POLL: 120 Minutes on MTV

Oh, whoops. It was Thurston interviewing Beck: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXnP24rqQ7Q

This is easy: Kevin Seal. He obviously had a deep affection for the music he was playing, but he was still jokey and irreverant. He gave the show a real personality. I'd guess Matt Pinfield will win the poll. He was okay, but too stiff and serious for the job, I thought.

Anyway, I'm glad to see this poll. I grew up on 120 Minutes, and I wish shows like it -- with that homemade quality -- were still around.

Kevin Seal was great. For a long time I assumed that Dave Kendall was a joke alter-ego that Seal was doing, with his picture distorted and all.

I voted for Thurston. didn't Beck talk in to a shoe? something like that.

Thurston asked Beck about himself, and Beck, without saying a word, took off his boot and threw it at the back of the set.

Re: Kevin Seal. I only have very vague memories of his time hosting the show. I didn't really start watching until Dave Kendall took it over. But I remember Kevin Seal doing other things on MTV and I always thought he was the coolest guy ever.

Here's Kevin Seal in some show called Underside, which is apparently the project he was involved with after 120 Minutes. Never heard of it, sadly. Kevin Seal should be back on MTV, along with Nina Blackwood, Alan Hunter, Marc What's-His-Name and the cute brunette. Music videos, too.

I just watched that. I love how he tried to pull the dead corpses of Roxette out of the wall.

Just remembered: cute brunette = Martha Quinn. Still cute.

From Wikipedia: "In 2006, Seal appeared in the sexual harassment training video "Let's Get Honest" by Media Partners as a sexual predator."

SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN A DECENT JOB!

Also, re: Martha Quinn. A guy at my high school wrote Martha Quinn a letter and asked her to be his date to the prom. She did the nice thing and wrote him back with a personalized "no".

The sorrid tale of ex-MTV VJs.

SOMEONE GIVE THIS MAN A DECENT JOB!

Amen.

Tabitha Soren, haha! ""Who's your favorite musician?" When Clinton replied, "Thelonious Monk," Soren responded, "Who's the loneliest monk?""

that story doesn't mention that tabitha soren married michael ("liar's poker," "moneyball") lewis.

I was thinking that same thing.

Back in the heydey when I was 18, I went to a zydeco show in NYC and met Ken Ober.

kevin seal is the proper and correct answer to this but dave kendall was so fucking ridiculous i'm going to vote for him. pinhead came after I stopped caring about 120 minutes.

karen duffy was teh hottness

Marisol on Remote Control was my favorite MTV personality.

karen duffy was teh hottness

She was. The article I linked above has more on her post-MTV story. She's had some rough times with her health, apparently.

kevin seal is the proper and correct answer to this but dave kendall was so fucking ridiculous i'm going to vote for him.

me too. making fun of dave kendall became part of the attraction of watching the show.

I've never seen a single episode of 120 Minutes. I never even knew it existed until about six years ago. And I watched A LOT of daytime MTV back in the late 80s when I was a little tyke. I don't remember any commercials about it or anything. Seriously, how did people hear about this show??

My pick for best MTV show would have to be Remote Control. Remember in the bonus game when the contestant was strapped to a craftmatic adjustable bed and would have to name the videos on the TV screens? I would get those right EVERY TIME.

120 Minutes was promoted pretty heavily on MTV, I think, but it only aired at (or after) midnight on the weekends. It was the destination point for people who wanted to see all those eighties underground acts that were so important to me as a kid.

