Whose careers did Mtv kill?

Exhibit B: REO Speedwagon

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/96/OriginalREO.GIF

I always see Christopher Cross listed as the stock answer for this question.

like
http://www.kb-k.com/Images/Bands/CDB/Chris-de-Burgh-Live.jpg
?
what a rude thread actually.

note to ilm: crazy old beat up MES pic as stock komedy thread response = over

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/40465000/jpg/_40465115_smith_203.jpg[br]this one then?? i think the fall is a legitimate response!

Hey. just thought of this. Part of why Prog and Mothership-sized funk toned down to AOR and Hip Hop was those sort of arena-sized gestures didn't work on the little screen. The analogy might not be Silents -> Talkies, but more Stage -> Sliver Screen.

But the Fall hit their peak at the height of the MTV era.

haha and what was their peak?? 'victoria'?? (and when did mtv europe even start?)

zz top thrived in mtv era - ugly dudes with funny beards=$$$$$$

Fall: Seems like most think of Nations Saving ... I am Kurios is the peak. (Not me. I think they're at their peak now)

ZZ Top: shrewd enough to sit back an hand the keys to the bohunk pumping gas. That's the way you do it. Not like Journey, sticking in the camera.

critically I might agree, but w/in the context of this thread I presume 'peak' wd imply commercial peak. but then i must admit the fall would never under any circumstances, videos or no videos, have gone anywhere in the states.

Bob Seger really just quit making records and touring. The only album he put out during Mtv's hey day (Like A Rock) was still a hit. After that one, he pretty much quit touring and making records.

Seger, REO and Chris DeBurgh all had videos that were played along side of some of their hits in the mid 80s.

Yes and Asia also sold a bunch of records around the time Mtv came around. I remember Owner of a Lonely Heart and In the Heat of the Moment both being quite popular videos.

:ahem:

[url=[Removed Illegal Link] Squier[/img]

...and just like that it was over

GODDAMN YOU NUILX, I PLAYED BY YOUR RULES!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYPB0i0jN-8

...and just like THAT it was over.

This guy did rather well during the 80s thanks to use of humour rather than looks, then along came a generation who took themselves and their identity so seriously there was no more room for humour in music videos:
http://www.philcollinsfansite.com/images/phil-collins-3.jpg

(Surely it didn't help him much that his 90s solo albums were extremely bad too, it must be added)

Btw. Generally looks weren't all that important in the 80s as non-good-looking acts could always use humour in their music videos instead and escape the trouble about their looks. But the generation who grew up in the 90s had no interest in humour, for them it was all about looks and nothing but looks.

REO Speedwagon had a #1 hit in 1985, well into the MTV 'revolution', so their career was hardly killed by MTV.

Pretty much every soft rock/yacht rock act.

REO Speedwagon also used humour in their videos.

!!own!!

Btw. Generally looks weren't all that important in the 80s as non-good-looking acts could always use humour in their music videos instead and escape the trouble about their looks.

But not all bands were the types of bands that could suddenly put out hit songs that allowed "humourous" videos to accompany them. These are the bands/artists that were unable to successfully change their image/output to mold the demands of the Mtv market. Surely there are examples of bands that tried to change to meet Mtvs demands and failed, dont you think? And then there are also bands that kept doing the same thing or wlse became paralyzed when they suddenly found there was no longer that much of an audiance for what they had been doing in the 70s(Bob Seger for instance).

she coulda been a contendah

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/29/53940799_346dc9bcf0_m.jpg

"fuck kate couric! every time I see her I think about paths not taken."

http://www.pessimistic.com/martha_quinn/pictures/Martha_Quinn_02.jpg

Geir does have a point: you could be ugly and white in the eighties and score lots of hits -- and for the last time.

well beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Whatever Happened to the Video Stars?
In 25 years, MTV VJs have gone on to greatness. Or not. Here's what happened to a few of our faves.
By Chris Barton, Times Staff Writer
July 25 2006


On Aug. 1, 1981, grainy stock footage of a rocket launch appeared on TV screens across the country — well, in a few select cable markets anyway. With that and an anonymous five-note guitar theme, MTV was born — a channel that changed the look of music, TV and even movies in its 25 years.

And while MTV hasn't yet gotten around to killing the radio star, it has birthed numerous video stars, a selection of VJs and random personalities that, for a time, could only have gained fame on MTV. Here's a sampling


Martha Quinn
Though she was hired with the least on-camera experience, Quinn was among the most popular of MTV's first generation of VJs hired back in 1981. She briefly returned to the network in 1990 as part of a program dubbed "MTV Prime," but Quinn's place in the pop culture pantheon was assured thanks to self-aware appearances in movies like "Tapeheads" and "The Weird Al Show." She now hosts a program on Sirius radio with a few of her fellow former VJs.


