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81-642: Gregory Stanley Kihn (July 10, 1949 – August 13, 2024) was an American rock musician, radio personality, and novelist. He founded and led the Greg Kihn Band and he wrote several popular horror novels. He is best known for the hits " The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) " in 1981 and " Jeopardy " in 1983. Kihn's early influence was the Beatles and their appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show . "Just about every rock and roll musician my age can point to one cultural event that inspired him to take up music in

162-490: A 30-minute program of music videos called Video Jukebox , that first aired around the time of MTV's launch and lasted until late 1986. Also around this time, HBO, as well as other premium channels such as Cinemax , Showtime and The Movie Channel , occasionally played one or a few music videos between movies. SuperStation WTBS launched Night Tracks on June 3, 1983, with up to 14 hours of music video airplay each late night weekend by 1985. Its most noticeable difference

243-518: A Top 20 single, "The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)," from the RocKihnRoll album. Kihn continued in a more commercial vein through the 1980s with a series of pun-titled albums: Kihntinued (1982), Kihnspiracy (1983), Kihntagious (1984), and Citizen Kihn (1985). His second successful single was 1983's "Jeopardy" (rising to number two) from the Kihnspiracy album. "Jeopardy"

324-593: A VJ and the Video Music Awards . At the end of each year, MTV takes advantage of its home location in New York City to broadcast live coverage on New Year's Eve in Times Square . Several live music performances are featured alongside interviews with artists and bands that were influential throughout the year. For many years from the 1980s to the 2000s, the channel upheld a tradition of having

405-717: A band perform a cover song at midnight immediately following the beginning of the new year. Throughout its history, MTV has covered global benefit concert series live. For most of July 13, 1985, MTV showed the Live Aid concerts, held in London and Philadelphia and organized by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise funds for famine relief in Ethiopia. While the ABC network showed only selected highlights during primetime, MTV broadcast 16 hours of coverage. Along with VH1 , MTV broadcast

486-443: A collection of short stories written by he and other well-known rock musicians including Pete Townshend , Graham Parker , Joan Jett , and Ray Davies . In 2013, Kihn released Rubber Soul , a murder mystery novel featuring the Beatles . The Greg Kihn Band Greg Kihn began his career as a singer-songwriter in his hometown of Baltimore, Maryland. He started writing songs and playing coffee houses while still in high school in

567-692: A concert and gave him a cassette with the "Rendezvous" outtake, the lyrics, and permission to record the song, which Kihn did on his 1979 LP "With the Naked Eye." [1] For most of the 1980s Kihn toured frequently, opening arena-sized shows for groups including Journey , the Grateful Dead , and the Rolling Stones . Kihn often appeared on TV during this period on shows such as Solid Gold , American Bandstand , and Saturday Night Live . On May 10, 1981, Kihn and Willie Nile appeared live on

648-473: A high priority on showing so many acts, at the expense of airing complete sets by key artists." He also blamed the Pink Floyd interruption on a mandatory cable affiliate break. MTV averaged 1.4 million viewers for its original July 2 broadcast of Live 8. Consequently, MTV and VH1 aired five hours of uninterrupted Live 8 coverage on July 9, with each channel airing other blocks of artists. MTV's logo

729-511: A line-up comprising Kihn's son Ry Kihn on lead guitar, Dave Danza (from Eddie Money ) on drums, Dave Medd (from the Tubes ) on keyboards, and Robert Berry (from Hush) on bass. Kihn was inducted into San Jose Rocks Hall of Fame in 2007. In September 2013, Music Life Radio interviewed Kihn about his music, radio, and writing careers. Kihn's last album, ReKihndled , was released in 2017. He continued to perform live as late as December 2019. Kihn

810-503: A member of Earth Quake, was replaced by Dave Carpender in time to record their second album, Greg Kihn Again . The lineup of Kihn, Wright, Lynch, and Carpender lasted until 1982 (changing to a quintet in 1981 with the addition of Phillips). Guitarist Greg Douglass replaced Carpender before the band's 1983 Kihnspiracy album. Throughout the 1970s, Kihn released an album each year and became better known during promotional touring, becoming Beserkley's biggest seller. In 1981, Kihn earned

