The MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) remain a platform for a voyeuristic look at the musical créatives of today with a nod to the future. These days, music videos are watched far more often online than on TV. Music videos of the rising talent makes the Video Music Awards a reliable venue for a fun and often avant garde fashion show with Artists taking risks that people young and old might avoid at more traditional award shows. The risks are a good reason to watch or in my case, glimpse the Sunday spectacle on September 7th, which included feathery pastel boas, fluffy hats, bedazzled cups, and a Labubu doll dressed as an astronautical Moon Person! This year's ceremony aired, on CBS owned by Paramount, included Ariana Grande for video of the year; Lady Gaga for artist of the year; Rosé and Bruno Mars for song of the year ("APT."); and Alex Warren for best new artist. Enjoy! read more

See all

I WANT MY MTV!!!!!!! The early 80s+ anthem! The "I want my MTV" campaign included ads where rock stars such as Pete Townsend and the Police would say "I want my MTV," endorsing the channel. Music Television officially launched on 8-1-1981, airing music videos and related programs hosted by video jockeys, or VJs. Martha Quinn, the "girl next door" VJ still hosts a daily show on Sirius XM Radio's "The 80s on 8" station. MTV dominated pop culture in the 80s! The first words when MTV initially aired were spoken by one of MTV's creators, John Lack: "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll." A nod, perhaps, to the iconic, legendary Lemmy Kilmister's opening of every Motorhead show with, "We are Motorhead...And We play rock and roll!" Because of MTV, I threw teenage caution to the wind and paid for my family's cable television! This was a serious commitment in 1981. My favorite artists' videos at that time were Stevie Nicks, Billy Idol, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, the Police, Ratt (who's autograph I got when they came to Huntsville), U2, ZZ Top, and of course Van Halen (in the David Lee Roth or "Diamond Dave") days! Who can forget the iconic moment Courtney Cox was pulled onstage in the Bruce Springsteen video, "Dancing in the Dark?!" That was an adorable moment and probably a game-changer for her pending generations-long acting career! Stand out videos were Michael Jackson's "Thriller," "Billie Jean," and "Beat it"(all in 1983); "1999" by Prince in 1983; and Whitesnake's "Here I Go Again" featuring Tawny Kitaen in 1987. We were all glued to MTV on July 13, 1985, when MTV showed the Live Aid concerts (broadcasting 16 hours of coverage,) held in London and Philadelphia and organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. The 1983 US Festival from 5/28/83-5/30/83 featured Van Halen who headlined on "Heavy Metal Day." To experience VH, my crew and I rented a hotel room (Kings Inn, S. Memorial Parkway, Huntsville - still there to this day); rounded up our 110 cameras, stocked up on fast food takeout, filled the bathtub with ice and cold bottled of Busch, and settled in to watch the show on the room's cable TV and enjoy the swimming pool. ((Good times!!)) Other than a few interesting videos in the 90s, MTV pretty much died for me in the 80s. It was a great ride, though! Thank you MTV! read more

See all

MTV has its Studio in the busy area of Times Square. It's inside the Viacom Headquarters. I've been there a few times to meet with friends and family. It's a landmark building for me. I was watching MTV from its birth. I'd be up all night on the weekends. They had concerts, documentaries about the bands, and the videos pleased my short attention span. The videos also enticed me to buy all the latest albums in the 80's. I watched all the shows. Who remembers Headbangers Ball and Unplugged? As the decades passed and they kept branching out I started to lose interest. All the time I was losing interest, my daughter was still watching. I let her watch from the inception of the network. I wasn't a parent that freaked out when their teenager watched MTV. She was watching long before she reached puberty! Time moves on, my family and financial situation changed, and Cable TV was costly. Moving from State to State gave me an excuse to cut ties with my all night MTV addiction. I didn't feel the loss at the time, now I do feel sad remembering how much I enjoyed watching in the 80's and 90's. Especially the historic concert archives they showcased on Saturday Nights. They get Four Stars for my Happy Memories. read more

Should I review MTV as it used to be in the 80s when we watched it for the latest music videos and trends? Or should I review MTV for what I saw this morning with mostly scripted programming like "Ridiculousness" and "Broke A$$ Game Show"? MTV came a long way since they launched on August 1st 1981, spawning music careers and music videos that were more like three minute movies. They even did some "retro" stuff like the MTV Unplugged series where artists would play in small club venues without all the big stadium backup. Of course, everyone knows the first music video was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star". It was followed by Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" and the world has never been the same since. Music stores started selling more albums that were only played on MTV and not as much on local radio. And then in the early 2010's, MTV went deeper with Real World-style reality programming with the premiere of Jersey Shore. 16 and Pregnant and Punk'd and other stuff that I rate as useless. But despite all of this, MTV persists. It's still going. And today's kids watch it for the same trends that I used to watch in the late 80's. So it's clearly OK. I'm just not going to put my eyeballs on it. [Review 15618 overall - 229 in New York - 1122 of 2021.] read more