Kevin Seal
Known for a persistent smirk that seemed to tell his audience, "I can't believe I'm saying this," Seal was the first permanent host of MTV's late-night alternative music incubator "120 Minutes." Though his self-effacing, irony-laden mannerisms resonated with alt-rock fans, his stint hosting "Headbangers Ball" was mercifully brief. He briefly branched into the extreme sports spinoff "Kevin Seal: Sporting Fool;" his time with MTV was over by the mid-'90s.


Tabitha Soren
Joining the tireless Kurt Loder as the second face of MTV News, Soren performed her duties with a healthy sense of red-haired gravitas. However, she may be best known for her 1992 interview with Bill Clinton where she asked the candidate on a "Choose or Lose" special, "Who's your favorite musician?" When Clinton replied, "Thelonious Monk," Soren responded, "Who's the loneliest monk?" Since her time on MTV, Soren has dropped out of the public eye, free to ponder such Zen-like questions.


Downtown Julie Brown
Host of the peekaboo-camera dance party "Club MTV," Brown and her neon-colored togs "Wubba Wubba Wubba-ed" her way into viewers hearts in the late '80s. Once her dance with MTV ended, Brown bounced around various brief film and television roles before posing nude for "Playboy" in 2000. In 2003, she appeared on the reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!"


Dr. Dre and Ed Lover
Hip-hop's dynamic duo hosted the not-as-silly-as-it-seems "Yo! MTV Raps" program throughout the '90s, bringing the hip-swinging "Ed Lover Dance" to a grateful nation. Ed and Dre eventually transitioned into movies with "Who's the Man?" in 1993, but with limited success. Since the MTV days, the duo have mostly gone separate ways, with Ed appearing on TV's "The World According to Jim" in 2001 and Dre in the 2005 miniseries "Miracle's Boys," which aired on the teen-oriented network The N.


Karen Duffy
Known only as "Duff" in her MTV days, the VJ rode her early '90s fame to modeling and acting gigs, culminating in a role as an extraordinarily high-cheekboned thug in "Dumb and Dumber." Unfortunately, her story turns a bit darker with her 1995 diagnosis of neurosarcoidosis, leaving her partially paralyzed. In 2000, she published a cheeky memoir of her experiences, "Model Patient: My Life As an Incurable Wise-Ass."


Dan Cortese
Briefly ubiquitous on the network as the host of "MTV Sports," Cortese flung himself from the end of bungee cords, traveled the globe and came dangerously close to legitimizing the bandanna as a form of headgear in the grunge-tainted early '90s. Cortese quickly parlayed his fame and good looks into frequent sitcom appearances on shows like "Veronica's Closet," "8 Simple Rules" and, perhaps most memorably, as the cool yet superficial "mimbo" on "Seinfeld."


Adam Curry
Known for sporting one of the most majestic mullets to ever grace television, Curry and his hair went on to greater wealth after MTV. Moving into the lucrative world of the Internet, Curry registered the domain mtv.com with the hopes of becoming the channel's voice on the web. After being sued by MTV for the URL, Curry earned his fortune through various start-ups and, to some degree, helped establish podcasting. Curry also has a show on Sirius Radio.


Kennedy
The artist formerly known as Lisa Kennedy Montgomery rode a snide delivery and a pair of plastic-rimmed glasses to fame in the irony-fueled '90s. After briefly incurring the wrath of Martin Landeau for flippant comments on the red carpet at the "Mission Impossible" premiere, Kennedy's post-MTV life has moved into the realm of political satire, which in 2005 earned her appearances on MSNBC's "Scarborough Country."


Jesse Camp
Perhaps the most unpredictable of MTV personalities, Camp was the winner of the channel's "I Wanna Be a VJ" contest in 1998. Though the Village Voice later reported some hacker-aided voting chicanery, the wafer-thin Camp became a fixture on "MTV Live." With a raspy, metal-burned voice and a wardrobe straight out of Lenny Kravitz's id, Camp injected an unhinged manic energy into the network's controlled age of Carson Daly. His reign was brief, however, and since MTV his most notable appearance was in Britney Spears' movie "Crossroads" as "Audition Applicant."

Now That's What I Call Awesome
Vice Records is up first, with Matador and Sub Pop considering additional volumes, for a new indie compilation series that will feature bands like Bloc Party, the Shins, and Cold War Kids

VICE SQUAD Bloc Party will be among the indie rock acts appearing on a new compilation series
By Leah Greenblatt

EW has learned exclusively that a group of today's most prominent independent music labels are joining forces to produce a series of compilations much like the staggeringly successful Now That's What I Call Music series. Instead of pop hits by the likes of Xtina, Rihanna, and Hinder, however, this as-yet-untitled series will feature songs from artists such as Bloc Party, the Shins, Bright Eyes, Air, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, M. Ward, Ted Leo, Cat Power, Silversun Pickups, and the indie-in-spirit-if-not-in-label Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Sonic Youth.

