Rewind retro video of the day... From Albany, NY... here is Blotto with their 1980 song I Wanna Be a Lifeguard, from their 1980 EP Hello! My Name Is Blotto, Whats Yours?. Though they never officially charted, they were a regional hit on the East Coast. They were also regularly featured on Dr. Demento and the early days of MTV. In fact, this video was played on the very first day MTV was broadcast. The concept for music videos dates all the way back to 1966. Few artists would go all the way to New Zealand to perform live, so major record companies began supplying promo clips to the New Zealand Broadcasting Corporation at no charge. Their TVNZ network created a program called Radio with Pictures which premiered in 76, playing promo videos and concert footage. Cut to 1977. Warner Cable (now Time-Warner) joined forces with American Express, creating Warner-Amex Satellite Entertainment (WASEC). WASEC launched the first two-way interactive cable television system called QUBE in Columbus, OH. QUBE offered many specialized channels, one of which was Sight on Sound. This channel offered users to vote for their favorite songs and artists, and daily programming would be catered by these votes to show concert footage and other music-oriented programs. In 78, NBC media executive Robert W. Pittman hosted the 15-minute show Album Tracks on New Yorks WNBC, again playing concert footage and videos. Meanwhile, Pittmans boss, WASEC Executive Vice President John Lack, green-lighted a weekly show called PopClips for Nickelodeon, created by ex-Monkees Michael Nesmith in 80. This show would last 2 seasons before Warner Cable metamorphosed the show into the channel MTV. MTV debuted on 8/1/81 at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Time. The words Ladies and gentlemen, rock and roll! were heard over footage of Apollo 11s launch and Space Shuttle Columbias first launch. The original MTV theme song was then played over photos of Apollo 11s Neil Armstrong planting the US flag on the moon. The MTV logo was superimposed upon the flag, of course. The 1st video played on MTV was The Buggles Video Killed the Radio Star, followed by Pat Benatars You Better Run. MTVs effect on the populace was immediate. Record stores were inundated with requests for music played on MTV but not played on local radio stations. Men at Work, Bow Wow Wow, and The Human League were amongst the bands that benefited from MTV exposure. This sparked what is now called the Second British Invasion. Most British bands had become accustomed to producing promo videos for their New Zealand audiences, so these videos were initially the only ones available to MTV. This explains why the New Wave movement was so heavily British-influenced. A bit of trivia before we part... Michael Nesmith was financially well-off prior to joining The Monkees. His mother invented and patented Liquid Paper. https://youtube/watch?v=CBRJ6jQfap0
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 05:00:01 +0000
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