On August 1, 1981, MTV made its debut on a handful of regional cable companies. The network filled up that entire first day with nothing but music videos. And many of those clips came from artists who were just beginning their careers.
Videos by American Songwriter
You might be surprised to know, however, that several acts/artists who filled out the programming that day had been around the block and then some. These four veterans took their place among the whippersnappers on that momentous day.
Rod Stewart
Rod Stewart’s “She Won’t Dance With Me” showed up as the third video ever played on MTV. Right after The Buggles’ “Video Killed The Radio Star” and Pat Benatar’s “You Better Run”, Rod was dancing about. No artist of his era managed to adjust his game plan for the prevailing winds of musical taste like Stewart. Innately, he seemed to understand where the next thing was going to be. Thus, he was all over MTV on that opening day. In addition to the aforementioned song, he popped up with a whopping ten other clips, ranging from years-old hits to more current tracks like “Passion”. It was just the beginning of Stewart’s fruitful relationship with the network and videos in general.
David Bowie
Bowie’s relationship with MTV wasn’t always what you would call smooth sailing. On the one hand, he embraced videos and their potential for massive exposure on his 1983 album Let’s Dance. But he also called out the network for its refusal to play Black artists in an infamously awkward interview with VJ Mark Goodman. Bowie could be seen that opening day with a pair of clips. “Boys Keep Swinging”, a single from his 1979 album Lodger, appeared twice. And then there was “Fashion”, which was still somewhat recent after being released as a single in late 1980. That song, with its somewhat sarcastic take on style over substance, now seems a subversive choice.
The Who
Great trivia question: What two videos were played the most (five times each) on that opening day of MTV? You might not be surprised to learn that one of them was Phil Collins’ “In The Air Tonight”, a brilliant song accompanied by a primitive yet eerie video. The shocker is that the other song was The Who’s “You Better You Bet”. Recency bias accounts for some of it. The Who released it as a single in February 1981, meaning it was still in the prime of its run when MTV debuted. “You Better You Bet” stood out for being the first single released by the band to feature new drummer Kenney Jones. He replaced the deceased Keith Moon for the Face Dances album.
Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard was 40 years old when MTV debuted on that August day in 1981. By that time, he had amassed unprecedented success in Great Britain, mostly as lead singer for The Shadows. His first hit dates back to 1958. In the pre-Beatles era, there was no bigger music star in the country. But it took Richard quite some time to find his commercial footing in America. The evidence of his late-period US success can be found on that first day’s playlist. “We Don’t Talk Anymore”, which glided along on a pop-disco groove, scored big for Richard in 1979. And then he came back and hit again in 1980 with “Dreamin’”. Videos for both of those two songs appeared twice that day, making Richard an unlikely early video star.
Photo by Michael Putland/Getty Images
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