World’s first music channel MTV turns 25
MTV, which launched as the world’s first music channel, celebrates its 25th birthday today, now boasting 78 music channels worldwide and a global audience of 481.5 million.
The station kicked off at midnight August 1, 1981 with footage of a rocket blasting from Cape Canaveral and VJ Alan Goodman announcing, “Ladies and Gentlemen, rock and roll”.
Elton John marked the launch of MTV Europe in 1987 with Dire Straits’ Money For Nothing as the inaugural video, then in 1997 MTV UK was launched and hosted by stars such as Cat Deeley and Sara Cox.
This year saw the launch of MTV Overdrive, a new online, on-demand music and entertainment service, and later this year cable channel VH2 will be converted into MTVFlux, which will spearhead the charge into more user-generated content.
Today’s celebratory programme line-up includes The Top 100 Videos That Broke The Rules, which is a countdown of seminal productions in music television and TV That Broke The Rules, billed as a countdown of MTV’s most controversial and iconic moments.
MTV KEY MOMENTS - Timeline
1981: MTV launches - it’s the first 24 hour music channel in the world.
1982: MTV embarks upon a long history of money-can’t-buy competition prizes. The first was for Huey Lewis to play live in your living room. Later competitions give away a Caribbean island, a 100-acre town in Texas and a weekend at Michael Jackson’s Neverland ranch.
1983: MTV shows the world premiere of Michael Jackson’s Thriller.
1984: The inaugural MTV Video Music Awards take place, and see Madonna burst out of a giant wedding cake to perform Like A Virgin.
1985: MTV broadcasts Live Aid in the US, plus Ben Elton’s The Young Ones.
1987: MTV Europe launches.
1989: MTV broadcasts live from behind the iron curtain and launches in East Berlin just ahead of the Berlin Wall coming down. MTV shows the world premiere of Madonna’s Like A Prayer.
1990: MTV Unplugged launches. Guests performing live acoustic sets over the next few years include Nirvana, REM, Oasis, Rod Stewart, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page.
1991: MTV Europe becomes the first non-Soviet channel to be broadcast 24 hours a day in Russia.
1992: Bill Clinton appears on MTV as part of his presidential election campaign. MTV Europe launches Most Wanted with Ray Cokes. MTV launches the world’s first reality TV show The Real World, eight years before Big Brother.
1993: Beavis and Butthead is premiered.
1994: The first ever MTV Europe Music Awards are held at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. MTV Europe’s Vote Europe Campaign sees Mikhail Gorbachev give an exclusive interview.
1997: MTV UK launches.
1999: The Red Hot Chili Peppers and Prodigy perform live in Moscow’s Red Square for MTV.
2000: MTV Cribs premieres, seeing stars showing the cameras around their bling homes. MTV also launches controversial stunt show Jackass.
2002: The Osbournes launches and become MTV’s top rating series ever.
2003: Madonna and Britney make headlines around the world by kissing on stage at the MTV Video Music Awards. Prime minister Tony Blair gives an MTV debate prior to coalition troops invading Iraq.
2004: Pimp My Ride launches, seeing old banger cars transformed into gadget-heavy, gleaming machines. A year later, a British version of the show premieres, hosted by Tim Westwood.
2005: Tony Blair and Bob Geldof debate with MTV viewers ahead of the G8 summit and Live8.
2006: Online and on-demand music and entertainment service MTV Overdrive launches.
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