891-531: A member of Earth Quake, was replaced by Dave Carpender in time to record their second album, Greg Kihn Again . Meanwhile, Kihn's old record store pal, Gary Phillips, who had contributed guitar work to Kihn's first album, returned as a session musician on the band's Glass House Rock (1980) album. He officially joined the band as keyboardist for the follow-up album, RocKihnRoll (1981). The lineup of Kihn, Wright, Lynch, Phillips, and Carpender lasted until 1983, when Greg Douglass replaced Dave Carpender. Through

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972-523: A money-losing venture, Turner sold it to MTV, who redeveloped the channel into VH1. The founders of Financial News Network , Glenn Taylor and Karen Tyler tried to capitalize on the concept by launching Discovery Music Network, which was set to be a cable network, and has plans to set up the Discovery Broadcasting System, which consists of the aforementioned network, along with computer and business networks, but it never got off

1053-464: A more commercial vein through the 1980s with a series of pun-titled albums: Kihntinued (1982), Kihnspiracy (1983), Kihntagious (1984), and Citizen Kihn (1985). Kihn scored his biggest hit with " Jeopardy ," which reached No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 , from the Kihnspiracy album. The 1983 groundbreaking "Jeopardy" video became an MTV favorite. In the video, Kihn plays

1134-399: A pair of solo acoustic albums at the studios of his friend Jack Heyrman for Clean Cuts Records, Mutiny in 1994 and Horror Show in 1996. The Greg Kihn Band continued to play with a lineup consisting of Greg's son Ry Kihn on lead guitar, Dave Danza (from Eddie Money) on drums, Dave Medd (from The Tubes ) on keyboards, and Robert Berry (from Hush) on bass. Every year, KFOX hosts a concert at

1215-448: A revised logo in tandem with the 2010 version, doing away with the 3D effect inherited from its predecessors (much akin to the current MTV Video Music Awards variant). That logo is revealed to be an alternate variant of the current logo designed by the design agency Loyalkaspar, which pays homage to MTV of the past with the red-yellow-blue color combination and the 3D effect mainly inherited from its predecessor logo. The new logo's rollout

1296-588: A statement later contradicted by CBS head of Business Affairs David Benjamin in Vanity Fair . According to The Austin Chronicle , Jackson's video for the song "Billie Jean" was "the video that broke the color barrier, even though the channel itself was responsible for erecting that barrier in the first place." But change was not immediate. "Billie Jean" was not added to MTV's "medium rotation" playlist (two to three airings per day) until it reached No. 1 on

1377-466: A target of criticism by different groups about programming choices, social issues, political correctness , sensitivity, censorship, and a perceived negative social influence on young people. Portions of the content of MTV's programs and productions have come under controversy in the general news media and among social groups that have taken offense. Some within the music industry criticized what they saw as MTV's homogenization of rock 'n' roll, including

1458-554: A trademark on the initials MTV , registered with the Hungarian copyright office, sued the American MTV (Music Television) network for trademark infringement when the Hungarian version of the music channel was launched in 2007. The suit is still ongoing. During the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards ceremony, comedian Andrew Dice Clay did his usual "adult nursery rhymes" routine (which he had done in his stand-up acts), after which

1539-467: A typewriter, a stack of records, and a Vox electric guitar. After his move to California, Kihn worked at painting houses, singing in the streets, and the behind the counter job at Berkeley record store Rather Ripped Records. His co-worker was future bandmate and Earth Quake guitarist Gary Phillips . The next year, Kihn became one of the first artists signed to Matthew King Kaufman 's Beserkley Records . Along with Jonathan Richman , Earth Quake, and

1620-453: A week in March, broadcasting live eight hours per day. "Spring break is a youth culture event", MTV's vice president Doug Herzog said at the time. "We wanted to be part of it for that reason. It makes good sense for us to come down and go live from the center of it, because obviously the people there are the kinds of people who watch MTV." The channel later expanded its beach-themed events to

