Was 1980s MTV 'cool'?

Looking back, I think it was mostly embarrassing. Of course, it had its moments. I don't know about anyone else but I can't watch things like the following video without cringing.


www.youtube.com...

IMHO, if something is truly cool it ages well and it is cool in any era. I would say Marilyn Monroe is a good example of that. James Stewart is another example of that in my opinion.

But, 1980s MTV was mostly not only not cool, it was complete garbage in my eyes. I think it's an interesting psychological/sociological study to think of how people back then thought they were the epitome of awesomeness but what were they really doing...their devotion to something as lame as 1980s MTV is proof that they were conformists with no sense of style.

The fashion that was a part of 1980s MTV was often ugly. I think that's an objective fact, it does not stand the test of time at all. The style of the music videos were often a detriment to the music. It may have been hard to see that at the time but I think it's apparent now. The reason for that was probably mostly the conformity that MTV brought. I think a lot of bands were able to break out of that in the 1990s. The grunge movement alone accomplished that, thank goodness.

My personal opinion is 1980s MTV was mostly a joke and a stain on music history.

What are you talking about, 80s fashion is back in style!
80's to me is what the 70's is to you?

ahhahah Monroe and wot you said is so old man, are you some gramnpa hppy? Stop being old dude. youre making everyone old.

holy buckets though, that advert made me cry.

who were those people? especially the really early flower girl thing????

Ahhahah..

At least it was much better than now... 90s was at it's best though!

I always remember the old Dead Kennedys song, "MTV Get Off the Air", when this is topic is brought up...

"Hi, I'm your video dj, I always talk like I'm wigged out on quaaludes, I wear a satin baseball jacket everywhere I go..."
"My job is to help destroy what's left of your imagination by feeding you endless doses of sugar-coated mindless garbage.
So don't be late, be sedate, be a vegetable at home and flock on that dial..." i forget the rest but it was thirty years ago...

Parts of Mtv were all right. I used to love Headbangers ball and 120 minutes. They rest was turds.

Apparently they actually had lots of music on mtv back in the 80's and 90's...

MTV ROCKED in the 80s!!

They actually showed music! MTV was ruined the moment they started reality tv with "The Real World" and the TRL (Total request live)

I loved MTV in the 80s. No need for a radio just out MTV on and there you have it MUSIC! MTV today is a joke and utter disgrace.

That was back in the days when they were really "music" TV. Right? You have to look long and hard today to find anything related much to music.

So I would think if it wasn't better by your standard, it was at least closer to the network's name.

It's kind of like TLC is today and what it started out as.

Both Headbanger's Ball and 120 Minutes started in the 80s on MTV, that more than makes that era of the network cool to me...

MTV really had music back then. Every time I went into a pub or restaurant, MTV would be playing one of the following:

"We Built This City", Starship
"Money for Nothing", Dire Straits
"Battleship Chains", The Hooters
"Sleeping Satellite", Tasmin Archer
ZZ Top, Cher, Sinead'O'Connor
"Thunderdome", Tina Turner

Ignore Boy George and Culture Club - that was from London and Vivian Westwood

If you go to any pub now, they've usually got Sky News playing.

a reply to: stormcell

The Cars videos rocked. Janet Jackson, Blondie, Pat Benatar...yes!

MTV was cool, but for a short time.

MTV videos helped me to better understand the songs. But it got ols, fast.

a reply to: Profusion

IMHO, if something is truly cool it ages well and it is cool in any era

Rolling Stones, AC/DC, Bob Seger, Elton John and all the "old" rockers are still alive and kickin' due to the fact that their music was GODD, not "in one year and out the next". Most "music" today is that type. A band gets famous for a few songs, teenage girls go wild for a few months and it's on to the next "hot" act.
Gimme Bob Seger any day over ......................... One Direction. [ sorry had to look up what's popular today, as I don't pay attention to the boy bands]
My daughter is 15 and would rather listen to Aerosmith than most anything on the radio.
I did good

I liked the fact that they had lots of shows with many genres of music, including rock, all kinds of metal, punk, glam, industrial, pop, indie, grunge, electropop, disco, early raves, it was just awesome.

in the late 90s it was mainly mainstream pop n hiphop(same few songs played all day long, but at least it had jackass, Tom green and superrock) and later only hiphop.

Haven't watch since then... tried to, but only had realities not music

a reply to: Profusion

It was cool not for the content but for its existence.

a reply to: opethPA

And Liquid Television. They played some cool stuff on there. I used to get so irritated with headbangers ball because at one time it seemed as they would only play the ballad bands and mix in 2 or 3 heavier bands to call it headbangers ball.

originally posted by: Profusion
Looking back, I think it was mostly embarrassing. Of course, it had its moments. I don't know about anyone else but I can't watch things like the following video without cringing.

www.youtube.com...

IMHO, if something is truly cool it ages well and it is cool in any era. I would say Marilyn Monroe is a good example of that. James Stewart is another example of that in my opinion.

But, 1980s MTV was mostly not only not cool, it was complete garbage in my eyes. I think it's an interesting psychological/sociological study to think of how people back then thought they were the epitome of awesomeness but what were they really doing...their devotion to something as lame as 1980s MTV is proof that they were conformists with no sense of style.

The fashion that was a part of 1980s MTV was often ugly. I think that's an objective fact, it does not stand the test of time at all. The style of the music videos were often a detriment to the music. It may have been hard to see that at the time but I think it's apparent now. The reason for that was probably mostly the conformity that MTV brought. I think a lot of bands were able to break out of that in the 1990s. The grunge movement alone accomplished that, thank goodness.

My personal opinion is 1980s MTV was mostly a joke and a stain on music history.

I'm biased, but honestly I think most of the 80's was "not cool," including 1980's MTV. With a few exceptions, I think that the 80's was the worst recent era. Most of the music was garbage, the fashion was horrific, and the greater culture was all about materialism and stupid sh%t.

The 60's, 70's, and 90's were cool. Not the 80's.

Mtv had its moments, but don't forget it was the only way to actually see bands other than album covers and concerts. That's also why so many 80's bands sucked, all style and no talent.
And they don't show music videos today because nobody would watch them. Video may have killed the radio star but the internet killed mtv. You don't have to watch for two hours to see your favorite video just use YouTube.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14

Best thing to come out of the 80s were the cartoons. Being a kid in the 80s wasn't so bad.

a reply to: Quetzalcoatl14


I agree totally, I was born in 71 so the 80's was my teen years. Thank goodness I had older brothers to guide me through those years with ac/cd..