When did MTV Launch and Why was it Such a Huge Success
When did MTV launch and why was it such a huge success? Movie television (now commonly known by its initials MTV) was launched on August 1, 1981. This was not when the genre of the music video was birthed (the Beatles did that with their release of the Yellow Submarine), but when music videos became a form of entertainment for hours on end. America chose to devote an entire movie channel to various kinds of music from all different artists. Initially, it was restricted to popular white bands (like the Beatles, U2, Beach Boys, etc.), but gradually MTV expanded itself and started including some soul singers and even blues. Eventually, the mid 90s, MTV added rap and hip hop to the channel, which made it the ultimate musical experience for anyone wanting to hear their favorite artists and watch their self expression.
The reason for MTV being such a huge success is primarily twofold - both for audiences and artists. From the artists' perspective, MTV gave them an opportunity to proclaim their art to the world using all genres of art. For the first time people didn't just have to come and see them in concert or go down to the local store to buy their new album. Songs could tell a story with the music, which was then demonstrated by the music video. A classic example of this is Michael Jackson's music video Thriller. While MJ fans loved his music anyways, now people had a story behind the song and there was a whole new connection with it. While Thriller was the most expensive music video of all time to produce (a grand seven million) it has also remained the most popular. Jackson could express a story in word and thought and "deed" in a way he couldn't even do live.
From the audience side of things, MTV was a way for the obsessed and the curious to investigate a particular artist or genre. As noted above, with MTV expanding their genres, larger audiences were drawn in and more and more people began to find significance and even identity with different genres and films. Their pop idol's world (shown through the video) became their world - an escape from real life and a chance to live their fantasies. Music videos became the teachers of youth in how to think about dress, sex, and drugs. "Real life' became what one saw on MTV.
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