1701-425: A would-be groom with fears about getting married. "Jeopardy" received heavy airplay on the fledgling cable music channel and spawned countless imitators. Many of the videos that followed were sequels with connecting story lines. "Jeopardy" was spoofed by "Weird Al" Yankovic as " I Lost on Jeopardy ", on Yankovic's album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D (1984). Kihn said he was flattered to be parodied, and appeared at

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1782-447: Is also a producer of films aimed at young adults through its production label, MTV Films, and has aired both its own theatrically released films and original made-for-television movies from MTV Studios in addition to acquired films. In 2010, a study by the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation found that of 207.5 hours of prime time programming on MTV, 42% included content reflecting

1863-592: Is available to approximately 67,000,000 pay television households in the United States, down from its 2011 peak of 99,000,000 households. MTV was launched on Saturday, August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m, under the ownership of the Warner - American Express Satellite Entertainment Company. On June 25, 1984, Warner Communications spun-off Nickelodeon , MTV into a new public corporation called MTV Networks . Warner would later acquire American Express' 50% stake

1944-432: Is the lineup which recorded the album Love and Rock & Roll (1986). From 1996 through 2012, Kihn was a morning radio disc jockey (DJ). He did wake-ups for KUFX , a Bay Area classic rock radio station. He also began a literary career in 1996 with the release of his first novel, Horror Show , published by Tor/Forge Books. Horror Show was nominated for the prestigious Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel. It

2025-505: Is used worldwide, but not everywhere existentially. The new logo was first used on MTV Films logo with the 2010 film Jackass 3D . MTV's rebranding was overseen by Popkern. On June 25, 2015, MTV International rebranded its on-air look with a new vaporwave and seapunk -inspired graphics package. It included a series of new station IDs featuring 3D renderings of objects and people, much akin to vaporwave and seapunk "aesthetics". Many have derided MTV's choice of rebranding, insisting that

2106-526: The Billboard Hot 100 chart. In the final week of March, it was in "heavy rotation", one week before the MTV debut of Jackson's " Beat It " video. Prince's " Little Red Corvette " joined both videos in heavy rotation at the end of April. At the beginning of June, " Electric Avenue " by Eddy Grant joined "Billie Jean", which was still in heavy rotation until mid-June. At the end of August, " She Works Hard for

2187-681: The King Biscuit Flower Hour from the Savoy Theater in New York City. In 1985, Kihn broke with Beserkley Records and signed with EMI . Matthew Kaufman continued to produce Kihn's albums. "Lucky" (1985) reached a modest No. 30 on the Hot 100 and spawned a splashy video sequel to the popular "Jeopardy" video. In 1986, Joe Satriani replaced Greg Douglass on lead guitar, Tyler Eng replaced Larry Lynch on drums, and Gary Phillips left with Pat Mosca taking over on keyboards. That

2268-894: The Live 8 concerts, a series of concerts set in the G8 states and South Africa, on July 2, 2005. Live 8 preceded the 31st G8 summit and the 20th anniversary of Live Aid. MTV drew heavy criticism for its coverage of Live 8. The network cut to commercials, VJ commentary, or other performances during performances. Complaints surfaced on the Internet over MTV interrupting the reunion of Pink Floyd . In response, MTV president Van Toffler stated that he wanted to broadcast highlights from every venue of Live 8 on MTV and VH1, and clarified that network hosts talked over performances only in transition to commercials, informative segments or other musical performances. Toffler acknowledged that "MTV should not have placed such

2349-694: The Lymphoma Society and performed for Children's Hospital in Oakland, California , in the fight against cancer. Kihn wrote four horror fiction novels, beginning with Horror Show (1996), which was nominated for the Bram Stoker Award for Best First Novel , followed by Shade of Pale (1997). Big Rock Beat and Mojo Hand were released as sequels to Horror Show . He released Carved in Rock: Short Stories by Musicians ,

2430-626: The Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, California, called the "Kihncert" featuring The Greg Kihn Band. The Kihncert always featured Greg Kihn as the show opener and sometime emcee, along with other KFOX FM air personalities. In addition to the Kihncert, Greg Kihn performed private, public, charity and KFOX FM-sponsored or promoted events. On August 13, 2024, Greg Kihn died after a long battle with Alzheimer's disease at

