First_music_videos_aired_on_MTV

List of first music videos aired on MTV

List of first music videos aired on MTV

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This is a list of the first music videos broadcast on MTV's first day, August 1, 1981. MTV's first day on the air was rebroadcast on VH1 Classic in 2006 and again in 2011 (the latter celebrating the channel's 30th anniversary).[1][2] The first hour on the air was broadcast again on August 1, 2016, and was called MTV Hour One, as part of VH1 Classic's planned re-launch as MTV Classic, MTV itself, and additionally streamed on the channel's Facebook page.[3]

The first video to air on MTV was one emblematic of MTV's concept, The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star" which was then immediately followed by a brief message about music and television coming together and then "You Better Run" by Pat Benatar. One hundred sixteen unique videos were played, spanning 209 spins over the first 24 hours; from the beginning, MTV used the rotation system and repeated popular videos throughout the day. "You Better You Bet" by the Who, which was also the first video to be repeated, "Just Between You and Me" by April Wine, and "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins were each played five times. Rod Stewart made the most total appearances that day with 16, with 11 of his videos being played.

Due to being a brand new cable network, the first day featured numerous errors including playing clips at the wrong times, moments of dead air, videos that wouldn't play correctly and other technical difficulties.

More information Number, Song ...

References

General references

  • Hoye, Jacob. MTV Uncensored. Pocket Books, 2002. ISBN 0-7434-2682-7.
  • Boston Globe: MTV's first 10 music videos[dead link]

Notes

  1. This column indicates how many times the video was played on MTV's first day, and for videos with multiple plays on that day, which play it was. For example, an entry of "1/2" means that this was the first time the particular video was played that day out of two total plays.

Inline citations

  1. [1]
    "VH1 Classic to show MTV's first day on air". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 2006-07-31. Archived from the original on 2013-06-27.
  2. [2]
    Daniel Rubin, "Blinq: After 25 years, do you still want your MTV?" Philadelphia Inquirer, August 1, 2006.
  3. [3]
    "MTV Launches 'Classic' Channel Dedicated to 1990s". Rolling Stone. 28 July 2016. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
  4. [4]
    Nastasi, Allison. "25 Things You Didn't Know About MTV's First Broadcast". Flavorwire. Flavorwire. Retrieved 27 March 2022.
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