MTV is discontinuing music videos, thereby adopting a generation-defining pop culture format. Our columnist was himself an intern at the television station – and experienced the beginning of this end up close.
Sadly, the news this fall didn’t really come as a surprise: MTV won’t stop operations completely at the end of the year, but it will stop broadcasting music videos.The format that once made the station great and, at the same time, the leading medium for Gen X and Millennials.
For children in the 1980s and 1990s, music videos were the biggest thing. They were the gateway to the world, a glimmer of hope, a promise of happiness, that with music there is more to life than struggling in the West German provinces. Every new cool band became an unconditional idol. Music tastes were shaped by MTV. Hip-hop, metal, grunge, Britpop, club music – the clips also created offers and dream worlds about which scenes you wanted to be a part of.
Even if,in retrospect,some identification templates were far too brief and naive. I remember going to California for the first time when I was 18 to visit relatives. When asked what I wanted to see most – Disneyland, Hollywood Hills, Hermosa Beach – I answered: Compton. I still remember the horrified open mouths and the embarrassed silence to this day. Of course,I wasn’t in the suburb at the time,even though NWA and other West Coast rap stars came from there and filmed their videos there. Over time I understood that that would have been too dangerous.
It was similar when my English teacher was collecting ideas about where to go for the high school graduation trip. I suggested Manchester: Factory Records,The Haçienda,Joy Division,even Oasis if you like – that had to be cool. What the hell was I doing, he asked me, his forehead wrinkled like road damage on corfu.Instead we went to the corrupt tax haven of Jersey. But it was nice there. Really.
Video Killed the Radio star
This was challenging to understand for children and young people from Europe who did not have anything to do directly with the socio-cultural mix of US pop culture. High schools were the coolest thing as they were frequently enough used as backdrops in music and skate videos. Who thinks about Columbine?
And in that sense, it was a privilege to be able to put together pop culture piece by piece, like at the kiosk – Sour Gherkins and Cola Crackers from Haribo, due to the distance. For years I terrorized my parents into buying an Astra satellite dish just so I could watch MTV – which I did excessively after successfully completing the mission.
Music videos have established themselves as an art form in their own right since the first MTV clip from August 1, 1981, “Video Killed The radio Star.” A small insert: The Buggles song that ushered in the MTV era was already two years old at the time. Today the song is irrevocably linked to the start of music television. it also just fits too well into the storytelling.
Many great directors began their careers with music videos or, despite accomplished careers, insisted on getting involved in the commercial format of recording advertising (because in the end it was and is nothing more). And the list is long: David Fincher shot videos for Madonna (“Vogue”) and Aerosmith (“Janie’s Got A Gun”), Spike lee filmed Public enemy’s “Fight The Power”. david Lynch directed “Wicked game” by Chris Isaak, Martin Scorsese directed “Bad” by Michael Jackson. Ridley scott (Roxy Music,Bryan ferry),Jonathan Glazer (Radiohead,Jamiroquai),Gus Van Sant (Red Hot Chili Peppers),So
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