2511-480: The 1970s, Kihn released an album each year and built a strong cult following through constant touring. The Greg Kihn Band became Beserkley's biggest seller. In 1981, he earned his first big hit on the Billboard Hot 100 , " The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em) ," from the RocKihnRoll album. The song reached No. 15 on the charts and was frequently heard on album rock FM stations . Kihn continued in

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2592-400: The 40th anniversary of the network's launch in 2021, current MTV Entertainment Group president Chris McCarthy acknowledged that "(o)ne of the bigger mistakes in the early years was not playing enough diverse music   ... but the nice thing that I've always learned at MTV is we have no problem owning our mistakes, quickly correcting them and trying to do the right thing and always follow where

2673-501: The American cable channels available in other countries, eventually gained a massive cult following , becoming one of the major factors in cable programming's rise to fame and American corporations dominating the television economy in the 1990s. In the years since its inception, the channel significantly toned down its focus on music in favor of original reality programming for teenagers and young adults. As of November 2023 , MTV

2754-545: The Baltimore area. When he was 17 his mother submitted a tape of one of his original songs to the talent contest of local Top 40 radio station WCAO , in which he took first prize and won a typewriter, a stack of records, and a Vox electric guitar. He moved to San Francisco in 1972 and worked painting houses, singing in the streets, and working behind the counter at a Berkeley record store with future bandmate and Earth Quake keyboardist Gary Phillips . The following year, he

2835-559: The Disney Channel and NBC . The program aired at several times between 1984 and 1999. In 2009, Disney Channel revived the DTV concept with a new series of short-form segments called Re-Micks . Hanna-Barbera created HBTV , similar to DTV in 1985 and in 1986. MTV has edited a number of music videos to remove nudity, references to drugs, sex, violence, weapons, racism, homophobia , and/or advertising. Many music videos aired on

2916-461: The Money " by Donna Summer was in heavy rotation on the channel. Herbie Hancock's " Rockit " and Lionel Richie 's " All Night Long " were placed in heavy rotation at the end of October and the beginning of November respectively. In the final week of November, Donna Summer's " Unconditional Love " was in heavy rotation. When Jackson's elaborate video for " Thriller " was released late that year, raising

2997-459: The Police , Kiss , Culture Club , Billy Idol , Hall & Oates , Cyndi Lauper , Madonna , Lionel Richie , Ric Ocasek , John Mellencamp , Peter Wolf , Joe Elliott , Stevie Nicks , Rick Springfield , and Mick Jagger , interacting with the MTV logo on-air and encouraging viewers to call their pay television providers and request that MTV be added to their local channel lineups. Eventually,

3078-483: The Rubinoos , Kihn helped to carve the label's sound—melodic pop with a strong 1960s pop sensibility—an alternative to the progressive rock of the time. In 1976, after his debut on the compilation album Beserkley Chartbusters , he recorded his first album with his own ensemble called the Greg Kihn Band . The group consisted of Robbie Dunbar (guitar), Steve Wright (bass), and Larry Lynch (drums). Dunbar, already

3159-577: The age of 75. MTV MTV ( originally an initialism of Music Television ) is an American cable television channel. It was officially launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group , part of Paramount Media Networks , a division of Paramount Global . The channel originally aired music videos and related programming as guided by television personalities known as video jockeys , or VJs. MTV, as one of

3240-497: The all Prince theme on the channel back in the 90s. A few markets also launched music-only channels including Las Vegas' KRLR-TV (now KSNV ), which debuted in the summer of 1984 and branded as "Vusic 21". The first video played on that channel was "Video Killed the Radio Star", following in the footsteps of MTV. Shortly after TBS began Night Tracks , NBC launched a music video program called Friday Night Videos , which

3321-401: The artistic style was centered on denouncing corporate capitalism (many aesthetic pieces heavily incorporate corporate logos of the 1970s, 80s and 90s, which coincidentally include MTV's original logo) rather than being embraced by major corporations like MTV. Many have also suggested that MTV made an attempt to be relevant in the modern entertainment world with the rebrand. In addition to this,

