The music channel that changed pop culture forever. MTV is celebrating its 40th anniversary on Aug. 1 at 12:01 am.
“I remember when we first started doing MTV News, nobody thought it would work,” he tells ET’s Kevin Frazier. “They thought it was stupid. They thought we were stupid.”
The premise was simple: Be television’s version of radio. In the early days, the network played music videos round-the-clock hosted by video jockeys (VJs).
“At the time, I don’t think anybody in mainstream media — I can’t believe I used that phrase — had much respect for the youth audience,” he adds. “What do they need the news for? Didn’t even have brains. So, the idea of getting kids interested in politics was new, I mean, was just not something that was going on at the time.”
As MTV marks 40 years, let’s look back at the iconic music videos we remember watching.
And remember: ‘I WANT MY MTV!”