MTV - I want my MTV - Television Stations Near Me - New York, New York

I remember the buzz, I was an occasional fan and I still pop over to check it out ever so often so I had to drop a happy birthday note here. It was 40 years ago today on August 1, 1981, that MTV (Music Television) debuted on the air for the first time, with the words (by one of the creators, John Lack) "Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll. They rolled a video by The Buggles "Video Killed the Radio Star" and that was the first music video to air on this new cable channel. It was only available to households in parts of New Jersey but today MTV reaches 387 million households around the world and is considered the #1 media brand globally with a big spread of a target in the 12-34 age bracket. There's a lot that can be talked about here but for a good timeline of this media phenom check out a good highlighted site at: https://www.timetoast.com/timelines/the-history-of-mtv I'm not going into some of their greatest hits Jersey Shore, The Osbournes, etc. but I have to mention their milestone of their first full animated program Liquid Television that premiered in 1991, a splash of all kinds of animation. It included the cable debut of Beavis and Butt-Head in the short "Frog Baseball". So it began and #1 son was a big fan (still is) of Beavis and Butt-Head which is about brain dead teens and their pubescent whims debuted on MTV in 1993. (I was being kind because my first draft said:  two 13 year-olds that are really stupid and they're just self-destructive :-) It actually evolved into a successful movie 1996 "Beavis and Butt-Head Do America" that got two thumbs up from Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert :-) Silliness aside, they've done some great work like AIDS concerts (USA for Africa), Chose or Lose (young votes) and many more with progamming that reaches youth that educated about discrimination and social responsibility. It wasn't that long ago that I heard 30-somethings bragging that they could actually remember when MTV played music videos. But, with streaming media, I gotta wonder if when today's teenagers grow up, will they remember that MTV existed at all? But with over 46 million Facebook fans and a huge following abroad I think it's safe to say that MTV, the brand, will be around for a while. Bottom line: Fan or not, MTV took the whole music industry by storm and has had a real impact on youth everywhere and culture in general. Happy Birthday! read more

MTV - That's how I'm feeling right now :-) - Television Stations Near Me - New York, New York

A unit of ViacomCBS, the once omnipresent MTV is about as culturally relevant as a portable 8-track player, a Flux Capacitor or a six pack of New Coke. Sure, if you were around in 1981, the basic cable leviathan was trending into every aspect of the culture (music, film, electronics, fashion, politics) turning the original VJ's (Nina Blackwood, Mark Goodman, JJ Jackson, Martha Quinn, and Alan Hunter) into instant spirit animals for the music video age. Suddenly, a decade into it, the videos all but stopped and execrable reality programming took over bringing an avalanche of derivative fecal matter (Teen Mom, I Wanna Date Your Mom, Catfish, 16 & Pregnant) that tanked ratings and has turned MTV into a wheezing, soft core anachronism. The original MTV was unforgettable, the current iteration is instant amnesia. I for one no longer "Want My MTV" or... a return of the spiked Flock of Seagulls hair helmet that so many defiantly sported in 1982. What the hell were we thinking? read more

MTV in the 80's was the greatest thing since sliced bread. There was a time when I raced home to watch a world premier video or live concert for your entertainment. Those original VJ's of Martha, Mark, Alan , Nina & JJ Jackson ruled tv airwaves and changed the face of music for good and bad and how I lived. However other shows defined MTV. Shows like the Headbangers Ball, Yo MTV Raps and later on THE JERSEY SHORE which defined the channel for a new generation and made me laugh at what morons people can be (Fist Pump).... However I love the simple days of watching countless hours of videos in my bean bag chair at mom & dads home. Hopefully music & video all reestablish itself again but I doubt it. But I lived it and I WANT MY MTV damn it! read more

MTV - RIP - May Ziggy Play Guitar in Heaven - Television Stations Near Me - New York, New York

3/10/21 There was a time music videos dominated the market. People got very excited to see..., Madonna's new video. If you didn't make a video you weren't as likely to get broadcasted as much. In many people's eyes, you weren't as serious about getting out there and exposing yourself...so to speak. Then I notice how more and more talking was showing up on MTV. It wasn't long before MTV switch to real world sitcom. Shows like The Real World or dare I say it...Jersey Shore? The Real World Hawaii was the show I watched start to finish. It started the season off with a bang. Take Ruthie Alcaide and Teck Holmes for example, greeting the new roommates buttass and wet on day one. I remember sexy VJ named Kennedy aka Lisa Kennedy Montgomery. There was also Josiah "Jesse" Camp is a musician and television personality who was the winner of the first Wanna Be a VJ contest on MTV. Do you any of you remember his first music video? I loved watching my MTV, but it wasn't long before two many channels of MTV popped up and I lost intrested. Still, MTV is still with me in spirit. read more