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3402-448: The audience is going." Before 1983, Michael Jackson also struggled for MTV airtime. To resolve the struggle and finally "break the color barrier", the president of CBS Records , Walter Yetnikoff , denounced MTV in a strong, profane statement, threatening to take away its right to play any of the label's music. However, Les Garland, then acquisitions head, said he decided to air Jackson's " Billie Jean " video without pressure from CBS,

3483-558: The bar for what a video could be, the network's support for it was total; subsequently, more pop and R&B videos were played on MTV. Following Jackson's and Prince's breakthroughs on MTV, Rick James did several interviews where he brushed off the accomplishment as tokenism , saying in a 1983 interview, in an episode of Mike Judge Presents: Tales from the Tour Bus on James, that "any black artist that [had] their video played on MTV should pull their [videos] off MTV." HBO also had

3564-417: The beach house location each summer. MTV also held week-long music events that took over the presentation of the channel. Examples from the 1990s and 2000s include All Access Week , a week in the summer dedicated to live concerts and festivals; Spankin' New Music Week , a week in the fall dedicated to brand new music videos; and week-long specials that culminated in a particular live event, such as Wanna be

3645-649: The channel were either censored, moved to late-night rotation, or banned entirely from the channel. In the 1980s, parent media watchdog groups such as the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) criticized MTV over certain music videos that were claimed to have explicit imagery of satanism . As a result, MTV developed a strict policy on refusal to air videos that may depict Satanism or anti-religious themes. This policy led MTV to ban music videos such as " Jesus Christ Pose " by Soundgarden in 1991 and " Megalomaniac " by Incubus in 2004; however,

3726-410: The channel. David Bowie also questioned MTV's lack of black artists during an on-air interview with VJ Mark Goodman in 1983. MTV's original head of talent and acquisition, Carolyn B. Baker, who was black, questioned why the definition of music had to be so narrow, as did a few others outside the network. Years later, Baker said, "The party line at MTV was that we weren't playing black music because of

3807-468: The controversial band Marilyn Manson was among the most popular rock bands on MTV during the late 1990s and early 2000s. On September 28, 2016, on an AfterBuzz TV live stream, Scout Durwood said that MTV had a " no appropriation policy " that forbid her from wearing her hair in cornrows in an episode of Mary + Jane . She said, "I wanted to cornrow my hair, and they were like, 'That's racist.'" Magyar Televízió , Hungary's public broadcaster who has

3888-491: The early 2000s, MTV updated its on-air appearance at the beginning of every year and each summer, creating a consistent brand across all of its music-related shows. This style of channel-wide branding came to an end as MTV drastically reduced its number of music-related shows in the early to mid 2000s. Around this time, MTV introduced a static and single color digital on-screen graphic mainly grey during on-air and some color to be shown during all of its programming. Starting with

3969-494: The end of the video driving a convertible with the license plate "LOSER." (In a radio interview, Kihn commented that he received "a nice check" from Weird Al's record company every month.) In 1979, Kihn released his cover of Bruce Springsteen 's "Rendezvous" which didn't make the cut for Springsteen's " Darkness on the Edge of Town " LP. Springsteen admired Kihn's distinctive recording of "For You" so much that he sought out Kihn after

4050-405: The first act with people of color to perform on MTV; their song "Rat Race" was the 58th video on the station's first broadcast day. MTV refused other black artists' videos, such as Rick James ' " Super Freak ", because they did not fit the channel's carefully selected album-oriented rock format at the time. The exclusion enraged James, who publicly advocated the addition of more black artists to

4131-458: The first landing on the Moon (with still images acquired directly from NASA ), which was a concept of Seibert's executed by Buzz Potamkin and Perpetual Motion Pictures . The ID then cut to the American flag planted on the Moon's surface changed to show the MTV logo on it, which rapidly changed into different colors and patterns several times per second as the network's original guitar-driven jingle

