MTV Killed the Radio Star - The History of Rock Music (Part 11)

1:36 What's good, everybody?Scoobert Doobert here.It's time to go to the 80s for the history of rock part a million.It is 1981.This music doesn't sound like an 80 what am I doing?I want to talk about MTV.I think that MTV is such a fascinating part of the history of rock.Obviously I was not there, but I've read about it a little bit.I've watched some of the videos.

2:01 I watched MTV as I, when I was a kid, do still somewhat cool.VH1 gave it a run for its money, though.But yeah, MTV, I think, is very similar to the AM to FM radio transitionand then the vinyl to CD transitions.All these broadcast and medium-based transitions,I think are really important and underrated.Musicians forever, and this is what David Byrne talks about in his book,How Music Works.

2:34 It's kind of the idea of the medium is the message or musicians adapt to fit their environment.It was the same way for if you're playing outside,if you think like traditional music, folk music.If you're playing inside of a chamber music,you're playing inside of a church,you're playing inside of an orchestra hall, a stadium.But it's the same way for recorded musicin whatever that medium is in terms of transmission.

3:09 So AM mono to FM stereo.What happens when you get FM radio, stereo audio effects?A bunch of whew, stuff.Same thing with bass.If you've noticed bass over time has become more pronounced.It's not just because people like bass more,it's also because the means of transmitting recorded musichave gotten better over time for bass frequencies.And so that's part of the reason why hip hop happens when it does

3:42 and what it turns into is the technology was there to meet it.And that's my contention for MTV too.So cliche, video killed the radio star.Incredible timing for that song.But I think it's a similar thing that you might say with TikTok.As you shift these primary means of discovery,you also shift what the bands are doingbecause everybody wants to be successful

4:14 because everyone wants to be able to eat and continue to tourand have a life.So even now with the Spotify era,that impacts the ways in which we createbecause we want to be successful.And so you want to make stuff that sounds appropriateand cool on a playlist.In the future, maybe that'll be like video games.It already kind of is.But I do think about those kind of things like people

4:43 when they're coding or doing homework.Like what are the times that people are listening to music,driving in their car, traveling on an airplane.Those are all moments that you kind of want to meetas a musician.So I think a lot about travel.Trying to put on like good vibeswhile you're driving down a street,going in a train, flying in a plane.All this kind of calm the anxiety of the turbulence

5:07 and just ride out the waves.I say all of that to just point to the primacy of the timein place in which people are consuming your recorded musicbecause you don't get to pick.This is no longer the concert hall or the folk dance.This is people's living room.And television, just like social media,it's the same kind of thing.It's an arms race.You have to own the airwaves.You have to be bigger than the video before.

5:41 And nobody did a bigger than Michael Jackson.Michael Jackson did not anticipate talking about himon the rock series.Maybe I'll do a pop series.But that'd be really hard because what is the difference?Tune in next time and I'll explain maybe.I don't know, honestly, I don't know.But the reason why I bring up Michael Jacksonis a 14 minute long music videowhere he elevates the entire medium

6:08 and basically says no one can beat this.And no one did, he had the biggest record of all time.66 million copies worldwide.It's probably even more now.So the reason why I say that, though,is most bands are being discovered on MTV now.They need a music videoand they're competing with Michael Jackson.So what do you do?You make your hair really big.You make it spectacle.You have to.

6:37 And rock was already trending on this direction.I think like what we're talking abouteven with fashion and punk,obviously very different genres, very different aesthetics.But glam and David Bowie,even what we were talking about with Led Zeppelin,where you're in a stadium and you need to make itso that people who weigh up in the raftersand the audience still not super greatin this time period,

7:05 they still are like, oh my God, I'm looking at Led Zeppelinbecause they have huge hair and they're doing all this stuff.Like you think about kiss with pyrotechnics.All of this is not just because the bands had a vision.It's because they're reacting to likewhat the fans want, the market.Just listen to my Twisted Sister pod.I think it's a great example of these bandswere playing live a lot.

7:28 There was a ton of competitionand success was different back then.Like let's just be real.You could have one hit record and sell a bunch of copiesand completely change your life.The budgets were looser,the regulations of this industry were very different.It sounded absolutely crazy.So all of that fed back into each other.I also think that part of the reason why this period

7:55 was so debaterous is it became a fusion of all entertainmentand also music had already been this important cultural force.But now it was a visual in additionto auditory cultural forceand it was a definitional one where everybodylike kind of decided I like this kind of music,I dress in this kind of way.It was a little bit more adversarialthan it is now where people kind of dress up

8:19 for the concert, which I think is fun.You dress up for the concertsrather than dress like that every day.You don't necessarily define yourself as a country fan,but sometimes it's fun to dress up in country clothes.Country clothes.Cowboy hat.I think that that visual excess though,it got pretty silly.And I think a lot of the artists knew that.So a good example is a great movie.This is Spinal Tap.

8:45 Rockumentary, mockumentary.And it was basically, in a lot of ways,it was the end of this whole erabecause it was so biting and so realbecause it basically presented the waysthat a lot of these rock stars actually lived.And it's absurd.And you just have some funny peopleholding the mirror up to the societyand I think it broke some people's brains.Same side of the coin there.Weird Al Yankovic.Don't say Yankovic.

9:20 Even though it's Doncic and Jokic and Yankovic,he is a parody artist.I said I'm still salty.I said it wrong on the podcastthat I'm still kicking myself.It's because I watch too much basketball.But he really met the momentbecause he was like kind of OG YouTuber, I would say.If he was in the same kind of era of YouTube rising,he would have been just as successful if not more.He'd be Mr. Beast.

9:49 But he saw what was going on with MTVand he realized how silly this whole thing isand how silly he was, and a genius.Yeah, all of that up together.And he was able to make these parodiesso you would slap it in between these rock starstrying to outspend each otherand out ridiculous each other.But digging themselves very seriously in the process.That's one of the weirdest things about these videos.

10:16 Like if we made one of these videosin any musician made one of these videos today,we'd be laughing the entire time.I don't know if they were laughing.Maybe somebody in the 80s can tell meif they were that self-aware.But part of it is that all the stuff was so ridiculousand Weird Al was willing to make it even more ridiculous.And it was cheap for him to make.He was able to make a lot of videos,

10:39 he was able to make a lot of music.And he had diamond records,10 million copies sold, multiple of them.So listen to my great podcast,not no thanks to me with Bermuda Schwartz.Weird Al's drummer for four decades.It was a really great episode.But yeah, that's kind of the gist of how I feel about MTV.It was a paradigm shift in terms of platform-defining broadcastdefining tool.

11:14 It changed the way people thought about music,thought about music videos.And even though all of those things existed,the Led Zeppelin big hair, the David Bowie glam,this was the rocket fuel.This was the thing that made musicinto the weird, weird time that the 80s inhabited.I hope you enjoyed this episode.There will be more in the history of rock.If you wanna read the accompanying blog post,

11:41 go to my substack at lovemusicmore.substack.comor you can find all of my links at scoobertdoobert.pizza.I hope you enjoyed the episodeand I'll see you again next week.