Remote Control is notable only because Jenny McCarthy was on it, in the springtime of her hotness and hipness.

i saw 120 minutes some in high school (at friends' houses -- we didn't have cable), but my first 2 years of college it was sunday night ritual for me and my friends. how the weekend ended.

also wikipedia sez dave kendall actually created the show, which i didn't know. here's somebody's obsessive attempt to archive the show. these two lists sound about right:

January 24, 1988
Source for this playlist: Peter A.
Host: Kevin Seal
No Guest
Dave Kendall Makes an appearance discussing “New Records”

Sinead O’ Connor-Mandinka
Siouxsie and the Banshees-Dear Prudence
The Church-Under the Milky Way
Midnight Oil-Beds are Burning
X-Fourth of July
Lemonheads-Second Chance
Screaming Blue Messiahs- I Wanna Be a Flintstone
Public Image Ltd-Body
The English Beat-Save It For Later
The dB’s-Working for Somebody Else
Leather Nun-I Can Smell Your Thoughts
Depeche Mode-Never Let Me Down Again
The Cult-Love Removal Machine
Jane’s Addiction-Trip Away
Aztec Camera-Deep & Wide & Tall
The Petrol Emotion-Genius Move
Echo & The Bunnymen-Lips Like Sugar
The Bears-Trust
Flesh For Lulu-Postcards From Paradise
The Cure-Lovecats
Angry Samoans-Time Has Come Today
Julian Cope-Trampoline
The Bolshoi-TV Man


January 17, 1988
Source for this playlist: Jon C.

Just Like Heaven - The Cure
The Killing Moon - Echo & The Bunnymen
Primitive Painters - Felt
I Wanna Be A Flintstone - Screaming Blue Messiahs
Don't Let's Start - They Might Be Giants
Dear God - XTC
Before Too Long - Paul Kelly & The Messengers
Litany (Life Goes On) - Guadalcanal Diary
Tv Man - The Bolshoi
Rainy Season - Howard Devoto
Tennessee Fire - The Silos
X-Ray On The Cucumbers
My Boyfriend - The Cucumbers
A Fairytale Of New York - The Pogues
Just Like Honey - The Jesus & Mary Chain
Something Inside Me Has Just Died - Kommunity Fk
Sanity - Killing Joke
This Corrosion - The Sisters Of Mercy
It's The End Of The World As We Know It (And I Feel Fine) - R.E.M.
Fire Engine - Richard Lloyd
Bastards Of Young - The Replacements
The Right Stuff - Bryan Ferry
The Real Sheila - Game Theory
Sheila Take A Bow - The Smiths
Deep And Wide And Tall - Aztec Camera

Sinead O’ Connor-Mandinka
Siouxsie and the Banshees-Dear Prudence
The Church-Under the Milky Way
Midnight Oil-Beds are Burning
X-Fourth of July

* * * *

Depeche Mode-Never Let Me Down Again

* * * *

Echo & The Bunnymen-Lips Like Sugar

Stupid, I admit, but just reading this portion of the first playlist makes me emotional for my youth (late teens/early twenties).

Remote Control is notable only because Jenny McCarthy was on it, in the springtime of her hotness and hipness.

You're thinking of Singled Out.

Oh, yeah! Remote Control was good.

Not as good as 120 Minutes, mind you, but good.

Kevin Seal - Can't stand dudes on TV who never open their eyes.
Dave Kendall - THEN DON'T CALL YOUR FUCKING BAND "NED'S ATOMIC DUSTBIN!"
Lewis Largent - Height of post-Cobain era. Asked Paul Westerberg why he never put song lyrics on his album jackets.
Matt Pinfield - "That was a song by Sugar, a band led by Bob Mould who of course was in Hüsker Dü... Hi, I'm not Black Francis."

I watched the show, but damn I don't miss sitting through an hour and a half of Peter Murphy videos just to see if they're going to play "Painted Soldiers" or not.

When I saw Laibach at the Limelight in 1992 (on the Kapital tour; they came out all painted silver), Dave Kendall came on to introduce the band and was booed relentlessly. He tried to laugh it off, but looked pretty flustered.

Now I feel bad for him. Still voted for Kevin Seal, tho.

you forgot China Kantor and Downtown Julie Brown.

here's my take on 120 Minutes:

http://acuterecords.com/blog/?p=29

also, I recommend the Alan Licht book, An Emotional Memoir of Martha Quinn.