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4212-426: The first place: The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. If you were a shy 14-year-old kid who already had a guitar, it was a life-altering event... In a single weekend everything had changed. I'd come home from school the previous Friday looking like Dion . I went back to class on Monday morning with my hair dry and brushed forward . That's how quickly it happened." Kihn began his career in his hometown of Baltimore , working in

4293-515: The following year. From August 27, 1985 to May 20, 1986, Warner would sell 31%, and later, 69% of MTV Networks to Viacom . As MTV expanded, music videos and VJ-guided programming were no longer the centerpiece of its programming. The channel's programming has covered a wide variety of genres and formats aimed at adolescents and young adults . In addition to its original programming, MTV has also aired original and syndicated programs from Paramount-owned siblings and third-party networks. MTV

4374-726: The ground. Shortly after its launch, the Disney Channel aired a program called DTV , a play on the MTV acronym. The program used music cuts, both from past and upcoming artists. Instead of music videos, the program used clips of various vintage Disney cartoons and animated films (from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs to The Fox and the Hound ) to go with the songs. The program aired in multiple formats, sometimes between shows, sometimes as its own program, and other times as one-off specials. The specials tended to air both on

4455-486: The lives of gay, bisexual and transgender people. This was the highest in the industry and the highest percentage ever. In 2018, MTV launched a new production unit under the MTV Studios name focused on producing new versions of MTV's library shows. It was later consolidated into MTV Entertainment Studios In 1984, the channel produced its first MTV Video Music Awards show, or VMAs. The first award show, in 1984,

4536-412: The network executives imposed a lifetime ban. Billy Idol 's music video for the song " Cradle of Love " originally had scenes from Clay's film The Adventures of Ford Fairlane when it was originally aired; scenes from the film were later excised. During the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards , Clay was in attendance where he confirmed that the channel lifted the ban. In the wake of controversy that involved

4617-407: The premiere of the short-lived program FNMTV: Friday Night MTV in 2008, MTV started using a updated and cropped version of its original logo for the 30 years during most of its on-air programming. It became MTV's official logo on February 8, 2010, and officially debuted on its website. The channel's full text "MUSIC TELEVISION" was eliminated, with the revised and chopped down on the logo largely

4698-933: The punk band the Dead Kennedys , whose song "M.T.V. – Get Off the Air" was released on their 1985 album Frankenchrist , just as MTV's influence over the music industry was being solidified. MTV was also the major influence on the growth of music videos during the 1980s. During MTV's first few years, very few black artists were featured. The select few in MTV's rotation between 1981 and 1984 were Michael Jackson , Prince , Eddy Grant , Tina Turner , Donna Summer , Joan Armatrading , Musical Youth , The Specials , The Selecter , Grace Jones , John Butcher and Herbie Hancock . Mikey Craig of Culture Club , Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins and Tracy Wormworth of The Waitresses were also black. The Specials, which included black and white vocalists and musicians, were also

4779-480: The rebrand was made on exactly the same day that the social media site Tumblr introduced Tumblr TV, an animated GIF viewer which featured branding inspired by MTV's original 1980s on-air look. Tumblr has been cited as a prominent location of aesthetic art, and thus many have suggested MTV and Tumblr "switched identities". The rebrand also incorporated a modified version of MTV's classic "I Want My MTV!" slogan, changed to read "I Am My MTV". Vice has suggested that

4860-485: The research – but the research was based on ignorance… We were young, we were cutting-edge. We didn't have to be on the cutting edge of racism." Nevertheless, it was Baker who rejected Rick James' "Super Freak" video "because there were half-naked women in it, and it was a piece of crap. As a black woman, I did not want that representing my people as the first black video on MTV." The network's director of music programming, Buzz Brindle, told an interviewer in 2006: "MTV

4941-501: The rules of the rock business." MTV senior executive vice president Les Garland complained decades later, "The worst thing was that 'racism' bullshit   ... there were hardly any videos being made by black artists. Record companies weren't funding them. They never got charged with racism." However, critics of that defence pointed out that record companies were not funding videos for black artists because they knew they would have difficulty persuading MTV to play them. In celebrating