''These bands' records sell really well to a particular audience,'' says Adam Shore, general manager for Vice Records, which aims to release the first volume this July (they're already the American home to high-profile acts Bloc Party, the Streets, and Charlotte Gainsbourg). ''But even though these artists are getting all this media exposure, they're not necessarily crossing over to a very casual record buyer.'' The plan of action? ''We're partnering with MTV2, and the focus is going to be Walmarts, big box stores, red states, and TV advertising — to really go beyond.... We don't really expect indie-rock stores to support this record. It's for the casual fan.''

Much like the Now discs (the 24th in the series was just released last week), the comp will likely jump from label to label with each release. Though there's no formal agreement yet, ''Matador has expressed interest in putting out volume two, and Sub Pop has shown interest in volume three.''

So, will soccer moms, pop-radio listeners, and the other 98 percent of the population who don't plan their days around the release of the next Yo La Tengo record be drawn in by this new concept? ''The truth is, people are not buying records the way they used to,'' Shore admits. ''But the popularity of these bands is bigger than they've ever been before. So what we're trying to do here is give more people more reasons to listen to these artists.''

Who is the loneliest monk? XPOST BOXCAR

I first heard The Fall on MTV.

tabitha soren lives in berkeley now. she occasionally does stuff at the university in the journalism dept.

I first ever saw Mark E. Smith on MTV, in the 120 Minutes advert.

The Fall's video for Victoria on MTV is what got me into the Fall.

Big New Prinz got airplay, too

and the following year, Telephone Thing.

Black 70s stars who couldn't get played on MTV because MTV never played black music that wasn't by Michael Jackson, such as:

Donna Summer
James "D Train" Williams ("You're the One for Me" should've been a HUGE hit.)
The Commodores
The Spinners
George Clinton
Chic
Kool and the Gang

Sure the closest thing MTV had to a black man on their rotation was Michael Jackson, but he's disqualified today for fairly obvious reasons and so now we've got to coin-flip it for either Daryl Hall or Phil Collins. Personally I'm pulling for Mr. Hall.

Donna Summer's She Works Hard for the Money got regular play on MTV, or am I imagining that?

based on their output before and after mtv started paying attention to them, i'd say mtv did a pretty good job of killing metallica's career.

What do people consider career? Artistic excellence or financial success?

xxpost

no. and george clinton's over-the-top "atomic dog" video got a bit too.

did the spinners even make videos? they were well past their heyday when mtv went on the air in 1981 -- phillipe wynne left in 1977.

you'd think chic make sleek videos but I can't remember seeing them. and while I agree that "you're the one for me" is deathless classic if prelude records was funding videos they would'be been on the cheap. I remember seeing one for "Music" probably on New York Hot Tracks.

Spinners were more into making "live" TV appearances on Dick Clark type productions.

What do people consider career? Artistic excellence or financial success?

Talking mainly about financial success here. But that is a very interesting question you ask, and could lead to a very complex tangent of conversation: "How did Mtv affect artist's creative process?"

a'la fact checking cuz's point, I'd forward guns n roses.

HI DERE PEW THREAD FFS

because MTV never played black music that wasn't by Michael Jackson

They did play some Rick James and Prince.

Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner

based on their output before and after mtv started paying attention to them, i'd say mtv did a pretty good job of killing metallica's career.

Yeah, pretty much. :-)

Whatever Happened to the Video Stars?

Kevin Seal
Known for a persistent smirk that seemed to tell his audience, "I can't believe I'm saying this," Seal was the first permanent host of MTV's late-night alternative music incubator "120 Minutes." Though his self-effacing, irony-laden mannerisms resonated with alt-rock fans, his stint hosting "Headbangers Ball" was mercifully brief. He briefly branched into the extreme sports spinoff "Kevin Seal: Sporting Fool;" his time with MTV was over by the mid-'90s.

This really kind of ignores the idea behind the article. So, seriously, Whatever Happened to this Video Star[s]?

MTV has killed most of the careers that it helped promote, just as a routine side-effect of changing its programming emphasis every couple of years. Haircut bands, hair metal, grunge, pre-MTV holdovers, corporate rap.... By depriving these acts of the oxygen of television exposure, the vast majority of them must move on to obscurity or the nostalgia circuit, if they don't successfully Get With The Program.

villagepeoplerenaissance.jpg

But now, since MTV no longer stands for "Music Television", this will be less and less an issue.

Better yet...

pumpsandabump.jpg

Btw. Generally looks weren't all that important in the 80s as non-good-looking acts could always use humour in their music videos instead and escape the trouble about their looks. But the generation who grew up in the 90s had no interest in humour, for them it was all about looks and nothing but looks.

-- Geir Hongro, Tuesday, 10 April 2007 08:27 (Yesterday)

Those Foo Fighters videos were all about the sexy.

ha!

Foo Figthers (and before them, Nirvana) appealed to roughly the same people who used to be into Duran Duran at 10. The "kids" were never grunge fans.

around 70% of my middle school class would care to disagree

geir pls tell me more about american teens!