I Want My MTV!: My Favorite Videos From The First Day of MTV, Part 2
20 videos featuring David Bowie, Blondie, The Talking Heads, Robert Palmer, The Cars, and many others
This is Part 2 of my look back at the music videos that were shown on MTV’s first day of broadcasting — August 1, 1981.
91 different videos were shown that day. I decided to put together a list of my own personal ‘Top 40 Favorites’ from those 91 videos. I shared 20 videos in Part 1, and the other 20 videos are below.
NOTE: There are some great videos that were shown during MTV’s first day that I would loved to have included in these two pieces, but I was, unfortunately, unable to find clear and usable copies of the videos. Among those I wish I could have shared here are the videos for “Rough Boys” by Pete Townshend, “One Step Ahead” by Split Enz, and “Rockin’ The Paradise” by Styx.
Also, some people may be disappointed or surprised that I didn’t share videos for some incredibly popular songs that were shown on Day 1 of MTV, such as “In The Air Tonight” by Phil Collins and “You’re In My Heart” by Rod Stewart. I can understand that, but as the titles of these two pieces indicate, I went more here by my own personal favorites — not by any sort of ‘best’ or ‘most popular’ criteria. While I actually love those songs by Collins and Stewart, I didn’t use them here simply because the videos for them don’t really do much for me. They’re fine, but I’d rather listen to those songs than watch the videos for them.
But enough about what’s not here. Let’s move on to what is here!
These are videos #21–#40 of my Top 40 favorite videos from MTV’s launch day.
Enjoy!
Fashion — David Bowie
David Bowie made a lot of great music videos throughout his career. I’ve always thought this was one of his best.
Prime Time — The Tubes
This song was already a few years old when it premiered on MTV, though it wasn’t a hit when it was released in 1979. It’s a great duet between band members Fee Waybill and Re Styles. Thankfully, MTV gave the song ‘new life’ and extra popularity by frequently showing the video(s) for several months.
NOTE: The reason for the (s) in that last sentence is because there were actually two different videos for “Prime Time.” I’m not sure which of the two was shown on MTV’s first day, but the above video is a special edit containing large parts from both of the videos.
Don’t Let Go the Coat — The Who
This is one of my favorite songs from The Who’s wonderful (and highly underrated) Face Dances album.
All Night Long — Rainbow
This may have been the first song I ever heard by Rainbow. Like a lot of the songs I’ve been sharing in this and the previous post, I didn’t discover it from hearing it on the radio. I learned about it because I saw it on MTV.
I grew to become a pretty big fan of Rainbow over the next couple of years. Thank you, MTV!
Once In A Lifetime — Talking Heads
One of the most famous and entertaining music videos ever. It was co-directed by Talking Head leader David Byrne and Toni Basil, who also was the choreographer for it.
David Byrne is totally awesome in it! Slightly bizarre, but incredibly cool and compelling to watch.
Cruel To Be Kind — Nick Lowe
This video is a lot of fun. It’s a combination of actual footage from Nick Lowe’s wedding ceremony when he married singer Carlene Carter — plus an amusing video reenactment/reimagining of the day and the ceremony. In addition to Lowe and Carter, Lowe’s bandmates also play roles in it — including Dave Edmunds, who portrays a limo driver.
A Message To You Rudy — The Specials
I will never get tired of hearing this! I recently heard it being used in a television commercial for something — which very pleasantly surprised me. I love that the commercial gave a lot of younger/newer music listeners a chance to discover this great song.
A Little In Love — Cliff Richard
There were a few Cliff Richard videos shown on MTV’s first day, including the ones for his hits “Dreamin’” and “We Don’t Talk Anymore.” I like those two songs a lot and almost shared those videos, but I instead decided to go with “A Little In Love,” in large part because it’s not as famous as those other two, and I want to turn more people on to it. I’ve always liked it a lot.
Heart Of Glass — Blondie
One of my favorite songs ever. I clearly remember buying the vinyl single of this song when it was brand new — and then driving my family crazy with how often I repeatedly played it.
Kid — The Pretenders
A great song from the band’s eponymously titled debut album from 1979. This has always been one of my favorite songs by them. I think each of the band members sounds fantastic on it. I especially love the great guitar solo by James Honeyman-Scott.