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5022-413: The same as the original logo, but without the initialism, the bottom of the "M" being cropped and the "V" in "TV" no longer branching off. This change was most likely made to reflect MTV's more prominent focus on reality and comedy programming and less on music-related programming. However, much like the original logo, the new logo was designed to be filled in with a seemingly unlimited variety of images. It

5103-447: The singer/songwriter mold. But he switched to straightforward rock and roll when he moved to San Francisco in 1974. He started writing songs and playing coffee houses while still in high school in the Baltimore area. When Kihn was 17, his mother submitted a tape of one of his original songs to the talent contest of the big local Top 40 radio station, WCAO 600 AM. Kihn took first prize and won three things that would change his life:

5184-541: The slogan became so ubiquitous that it made an appearance as a lyric sung by Sting on the Dire Straits song " Money for Nothing ", whose music video aired in regular rotation on MTV when it was first released in 1985 and also served as the first video played on its European arm , and became the basis of the music used in the MTV Entertainment Studios production logo . The channel has been

5265-425: The slogan change represents "the current generation's movement towards self-examination, identity politics and apparent narcissism." MTV also introduced MTV Bump, a website that allows Instagram and Vine users to submit videos to be aired during commercial breaks, as well as MTV Canvas, an online program where users submit custom IDs to also be aired during commercial breaks. On February 5, 2021, MTV began to use

5346-527: The summer, dedicating most of each summer season to broadcasting live from a beach house at different locations away from New York City, eventually leading to channel-wide branding throughout the summer in the 1990s and early 2000s such as Motel California , Summer Share , Isle of MTV , SoCal Summer , Summer in the Keys , and Shore Thing . MTV VJs would host blocks of music videos, interview artists and bands, and introduce live performances and other programs from

5427-674: The tag line, not unlike his failed 'Maypo' revamp. His associate, and Seibert mentor Dale Pon, took over the campaign, both strategically and creatively. Pon was able to get the campaign greenlit when he laughed the tears out of the spots. From then on–with the exception of the closely logos on the first round of commercials–Pon was the primary creative force. All the commercials were produced by Buzz Potamkin and his new company Buzzco Productions, directed first by Thomas Schlamme and Alan Goodman and eventually by Candy Kugel. The campaign featured popular artists and celebrities, including Pete Townshend , Pat Benatar , Adam Ant , David Bowie ,

5508-488: The time, the logo was constantly branded with different colors, patterns and images on a variety of station IDs. Examples include 1988's ID "Adam And Eve", where the "M" is an apple and the snake is the "TV". And for 1984's ID "Art History", the logo is shown in different art styles. The only constant aspects of MTV's logo at the time were its general shape and proportions, with everything else being dynamic. MTV launched on August 1, 1981, with an extended network ID featuring

5589-645: Was born in Baltimore , Maryland, to parents Stanley J. Kihn, a city Health Department inspector who fought in the Battle of the Bulge during World War II , and Jane (Gregorek) Kihn. Kihn had two children, son Ry, a guitarist; and Lexi, a nurse. Kihn was of Polish descent. Kihn died from complications of Alzheimer's disease in the San Francisco Bay Area , on August 13, 2024, at the age of 75. He

5670-499: Was completed in time for the 2021 MTV Video Music Awards. The channel's iconic "I Want My MTV!" advertising campaign was launched in 1982. It was first developed by George Lois and was based on a cereal commercial from the 1950s with the slogan " I Want My Maypo !" that Lois adapted unsuccessfully from the original created by animator John Hubley . Lois's first pitch to the network was roundly rejected when Lois insisted that rock stars like Mick Jagger should be crying when they said

5751-487: Was considered network television's answer to MTV. Later renamed simply Friday Night , the program ran from 1983 to 2002. ABC's contribution to the music video program genre in 1984, ABC Rocks , was far less successful, lasting only a year. TBS founder Ted Turner started the Cable Music Channel in 1984, designed to play a broader mix of music videos than MTV's rock format allowed. But after one month as

