Mar. 8, 2010 at 1:13pm with 59 notes
Reblogged from fredseibert

fredseibert:

lumber:

moth:

The first ten minutes of MTV.

From Wikipedia:

On August 1, 1981, at 12:01 a.m., MTV: Music Television launched with the words “Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll,” spoken by John Lack. Those words were immediately followed by the original MTV theme song, a crunching guitar riff written by Jonathan Elias and John Petersen, playing over a montage of the Apollo 11 moon landing. With the flag having a picture of MTVs logo on it. MTV producers Alan Goodman and Fred Seibert used this public domain footage as a conceit, associating MTV with the most famous moment in world television history. Seibert said they had originally planned to use Neil Armstrong’s “One small step” quote, but lawyers said Armstrong owns his name and likeness, and Armstrong had refused, so the quote was replaced with a beeping sound. At the moment of its launch, only a few thousand people on a single cable system in northern New Jersey could see it.

Weirdest part for me is Adam Curry’s line at the end: “combining the best of TV with the best of radio.” There’s been a line in Next New Networks’ materials since we began: “combining the best of TV with the best of the web.” No coincidence that Fred was involved with both.

Ah my wasted youth. (And Tim, you really make me feel my age when I point out to you that Adam Curry didn’t start at MTV for another six years. That was original VJ Mark Goodman.)

  1. ladycabbage reblogged this from fredseibert
  2. kaocow reblogged this from moth and added:
    I’ve had the song stuck in my head since I watched Ferris Bueller’s Day Off… (the video killed the radio store song). I...
  3. onlyhestandsthere reblogged this from jehova and added:
    Istenem, hogy ez mennyire csodás már, szinte történelmi pillanat. A Buggles szám után a “kazettacserlő” effektus...
  4. perfectvillain reblogged this from jehova and added:
    felelőtlenül nem jutottam el addig...videóval, amikor kiírtam. Elnézést!
  5. jehova reblogged this from perfectvillain and added:
    Azt meg kit érdekel, amikor after that: a gyönyörű Pat Benatar!
  6. dannyvolcano reblogged this from hypem and added:
    MTV played music videos? GET OUT!!
  7. iamcharlotteaddams reblogged this from a12thway2reachme
  8. ianbrooks reblogged this from hypem and added:
    IN NEW JERSEY. Now it all makes sense. The seeds were planted all the way back in, eh…..
  9. dascenzo reblogged this from soupsoup and added:
    Reminds me of the internet.
  10. circlingskeleton reblogged this from fredseibert and added:
    What… happened?
  11. tolomakontentot reblogged this from stereoactivenyc
  12. mdfsmash reblogged this from fredseibert and added:
    The first ten minutes...I work with cool people.
  13. jeremyk reblogged this from fredseibert
  14. goinginon reblogged this from fredseibert
  15. fredseibertdotcom reblogged this from lumber and added:
    I rarely reblog here, but this clip seemed like...good bet. (Though
  16. hypem reblogged this from stereoactivenyc
  17. stereoactivenyc reblogged this from soupsoup and added:
    The first ten minutes of MTV.
  18. liquidchroma reblogged this from soupsoup
  19. osmium reblogged this from soupsoup and added:
    That the Buggles had the first video played on MTV has passed into folklore—you know it just like you know that Neil...
  20. justanotherhonky reblogged this from soupsoup
  21. verdi reblogged this from moth
  22. soupsoup reblogged this from moth
  23. peterkafka reblogged this from moth and added:
    If you really want to go deep with this stuff, you can see a full 1.5 hours...1983 MTV...