I Got You — Split Enz
A fun one from the band’s great True Colours album from 1980. If you’re not familiar with Split Enz, but you think the singer (Neil Finn) looks or sounds familiar to you, it may be because he was later the leader and lead singer of the band Crowded House, who had big hits like “Something So Strong” and “Don’t Dream It’s Over.”
So Long — Fischer Z
This is the only song I’ve ever heard by Fischer Z (whom I’ve sometimes seen credited as Fisher Zed). I don’t remember ever hearing it on radio stations, so I’ve only known it from the video. I’ve always loved this song! It’s been very rare over the past 42 years for me to ever hear someone say the phrase “so long” and then not have that phrase trigger a magical switch in my mind to start the song playing up there.
I’ve never minded when that happens!
Johnny And Mary — Robert Palmer
Excellent music in this one! As for Robert Palmer’s vocals — well, they were as awesome here as they always were. The guy had a truly unique and fantastic voice.
Tomorrow Night — Shoes
This is one of my favorites from the band’s fantastic album Present Tense from 1979. As I mentioned in Part 1 of this series of posts when I shared their song “Too Late,” I think that Shoes is a wonderful Power Pop band that should have been much, much bigger than they were/are. If you’ve never heard them, give them a listen.
Calling All Girls — Hilly Michaels
I heard this song on a satellite radio station a couple of weeks ago and I think it was the first time I’d heard it since the last time I saw it played on MTV — well over 40 years ago. I was very excited to hear it again! It’s a fun and catchy song.
Let’s Go — The Cars
I’ve always loved The Cars. I’m especially fond of their songs, like this one, that were sung by bass player Benjamin Orr. In addition to digging his and the other members’ performances here on this wonderful song, I’ve always loved the zebra-patterned shirt that Ben wore in the video. I thought it was so cool that I bought one just like it back then and wore it regularly for years.
PRIVATE NOTE TO SELF: When your wife asks you later what you’d like for a Christmas gift this year, ask her to find you another shirt identical to that one.
Vienna — Ultravox
I don’t know much by Ultravox, but I’ve always loved this song — mainly because of the very, very cool music in it. It’s almost hypnotic-sounding.
Holiday — Nazareth
Nazareth is another band that I’m not overly familiar with, probably in no small part because they seem to be much more famous in the UK and other places, than they are here in the United States. Before learning and falling in love with “Holiday,” I’m pretty sure the only song I knew by them was their popular power ballad “Love Hurts.” Regardless of that, “Holiday” is a great and very catchy song. It’s nearly impossible for me to hear it without it then being stuck in my head for several hours — and I’m completely fine with that.
Tattooed Love Boys — The Pretenders
This is probably my favorite song ever by The Pretenders. Of the four songs I’ve shared by them in these two pieces, this is probably the least-known of them. It was always more of ‘an MTV hit’ than ‘a radio hit,’ but that doesn’t at all take anything away from what a kickass rock song it is!
If you don’t know it, hit ‘play’ and turn your volume up loud. If you do already know it, hit ‘play’ and turn your volume up extra loud.
Living In The Plastic Age — The Buggles
I started this whole off in my first post with “Video Killed The Radio Star” by The Buggles — so it pleases me to finish things here with another song by them.
In some ways, I sort of prefer this song over “Video Killed The Radio Star.” Why is that? Well, I’m not sure I know, to be honest with you. All I know is that I love, love, love the music in it! Plus, it’s got some fantastic lyrics. I especially love the line about how they send ‘the heart police’ to put you under cardiac arrest.
Yes, I know that sounds slightly odd…but it’s awesome when they sing it! Just listen to it. You’ll hear what I mean.
And that’s it, my friends. I mentioned in Part 1 that I found a great playlist on Spotify that contains all of the songs played on MTV’s first day. If you’d like to check it out, here it is. Also, if you’d like to see a complete list of the videos, the order they were played, how many times each was played, etc., on MTV on August 1, 1981, check out this very informative article on Wikipedia.
To see Part 1 of ‘My Favorite Videos From the First Day of MTV, here’s the link to it again:
Thank you for reading! If you’d like to connect with me outside of Medium, you can also find me on The Platform Formerly Known as Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Threads, and Goodreads. I’m also the host of the Gotta Pop podcast. Links to all of those things can be found here.