5832-419: Was designed in 1981 by Manhattan Design (a collective formed by Frank Olinsky, Pat Gorman and Patty Rogoff) under the guidance of original creative director Fred Seibert . The block letter "M" was sketched by Rogoff, with the scribbled word "TV" spraypainted by Olinksky. The primary variant of MTV's logo at the time had the "M" in yellow and the "TV" in red. However, unlike most television networks' logos at

5913-529: Was followed by Shade of Pale (1997), Big Rock Beat (1998), and Mojo Hand (1999). He published many short stories during this period, some appearing in the Hot Blood series of erotic horror fiction. Kihn was contributing editor to Carved in Rock , a compilation of short fiction by musicians including Pete Townshend , Joan Jett , Ray Davies , and Kinky Friedman . The Greg Kihn Band continued to play with

5994-463: Was made to the original "Jeopardy" video. In 1986 Joe Satriani replaced Greg Douglass on lead guitar, Tyler Eng replaced Larry Lynch on drums, and Pat Mosca replaced Gary Phillips on keyboards. This is the lineup that went into the studio to record the 1986 album Love and Rock & Roll . Satriani left the band to pursue his solo career in 1987 and was replaced by former Eddie Money lead guitarist Jimmy Lyon . Greg Kihn returned to Baltimore to record

6075-401: Was originally designed to be a rock music channel. It was difficult for MTV to find African American artists whose music fit the channel's format that leaned toward rock at the outset." Writers Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum noted that the channel "aired videos by plenty of white artists who didn't play rock." Andrew Goodwin later wrote: "[MTV] denied racism, on the grounds that it merely followed

6156-530: Was played for the first time. After MTV's launch, the "Moon landing" ID was edited to show only its ending, and was shown at the top of every hour until early 1986, when the ID was scrapped in light of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster . The ID ran "more than 75,000 times each year (48 times each day), at the top and bottom of every hour every day" according to Seibert. From the late 1990s to

6237-546: Was punctuated by a live performance by Madonna of " Like a Virgin ". The statuettes that are handed out at the Video Music Awards are of the MTV moonman, the channel's original image from its first broadcast in 1981. As of 2012 , the Video Music Awards were MTV's most watched annual event. MTV began its annual Spring Break coverage in 1986, setting up temporary operations in Daytona Beach, Florida , for

6318-524: Was remembered as, "best known for his 1980s hits 'Jeopardy' and 'The Breakup Song (They Don't Write 'Em)' and his long-running radio show in the Bay Area." Kihn did charity work for "Operation Care and Comfort", a military support group responsible for sending care packages to hundreds of military units deployed in harm's way around the world . He was nominated for the 2010 “Man of the Year Award” by

6399-649: Was signed to Matthew "King" Kaufman 's Beserkley Records . Along with Jonathan Richman , Earth Quake, and The Rubinoos , Kihn helped to develop the label's sound. In 1976, after his debut on the compilation album Beserkley Chartbusters Vol. 1 , Kihn formed the Greg Kihn Band, with Steve Wright on bass. Wright became the most influential member of the Greg Kihn band, co-writing Kihn's songs. Kihn recorded his first album, Greg Kihn , with his own band, now named The Greg Kihn Band, consisting of Wright, Robbie Dunbar on guitar, and Larry Lynch on drums. Dunbar, already

6480-409: Was spoofed by "Weird Al" Yankovic as " I Lost on Jeopardy " on Yankovic's album "Weird Al" Yankovic in 3-D . Kihn made a cameo appearance in the music video. In 1983, the groundbreaking "Jeopardy" video became an MTV favorite. In 1985, Kihn broke with Beserkley Records and signed with EMI . Matthew Kaufman continued to produce Kihn's albums. "Lucky" (1985) broke the top thirty and a video sequel

6561-419: Was that black artists that MTV initially ignored received airplay. The program ran until the end of May 1992. Playboy TV launched their own music video program called "Playboy's Hot Rocks" that premiered on July 15, 1983 featuring uncensored versions of music videos that were shown in nightclubs by artists from Duran Duran and Mötley Crüe to Nine Inch Nails and 2Pac. At times, they would do a certain theme like

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