with four, and Paul Weller's song-writing was better. Of course, it hardly mattered back then because I loved the video for Rock the Casbah as well. I remember liking Marshall Crenshaw's only real hit Someday Someway when I first heard it, but seeing the video for Whenever You're on My Mind was what cemented him in my mind as an artist to watch..

In the case of Squeeze, I suspect the fan following that took root in America, fostered by videos like Black Coffee on Bed and the steady sales of Singles - 45's and Under they spawned, played a large part in their eventual reunion in the mid-80s. Even the one-hit wonders seemed better. Give me Just Got Lucky or Come On Eileen over just about anything on today's pop charts.

Of course, like most golden ages, it couldn't last. By the end of the 80s, MTV already seemed a bit tired. Even as striking videos like Losing My Religion were winning awards, the first season of The Real World wasn't far away. Oh well, we'll always have Rio.