That's a nice feature story, Dan. I felt the same way about 120 Minutes (and USA's Night Flight, for that matter!).

i suppose i'll be the one of the only ones voting for good old lewis.

you forgot China Kantor Kantner and Downtown Julie Brown

I just went with people who hosted regularly, or for more than at least 2 or 3 episodes.

WTF @ "Downtown" Julie Brown hosting 120 Minutes?

According to that site, JJ Jackson was the host of the very first episode in 1986, so that pretty much throws any WTF reaction out the window to any host.

Thanks Daniel...Night Flight, and especially it's showings of Snub, really rocked my world.

for all of his "sins," matt pinfield is a homie plus he was a roomie for one of my best college friends. and i never really cared for kevin seal.

Are you people fucking serious? Even in all his fop/dorkness, Dave Kendall owned 120 Minutes with his motorcycle jacket. I mean, whose endorsement do you see printed on the official 120 Minutes comp CDs? Could Kevin Seal drum up the level of enthusiasm necessary to unveil the new Judybats or Cavedogs video? Granted, I stopped watching the show in '93 or thereabouts, so I missed his successors.

During the Alternative Nation years, post-92 or so, 120 Minutes basically regurgitated the same Dig and Frente videos that were legitimate hits at the time. That was too bad b/c, before "alternative music" became a marketable commodity, the show didn't seem to have a commercial agenda at all (i.e. they really did feature a wide range of independent artists who never would have gotten any regular airtime).

Also: Post-Modern MTV (hyphen specific to title), the weeknight stepchild of 120 Minutes, circa 89-91 or so. I'm old, so whatever..

wait wtf just happened to my post asking about these things (post modern and alternative nation) that pillbox mysteriously answered? how weird. anyway ywah post-modern mtv was good. alternative nation was terrible.

miracles, bro

Post-Modern MTV, as hosted by Robyn Hitchcock, was truly one of the strangest things ever shown on TV.

I never saw it hosted by Robyn Hitchcock. Was that also the show they used Tim Sommer (Hugo Largo) for?

Tim Sommers was the usual host, Hitchock took over for one very strange week.

Tim, although great in Hugo Largo, who I used to love, is not supposed to be mentioned without stating "the A&R man who signed Hootie and the Blowfish."

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

I caught on kind of late, but I taped 120 every week from mid-96 to 2000. I seem to remember Jancee Dunn hosting a lot too, but I have no recollection what she was like.

Sharing a cab w/Matt Pinfield at SXSW a few years back and immediately feeling like I was 12 years old and in my living room cept he was talking about like Sufjan or whatever this time gets the guy my sentimental vote.

Riki Rachtmann

Ed Lover

I also caught on late, but I've seen various old clips from the 10-year anniversary special which they aired during the day on some random Sunday afternoon. Jancee Dunn and Dave Holmes hosted intermittently around the same time, and they were pretty much exactly how they were on MTV2.. Jancee was ok.. Dave Holmes pretty much just read the lines.

I remember Dave Holmes was interviewing Blur in one episode around the time 13 was getting released and they were about to play Eagle-Eye Cherry's follow-up to the "Save Tonight" video, and he tries to make casual pre-video conversation by asking "are you guys fans of Eagle-Eye Cherry?" and Damon's just like "no" and stares at him like a dick.

Oh yeah I'm pretty sure I mentioned this in another thread, but that Thurston/Beck clip does not include the part where Beck picks up the phone & says "hello?" and then slams the phone onto the ground and they start smashing the phone with baseball bats.

Post-Modern MTV, as hosted by Robyn Hitchcock, was truly one of the strangest things ever shown on TV.

I missed that, but saw him on 120Minutes hyping the Globe Of Frogs tour and explaining why his band wasn't called The Psychedelic Jews.

All I remember of Matt Pinfield was his hilariously authoritative regurgitation of incorrect trivia (e.g., "The MC5 refused to record a censored version of 'Kick Out The Jams'"). I preferred Ben Stiller's impression of him ("Hey, you guys wanna come back to my house and listen to some Pixies imports?")

