MTV As It Once Was Is Officially Dead – And Pop Culture Is Worse For It

On August 1, 1981, a new cable television station calling itself MTV (which stood for Music TeleVision) debuted, playing its first ever music video: The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star." The cheeky choice of song proved absolutely prophetic, as did the network ID animation depicting an astronaut planting an MTV flag on the moon. Over the next 20-odd years, the channel came to dominate pop culture and heavily influence the music industry. The concept of MTV felt unique at the time, but in retrospect, it seems simply natural. It eschewed the live performances that musicians had been doing as part of variety shows since the Ed Sullivan days and instead played the studio-recorded album tracks from the artists along with visual accompaniment. The executive behind the network, Robert W. Pi