"I want my MTV!" was the battle cry of the 80s. It brought superstars like Michael Jackson, Madonna and others to the forefront of public consciousness. One could watch music videos for hours on end, a new art form. Music videos were how directors like David Fincher got their start (he directed Madonna's "Vogue") One could listen to soul, New Wave, R&B, incredible variety. It shows how much the music scene has changed that when new artists like Ariana Grande, Post Malone&Halsey have music videos, their stats on MTV really don't matter... at all. In the 80s, MTV was at its zenith. Even in the 90s, they introduced groups like Nirvana and Pearl Jam. By the 2000s, they went from a musical format to "reality" TV. Now, people associate MTV with the Jersey Shore rather than the latest musical hits. Sigh.... read more

MTV is now nothing more than a joke! I remember back in the 80s when I couldn't wait to sit down, turn my MTV on, and watch videos all afternoon when I got home from school. I remember begging and pleading with my parents in the very early 80s to please please, pretty please get cable just so I could have MTV. Thank you, wonderful parents, for giving me my MTV! I use to be proud to say, "I want my MTV!" For those of you who are too young, it is from an 80s song by Dire Straights called Money For Nothing. Can I say that anymore? Hell no. The videos are just gone. Where the hell did they go? I'm not sure what this crap is they are playing nowadays. Juvenile Reality TV is all I ever see on this channel. Poor MTV... I feel so bad for what they did to you. I feel bad for this generation who will never know what it's like to be able to sit down and watch music videos all day long. read more

I was down at the prudential! I'm press and was treated like crap my credentials were pulled off my neck and my press badge is now gone ! Tried to contact someone! read more

You guys rock. I did have a great time visiting. Thank you for the VIP treatment. PS - I hardly watch your channel. I'd rather be out doing something than watching commercials. read more

Just as Frank D said, i agree 100%. But doesn't the M in Mtv stand for music ? Granted shows like Jackass & Ridiculousness are a welcome relief with everyday stupidity people exhibit everyday, everywhere but what about playing some music ? I know there are other channels Fuse, Mtv hits, Mtv urban, VH-1 & more but shouldn't the main channel show some music videos like the top ones from the other channels ? Like after 11pm so it could be used as party background ? Mtv changed how music was perceived and aided many artists & the channel ( in my opinion ) should look to it's history to make it in the future. read more

Visited MTV to see a live Nikki and Sara taping. Studio is really nice. Overlooks Broadway, has really large windows so you get a great view from every seat. They also filmed TRL here back in the day, so it was cool to visit. Everything was super organized. Security dudes were really friendly and helpful, and kept the line moving. Staff was also very nice and welcoming. The show it self was really funny and the "hype" guy was giving out t-shirts during breaks. He was hilarious!! Over all....had a great time....looking forward to visiting MTV again!! read more

I admit that I am a van of many MTV shows, however I am starting to not watch MTV now because it seems that they are using their shows to push political reviews which is so wrong. Many of the shows are fun and/or interesting to watch and watching them gives me a break from the current craziness going on in this country and the world. Then you add hosts wearing political t-shirts and t-shirts that are pressing personal opinions. This has nothing to do with the show or the purpose of the show and I really don't care about their personal views. I appreciate that the hosts of Ridiculousness don't advertise their political views and allow the show to be the escape it should be from the divisiveness in this country. As for the other shows and the show Catfish (which I used to really enjoy) where every show a political/ personal view T-shirt is being worn. I'm over it and I'm not the one that has stopped watching shows because of this unnecessary and inappropriate narrative. MTV - I don't watch your shows to be pushed by your personal and political narratives. I watch them because they are fun and interesting. Please omit these opinions and t-shirts and stick to the purpose of the shows. read more

The TRL crowds are annoying. Consider this an extension of my annoyance-with-Times-Square review. I give it an extra star because my ex once ran right into Pauly Shore as he was walking in, knocked him over on live TV. He was on the phone with me, and my little bro had MTV on at the time, so it's totally a credible story. It also gives MTV a second star. What can I say, I'm easily amused. read more

come on mtv , what happen , before the internet and youtube , etc, you were the real deal, when a singer, group, duo, etc, would come out with an album worthy of a song that deserved airplay some crappy music video would play over and over as the anchor for the song, my lord , thriller, billie jean , would be played so many times . many other music videos would play and it was good publicity for the group or artist. but as time would go on , the music videos started to show less and less making way for stupid vapid shows like the real world and many others which would eventually end the regular rotation of music videos . i cant remember the last time i watched mtv or any of its branch off channels but to be honest i was not a regular watcher to begin with. when the dire straits song money for nothing had sting keep repeating i want my mtv, i think looking back that it was a temporary fade. read more