Speaking of the Pixies, they hosted Post-Modern for a week in 1989. Their voices were pre-recorded and they just looked at the camera with their mouths closed.

120 minutes was the shit, though. Was my first-ever exposure to Sonic Youth ("Shadow Of A Doubt"), among many others.

Kevin Seal annoyed the shit out of me.

Tim Sommer of Hugo Largo (now some record-label scum, right?) used to guest-host fairly often. He was rrrreally hot.

Hugo Largo! LOL. Hadn't heard anything about them since the mid-80s.

actually, it was a different MTV show. My unreliable aging brain...

malkmus v. lewis largent FTW

Voted for Kendall

The first video I ever saw on 120 was "Just Like Honey," but I missed the band identification, and so -- based on the backdrop in the video -- I spent a while trying to track down this awesome-sounding band called Candy. Even through the rest of my teenage years, when I listened to plenty of JAMC, I'd still wonder how I'd never otherwise heard of that great-sounding 80s band called Candy; I had to see the video again to put it together.

Kendall by a country mile

Pinfield far and away the worst, what a horrible horrible host

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I seem to remember Jancee Dunn hosting a lot too, but I have no recollection what she was like.

she was like cute:

also, really awkward on TV because she was a writer. I think this was after 2000 though.

http://janceedunn.typepad.com/finaljanceephoto.jpg

She also has a collection of M2 outtakes on her website, though you'd have to really, really, step-too-far enjoy looking at Jancee Dunn to be entertained by them.

(I looked her up at some point a while back to see what kind of writing she was doing now, and she seems to have moved over to a better career field with the "women's interest" magazines, including an ongoing thing for Oprah.)

I think I remember liking her. I'll have to pull out those tapes.

I have one episode where the final 5 minutes is just a Matt Pinfield blooper reel. I remember Pinfield's introduction being so stiff - "I hope you guys really enjoy these bloopers and outtakes of us. We'll back here next week."

Matt Pinfield & 120 Minutes Return To MTV

The legendary MTV Alternative music show 120 Minutes will return to MTV2 as an on-air monthly show beginning later this year. It also will appear as a weekly online show, dubbed 120 Seconds, beginning tomorrow morning, March 18, on MTV Hive (www.mtvhive.com/120), the new pure music play, experience and online destination for music fans. WRXP/New York radio personality Matt Pinfield also will return to host the new on-air and online versions of the show, which he hosted at its inception in 1995.

"I've always loved working with MTV and its passionate staff. I am elated and proud to be part of bringing back one of the most influential and longest running music shows in the network's history," stated Pinfield. "Everywhere I go, people from all over the world-talk about how much 120 Minutes shaped their musical tastes and how much they missed it. The show helped expose, and ultimately, break new artists. MTV's historical role in breaking artists of all genres can never be underestimated. I'm looking forward to the exciting present and future of 120 Minutes and 120 Seconds!"

Amy Doyle, EVP, Music and Talent for MTV, added: "The signature of MTV’s 120 Minutes was the unparalleled passion for and perspective on the latest music and artists that were off the mainstream media’s radar. Being able to bring back that music ethos and Matt Pinfield back as host was essential but we also needed to re-invent the 120 Minutes franchise through a multi-screen experience that a whole new generation of music fans would appreciate – and we believe we’ve accomplished that with MTV Hive’s 120 Seconds and MTV2’s 120 Minutes."

http://www.bozmusic.com/images/FMQB-Logo-little.jpg

i have an old tape of what must be very early 120 Mins cuz its hosted by Alan Hunter wearing ray-bans - Fuzzbox and Game Theory videos! Pinfield might have the knowledge but was so goddamn dull, sucked out any remaining interest I had for the show.

the best though was IRS' The Cutting Edge

I think I have that very same tape. Somewhere I have videos of "Erica's Word" and "The Real Sheila." And the Cutting Edge ruled. I'd buy a DVD box of that.

lol lewis largent